☆ Baseball Video Games Through The Ages ☆

The Baseball Video Game is actually one of the oldest sub-genre of video games as it goes all the way back to 1961 when Baseball was created for the IBM 1620 by John Burgeson.

John was A baseball fan and long-time member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Burgeson initially wrote the Baseball simulator program as a hobbyist project on his own time for enjoyment.

John shared the program with IBM and they included it as part of the software that shipped with the IBM 1620.

At the time it was the only game on the IBM 1620. The game itself was run by placing a deck of punch cards into a card reader, which in turn placed them into the computer's memory.

Users would then be able to pick a line up from the roster of 50 players.

The computer would pick its line up from the remaining list and the simulation game was then played to completion based on the statistical probabilities for each batter and pitcher.

This baseball video game was pretty complex considering that it was the earliest recorded baseball video game.

So from 1961 onwards, there has been a whole heap of Baseball video games.

I have to admit even though I'm British and have rarely watched a full Baseball game I actually really love baseball games. The game of skill really translates well into video games and I basically learned the rules of baseball through playing baseball video games over the years.

Here I'll try and pick out some of my most favourite baseball video games from down the years.

Baseball - NES - 1983

Hardball - C64 - 1985

Earl Weaver Baseball - AMIGA - 1987

Great Baseball - SMS - 1987

Reggie Jackson Baseball - SMS - 1988

Major League Baseball - NES - 1988

Bases Loaded - NES - 1987

TECMO Baseball  - NES - 1989

Baseball Stars - NES - 1989

RBI Baseball 2 - NES - 1990

Bases Loaded II: Second Season - NES - 1990

Super Baseball Simulator - SNES - 1991

Super Bases Loaded - SNES - 1991

Baseball Stars - ARCADE - 1992

Super Baseball 2020 - SNES - 1993

Ken Griffey Jr. Major League Baseball - 1994

Super Bases Loaded 2 - 1994 - SNES

TECMO Super Baseball - SNES - 1994

That's the point where I stopped actively playing baseball video games but I have always kept an eye on them from afar.

More recently my interest was piqued again when the MLB BIG SHOW game was released on PS4 with a retro mode included. The retro mode mimicked the awesomeness of the 16-bit era baseball game with 16-bit visuals and animation.

That inclusion led me to investigate how far the Baseball video game genre has come along since the early 90’s 16-bit era.

MLB is looking like it will be purchased very soon so as I can relive my past baseball glories.

"BATTER UP!"

What’s YOUR Favourite Baseball Video Game?

Let Me Know In The Comments Box Below…

 

"STAY FROSTY!"