World Stadium

World Stadium (プロ野球ワールドスタジアム) is a arcade game that was released by Namco in 1988 only in Japan; it runs on Namco System 1 hardware, and was inspired by the company's 1986 Famicom game Pro Yakyuu Family Stadium (which was released in the United States as R.B.I. Baseball) along with its immediate sequel, Pro Yakyuu Family Stadium '87 (both titles also later went on to beget the Famista franchise).

At the start of the game, players must select one of twelve different teams in the "Urban League" (the Giants, Cars, Drasans, Sparrows, Wheels, and Titans, who are loosely based on the six teams in the real-life Central League) and the "Country League" (the Lionels, Bravos, Hornets, Fires, Orients, and Buckaroos, who are loosely based on the six teams in the real-life Pacific League); they then have to select one of three different stadiums (Kōrakuen, Kōshien, and Mejā) for their match to take place in, before selecting one of their chosen team's five pitchers (the rear views of whom will be displayed on the screen as you push your joystick up and down to highlight them). Both of your chosen teams' full nine-player lineups will then be displayed on the screen, before all eighteen players run out and take their positions on the field of your chosen stadium as the crowd cheer - and the match will then start.

This is the first game for the World Stadium series; it was followed by thirteen sequels between 1989 and 2001 (and in 1992, Namco got the license to use the real-life teams from the Central and Pacific Leagues in them). Kyūkai Dōchūki (1990) and Great Sluggers (1993) both also seem to have similar gameplay to the series - and the former title features characters from Namco's first sixteen-bit game.