Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
Among the Family Computer titles that Namco released under Namcot, the brand it was running for home consoles at the time, it is the 21st.
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu,the four reviewers gave 9, 8, 9, and 9, for a total of 35 out of 40, earning a place in the Platinum Hall of Fame.
In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by the magazine Family Computer Magazine,it scored 25.37 out of 30, as shown below.
The same magazine's special supplement "Famicom ROM Cartridge All Catalog" (1991-5-10 issue) placed it as "a serious baseball game that lit the fuse for the baseball game boom". It praised the fact that abilities are set for each of the 1 and 1 players, that the game is simple yet deep, and that it is cheap compared with other titles and good value, calling it "first class in every respect".
From the 1st title in 1986 onward, a total of 9 titles were released for the Famicom up to 1993.
In Japan, it topped the Famitsu sales charts in January 1987, and went on to sell over 2.05 million copies, making it one of the best-selling Famicom games of all time.
Namco had announced electro-mechanical baseball games before this one as well, but this was its first in video game form.
Before the first Famista appeared, Nintendo's Baseball (1983) was the only baseball game on the Famicom.
If the player keeps winning from here without resetting, up to the final match against the G team, then presses the start button at the Namcot Sports championship article and waits a while after returning to the title screen, a hidden message that doubles as the developer credits is displayed.
It was also Namco's first baseball video game, as prior to the game's release they had released several baseball-themed mechanical arcade games, such as Pitch In (1979) and Batting Chance (1981).
Baseball, being one of the company's only three officially licensed games released for the console.
In the first Famitsu Best Hit Game Awards published in February 1987, the game received the award for Best Sports Game.
From 1987 onward, sequels were released (see also below), forming the Famista series (the North American version, R.B.I. BASEBALL, later became a series of its own, separate from the Famista series).
Atari programmer Peter Lipson was responsible for the localization of the game.
The same magazine's special supplement "Famicom ROM Cartridge All Catalog" (1991-5-10 issue) placed it as "a serious baseball game that lit the fuse for the baseball game boom". It praised the fact that abilities are set for each of the 1 and 1 players, that the game is simple yet deep, and that it is cheap compared with other titles and good value, calling it "first class in every respect".
In Japan, it topped the Famitsu sales charts in January 1987, and went on to sell over 2.05 million copies, making it one of the best-selling Famicom games of all time.
Atari Games released the game for arcades in North America in September 1987, renamed VS. Atari R.B.I.
In the second Famitsu Best Hit Game Awards published in February 1988, the game received the "Long Seller" award.
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