Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team (the batting team) take turns hitting against the pitcher of the other team (the fielding team), which tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and later advance via a teammate's hit or other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning and nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.
Baseball is one of the most popular sports in Japan. It was introduced to Japan in 1872 by Horace Wilson, who taught at the Kaisei School in Tokyo. The first baseball team was called the Shimbashi Athletic Club and was established in 1878. Baseball has been a popular sport ever since.
The professional baseball association is called Nippon Professional Baseball. Japan has two leagues, as in the United States. The Central and Pacific Leagues each consist of six teams. The Pacific League uses the designated hitter style of play. The pro baseball season is eight months long with games beginning in April, and a Championship held in October. Teams play 144 games, as compared to the 162 games of the American major league teams.
The rules are essentially those of Major League Baseball. In the Nippon league, however, tie games are allowed, and technical elements are slightly different: a smaller baseball, strike zone, and playing field are used. The Japanese baseball is wound more tightly and is harder than an American baseball. The strike zone is narrower "inside" than away from the batter. Also, five Nippon league teams have undersized home fields. A controversial rule also allows a team to have no more than four foreign players, limiting the cost and competition for expensive players of other nationalities.
The other major difference between NPB and MLB is that, except in playoffs, games in Japan are halted after 12 innings. Due to the fear that fans might miss their last train, Japanese games that go 12 innings and are still tied are recorded as ties. Teams with the best winning percentage go on to the playoffs. Occasionally, a team with more total wins has lost to a team that had more ties and fewer losses and, therefore, had a slightly better winning percentage. In Major League Baseball tie games are very rare and only occur under special circumstances and do not count towards the standings (however statistics from these games are recorded).
Baseball Navigator is a simulation game in which the player takes the role of the new manager of a japanese baseball team, he can talk to the team members, decide the tactics and other things about the team.
The game features these game modes:
- Scenario: The main game, the player is the coach of a baseball team.
- Data battle: Use a save from the main game to play with your team against the computer team or another human player team
- Vs mode: Play againts a computer or another human player.
Manufacturer's description:
Take the baton in front of a large audience of professional baseball players grow, enjoy the charm of authentic simulation baseball coach. Stadium and accurate representation of brilliant player moves Furuporigon spectacular. The players and the coach showed confidence in playing and fluttered, and various activities or even bother to practice the opposite. Won the trust aim to win the pennant.
Features:
- First person perspective.
- 3D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- Baseball theme.
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