Ludography
Baseball! cover

1978 · Magnavox · Baseball · Sports

Baseball!

Baseball is an early 2-player arcade baseball simulation. Played from a single fixed screen, one player controls the home team, while the other controls the visiting team.

Released
1978
Platforms
Magnavox Odyssey 2Odyssey 2 / Videopac G7000
Genres
BaseballSports
Developers
Magnavox
Publishers
Magnavox
Modes
Multiplayer
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Country
United States

About

Baseball!, known in Europe as Videopac 8 - Baseball, is a 1978 baseball video game published by Magnavox and Philips for the Magnavox Odyssey², also known as the Philips Videopac G7000. It was a launch title for the system in North America. Contemporary critics considered it one of the better sports titles of its era and agreed it was better than Home Run for the Atari 2600 but not better than Major League Baseball for the Intellivision.

Media

Baseball! screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Baseball! is a two-player simulation of the sport of baseball. When pitching, players can choose to curve their pitches resembling the difference between curveballs and fastballs in the original sport. The defending player can also control the three outfielding players before and after a pitch.

If an outfielder catches the ball they can choose which base to throw it to, potentially netting an out. All runners advance through the bases simultaneously, limiting the strategy on offense. The game features a home run fence, fly balls, and a full team of nine players. The game also features a rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at the beginning of a game.

Reception

In 1980, Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz wrote for "Arcade Alley", a column of Video, that Baseball! was "the closest thing to the national pastime ever offered to home video game enthusiasts." In 1981, the two authors writing for the New York Times said it had "aged well" thanks to its realistic gameplay and "attractive graphics". They thought it was better than Atari's Home Run but worse than Intellivision's Major League Baseball.

The first issue of Electronic Games, edited by Kunkel and Katz, called it an "outstanding cartridge" and that it "balances out the key elements" of the sport. They thought it was "almost the equal of the best coin-op baseball machines."

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Odyssey 2 / Videopac G700031 December 1978Worldwide

Games like this

Collections1 collection

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.