Uploaded April 2023 | Updated September 2026, 32 minutes ago
(I accidentally swapped Perfect Game and Grand Slam on my tracker's backend, which is why I checked the goals "wrong")
Woof. This run took a very long time to get compared to the other ILs I've worked on, and it was not a fun time.
The biggest problem, and one that probably isn't fully solved, is Big Play. It's possible but extremely unlikely (as in, not remotely practical) to get a raw Big Play as the pitcher absent specific circumstances like the CPU bunting. On Special, the CPU will only bunt in the 4th inning or later and if there's at least one runner on base, so relying on a bunt wouldn't just be slow- it would directly conflict with Perfect Game. Something that you *can* do, and probably the easiest way to beat this run's time, is to get Big Play in a manipulated Bowser Jr. encounter before even playing Bob-Omb Derby, but my success rate doing that was so low I never managed to get any good runs going afterwards. I did pretty well getting Big Play in this attempt, but there's still room for improvement if only from improving my HBP accuracy against those poor, innocent Toads.
There's also Grand Slam. Mario is, simply put, not a slugger. You can automatically afford a Power Bat in this category, but even with one you're capped at double chem if you Team Swap the Monarchs or Islanders and single chem otherwise, and you really don't have many chances to hit the slam assuming you were able to load the bases correctly in the first place. This run plays against Wario, who sometimes gives you free perfect contact hits that USUALLY convert to dingers if hit fully charged, but it's undebatable that Yoshi is a faster opponent for the category if you're willing to roll the dice against him. I just don't have that patience yet.
And *then* there's Perfect Game. Several times Boo in particular would just slap a weak hit through the gap and immediately kill my run, to the point where I adopted safe pitching against him in particular. I freaked out when he made contact in this run, but thankfully it was an easily handled dribbler and did not end up being a problem. Still, "play perfect or die" is not a fun condition to have to meet.
Playing BOD before every match of baseball also isn't fun, especially when the game gives you endless fireball pitches. Ugh.
But, given everything, I think this is a pretty good run. I might return to Mario if this is beaten or we develop pitcher Big Play strats that Mario can actually use. Until then, I'm gonna chill.
(I accidentally swapped Perfect Game and Grand Slam on my tracker's backend, which is why I checked the goals "wrong")
Woof. This run took a very long time to get compared to the other ILs I've worked on, and it was not a fun time.
The biggest problem, and one that probably isn't fully solved, is Big Play. It's possible but extremely unlikely (as in, not remotely practical) to get a raw Big Play as the pitcher absent specific circumstances like the CPU bunting. On Special, the CPU will only bunt in the 4th inning or later and if there's at least one runner on base, so relying on a bunt wouldn't just be slow- it would directly conflict with Perfect Game. Something that you *can* do, and probably the easiest way to beat this run's time, is to get Big Play in a manipulated Bowser Jr. encounter before even playing Bob-Omb Derby, but my success rate doing that was so low I never managed to get any good runs going afterwards. I did pretty well getting Big Play in this attempt, but there's still room for improvement if only from improving my HBP accuracy against those poor, innocent Toads.
There's also Grand Slam. Mario is, simply put, not a slugger. You can automatically afford a Power Bat in this category, but even with one you're capped at double chem if you Team Swap the Monarchs or Islanders and single chem otherwise, and you really don't have many chances to hit the slam assuming you were able to load the bases correctly in the first place. This run plays against Wario, who sometimes gives you free perfect contact hits that USUALLY convert to dingers if hit fully charged, but it's undebatable that Yoshi is a faster opponent for the category if you're willing to roll the dice against him. I just don't have that patience yet.
And *then* there's Perfect Game. Several times Boo in particular would just slap a weak hit through the gap and immediately kill my run, to the point where I adopted safe pitching against him in particular. I freaked out when he made contact in this run, but thankfully it was an easily handled dribbler and did not end up being a problem. Still, "play perfect or die" is not a fun condition to have to meet.
Playing BOD before every match of baseball also isn't fun, especially when the game gives you endless fireball pitches. Ugh.
But, given everything, I think this is a pretty good run. I might return to Mario if this is beaten or we develop pitcher Big Play strats that Mario can actually use. Until then, I'm gonna chill.
