World Series Baseball '96 is a follow-up to the previous two Genesis games in the series with the rosters and stats of the 1995 MLB season as well as the schedule for the 1996 season. It has all 700 players and 28 teams and stadiums. The game types include Exhibition, League, Playoffs, Batting Practice, Homerun Derby, and Classic Homerun Derby. There is also a possibility to play an All-Star game. Trading can be enabled or disabled and the season length options are 13, 26, 52, 104 and 162.

Gameplay and visuals are similar to the previous game in the series. Batting is shown from a behind view with three options: contact, normal or power. The player has to time the swing to make contact. While pitching the three options are splitter, slider and fastball. In pitching mode a rectangle is shown to determine the position of the ball. It can also moved out of the rectangle to trick the batter into a wide one and the accuracy is determined through the batter's statistics. During gameplay fielding can be done manually or by the computer. Runners have the ability to go back, advance or slide. The three sliding options are hook, pop-up and head-first. Various line-up and strategy options can also be altered during gameplay. The cartridge has a battery to save and resume a league.