2020 Super Baseball is a sci-fi themed baseball game. It is pretty basic in design. There is no save chip, so, in "season mode" you use a password that just keeps track of how many won games, and there are no stats or other records kept, and the in-game prize money does not roll over from game to game. There is of course, no player creation, team creation, or custimization at all. Every player is just a recolor of only 3 player sprites. There are only 13 teams, but you will only play against six total opponent teams in any season. Ironically, despite the theme of adding new elements to make a more complex futurized version of baseball, this game really boils down to the bare bones essentials needed for a functional game. What I have noticed is that, no one I have seen pick this up for the first time does very well at it. I didn't do very well the first time. Apparently, it is counterintuitive in some ways to how "regular" baseball simulators handle, and overall, it just does not handle how the player initially expects, which creates a feeling of general helplessness. Yes, it is a classic. Controlling and winning the game is based on figuring out a lot of control quirks and exploits. I'm not a 2020 Super Baseball all time champ, but I can survive the game, and here is how it goes.

You push start when promted and your first choice will be, VS CPU or VS 2P. If you have a friend with you that is also new to the game, and you have two controllers already ready to go, 2P is the far more interesting mode. You aren't missing much in season mode, believe me.

Next is, Fighting league, or Exciting league and picking a team. There are three "species" of baseball player: female, male, and robot. "high-tec" is code for a predominately robot team, and "managing" a robot team has it's own unique challenge, since all robots have a set amount of HP that drains when they do anything. When a robot "breaks", it becomes a silver husk robot that is very slow and has very little strength. They need to be replaced with new robots that you buy with the in-game bonus money, so the money aspect is more vital for robots.

The female players seem to be the best. While they are supposed to be functionally the same, it really feels like female players have a faster swing animation, and seem to be better in executing the swing techniques I am going to go into, especially those involving control of which side the ball goes to. If you use your pinch hitters strategically, Tropical Girls work out to have no weak links in the batting lineup aside from the pitcher. About half have home run potential, and the rest are good for easy singles at least. You pick Mech Brains if you want to earn it, you pick Trop Girls if you just feel like lighting up the scoreboard.

In every game, you will start out at bat. The first thing to notice is in the seemingly meaningless player stats at the top left. The key thing in how to hit the ball is in the player's home run count. It is stated as a career stat, but it is actually the most accurate gauge to how powerful the player is, which is the best assessment of how you should try to hit.

Between 0-15 HR, means the ball won't travel as far or fast, and if the ball is landing on the grass, it is almost certainly going to be caught. To get a single without a catch out, the ball has to hit the wall of the stands before landing in the pitch, or barring that, it has to fly low juuuust beyond the border of the foul zone; in such a way that a fielder won't have time to be in position to catch it. The goal is, make the ball go as sideways as possible (the foul zone is more narrow than real baseball). you tap the A button to like "half" swing, and change the batting stance, and move the player into the pitch so you are hitting the ball from the side instead of straight ahead, so some of that movement adds to the swing momentum. Often, this will result in a foul ball, but that means you can try again. It is about getting that sweet spot just outside of foul territory and hoping the player(s) can make the base in time. (click to expand images below)

Between 15-30 HR is the middle range. You still aren't safe hitting it up the middle of the field, but it is easier to score a single. Again, do the thing to change to the "crooked" batting stance, but this time, you are trying to get it to go sideways the opposite way by connecting at the end of a full swing. To many player's frustration, a ball landing in the stands is not a home run, far from it. the stands are sheilded and sloped so the ball rolls back or bounces back quickly. Why you went to that trouble to hit the ball so oddly is, it is a less risky hit than the above mentioned side-tap IF the player has the power to push it to the stands where it cannot be caught, and in some cases, it spends enough time bouncing on the glass that you can bring the runner to second. (click to expand images below)

Between 30-50 HR is where you can start to try for driving it up the middle, which I addmitedly don't have down to an exact science, or at least haven't perfected the timing. The idea is to switch from trying to hit the ball from the side, and instead meet it exactly square. I think this is best tried from the "regular" bat stance, since the full swing is the more powerful swing. It takes timing and skill and also some luck, but this is your chance to try the narrow area at the end of the pitch that gives an automatic home run if you hit it. It does take a perfectly square hit, and also the pitch direction has to do with how the ball goes, so there is still a fair chance it could fall short and be caught or hit the stands just adjacent to the HR Zone; which is more shallow, and the outfielder haunts that area, so it could be just a single. (click to expand images below)

The X button is for bunting, but because of the games physics bunts behave like pop flies, and pop flies are death in this game. The catcher and pitcher are also nearby, and every team has brutal fielding so I don't bunt ever.

You see that the pitcher can change position on the mound horizontally. If the pitcher moves to the same side as the batter, there is a chance they will throw a "tricky" pitch that curves to the center of the strike zone, but odds are most likely that the pitcher is going to throw in the ball zone on the same side. Notice where the ball is headed and simply walk into the pitch, and there you go. The pitcher throwing balls to one side or the other is more likely if your player at bat has a high HR and/or a strong hitting arm power up, however, if you want to be super cheap, it is somewhat randomized, and you can keep dipping in and out of the pause / time out menu, and you can force an AI pitcher into beaning you. (click to expand images below)

Getting hit by the pitch is a pretty sound tactic because you may have noticed the in-game money system that is used to buy power-ups that enhance their abilities. When the pitcher hits you with the ball, you get three things: you get to take a base and every player on base moves up to make room, so, it gains a point if bases loaded, you gain $1000 baseball dollars, and the opposing team loses $1000; which hurts their ability to buy power ups.

The players already on bases will start to move automatically, but unless it is two outs, not until certainty that the ball is fair. Sometimes you will get the hang of it and know when a hit is going to land fair and want to start those players moving before the ball lands. you do this by pressing the B button and the directional button correlating to the base you want players to move to in such a fashion that the D-buttons symbolize the diamond. For example: to get a runner on first to start towards second, B+UP. However, if there is already someone at second, they need to start moving first so, B+LEFT, to get them going to third, and B+DOWN to get a player on third moving to home. This is also how you steal bases, which you can attempt at any time you are at bat since A and X are the bat movement buttons.

Your position on the mound determines what direction the ball is headed initially. The other control is moving the ball with the D-pad AFTER the ball leaves your hand. The amount of control is considerable. left and right make the ball turn in those directions as it moves, Down will make the ball go lower a bit, but also faster. Up causes the ball to rise and slow. The thing to try for is, timing it so, the AI has already "committed" to the current speed and direction, and deviating just before it crosses the mound. With the hope that the swing misses, or at least it puts the swing off enough to prevent heavy hitters from landing home runs. There isn't any great exploit for pitching that I know of, just getting the feel of it.

First thing is: it is easier than you initially think. Your outfielders will automatically position themselves to catch pop-flies, as indicated by them having their glove up already. They will catch the ball if you DON'T move from that spot. In the case of a ground ball or ball that hits the stands, obviously when you get the ball in hand, you want to try to throw it to the base the runner is headed to to stop them taking the base. When throwing, the direction you push as you throw corresponds to the base you throw it to. This is one of those things that frustrates players. Lets say: you are just to the left of 3rd and want to throw to third. Your instincts tell you to push the right key as you are aiming the ball to your right, but because in that mode the d-pad represents the diamond, you would throw past 3rd to 1st. You can also have a basemen move; ONLY when they are in possession of the ball, dislodge and run to a neighboring base along the base line; for the purpose of chasing and tagging a runner, by pressing B and the direction corresponding to the destination base.

The Snes version is different than the two other versions; Neo Geo and Sega Genesis. While the SNES version has a "cleaner look", it lacks a few elements from the original game. There is only one high jump zone in the SNES version; at the very back of the field to give you less than a snowball's chance in hell of intercepting a home run, where the Neo Geo version had all edges of the pitch littered with jump zones. The SNES version does not have "crackers" which are visible mines that can blow players back if they run into them, which could give some pop-flies and ground balls a chance of not being insta-caught by the auto-fielding. The original game also had a squad of cheerleaders hanging out on the platform just below the scoreboard, and an ambulance drone that retrieved players hit by pitches. Again, the SNES version does look way more crisp and runs very smoothly, but it was at the cost of some of this "character". The Sega version retains more elements of the original, but at the cost of looking and handling shittier.
Honestly, I focused on the SNES version because it was what I had easiest access to and the version I am most used to, but I readily see why the "cleaner look" argument doesn't hold much water, since graphics isn't the top priority when checking out 30 year old games. The OG Neo Geo game is probably going to be more fun, if it is just as easy for you to get access to. What this guide says will still apply, since the controls are basically the same.