Home Run (video game)

Did You Know?

• Home Run was one of the games used by Mattel in advertisements to show the quality improvement of Intellivision sports games over the Atari VCS.
• In an aggressive marketing campaign by Mattel Electronics, Home Run was compared to its Intellivision counterpart Major League Baseball, sparking off the first console war.

Gameplay

Teams consist of only one to three players. Fielders must run with the ball to tag opponents out, as throwing to force outs is not possible. The pitcher stands at second base rather than a mound. The game lacks fly balls and independent fielders. Depending on the mode, zero to two infielders appear; when the pitcher or an infielder catches the ball, everyone except baserunners and the ball-catcher vanishes. The home team always bats in the bottom of the ninth, and tied games have no extra innings.

Development and marketing

Home Run was designed and programmed by Bob Whitehead and David Rolfe; Whitehead later co-founded Activision. Cliff Spohn created the cover art. According to a 1978 New York Times interview with Nolan Bushnell, the engineer initially assigned to the game did not know baseball rules, resulting in an early version where a missed swing awarded a ball instead of a strike. A television advertising campaign for the game and the Atari VCS featured Pete Rose.

Reception

A December 1982 JoyStik review called the game nothing like real baseball and described its graphics as primitive. The 1984 Software Encyclopedia from Electronic Games gave it a 4/10 rating, stating it lacked the feel of real sports action. Electronic Games editors Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel wrote that the game was so pared down it barely qualified as a baseball simulation, suggesting it might more accurately be called Video Stickball. A December 2000 Classic Gamer review by Patrick Wong panned the game alongside Atari's Golf as two of the worst games ever made, criticizing the boring graphics, limited fielders, and unrealistic gameplay. A January/February 2003 Digital Press review described it as a big stinker and one of the worst games ever designed, with inexcusably bad graphics. Bret Weiss praised the variety of pitching options but found the graphics and gameplay lackluster. Kieren Hawken criticized the excessively basic gameplay and graphics, comparing it unfavorably to later Atari 2600 baseball games.