Champion Baseball

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 (probably a typo for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Chicago, Montreal, St. Louis, Boston, Milwaukee, New York City, California and Texas (all of whom had major-league baseball franchises in 1983). The computer then randomly selects from among the remaining cities.

The game treats the bottom half of every inning as if it were the bottom of the ninth, so 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.

The game was a blockbuster success upon release in Japanese arcades,{{cite web |title=チャンピオンベースボール |trans-title=Champion Baseball |url=https://sega.jp/history/arcade/product/7497/ |website=Sega |access-date=2 May 2021 |language=ja}} at one point enjoying a level of popularity comparable to Space Invaders according to Sega.{{cite magazine|title=Japan's Latest Coin-Op Set To Hit North America|magazine=Electronic Games|date=December 1983|volume=2|issue=22|url=https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_02_Number_10_1983-12_Reese_Communications_US/page/n11|page=12}} 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. It was Japan's highest-grossing arcade game around mid-1983.{{cite magazine |title=#1 Game In Japan: Sega Electronics To Bring 'Champion Baseball' Vid to U.S. |magazine=Cash Box |date=June 16, 1983 |pages=33–4 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1983/CB-1983-06-18.pdf#page=33}}

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 of the month.{{cite magazine|title=Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)|magazine=Game Machine|issue=213|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1 June 1983|page=29|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19830601p.pdf#page=15}} It remained at the top of the Game Machine table arcade game charts for three months through June{{cite magazine|title=Best Hit Games 25|magazine=Game Machine|issue=214|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=15 June 1983|page=27|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19830615p.pdf#page=14}} and July{{cite magazine|title=Best Hit Games 25|magazine=Game Machine|issue=215|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1 July 1983|pages=29–30|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19830701p.pdf#page=15}}{{cite magazine|title=Best Hit Games 25|magazine=Game Machine|issue=216|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=15 July 1983|page=37|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19830715p.pdf#page=19}} to August 1983,{{cite magazine|title=Best Hit Games 25|magazine=Game Machine|issue=217|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1 August 1983|page=29|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19830801p.pdf#page=15}}{{cite magazine|title=Best Hit Games 25|magazine=Game Machine|issue=218|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=15 August 1983|page=27|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19830815p.pdf#page=14}} before eventually being dethroned by Elevator Action in September.{{cite magazine|title=Best Hit Games 25|magazine=Game Machine|issue=219|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1 September 1983|page=29|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19830901p.pdf#page=15}} Champion Baseball remained in the top ten for the rest of the year, through December 1983.{{cite magazine|title=Best Hit Games 25|magazine=Game Machine|issue=225|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1 December 1983|page=33|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19831201p.pdf#page=17}}

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, but the golden age of arcade video games was coming to an end in North America, with Sega closing down its Sega Electronics division and selling it to Bally Manufacturing later that year.{{cite magazine |last=Adlum |first=Eddie |title=The Replay Years: Reflections from Eddie Adlum |magazine=RePlay |date=November 1985 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=134-175 (168-70) |url=https://archive.org/details/re-play-volume-11-issue-no.-2-november-1985-600DPI/RePlay%20-%20Volume%2011%2C%20Issue%20No.%202%20-%20November%201985/page/168}}

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.{{cite magazine|title=Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型新製品 (New Videos-Table Type)|magazine=Game Machine|issue=221|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1 October 1983|page=29|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19831001p.pdf#page=15}} Another sequel, titled Super Champion Baseball, was released in 1989.

Upon release, the sports gameplay of Champion Baseball was a departure from the "space games" and "cartoon" action games that had previously dominated the arcades. Champion Baseball went on to serve as the prototype for later baseball video games. Nintendo, for example, later released their own competing sports game, Baseball, initially for the Famicom 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 capabilities.{{cite book |last1=Horowitz |first1=Ken |title=Beyond Donkey Kong: A History of Nintendo Arcade Games |date=6 August 2020 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-8420-8 |pages=132–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3D0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA135}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7306 Champion Baseball] at The Killer List of Video Games

Category:1983 video games

Category:ADK (company) games

Category:Arcade video games

Category:Baseball video games

Category:Gremlin Industries games

Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games

Category:Multiplayer hotseat games

Category:Sega arcade games

Category:SG-1000 games

Category:Video games developed in Japan