HardBall!
HardBall! Is a baseball video game published by Accolade. Initially released for the Commodore 64 in 1985, it was ported to other computers over the next several years.
HardBall!
- Date
- 1985
- Publisher
- Accolade
- Genre
- sports video game
- Held by
- Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
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HardBall! Is a baseball video game published by Accolade. Initially released for the Commodore 64 in 1985, it was ported to other computers over the next several years.
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wikidata · Q392948
In this article
The object
The object
A Sega Genesis cartridge was published in 1991. Followed by HardBall II, HardBall III, HardBall IV, HardBall 5, and HardBall 6.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — HardBall! • Developer — Accolade • Publisher — Accolade • Designer — Bob Whitehead • Composer — Ed Bogas • Artist — Mimi Doggett • Released — 1985: C64 1987: Atari 8-bit June 1991: Genesis • Genre — Sports • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Platforms — Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Mac, Atari ST, Amiga, Apple IIGS, MSX2, MS-DOS, Genesis
Gameplay
Gameplay
• Illustration — Throwing a pitch on the Commodore 64 version, with options for the pitcher and batter Play is controlled with a joystick or arrow keys and an action button. One of the four cardinal directions is used to choose the pitch, and again to aim it towards low, high, inside (towards batter), or outside (away from batter). The same directions are used to aim the swing when batting. When fielding after a hit, the defensive player closest to the ball will flash to show it is the one currently under control. The four directions are then used to throw to one of the four bases. HardBall! was one of the first baseball video games to incorporate the perspective from the pitcher's mound, similar to MLB broadcasts. There are also managerial options available. The player has a selection of pitchers to choose from. Each team member has his own statistics that affect his performance, and can be rearranged as desired. Prior to HardBall!s release, there were managerial baseball games available, such as MicroLeague Baseball but HardBall! was the first to integrate that aspect with the arcade control of the game action itself.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
HardBall! is associated with United States.
Country
Reception
HardBall! was a commercial blockbuster. The Commodore 64 version topped the UK sales chart in early 1986. It went on to become Accolade's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987; by 1989, this version had surpassed 500,000 units sold. Info rated HardBall! four-plus stars out of five, stating that it "is easily the best baseball simulation we have seen to date for the 64/128" and praising its graphics. "Graphics is HardBall's strength. Realism isn't", Antic said of the Atari 8-bit version. Citing unrealistic computer play, and a bug allowing for more than three outs, as examples of "questionable at best" gameplay, the magazine concluded "HardBall comes across as more like an ambitious arcade game than a full-fledged computer simulation". ANALOG Computing praised the Atari 8-bit version's gameplay, graphic, and animation, only criticizing the computer opponent's low difficulty level. The magazine concluded that the game "is in a league of its own, above all other Atari sports games—simulations included". In an overview of statistics-oriented baseball games, Computer Gaming World stated that HardBall! "would probably be disappointing to anyone other than an avid arcade fan". Compute!'s Apple Applications stated that the Apple II and Macintosh versions had "almost everything you could want from a baseball simulation", with good support for playing as manager, player, or statistician and "exceptionally clear and precise graphics". The magazine concluded that "HardBall!s realism is outstanding—at a level unmatched by other baseball software to date". The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #132 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars. MegaTech gave the Genesis version a score of 75%, writing: "A decent baseball game which doesn't have enough novel or interesting features to make it appeal to anyone other than real fans of the sport." Entertainment Weekly picked the game as the #11 greatest game available in 1991, saying: "With its oversaturated colors, ultrarealistic sound effects (when the umpire shouts 'Play ball!' it sounds as if he's in the room), and detailed managerial options, HardBall! is the closest you may ever get to playing in a real major-league ballpark."
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.IDG. Special Feature: Baseball Blowout. GamePro. 24. 36–37. July 1991.
- 2.HardBall! - MegaDrive Review. Mean Machines. 9. 60–62. June 1991.
- 3.Game Index. MegaTech. 1. 78. December 1991.
- 4.Sutyak, Jonathan. Hardball (Commodore 64/128) Review. Allgame.
- 5.Sunshine Publications. Charts. Popular Computing Weekly. 5. 11. 35. 13 March 1986.
- 6.Ferrell, Keith. The Commodore Games That Live On And On. Compute's Gazette. 18–22. December 1987.
- 7.Worley, Joyce. Mega Hits: The Best of the Best. Video Games & Computer Entertainment. 130–132, 137, 138. December 1989.
- 8.Blasko, Larry. Computers. Courier-Post. December 14, 1989.
- 9.Dunnington, Benn. C-64/128 Gallery. Info. 4–5, 88–93. December 1985 – January 1986.
- 10.Pearlman, Gregg. HardBall. Antic. 47. November 1986.
- 11.Millard, Robert. HardBall!. ANALOG Computing. 26. December 1986.
- 12.Wilson, Johnny. Bezbol Been Berry, Berry Good To Me!. Computer Gaming World. 36. 42–43. April 1987.
- 13.Florance, David. Hardball. Compute!'s Apple Applications. 106. December 1987.
- 14.Lesser, Hartley. The Role of Computers. Dragon. 132. 80–85. April 1988.
- 15.Video Games Guide. EW.com.
References
Citations
References
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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