Champion Baseball

Developer(s)Alpha Denshi
Publisher(s)Sega
Platform(s)Arcade, SG-1000
ReleaseArcade
Genre(s)Sports (baseball)
Mode(s)Up to 2 players, alternating turns

Champion Baseball (チャンピオン ベースボール) is an arcade baseball video game developed by Alpha Denshi and published by Sega in March 1983.[4] It was a sophisticated sports video game for its time, displaying a split-screen format, with the playfield 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.[5][6] The game also had digitized voices for the umpire,[7] and individual player statistics.[4][7] 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 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 later the same year.

  1. ^ "Manufacturers Equipment" (PDF). Cash Box. August 20, 1983. p. 39.
  2. ^ Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). "Sega of America". アーケードTVゲームリスト 国内•海外編 (1971-2005) (in Japanese) (1st ed.). Amusement News Agency. p. 131. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  3. ^ "Home Video Game Console(Japanese, top-right)". Game Machine Magazine 15th July '85. Amusement Press Inc., Osaka, Japan. 15 July 1985. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "1983". Sega Arcade History. Famitsu DC (in Japanese). Enterbrain. 2002. p. 47.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference eg_baseball was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Champion Baseball at the Killer List of Videogames
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Champion was invoked but never defined (see the help page).