Another great year for Power Pros, and now we have an English release! While not as meaty than the previous Japanese releases, it is a great game for any baseball fan to get into and has like you said: an arcade style gameplay with tons of depth to make it sim-like. Definitely will be getting it, and I'll see ya out on the field hopefully!
I don't buy digital games very often but thanks to your passion for these games and as a result my growing interest over the past few months with Power Pro and the Famista series, this was a no brainer for me at $1. This is however I find to be a curious release. It feels like Konami wants to tip their toes into the waters of the western market and just took the approach of lowest risk possible for the highest possible reward. Which I can't see being very successful. If they included more single player options and jacked up the price to $5 or even $10, it would have more merit for me. I was able to buy Power Pro Kun Pocket R for ¥1000 off Amazon JP last year and even without the English support I would most likely play that or the 3DS or Vita versions that I own. But I guess beggers can't be choosers in this case. Regardless this was still a nice little surprise during the direct and I hope its a signal for future things to come. At least I did my part. 😂😂😂 Great review as always Danny
Nice review! It's been too long. I immediately sat up straight when I saw this game in the Nintendo Direct. I got excited, then I immediately thought of you, Danny. No more excuses, Konami. A feature-rich Power Pros game in English can be done without licenses for players and teams, but I'd like it if they somehow kept them. They could give it the Fire Pro Wrestling Advance treatment where players and teams are renamed and recolored if it has to come to that. I'd love to see the next main entry, with Success and other modes, completely in English, but I have a bad feeling that Power Pros may go absent again for another decade and a half.
I so hope Konami brings a full English language version to the rest of the world - this is such a great baseball game series. I picked the PS4 version.
With how successful this game was,and with Western interest in the NPB getting higher due to players like Shohei Ohtani, why not get a fully localized Power Pro game?
I really hope so, but I wonder if NPB has ANY interest at all in doing this with their license. In 2020 when MLB was bickering about how and when to start, things started up in Japan and they played (mostly) a full season. They had a few months jump on MLB and they did nothing to capitalize on bringing their brand of baseball outside of Japan. I honestly think we'd have more luck with a new MLB branded Power Pros title, but even that seems somewhat unlikely. The MLB would have to play nice and Konami would have to be willing to shell out some cash for the license. - Danny
i own the last three iterations; was hoping to be able to play an english localized version of at least one of them. it's never going to happen it seems.
@@TheFamicast I blame ESPN on that, ESPN negotiated with KBO instead of NPB, to get Baseball. Though i think the cheif Central League Broadcasting Rights to the NPB are with Yomiuri (The Giants) and DAZN (everybody else),and they are apparently a bitch to work with, which begs the question, why not negotiate with PLTV to get the rights to the Pacific League?
I got this on PS4, I tried to actually play, and I can't get a hang of the controls. So I created a little more than 30 teams and run my own league with CPU vs CPU match-ups. Very fun game for simulating games.
Thanks for the comment, Kory! I find that the batting in this series can be a bit tricky, myself. Seems like you’ve came up with a great way to find some enjoyment out of the game. Nothing wrong with that at all! - Danny
@@TheFamicast oh absolutely! I am so used to older baseball games where you just hit 1 button to bat, not needing to adjust the position of the bat. There is too much technical stuff in this game. CPU vs CPU was a great compromise.
@@koryandrews1665 @Kory Andrews You probably will love the main game if you can find enjoyment from this game. The mainline games are even better. You have pennant mode(prober franchise with player development ) can expand up to 16 team. You can create unique players by playing success(story),eikan 9(high school management give you ability to recruit & train player and you dont even need to play baseball in this mode) pawafes... and put the players you created into your custom team or experiece their life as pro baseball player with my life mode. If konami localized the mainlines game it will probably the best thing happen for old school baseball gamers tbh.
@@koryandrews1665 It had a mode called eikan 9. You dont need to play baseball in this mode. And it actually the most popular game mode right now in jp and hard core power pro in us community. Here the link for a video gameplay ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-T2duCjfnxK8.html This game is very good for casual player because you can turn on lock on for hitting, auto pitching and fielding in some game mode like success, my life,....
Just picked up the PS4 version, also $0.99. It's no Super Mega Baseball but you can't go wrong for a buck. I have the 2008 MLB version for the PS2. This is of course, entirely lacking the extensive RPG career mode but it's still good. I do wish I could edit the player's names and appearances. Or if you can, I haven't figured it out yet. Documentation is sketchy to say the least.
You can't edit players, the entire roster is a best-of collection from past Power Pros games. For example, the Ranger series (Pink, Black, Red) are seen in Power Pocket 7 on the GBA.
Picked it up on the switch. Like the look and gameplay, reminds me of Bases Loaded on the orig Gameboy. I dispise the MLB licensing fluff out these days
Bro I used to play power pros and power pros 2008 on the Wii all the time. I just looked this up cuz I saw it on the olympics and had no idea it was the same series
Yeah I got the game, I got it because the aesthetic is very appealing, much better then those HYPER REALISTIC BASEBALL SIMS GAMES, I’M LOOKING AT YOU THE SHOW!!! (
I’ve got a question for ya, Famicast: *If things go swimmingly, when would you estimate a full English entry in this game series will release??* This game has totally hooked my interest and I’m keen to dive into a fuller game. I’m so excited that I may pick up the 08/09 games ASAP.
Thanks for the question, Joe. At the earliest, I wouldn’t expect anything else from Konami for a year or more. Maybe they want to do a full blown release with the MLB license but we’re just testing the waters to see how people respond to the series in general before that. - Danny
Yeah and the full version has so many modes for people who dont enjoy play a full baseball match (actually the 2022 online was dead due to people in jp focus on playing offline modes such as success,my life, eikan9, pawafes... and this wbsc game is reviving the competitive scence in jp lol). I hope this game gets enough fans into the franchise for konami to bring the full version to the west.
@@datvominh3857 yea I wish there was an English version for all the other modes. I remember playing the older 2007 and 2008 games on the ps2. Success mode and mlb life used to keep me entertained for HOURS.
@@Geezgio @Giovaugn Yeah current sport games are heavy focused on online and microtransaction. Career mode in fifa, pes, mlb the show is very boring. While game like nba2k is online only with bad story. This series proved that you don't need realistic graphic or cut scene to create a good career mode (my life, success). And the unique thing about about the series is that you can find the enjoyment in each title (different success story or my life) unlike other sport games where the differences are graphic and roster. Too many sport games nowadays tried to be too realistic but in those career modes they only let you play or train instead of living a life of an professional player like in my life.
First time I see this game. I don't speak Japanese, but you said you can still have fun. That said, is 2022 edition better (gameplay and content) better than this one?
Hi, Jose. Thanks for the comment! Yeah, 2022 is fully loaded. Basically, this entire game is just essentially an online mode from that. I have a review for Power Pros 2022 here on the channel, too! eBaseball Power Pro Baseball 2022 | Review | Switch ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0IYgscFIP5c.html - Danny
Do you have any idea if there's any sort of plan to add a "Success Mode" in this game? Success Mode was really the start of the show for Power Pros when they released it on Wii back in the day, if you ask me. Even without it, it's kind of funny to be playing a game now that still have Marvin and the others from the previous Power Pros games.
I dont think so but if this game become success in the west, konami will certainly consider to bring the franchise to the west. And they have just announced real tournament (final in singapore) which are hosted by konami and wbsc for jp and players around the world. I think they are very serious on turning this game into esport lol
My dad has 08 so ive play a bit of power pros and I got it a bit ago and I've played it almost everyday, going to and from my practices when i was away ive was playing it, so it was worth the 1 dollar or so for me
Can we play a game OFFLINE and then stats, wins/losses tracked? Or is win/loss stat tracking only for online play? Ie we cant play SOLO season/tournament where the wins/losses vs cpu are tracked?
why konami have to do that? This game have triple amount of modes compare to super mega baseball which is priced at 45$(from an indie studio). And the mainline games easily worth more than100$ (especially when you compare to mario sport titles despite of lacking content is priced at 60$). Why double standard? And i am certain konami wont gain any benefits if they do that due to people too satisfied which the game and will not buy the next game( the game have to much replay value and people not care about npb) Mario strikers has the same of modes and is price at 60$ and some people still say this game not worth 1$
And this game story mode ( characters rasing sim with story element) can be replay to create player(pitcher,catcher...) not like some story mode in some western sport games where you get to the ending and move on.
@@datvominh3857 i'm not saying it's not worth it at 1$ being the way it is. the main attraction of this game is the progression and the process literally from zero to hero which can be found in the my life and koshien thingy, even a lot of japanese bought the game solely for that. sure they have a lot of mode to translate and gain perms, but can they at least also bring the career mode? i want to give this series much love but after the 2020's game, i realize konami didnt give a single f about the west and/or global audience. exhib matches and tournaments doesn't satiate my thirst for the need of a career mode, but i might be wrong about the whole konami stances. maybe now they are going for global audience since EA lost their rights to FIFA and might also lose MLB in the future.
@@kuma8581 They should aim to make this franchise more popular in the West tbh. it deserves more the attention from western gamers and can help with the growth of baseball imo. i hope they release the next version in english so that gamer in the west can enjoy those wonderful game modes(eikan 9,pawafes,success or my life)
Thanks for the question, Tavo. I haven’t played the game on PS4, but I imagine the main difference would be visuals. If you want a better, sharper looking version, that would likely be the place to go. - Danny
My dad is a member of the WBSC and already knew the game was going to come out a while ago, and even saw people already doing mini tournaments on this game. I might buy it considering how cheap yet good it is, and i might get it for the PS4. I know very few things about baseball but I'm pretty sure my dad himself and my sister (a softball player) will love playing this game
Oh, that’s wild! The price is definitely there and the gameplay and presentation are solid. It might be a bit tough for non baseball fans, but it might be fun to play with other family members. - Danny
How do you switch on the commentator, as the clips you used in this video make it seem it has one? Edit: I'm stupid. You can enable that in the sound menu from the main menu.
Yep, you got it! I get why they would try to hide that. People might not dig the Japanese. Even if you can’t understand what’s being said, I think it adds to the overall atmosphere. Hope you’re having a good time with it, Tapioka! - Danny
@@TheFamicast I am! I don't mind the Japanese, in fact I have studied the language before. the commentator overall makes the game feel more engaging and exciting, just like a real baseball game.
idk but this franchise is at its peak in jp. the jp games were so good with offline contents (unlike pes) that no one even bothered to play online (pawafes at hardest difficulty requires more skill than playing wbsc online due to no lock on). The reason this game was made is to have an online, competitive platform for Competitive power pros players in jp who were left behind by konami to focus on pawapuroappuri and players around the world😢.
Goes to show how pathetic the original DS version of Power Pros 2008 was when it is the same stripped down version as this game (which costs $1) devoid of any of the Success mode content that makes these games special. Anyone can play the in game modes without speaking Japanese. Where the translation would be most appreciated is for the Visual Novel/RPG stuff and we're going on 15 years now since Konami has even tried to bring that side of the game stateside
One thing that I felt should've at least been brought up is the way the game matches players up in Online Tournaments, they do not matchmake based on your current level, I.E. G,F,E,D,C,B,A,S instead it just prioritizes speed over a fair/balanced match, so a complete noob at G rank can be matched up with an S rank player who is ranked #1 in the current tournament, which leads to some players quitting, or at least demoralizing them a bit. So basically new players are thrown into the deep end if they don't play hours upon hours offline practice mode and versus mode.
@Dat Vo Minh No I was joking cuz "CP" is usually something really really bad involving kids. I know that's the not the case here. Just not often you see it meaning something else.
