RealSports Baseball

After the Intellivision had shown just how weak many Atari's sports games were, it was decided that Atari needed a real sports lineup.  Atari's answer fittingly enough was the creation of the RealSports series.  The RealSports series attempted to update Atari's aging sports games with new graphics and computer opponents.  The first game to get the RealSports treatment was Atari's first baseball game Home Run.

The biggest complaint about Home Run was that the out fielding was done with X's and O's (as was done in the Atari arcade game).  This was remedied by putting the bases and outfield on the same screen, and substituting real players instead of the old style X's and O's.  Atari also vastly improved upon Home Run's graphics, giving players an actual baseball diamond for the first time.  The computer AI was also improved (offering a decent challenge for a change), but still had some flaws allowing players to win games by easily stealing bases.  Later in Atari's life, RS Baseball was tweaked and released asSuper Baseball.  Although the games are very similar, Super Baseball fixed some of RS Baseball's bugs and had slightly improved graphics.

While Atari still had a long way to go to catch up with the Intellivision, the RealSports series was a step in the right direction. Even though it has its flaws, RS Baseball offers a solid game of baseball with a decent challenge.  However bugs and washed out looking colors really detract from what could have been a great baseball game.  

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