is a 2007

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 ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by . The

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...

–based

browser game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on ...

was first published online at the site DisneyGames.jp, then by

Yahoo! Japan is a Japanese internet company originally formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! (later divested by Verizon into Altaba) and the Japanese company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Kioi Tower in the Tokyo Garden Te ...

at its Yahoo! Kids portal. Later, an English translation became available at

disney.com disney.com is a website operated by Disney Digital Network, a division of The Walt Disney Company, that promotes various Disney properties such as films, television shows, and theme park resorts, and offers entertainment content intended for child ...

. The player controls Disney's Winnie the Pooh as a batter in a home run derby contest. Pooh steps up to the plate against eight characters from the ''Winnie the Pooh'' franchise as

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

s, culminating in the final boss:

Christopher Robin Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney ...

. The player advances by hitting a certain number of balls thrown by each pitcher past the outer bounds of the

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

. In 2012 and 2013, the game became a

viral phenomenon Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...

hit because of its extreme difficulty, especially considering its target audience of young children.

Gameplay

The game plays as a typical home run derby, where most aspects of

are stripped away in favor of the simple aspect of being pitched baseballs with the goal of hitting

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s. The player controls

Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...

, using the

computer mouse A computer mouse (plural mice, sometimes mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows a smooth ...

to position him and his

baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histor ...

, and clicking to swing the bat. The game contains eight stages, each with a different ''

'' series character pitching the ball, each with different type of ways to throw the ball and increasing difficulty. The goal of the game is to hit the target number of home runs in each round. Points are earned for performance, and may be used to purchase upgrades for their speed (which allows the player to move towards the ball more quickly), contact (which makes it easier and more forgiving for the player to hit the ball) and strength (which sends the ball further when hit) as they earn points throughout the stages.

Release

Walt Disney Japan developed ''Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby'' in

. The game first appeared online at the site at some point no later than December 20, 2007. The game was also published online in 2008 at Yahoo! Kids, a web portal of

, and an English translation later became available at

. In light of Adobe Inc.'s discontinuation of

Flash Player Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is computer software for viewing multimedia contents, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the ...

, the game was removed from its original home at Yahoo! Kids on December 16, 2020.

Reception

Years after the game's quiet initial release, it

went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the ter ...

worldwide for its intense difficulty. It first garnered attention from users of the Japanese textboard

2channel , also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influ ...

circa January 2012. Japanese players nicknamed the batter Winnie the Pooh and final pitcher Christopher Robin . By January 2013 it became known to

Westerners The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

through its spread on sites such as

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...

and

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

. Many publications noted the game's extreme difficulty level, especially considering it was designed for a primary intended demographic of children. Multiple publications compared it to the game ''

QWOP ''QWOP'' () is a 2008 ragdoll-based browser video game created by Bennett Foddy, formerly the bassist of Cut Copy. Players control an athlete named "Qwop" using only the Q, W, O, and P keys. The game became an internet meme in December 2010. T ...

'' due to its similar premise of being simple in concept, but extremely difficult in practice. ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...

'' was more positive about the game, concluding that it "isn't particularly deep, but it is moderately addictive and watching Piglet and company tear Pooh Bear a new one isn't without its charms." Other outlets were less positive, with '' PCGamesN'' claiming that the game "reject the laws of physics and fair play" and "would require a child for who is able to bend time and space to their will" to play the game successfully. '' Kotaku'' referred to the game's difficulty as "game that's so difficult, you just might smash your monitor ... instead of the nice woodland creatures you know and love, they've been replaced with rocket-armed ür-beasts that would eat

Randy Johnson Randall David Johnson (born September 10, 1963), nicknamed "The Big Unit", is an American photographer and former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (1988–2009) for six teams, primarily the Seattle M ...

with a side of honey." Many people also felt that the game's difficulty led them into intense anger against the various characters depicted in the game, in contrast to the anthropomorphic animals' popularity as harmless children's characters. In 2013, ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' named it one of the ten most difficult browser games and called it "just about the most challenging thing you can ever imagine." The 2018 Japanese role-playing game '' Princess Connect! Re:Dive'' features a home run derby

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than t ...

called "Home Run Drill", noted for its similarity to ''Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby'', particularly in its visual presentation, controls, and heightened difficulty.

Notes

References

External links

*Archived copies are available via the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

:
''Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby''

''Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby''
* * {{Authority control 2007 video games Baseball video games Browser games Flash games Free online games Internet memes introduced in 2012 Single-player online games Video games developed in Japan Video game memes Winnie-the-Pooh video games Single-player video games Cultural depictions of Christopher Robin Milne