Champion Baseball
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. 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 (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. 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. Reception. The game was a blockbuster success upon release in Japanese arcades, at one point enjoying a level of popularity comparable to "Space Invaders" according to Sega. 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 1983. It was Japan's highest-grossing arcade game around mid-1983. When Japanese magazine "" 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. It remained at the top of the "Game Machine" table arcade game charts for three months through June and July to August 1983, before eventually being dethroned by "Elevator Action" in September 1983. "Champion Baseball" remained in the top ten for the rest of the year, through December 1983. 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. However, 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. 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 top-grossing new table arcade unit of the month. Another sequel, titled "Super Champion Baseball", was released in 1989. Impact. 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.