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Hardball!
Cover art
Publisher(s)	Accolade
Designer(s)	Robert H. Whitehead
Artist(s)	Mimi Doggett
Composer(s)	Ed Bogas
Series	Hardball
Platform(s)	Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, Sega Genesis, ZX Spectrum
Release date(s)	NA 1987
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Media	Video game cartridge, 3½-inch floppy disk, 5¼-inch floppy disk
Input methods	Keyboard, joystick, gamepad

Throwing a pitch on the Commodore 64 version, with options for the pitcher and batter

Hardball! is the first in a series of popular baseball computer and video games published by Accolade. It was released for a variety of platforms between 1985 and 1991.

Gameplay

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.

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 Micro League Baseball but Hardball! was the first to integrate that aspect with the arcade control of the game action itself.

In later releases in the series, announcer Al Michaels would provide commentary.

Reception

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.^[1]

References

See Also

• Hardball II
• Hardball III

External links

• Hardball! at World of Spectrum
• Hardball series at MobyGames
• Download Hardball 5 Demo Blast Magazine

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Hardball!
Developer(s)	Accolade
Publisher(s)	Accolade Advance Software Compulogical S.A. Kixx
Release date(s)	Commodore 64/128, Apple II Atari 8-bit  1985 Amstrad CPC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum  1986 Commodore Amiga, Apple IIGS Atari ST, MS-DOS MSX  1987 Sega Genesis  1991
Genre(s)	Baseball
System(s)	Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Apple IIgs, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Genesis, MSX, Sinclair ZX Spectrum
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Followed by	Hardball II
Series	Hardball

This is the first game in the Hardball series. For other games in the series see the Hardball category.

Hardball! (typeset as HardBall!, also appears as Hard Ball) is a 1985 baseball game that was developed and published by Accolade. It made its debut on the Commodore 64, but with its initial success, it was soon ported to the Apple II, Apple IIGS, the XE consoles of the Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Amiga, MSX, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS (in CGA and EGA), and eventually the Sega Genesis in 1991. One or two players is supported.

MSX cover art.

Genesis cover art.

Table of Contents

From Wikia Gaming, your source for walkthroughs, games, guides, and more!

The original Hardball! game was published in 1985 for the Commodore 64. One or two players were supported. It was very successful, with ports for the Apple II, Apple IIGS, Macintosh, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Amiga, MSX, ZX Spectrum, PC (DOS in CGA and EGA), and eventually the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and Sony PlayStation.

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.

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.

In later releases in the series, announcer Al Michaels would provide commentary.

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