Konami has done us SO wrong not porting this game--Powerful Pro baseball. Listen, I figured this game would pretty much be an RBI clone (because it looks cartoony). You know... basic toss the ball, tweak the pitch direction in mid-air, simple time-based batting, and ultra-basic fielding, etc. SO FRICKING WRONG.
*****Deleted****
Check out some of the things I experienced tonight:
-Fielders who turn their heads to face the ball as they run (the infielders stare at the guy on the highest base as they run around)
-Fielder momentum
-Offline throws. Half the time the player has to step off the bag several paces and you have to manually run back and tag the runner.
-REAL PICKLES for once! The guys were switching places correctly and everything!!! I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
-Soft toss throws when close to the base
-Cutoff men who jump up to catch the throw and toss it to 2nd in mid-air
-AMAZING sound. I have never heard a baseball game sound this exciting!!! The crowd was always buzzing, the announcer was constantly going crazy in Japanese, and the crowd reactions to every little thing were SPOT ON and had an incredible impact on the fun factor. I don't know if this is just how Japanese baseball sounds, but I like it!!! Realistic crowds are fine, but they are incredibly boring next to this. This is how baseball oughta be!
-Super challenge. I am pretty darn good at most baseball games, but this one (granted I was learning to play it) beat me 17-0!!!!! And he only hit ONE home run! I swear the CPU is as challenging as any game out there. He takes advantage of every opportunity. You also have absolutely NO fielding help whatsoever (not even a little spot on the ground) so you have to be on your toes 100% of the time. It DOES give you a good camera angle on the fielders though, and you have off-screen arrow indicators to tell you where your guys are.
-Insane statistics. After the game I was fidgeting through countless Japanese options and came upon a screen that logged EVERY pitch thrown during the game, the placement and the type. I heard WSB2K3 does this too, but this game (this version) was made five years ago!
All this, and I've barely gotten started messing with everything. (Yes, barely gotten started as in haven't had time to dig out possible faults.)
In short, from a pure gameplay standpoint I have never seen an American game that beats this. No, it does not try to create a realistic environment like High Heat, etc., it does not have customized player graphics, and I'm not trying to say the physics are true-to-life or anything (although they probably are), but what I AM saying is that every little nuance of PLAYING the game of baseball seems to be represented here. If you can do it in WSB2K3, High Heat, ASB or MVP the odds are you can do it in this game. Batting is cursor-style (but the cursor travel is short), and the SNES version had an ingenious pitching interface: you see a head-on view of the catcher above the normal behind-the-batter view, and you aim with the catcher's mitt (with no visible strike zone). This effectively confuses the person playing with you I guess, but it made it realistically hard to pinpoint your throws (which, by the way, seemed to have a certain degree of inaccuracy).
The crazy number of Japanese text menus let me know that this game is probably very customizable. I also know that there is an RPG mode (like franchise I guess) that is supposedly super deep in and of itself. At least, there supposedly is for the GBA version, and I don't know why this would be any different. All I know is there was a TON of stuff I didn't even touch because it was all in Japanese. I need some sort of translation FAQ now
I so want this game in English. If RBI for the Gamecube has the advanced gameplay that this one has I will be so stoked. *****Reference and link deleted.******
*****Deleted****
Check out some of the things I experienced tonight:
-Fielders who turn their heads to face the ball as they run (the infielders stare at the guy on the highest base as they run around)
-Fielder momentum
-Offline throws. Half the time the player has to step off the bag several paces and you have to manually run back and tag the runner.
-REAL PICKLES for once! The guys were switching places correctly and everything!!! I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
-Soft toss throws when close to the base
-Cutoff men who jump up to catch the throw and toss it to 2nd in mid-air
-AMAZING sound. I have never heard a baseball game sound this exciting!!! The crowd was always buzzing, the announcer was constantly going crazy in Japanese, and the crowd reactions to every little thing were SPOT ON and had an incredible impact on the fun factor. I don't know if this is just how Japanese baseball sounds, but I like it!!! Realistic crowds are fine, but they are incredibly boring next to this. This is how baseball oughta be!
-Super challenge. I am pretty darn good at most baseball games, but this one (granted I was learning to play it) beat me 17-0!!!!! And he only hit ONE home run! I swear the CPU is as challenging as any game out there. He takes advantage of every opportunity. You also have absolutely NO fielding help whatsoever (not even a little spot on the ground) so you have to be on your toes 100% of the time. It DOES give you a good camera angle on the fielders though, and you have off-screen arrow indicators to tell you where your guys are.
-Insane statistics. After the game I was fidgeting through countless Japanese options and came upon a screen that logged EVERY pitch thrown during the game, the placement and the type. I heard WSB2K3 does this too, but this game (this version) was made five years ago!
All this, and I've barely gotten started messing with everything. (Yes, barely gotten started as in haven't had time to dig out possible faults.)
In short, from a pure gameplay standpoint I have never seen an American game that beats this. No, it does not try to create a realistic environment like High Heat, etc., it does not have customized player graphics, and I'm not trying to say the physics are true-to-life or anything (although they probably are), but what I AM saying is that every little nuance of PLAYING the game of baseball seems to be represented here. If you can do it in WSB2K3, High Heat, ASB or MVP the odds are you can do it in this game. Batting is cursor-style (but the cursor travel is short), and the SNES version had an ingenious pitching interface: you see a head-on view of the catcher above the normal behind-the-batter view, and you aim with the catcher's mitt (with no visible strike zone). This effectively confuses the person playing with you I guess, but it made it realistically hard to pinpoint your throws (which, by the way, seemed to have a certain degree of inaccuracy).
The crazy number of Japanese text menus let me know that this game is probably very customizable. I also know that there is an RPG mode (like franchise I guess) that is supposedly super deep in and of itself. At least, there supposedly is for the GBA version, and I don't know why this would be any different. All I know is there was a TON of stuff I didn't even touch because it was all in Japanese. I need some sort of translation FAQ now
I so want this game in English. If RBI for the Gamecube has the advanced gameplay that this one has I will be so stoked. *****Reference and link deleted.******
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