Hardball (computer game)

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Hardball is a popular series of baseball computer and video games by Accolade, made for a variety of platforms.

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

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.

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.