Pro Yakyuu Family Stadium '88 (プロ野球ファミリースタジアム'88年度版? lit. Professional Baseball Family Stadium '88) is a baseball game developed an by published by Namco in Japan on December 20, 1988.
In the same year, Namco published World Stadium for arcades and Pro Yakyuu World Stadium for the PC Engine. As a result, elements that were newly introduce in those versions were translated to this Famicom version of the game. Examples include errors from dropping balls, and increasing the number of starting pitchers from 2 to 4.
Another new element introduced in this version is the concept of "strong players". Two people in the starting line-up are chosen at random to be good players. The stats of these players is increased higher than usual. During the seventh inning, the "Lucky 7" effect occurs, and all players receive this enhanced status.
At the end of the game, the name of the fictitious agency reporting the results has been changed from "Namco Sports" to "NAMCOT SPORTS NEWS". In addition to the match results, an evaluation of players' perfomance is presented as a function of their annual salary. The results from each ballpark is reported by a different woman. An advertisement for the arcade game Toy Pop may also be presented.
Because the password feature has been removed, you must defeat all 13 teams without resetting in order to complete the game. Two player games are played through one to four wins.
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Title screen
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Screenshot
Teams
In this version, some names of teams from both the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association (JPBPA) have been changed subtly, due to their having been used without permission.
While most of the teams from Pro Yakyuu Family Stadium '87 return, two teams, レイルウェイズ (Railways) and フーズフーズ (Foodsfoods), have been removed. The twelve teams present relate to some real world team. However, no league distinction is made, and they are considered all part of a single Japan league.
| Team | Name | Real world basis | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| L | ライオネルズ (Lionels) | Seibu Lions | |
| Bu | バッカルーズ (Buckaroos) | Kintetsu Buffaloes | Initial appearance. |
| F | ファイアーズ (Fires) | Nippon-Ham Fighters | Initial appearance. |
| B | ブラボーズ (Bravos) | Hankyu Braves | Appears as the レイルウェイズ (Railways) team in the PC Engine version of Pro Yakyuu World Stadium. |
| H | ホーネッツ (Hornets) | Nankai Hawks | Initial appearance. |
| O | オリエンツ (Orients) | Lotte Orions | Appears as a hidden team in the PC Engine version of Pro Yakyuu World Stadium. |
| D | ドラサンズ (Drasanz) | Chunichi Dragons | |
| G | ガイアンツ (Gaia-ants) | Yomiuri Giants | |
| C | カーズ (Cars) | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | |
| W | ホイールズ (Wheels) | Yokohama Taiyo Whales | |
| S | スパローズ (Sparrows) | Yakult Swallows | |
| T | タイタンズ (Titans) | Hanshin Tigers |
Additionally, the same two imaginary teams from Pro Yakyuu Family Stadium '87 appear:
- M: メジャーリーガーズ (Major Leaguers), MLB All-Star team.
- N: ナムコスターズ (Namco Stars), Namco characters All-Star team.
Edit team
The team edit function appears for the first time in this game. Editing a team creates a new team: Y (Yours). However, since there is no battery backup, an edited team disappears when the power is turned off. In order to make sure that an edited team is not over-powered, there is an upper limit to the sum of your athlete's parameters.
Stadiums
Unlike the previous versions, where Pikkari stadium was the only stadium available, there are now four stadiums to choose from. In addition to the size of the stadium, the presence of wind and the turf available in the stadium affect elements of the game.
| Name | Modeled after | Wings | Center |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dome | Tokyo Dome | 100m | 122m |
| Rokko Mountain | Hanshin Koshien Stadium | 91m (with Lucky Zones) | 120m |
| Killer Whale | Nagoya Stadium | 91m | 119m |
| Dry Riverbed | Giants Tama Ground | 85m | 110m |