[Review] Super Mega Baseball 3 – Nintendo Switch

Super Mega Baseball 3
Nintendo Switch

Developed By : Metalhead Software
Published By : Metalhead Software
Category : Sports, Simulation, Arcade
Release : May 13, 2020

Every year sees a constant flux of sports titles being released. Fully licensed versions covering the major leagues of every sport you can think of come out with some new mechanics or features, but a lot of updating is done to rosters, logos and what not. It typically feels very minimal in these changes, so it’s even more of a wonder when a non-licensed title with fake teams, fake players, and fake just-about-everything churns out it’s own sequels. But alas, here we sit loading in Super Mega Baseball 3 on our Nintendo Switch.

The first thing I asked myself what exactly was going to be new or different about this title. Less than a year ago I reviewed the 2nd title’s release on the Switch, which you can read here if you’d like. So other than a different intro graphic, the main menu looked almost identical to the last games, except I noticed one key difference that would open this game up : Franchise mode.

All the same modes return from the last game : Exhibition, Pennant Race, Elimination and Season, and all operate in very much the same manner. These are still your options to play a one-off game, a full season, or jump right into a playoff scenario. Pennant Race remains the same as well, the online only tournament that resets periodically. It’s the newly introduced Franchise mode that brings a depth to this title that you won’t realize was missing from the previous.

This new mode takes you far beyond your first season and let’s you build a decades-long dynasty…or at least you hope. To start, simply pick your team that you want to run, and from there every decision connected to that team will go through your hands. You’ll control them on and off the field, dealing with needing to train and develop your players, them getting old and retiring, or finding the perfect balance as you release bad players and try to sign some new ones from the free-agent pool.

On the field, Super Mega Baseball 3 remains mostly the same. If you played the previous game, you’ll notice a few new control differences that are introduced this time around to try and make field control a little easier. They’re very minor, but they do go a long way in helping while you’re playing. For instance when you have multiple runners on base, before you had to either advance all runners or use the left joystick to select one individually and advance only their base. Now, there’s a separate button to control only the lead runner if you want to try and squeeze an extra base out of them, or to control the trailing runner if you want to keep them safe.

Other than these changes it really is just the same game all over again, which is a good thing because SMB2 was a great game. Metalhead took that game and made it greater by including a few small and simple options. The one thing I still think is missing from this franchise is the weird and wacky mini-games. The beauty of using made up players and teams is you could make them do whatever they want, and that would just be the icing on the cake for say…Super Mega Baseball 4? As it is, this title is pretty spectacular and would be a welcome addition to any sports fan’s Switch library.