is an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

baseball video game developed by

Alpha Denshi , formerly known as , was a Japanese video game developer founded in 1980. ADK began as a developer of arcade games and is best known for their library of SNK Neo Geo titles, including for its home consoles, produced in partnership with SNK. Mos ...

and published by Sega in March 1983. It was a sophisticated

sports video game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

for its time, displaying a split-screen format, with the

playfield A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For most sports ...

viewed from two camera angles, one from the outfield and another close-up shot of the batter and pitcher, while giving players the option of selecting relief pitchers or pinch hitters and with an umpire looking on attentively to make the game calls. The game also had digitized voices for the umpire, and individual player statistics. A person could play for hours with one token providing they tied scores at the 9th and further innings. The game was a blockbuster success in Japanese arcades when released in 1983, and was a departure from the " space games" and "cartoon"

action games An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform ga ...

that had previously dominated the arcades. It went on to serve as the prototype for later baseball video games. Nintendo, for example, released their own competitor ''

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

'' later the same year.

Gameplay

The player controls a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

team, against a computer-controlled team, with the player batting at the top of each

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

. In a two-player game, each will play independently against the computer, one inning at a time. Standard baseball rules apply, with the player awarded points for various accomplishments such as hitting a pitch, safely reaching any base, pitching a strike, getting a computer player out, or retiring the computer's side to end an inning. Before play begins, the player can choose which city/state to represent from a list containing

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, Pittsburg (probably a typo for

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

(all of whom had major-league baseball franchises in 1983). The computer then randomly selects from among the remaining cities. If at any time the computer team has scored more runs than the player, the game immediately ends. The high-scores list ("FAR OUT PLAYERS") can hold the initials of up to six players.

Reception

The game was a blockbuster success upon release in Japanese arcades, at one point enjoying a level of popularity comparable to ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and ...

'' according to Sega. Like ''Space Invaders'', there were many arcade locations across Japan dedicated exclusively to ''Champion Baseball''. Sega had sold over 15,000 arcade units in Japan by early June 1983, and were expecting to ship a further 10,000 arcade units within the country by the end of June 1983. It was Japan's highest-grossing arcade game around mid-1983. When Japanese magazine '' Game Machine'' published their first bi-weekly arcade charts in their June 1, 1983 issue, ''Champion Baseball'' was listed as the most successful

table arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

of the month. It remained at the top of the ''Game Machine'' table arcade game charts for three months through June and July to August 1983, before eventually being dethroned by ''

Elevator Action is a platform shooter game released in arcades by Taito in 1983. The player assumes the role of Agent 17, a spy infiltrating a 30-story building filled with elevators and enemy agents who emerge from closed doors. The goal is to collect secret ...

'' in September 1983. ''Champion Baseball'' remained in the top ten for the rest of the year, through December 1983. In North America, the game was successful in test locations around mid-1983. Sega were expecting to repeat some of the game's Japanese success in North America, due to baseball being a popular sport in the region. Upon release in North America, it became one of the best-performing arcade video games distributed by Sega Electronics (formerly Sega/Gremlin) in 1983. However, the

golden age of arcade video games The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, technological development and cultural influence of arcade video games, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The period began with the release of ''Space Invaders'' in 1978, ...

was coming to an end in North America, with Sega closing down its Sega Electronics division and selling it to

Bally Manufacturing Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company that began as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer, and later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. It was acquired by Hilton Hote ...

later that year.

Legacy

''Champion Baseball II'' was released the same year, with identical graphics but allowing two players to compete with each other. ''Game Machine'' listed the sequel on their October 1, 1983 issue as being the top-grossing new table arcade unit of the month. Another sequel, titled ''Super Champion Baseball'', was released in 1989.

Impact

Upon release, the sports gameplay of ''Champion Baseball'' was a departure from the " space games" and "cartoon"

that had previously dominated the arcades. ''Champion Baseball'' went on to serve as the prototype for later

baseball video games Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. Nintendo, for example, later released their own competing sports game, ''

'', initially for the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

console in late 1983 and then ported to the arcade Nintendo Vs. System as ''Vs. Baseball'' in 1984. While ''Vs. Baseball'' lacked certain features of ''Champion Baseball'', it had improved

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

capabilities.

References

{{reflist

External links

Champion Baseball
at The Killer List of Video Games 1983 video games ADK (company) games Arcade video games Baseball video games Gremlin Industries games SG-1000 games Sega arcade games Video games developed in Japan