Champion Baseball


Champion Baseball is a 1983 baseball arcade game developed by Alpha Denshi and published by Sega. The game was a sophisticated sports game for its time, displaying the playfield using multiple camera angles, including a close-up shot of the batter and pitcher, and giving players the option of selecting relief pitchers or pinch hitters, while an umpire looks on attentively to make the game calls. The game became very popular in Japanese arcades when released in 1983, at one point enjoying a level of popularity comparable to Space Invaders according to Sega.

Gameplay

The player controls a baseball team, against a computer-controlled team, with the player batting at the top of each inning. 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, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Pittsburg, Chicago, Montreal, St. Louis, Boston, Milwaukee, New York City, California and Texas. 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 can hold the initials of up to six players.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Champion Baseball on their June 1, 1983 issue as being the most-successful table arcade unit of the 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 most-successful new table arcade unit of the year. Another sequel titled Super Champion Baseball was released in 1989.