When I first started full-time streaming and suddenly had plenty of time for revisiting old speedruns, I decided to set up an ongoing tracker for tips/bits and try to improve one of my old runs after a certain threshold was reached. In order to pick an old speedrun in an unbiased manner, I decided to run a CPU vs CPU tournament of Super Baseball Simulator 1.000.

I made 6 custom teams, each representing a game, and had them face off against each other. The winner of the tournament would be the game I would improve. This continued for 7 tournaments, after which I used the tournament setup to choose my next casual RPG playthrough.

Every tournament has its own page containing the roster and stats of every team for those who want to follow along at home or recreate their favorite teams for their own use. This page will be used to summarize all of the results (SPOILER WARNING) and briefly summarize the game’s stats and ultra hits/pitches.

Batter stats

This is going to be a very brief overview of how the stats/properties as they appear in the team editor influence the game, and from the perspective of CPU games. This game has only fringe relation to the actual game of baseball, so don’t look into these numbers too much.  Player stats for each team can be found on the individual tournaments’ pages.

• Order: Batting order, or order in which the batters will hit. PH is “pinch hitter”; on very rare occasions, the CPU will pinch hit for the pitcher, but otherwise they are never seen.
• L/R: Batter handedness. Pitchers in this game have a tendency to bean right-handed batters often, so they’re at a slight advantage from an on-base perspective. Safety is not particularly important to these players.
• Stance: This is purely cosmetic. The possible values range from 1-4 and simply change the sprite of the batter. For some reason, pre-made teams can choose 1-8 for stances and I don’t know why.
• Position: Position of the batter while on defense. Possible positions are catcher, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd base, shortstop, and left, center, or right field.
• Avg: Batting average. In this game, this is a representation of the player’s likelihood of the player’s swing connecting with the ball.
• HR: Home runs. This is simply a representation of the player’s power, and not necessarily of his past performance.
• Speed: This is the player’s run speed while running the bases. This does not impact the fielding speed.
• F: Fielding stat. I believe this represents the frequency of the player making errors and his movement speed in the field. It is really hard to say, though, since the CPU is remarkably bad in the field either way. These points are wasted on pinch hitters.
• Ultra hit: The ultra hit that the batter will use if the CPU chooses to activate it. A list of these can be found below.

Ultra batting

Each batter has one “ultra hit” that he can use if he chooses. Normally using an ultra hit consumes some ultra points, but I play these matches with unlimited ultra points to allow the CPU to do whatever they think is best. I’ll include the ultra point cost here just for completion, and in case the reader wants to play.

Icon	Name	Cost	Description
	Hyper hit	9	This increases the batter’s power, though I could never really tell if it actually worked.
	Missile hit	5	Once the ball is hit, it travels at exit velocity until it reaches the wall or until caught with an ultra catch. Since the CPU does not ultra catch, this will always reach the wall if fair. Very effective with very low HR stat.
	Tremor hit	4	Causes an earthquake when it hits the ground, immobilizing all fielders. If caught, the fielder who caught it will shake for several seconds, unable to move.
	Bomb hit	4	The ball explodes when it lands, stunning any nearby fielders. Cannot be caught without an ultra catch. This has a high likelihood of misfiring and landing at the catcher’s feet for a free out.
	Shadowless	5	The ball will not have a shadow. The CPU is utterly stumped by this and will not move until the ball lands.
	Invisiball	3	The ball is entirely invisible until it lands. Unlike the shadowless hit, the CPU is not amused by this and will happily field it without issue.
	Meteor	2	The ball is turned into a fiery meteor and stuns the fielder underneath it unless caught with an ultra catch. Unlike bomb, there is no chance of a misfire. Very good hit, especially for the cost.
	Squirrel hit	2	Not sure why this is called the squirrel hit. The ball flies in a serpentine pattern until it hits the wall. Very hard to field.
	Spinner hit	4	The screen will rapidly spin until the ball hits the ground. Absolutely impossible to field as a human, but the CPU is fine with it.
	Leaf hit	2	At some point mid-flight (usually close to the apex) the ball will turn into a leaf and float straight downward to the ground, entirely stopped its forward momentum. If not caught, the leaf hit can have some diabolical bounces. Normally, through, it is just a free out.
	Shadow hit	5	The ball has 3 rapidly oscillating shadows until it lands. Again, the CPU has true sight and will not be fooled, but at least it looks pretty.
	Hyper run	8	Unlike the other hits, this one modifies the batter’s run speed. The hit itself is a normal hit with no special properties, but the player dashes incredibly fast until he reaches first base. Unless the ball is caught or hit directly to first, he will almost always be safe.
	Freak hit	2	My personal favorite hit. This is a standard hit until the ball lands, at which point it will bounce with random velocity in a random direction for several bounces.
	Dizzy ball	3	When the ball is hit, the player’s controls are inverted. As expected, the CPU is unaffected by this.
	Orbit hit	3	This is another normal hit until the ball lands. If fielded before it hits the wall, the ball will orbit the fielder several times before it is thrown. If the fielder tries running the ball in instead of throwing, he will run at an exceptionally slow pace.

Pitcher stats

This is going to be a very brief overview of how the stats/properties as they appear in the team editor influence the game, and from the perspective of CPU games. This game has only fringe relation to the actual game of baseball, so don’t look into these numbers too much.  Player stats for each team can be found on the individual tournaments’ pages.

• Type: Starter (S) vs reliever (R). Functionally these are identical, but I think it has more of an impact when you play a season vs an exhibition.
  Note: the CPU will never use pitchers 2 or 4 in an exhibition match. They are programmed to preserve them for the next game so the 1st and 3rd pitchers have time to recover.
• L/R: Pitcher handedness. As far as I know, this is purely cosmetic. This does not impact the pitchers’ breaking balls in any way from what I’ve noticed.
• Delivery: Overhand, underhand, or sidearm. As far as CPU is concerned, this is purely cosmetic I think. I always had a harder time connecting against sidearm pitches when I played, though. That might be a real thing, but I can’t say for sure.
• ERA: Earned run average. While normally a measure of how many runs the pitcher allows, this number has no noticeable impact on pitcher performance in this game.
• Speed: The pitcher’s maximum fast ball speed.
• R/L: Not to be confused with L/R, this is the pitcher’s proficiency at throwing breaking balls in either direction.
• Fork: This is the pitcher’s proficiency at throwing the forkball (a pitch with an extreme downward break)..
• Stamina: When the pitcher has thrown more pitches than his stamina stat (and sometimes before), he can no longer control the ball as well.
  Max speed and breaking ball efficiency suffer.
• Ultra pitch(es): The ultra pitch(es) that the pitcher can choose to throw. A list of these can be found below.

Ultra pitching

Each pitcher can have up to four “ultra pitches” that he can use if he chooses. Much like the ultra hits, using an ultra hit consumes some ultra points, but I play these matches with unlimited ultra points to allow the CPU to do whatever they think is best. I’ll include the ultra point cost here just for completion, and in case the reader wants to play.

Icon	Name	Cost	Description
	Fire ball	6	The ball catches on fire shortly after being thrown, and quickly accelerates to ~150mph. Directional control is extremely limited after immolation.
	Stopper ball	9	At any point during the ball’s travel, the pitcher is able to stop and un-stop the ball. Nearly impossible to hit.
	Phantom ball	3	The ball vanishes about halfway to the plate and reappears just before the batter’s box.
	Snake ball	3	At least this one is called snake instead of squirrel. This pitch serpentines to the plate. The speed is based on the pitcher’s speed stat.
	Ninja ball	3	This is an entire cluster of baseballs thrown at once. It’s a neat pitch but I never noticed any effect on hit rate. The balls are clustered in such a way that your swing timing is unchanged.
	Spark ball	4	This pitch has slightly faster speed and higher maneuverability than normal, I think. I can’t back that up in any meaningful way, but it felt that way when I used it as a kid. Otherwise, purely cosmetic.
	Iron ball	5	This is a very slow pitch that transform into a shot put halfway through. Even if the bat makes contact, it is unlikely to be hit.
	Speeder ball	6	The speed of this ball can be controlled mid-flight. The rapid and unpredictable acceleration makes it a very dangerous pitch.
	Photon ball	8	The photon ball is just a straight fastball thrown at ~188mph. Unless you swing before it is thrown, it cannot be hit.
	Zig zag ball	3	This is a slow pitch with improved breaking capabilities.
	Spiral ball	2	This pitch travels at about 18mph as it slowly loops towards the catcher. The CPU almost always throws this one into the dugout, and almost always swings at it 10 seconds before it reaches the plate when at bat.
	Jumper ball	5	The jumper ball is a slow pitch that will suddenly jump to the side at the pitcher’s command. This can be done infinitely, ranging anywhere between a rapidly vibrating pitch and a pitch that jumps away from the batter once he swings.
	Tremor ball	2	This pitch causes an earthquake on delivery. The screen rapidly shakes but the batter is uninhibited. This pitch speed is based on the pitcher’s speed stat.
	Change-up ball	7	The pitcher is able to slow this ball down at will and without limit by pressing the “A” button.
	Floater ball	4	At some point during its travel to the plate, the ball will turn into a leaf and float the rest of the way. I don’t recall if the pitcher can control the transformation time. The CPU is remarkably bad at predicting this.
	Multi ball	3	The pitcher creates three clones, and the four of them throw a ball at once. The speed of the pitch can be controlled just like a normal pitch.
	Fadeout	5	The pitcher becomes invisible during his delivery, making it very difficult to predict the pitch. The speed and movement of this pitch can be controlled just like a normal pitch.
	Warp ball	3	The pitcher is able to warp the ball forward exactly once during its journey to the plate.
	Lotta ball	5	The pitchers throws three consecutive balls, only one of which is real. I believe the speed of this is not based on the pitcher’s speed stat.
	??? ball	1	This ball will either turn black or red. If black, the pitch is an iron ball. If red, the ball will be hit extra hard.