This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2015) |
Baseball | |
---|---|
![]() Intellivision cover art | |
Developer(s) | Mattel |
Publisher(s) | Mattel |
Designer(s) | David Rolfe [1] |
Platform(s) | Intellivision, Atari 2600 |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Sports |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Baseball (released as Major League Baseball, Super Challenge Baseball, and World Championship Baseball) is a sport video game produced by Mattel and released for the Intellivision home video game console in 1980. As the best-selling game in the console's history, with more than 1 million copies sold, [1] Baseball put players in control of a nine-man baseball team competing in a standard nine-inning game. When first released, Mattel obtained a license from Major League Baseball, although the only trademarked item used is the MLB logo on the box art. No official team names or player names are in the game.
The game consists of nine innings on a simplified baseball diamond. The team having scored the most runs wins.
Player 1 is always the visiting team and bats at the top of the innings, with Player 2 as the home team and batting at the bottom of the innings. The pitching player selects a pitch by pushing the controller in one of eight cardinal directions, each representing a different speed and direction. The batting player then attempts to hit the ball into play and reach base safely, so that subsequent batters can move to home plate and thus score a run. If the ball is hit into play, the pitching player uses the keypad to select the fielder catch the ball, then selects the player to receive the throw, to put the runner "out".
The batting player is able to advance the base-runners off base in an attempt to steal a base, but the pitching player can counter that with an attempt to pickoff the runners before the pitch is thrown.
If the score is tied at the end of the 9th inning, extra innings are played as necessary until a winner is determined.
Even though the two teams represented in Baseball are basically the same, the level of simulation is remarkable for its time. A wide array of baseball strategy includes Double plays, triple plays, rundowns, and intentional walks are all possible. Changes include all hits being automatically grounders, with no provisions for flyballs. Home runs depend on how and where the ball is hit. [3]
Another major change allows the batting player to score a run on a third out, if the base-runner reaches home plate before the third out takes place. [4] For example, if the bases were loaded with two outs as the batter hits the ball into play, the runner on third base could score if a throw to third base forcing out the runner from second base (thus, the third out) arrived after the runner on third crossed home plate but before the runner from second base reached third base.
An updated version titled World Championship Baseball was released in 1983. [5] Sears sold it without the MLB license for its private-label Super Video Arcade console, and Mattel's M Network produced an Atari 2600 conversion called Super Challenge Baseball. [6] [7] After Mattel Electronics ceased production of the Intellivision system and its assets were sold to INTV Corporation, Major League Baseball was re-released with the new name Big League Baseball. [1] It is in the Intellivision Lives! compilation and in Microsoft's Game Room service as Baseball.
Baseball was reviewed by Video magazine in its "Arcade Alley" column where it was praised for its inclusion of moveable fielders and "flashy" baserunning techniques like the suicide squeeze. Criticism was given to the somewhat simplistic pitching controls, and the fact that "all batted balls are grounders", but overall the game was described as "blow[ing] away" all other contemporary baseball video games. [8] : 12, 92 The game is covered in Video magazine's 1982 Guide to Electronic Games where reviewers noted that the game had "lost none of its luster" since its release. [9] : 53 In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the game 37th on its Top 100 Video Games. It praised the realistic graphics and the ability to control each player individually. [10]
Baseball statistics include a variety of metrics used to evaluate player and team performance in the sport of baseball.
The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 1984, Mattel sold its video game assets to a former Mattel Electronics executive and investors, eventually becoming INTV Corporation. Game development ran from 1978 to 1990, when the Intellivision was discontinued. From 1980 to 1983, more than 3.75 million consoles were sold. As per Intellivision Entertainment the final tally through 1990 is somewhere between 4.5 and 5 million consoles sold.
BurgerTime, originally released as Hamburger in Japan, is a 1982 arcade video game from Data East released initially for its DECO Cassette System. The player is chef Peter Pepper, who must walk over hamburger ingredients in a maze of platforms and ladders while avoiding anthropomorphic hot dogs, fried eggs, and pickles which are in pursuit.
Throughout the history of baseball, the rules have frequently changed as the game continues to evolve. A few common rules most professional leagues have in common is that four balls is a base on balls, three strikes is a strikeout, and three outs end a half-inning.
Demon Attack is a fixed shooter video game created by Rob Fulop for the Atari 2600 and published by Imagic in 1982. The game involves the player controlling a laser cannon from the surface of a planet, shooting winged demons that fly down and attack the player in different sets of patterns.
Venture is a fantasy-themed action game released as an arcade video game in 1981 by Exidy. Each level consists of a playable, overhead map view. Upon entering one of the rooms shown on the map, the game zooms in until the room fills the screen. As a round smiley-face named Winky, the goal is to collect the treasure in each of the rooms. Winky can shoot arrows at enemies which turn into slowly disintegrating corpses when hit. Corpses are deadly to the touch. Each room has a different layout, treasure, and enemies, and some rooms have special features, such as moving walls.
Astrosmash is a fixed shooter video game for the Intellivision console, designed by John Sohl, and released by Mattel Electronics in 1981. The player uses a laser cannon to destroy falling meteors, bombs, and other targets.
Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball is a baseball video game (1983) designed by Don Daglow and Eddie Dombrower, and published by Mattel for the Intellivision Entertainment Computer System. IWSB was one of the first sports video games to use multiple camera angles and present a three-dimensional perspective. It was also the first statistics-based baseball simulation game on a video game console; all prior console baseball games were arcade-style recreations of the sport.
In the history of video games, the second-generation era refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld video game consoles available from 1976 to 1992. Notable platforms of the second generation include the Fairchild Channel F, Atari 2600, Intellivision, Odyssey 2, and ColecoVision. The generation began in November 1976 with the release of the Fairchild Channel F. This was followed by the Atari 2600 in 1977, Magnavox Odyssey² in 1978, Intellivision in 1980 and then the Emerson Arcadia 2001, ColecoVision, Atari 5200, and Vectrex, all in 1982. By the end of the era, there were over 15 different consoles. It coincided with, and was partly fuelled by, the golden age of arcade video games. This peak era of popularity and innovation for the medium resulted in many games for second generation home consoles being ports of arcade games. Space Invaders, the first "killer app" arcade game to be ported, was released in 1980 for the Atari 2600, though earlier Atari-published arcade games were ported to the 2600 previously. Coleco packaged Nintendo's Donkey Kong with the ColecoVision when it was released in August 1982.
B-17 Bomber is a single-player video game released by Mattel for their Intellivision console in 1982. The game was bundled with the Intellivoice voice synthesis module.
Major League Baseball is a sports video game released in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is notable for being one of the first video games licensed by Major League Baseball, although it was not endorsed by the Major League Baseball Players Association. Without the backing of the Players Association, the game could not name the actual players, although it was able to use their numbers, thus accurately portraying the contemporary teams and their rosters. In doing so, it became the first baseball game for the Nintendo Entertainment System to carry official Major League Baseball licensing and lineups.
NASL Soccer is a 1980 Intellivision two-player game based on the North American Soccer League (1968–1984). Mattel released an Atari 2600 version of the game under its M Network label as International Soccer.
Armor Battle is a video game written by Chris Kingsley for the Intellivision and published by Mattel in 1979. One of the earliest games available for the console, Armor Battle pits two players against each other in a contest to see which player can eliminate their opponent's stock of tanks first.
Basketball is a multiplayer sports video game produced by Mattel and released for its Intellivision video game system in 1980. The players each control a basketball team competing in four timed quarters of game play. Mattel obtained a license from National Basketball Association and used the NBA logo in its box art, making it first basketball video game to be licensed by the NBA. NBA Basketball does not use any official team or player names. It was sold by Sears for its private-label version of the Intellivision console, the "Super Video Arcade", without the NBA name or logo.
Triple Action is an action video game produced by Mattel Electronics for its Intellivision video game system in 1981. The game actually includes three separate games—racing, tank combat and flying—where two players compete against each other for the best score.
Auto Racing is a racing video game written by Larry Zwick and released by Mattel for its Intellivision video game console in 1980. Auto Racing pits two players against each other using a top-down perspective on one of five different race courses. Auto Racing was released under the same name by Sears for its private-label version of the Intellivision console, the Super Video Arcade.
Skiing is a sports video game produced by Mattel and released for its Intellivision video game system in 1980. Up to six players compete individually on either a downhill or slalom course to see who can complete the course the fastest. For the game's initial release, Mattel obtained a license from the U. S. Ski Team and used its name and logo in the game's box art. In 1988, INTV Corporation released an enhanced version of the game entitled Mountain Madness: Super Pro Skiing.
The Fairchild Channel F is a home video game console released by Fairchild Camera and Instrument in November 1976. It has the distinction of being the first programmable ROM cartridge–based video game console, and the first console to use a microprocessor. It was launched as the Fairchild Video Entertainment System, or Fairchild VES for short, but when Atari released their Atari Video Computer System, Atari VCS, later Atari 2600 the next year, Fairchild renamed its machine.
NFL Football is a sports video game developed by Mattel and released for its Intellivision video game system in 1979. The players each control a football team competing in a standard four-quarter game. Like Mattel's other sports video games, NFL Football did not use any official National Football League team names or player names, even though Mattel obtained a license from the NFL and used the league's logo in its box art. NFL Football has been cited as the first football video game to have a playbook.
Home Run is a 1978 sports video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari Video Computer System. It was the first baseball-themed game released for an Atari platform. The game received mostly negative critical reception due to its unrealistic portrayal of the sport. It was one of the games used by console competitor Mattel to show the quality improvement of Intellivision sports games over the Atari VCS.