is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

arcade game that was released by

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, ...

in 1990 in Japan; it runs on

Namco System 2 Namco was a video game developer and publisher, originally from Japan. Bandai Namco Entertainment is the successor to Namco and continues manufacturing and distributing video games worldwide. For Namco games released following the 2006 merger w ...

hardware, and is a spin-off of ''

Yokai Dochuki is a 1987 platform arcade game developed and released by Namco in Japan and other parts of Asia. The player controls a young boy named Tarosuke as he must make his way through Jigoku, the Japanese concept of Hell, to reach Buddha, who will det ...

''. The gameplay is similar to that for Namco's own ''

World Stadium ''World Stadium'' (full title: ), is a series of baseball arcade games that were released by Namco in the late 1980s and 1990s; they were spin-offs of the ''Family Stadium'' franchise, inspired by the 1986 Famicom game '' Pro Yakyū Family Stadi ...

'' series - except that both players have a total of thirty-six different teams to choose from in the Japanese, Arabic, German, Humbaba, American, Russian, and Chinese leagues. The Japan League has five stadiums, and if the first player selects one team from it, it will randomly decide which one the match will take place in; however, the other leagues only have one stadium, This game also features a cameo re-appearance, from Valkyrie (as in '' no Densetsu''), who appears to report the final outcome of a match once it has finished, and Namco's signature character '' Pac-Man'' can also be seen on two of the television screens in her studio wearing a purple bow tie (in his ''

Pac-Land is a 1984 side-scrolling arcade platform game developed and released by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Bally Midway, and in Europe by Atari Games. Controlling Pac-Man (character), Pac-Man, the player must make it to the end of eac ...

''-style anthropomorphized form, as opposed to his "original" one).

Gameplay and development

''Kyūkai Dōchūki'' is a baseball video game. It is a spin-off of ''

'', an older Namco arcade game from 1987 that has the distinction of being the company's first 16-bit video game. The name is also a play on the title of the latter; "yakyu" is the Japanese word for

, which the development team thought sounded similar to the " yokai". Gameplay itself draws inspiration from Namco's ''

Family Stadium also known as ''Pro Yakyū: Family Stadium'' and ''Famista'', is a series of baseball sports video games initially developed and released by Namco in Japan, and later developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The first entry in t ...

'' franchise and its sister series ''

'', with large, caricature-esc players and a more comical, "super-deformed" appearance. It ran on the

arcade system board, which previously powered games like ''

Valkyrie no Densetsu ''Valkyrie no Densetsu'' is a 1989 action-adventure role-playing arcade game developed and published in Japan by Namco. It is a follow-up to the Family Computer game '' Valkyrie no Bōken'' (1986). Players control the warrior maiden Valkyrie an ...

'', ''

Burning Force is a 1989 third-person shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan. A home conversion for the Sega Genesis was released worldwide a year later. The player assumes control of the 21-year-old space cadet Hiromi Tengenji, a pilot ...

'', and '' Final Lap''. A home conversion for the

Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan a ...

was released in Japan on July 12, 1991.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' claimed that ''Kyūkai Dōchūki'' was the thirteenth most popular arcade game of June 1990. The Mega Drive home conversion of ''Kyūkai Dōchūki'' was met with mostly mixed to positive reviews from critics, often being compared to Namco's own ''

'' series for its colorful graphics and character designs. The game's humor, stadiums and controls were praised, although some felt that it wasn't as refined as Namco's other sports video games. ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

'' magazine favorably compared the game to the ''Family Stadium'' series for its cartoonish visuals and similar art direction, while also liking its bizarre stadium settings and humor. ''Mega Drive Fan'' had a similar response, finding its unique settings and character designs to make it stand out among other baseball games released for the console. '' Beep! Mega Drive'' praised the more "open" stadiums compared to the ''Family Stadium'' games and its responsive controls, alongside its cute character designs. The 2004 book ''Mega Drive Encyclopedia'' liked the overall gameplay and style, finding it to be superior than most other sports games on the Mega Drive. They also praised the stadiums for having different characteristics, such as the ball sliding across the ice in the Antarctic-themed stadium. ''Beep! Mega Drive'' found that the game could potentially put-off fans of the ''Family Stadium'' series and other similar games, saying that its controls and mechanics took some time to get used to. ''Mega Drive Fan'' felt the same way, saying that it felt dated compared to the ''Family Stadium'' and ''

'' games for its limited number of modes and vastly different controls. ''Famitsu'' disliked the game for not feeling as refined as Namco's other sports games for consoles, while ''Mega Drive Encyclopedia'' wrote that it didn't have the same amount of replay value as games like ''Family Stadium'' or ''J-League Soccer Prime Goal''.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyukai Dochuki 1990 video games Arcade video games Japan-exclusive video games Nippon Professional Baseball video games Namco arcade games Sega Genesis games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in Japan