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Offical MLB Power Pros Thread of Super-Deformed Awesome

Klotera

Member
allen1982 said:
if this is like last year's version So Taguchi will probably have more jacked up stats than Derek Jeter

So, basically the game is awesome :)

<----------------------


On a more serious note - sorry if it was mentioned and I missed it, but does this game have a widescreen mode?
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
allen1982 said:
By the way I am reading 2ch and it is pretty pathetic what Konami has done. They claim that roster and ability check is done according to stats at the end of June 07, yet it is obvious they are just using last year's stats...Ichiro, for example, has a C for contact and a "1" for clutch hitting...the fuck? One kid on 2ch is telling Konami to die, and there is another thread dedicated to Tani or whatever the name of the Pawapuro producer is, and basically posters in the whole thread are telling him to die. It is pretty sad what he has done since taking over PawaPuro but it is still pretty funny to read anyway.
Supposedly some stats were posted up on Dengeki PS2. Maybe it's just the Japanese version that has the messed up stats and the US version is fine? Wishful thinking I know.

Rough conversion for the max speeds listed (from kmh to mph): 160 kmh ~ 99 mph, 150 kmh ~ 93 mph, 140 kmh ~ 87 mph, etc

Taken from the Japanesebaseball.com videogame forum:

BigManZam said:
Dengeki PS2 published pics of player stats. Here they are...

Matsuzaka
155 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - A(Give me a break!)
Fast slider - 5
Curve - 2
Circle change - 4
Cutter
Splitter
Doctor K(New ability? New name for strike out ability?)

Saitoh
152 km/h
Stamina - C
Control - B
Slider - 5
Curve - 4
Splitter - 5
Nobi 2
Kire 4
Light ball(New attribute. Opposite of heavy, I guess.)
Kaifuku 4
Vs. Lefty 2

Iwamura
Contact - C
Power - B(Come on!!!)
Trajectory - 3
Speed - C
Arm - C
Defense - D(COME ON!!!!)
Error - D

Ichiro
Meet- C(Wow...I almost want to stop reporting...)
Power - C
Trajectory - 2
Speed - B
Arm - A
Defense - A
Error - C
Clutch hit - 1
Average Hitter
Chance Maker
Infield Hit
Slap Hitter

Johan Santana
156 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - A
Slurve - 5
Circle change - 5
Kire 4
Doctor K

Pujols
Contact - B
Power - A
Trajectory - 4
Speed - D
Arm - C
Defense - B
Error - B
Clutch Hit 5
Average Hitter
Power Hitter
Intimidation
Game Ender
Pull Hitter

Wang
156 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - B
Sinking fastball - 1
Change up - 3
Fast slider - 3
Splitter - 3
Nobi 4
Bullpen blows lead

Halladay
154 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - B
Sinking fastball - 2
Change - 4
Curve - 5
Cutter - 4
Nobi 4
Kire 4
Quick 2

Sabathia
157 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - C
Slurve - 5
Change - 3
Nobi 4
Kire 4
Escape pitch
Doctor K

Haren
154 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - C
Change - 3
Splitter - 3
Curve - 4
Cutter - 2
Nobi 4
Mistake pitch

Glavine
143 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - C
Cutter - 2
Curve - 2
Change - 2
Circle change - 4
Clutch pitch 4
Vs. Lefty 4
Nobi 4
Escape pitch
Comebacker reflexes

Oswalt
156 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - B
Slider - 4
Curve -3
Splitter - 3
Change - 3
Poker face
Release

Peavy
154 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - B
Slider - 5
Curve - 3
Change - 4
Nobi 2
Kire 4
Doctor K
Comebacker reflexes

Randy Johnson
156 km/h
Stamina - A
Control - C
Slider - 4
Splitter - 3
Two seam - 1
Clutch pitch 2
Vs. Lefty 4
Nobi 4
Kire 4
Light pitch
Escape pitch
Winning pitcher
Hot head
Intimidator

Miguel Tejada
Contact - B
Power - B
Trajectory - 3
Speed - E
Arm - C
Defense - B
Error - C
Clutch hit 2
Average Hitter
Infield hit

Pudge Rodriguez
Contact - C
Power - B
Trajectory - 2
Speed - D
Arm - A
Defense - A
Error - C
Clutch hit 2
Chance maker
Infield hit
Three hit batter

Dye
Contact - C
Power - A
Trajectory - 4
Speed - E
Arm - C
Defense - C
Error - B
Patient batter
Chance maker
Free swinger
Pull hitter

DeJesus
Contact - C
Power - B
Trajectory - 2
Speed - B
Arm - C
Defense - B
Error - C
Three hit batter

Vlad Guerrero
Contact - B
Power - A
Trajectory - 3
Speed - D
Arm - A
Defense - C
Error - D
Vs. Lefty 4
Average Hitter
Infield hit
Intimidator
Pull hitter

Michael Young
Contact - C
Power - B
Trajectory - 2
Speed - B
Arm - D
Defense - C
Error - B
Clutch hit 5
Average Hitter
Patient batter
Infield hit
Grand slam hitter

Beltran
Contact - D
Power - A
Trajectory - 4
Speed - B
Arm - A
Defense - B
Error - B
Vs. Lefty 2
Power Hitter
Patient batter
Grand slam hitter

Howard
Contact - C
Power - A
Trajectory - 4
Speed - F
Arm - B
Defense - D
Error - C
Clutch hit 2
Power Hitter
Chance maker
Free swinger
Pull hitter

Chipper Jones
Contact - C
Power - A
Trajectory - 3
Speed - D
Arm - B
Defense - B
Error - C
Gold glover
Bare hand catch

Miguel Cabrera
Contact - B
Power - A
Trajectory - 3
Speed - E
Arm - D
Defense - C
Error - C
Clutch hit 4
Average Hitter

Zimmerman
Contact - D
Power - B
Trajectory - 3
Speed - D
Arm - B
Defense - C
Error - B
Bunt master(Huh?)
Infield hit
Game ender
Pull hitter

Griffey
Contact - E
Power - B
Trajectory - 4
Speed - F
Arm - C
Defense - C
Error - D
Clutch hit 2
Pull hitter

Fielder
Contact - D
Power - B(Ouch)
Trajectory - 3(Ouch again)
Speed - F
Arm - B
Defense - D
Error - C
Vs. lefty 4
Free swinger
Pull hitter

Freddy Sanchez
Contact - B
Power - B
Trajectory - 2
Speed - C
Arm - E
Defense - B
Error - C
Vs. lefty 4
Average Hitter
Opposite field power
Grand slam hitter

Alfonso Soriano
Contact - D
Power - A
Trajectory - 4
Speed - B
Arm - B
Defense - C
Error - C
Clutch hit 2
Chance maker
Free swinger
Pull hitter

Giant Gonzales(Barry Bonds)
Contact - D
Power - A
Trajectory - 4
Speed - F
Arm - C
Defense - C
Error - B
Clutch hit 5
Intimidator
Pull hitter

Holliday
Contact - B
Power - A
Trajectory - 3
Speed - B
Arm - D
Defense - D
Error - C
Clutch hit 2
Average Hitter
Opposite field power
Slap hitter
Patient batter
 
Sorry if this is a bit redundant but I have a couple questions.

First can anyone detail the differences between the Wii and PS2 versions? Aside from motion controls and the special Wii Remote mode are there any differences between the two versions?

Second, is online play included in the Wii version?
 

AlternativeUlster

Absolutely pathetic part deux
DeceitDecide said:
Sorry if this is a bit redundant but I have a couple questions.

First can anyone detail the differences between the Wii and PS2 versions? Aside from motion controls and the special Wii Remote mode are there any differences between the two versions?

Second, is online play included in the Wii version?

I know Wii version supports Miis. I don't think it is online though.
 

allen1982

Banned
DeceitDecide said:
Sorry if this is a bit redundant but I have a couple questions.

First can anyone detail the differences between the Wii and PS2 versions? Aside from motion controls and the special Wii Remote mode are there any differences between the two versions?

Second, is online play included in the Wii version?

According to the Famitsu reviews, the Wii version has faster loading time and the Wiimote control for exhibition and homerun derby you already know about. No online and no other differences between the two.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
More general feedback from 2ch via Japanesebaseball.com forums:

BigManZam said:
Official site is updated with some pics, but it's nothing we haven't seen before. Also, here's picture proof for you of the messed up stats.

http://japan.gamespot.com/ps2/screenshots/common/pictures/0,3800075610,10286037p-3,00.htm

That is of course Daisuke. If I were making him, I'd give him a few attributes. First off, I'd bring his control to D level at least. I'd probably give him mistake pitch ability and an ability that drops his control and pitch break in the 4th inning. I'd also drop his fastball speed, since he rarely goes over 94 MPH on a real radar gun. Probably give him the ability that makes him better winding up than out of the stretch.

Now I'll report on what the Japanese fans are saying. First off, as soon as the stats were posted, they all acknowledged that their hype for the game totally died. A few expressed gratitude for not preordering the game. A couple said what I said a while back and asked if Konami had anyone in their company who knew anything about the majors. Konami, I'd work for relatively cheap. Just say the word. It'd probably increase sales by 100,000 at least. Hehe.

Ok, lots of people knocking lack of edit. One comment says it all...

"I can't believe that there's a modern era sports game without a full edit mode."

Basically saying what people have been saying about Madden for a while now, but made even worse without an edit mode. I think it's obvious what they're doing with the console Pawapuro titles now. They're not catering to the fanbase who grew up with it and are trying to cater to little kids who don't know any better. My suggestion for people getting frustrated with the series is to go elsewhere. It's just not the same game anymore, and since it's been SOOOOO long(and I'm sure they've been flooded with complaints), nothing will change. It'll probably stay like this until it becomes unprofitable. I suggest trying out Pawapoke 10 on the DS, since there is a completely different team there and hopefully Pro Yakyu Spirits 5 will improve the framerate issues and keep progressing.

The Pawapoke team is headed by producer Kenji Fujioka, who has been in charge of the series since Pawapoke 4. He has been with Pawapuro from the start and actually designed the now famous characters. Programmer is Naoki Nishikawa, who has also been with Pawapro since the start. Hideto Inoue is in charge of sound, and he's also been with Pawapuro since the beginning.

The Pro Yakyu Spirits team is headed by Tomoharu Okutani, who also produced The Baseball 2003, which was what Pro Yakyu Spirits used to be called. The other producer is Kazuhiro Nanba, who produced the online PC version of Pawapuro a few years back. Programmer is Koji Toyohara, who was programmer for Pawapuro back in their glory days with Akada producer.

Who knows why the PS3 version of PYS was so incomplete? From the framerate to the very strange online mode, it was obviously rushed out in order to give PS3 an early Japanese title. All I know is that, despite being thoroughly disappointed by the rushed effort, it's the lesser of two evils. Pro Yakyu Spirits sucked royally when it was first released in 2004, but they've made big leaps with each year on the PS2. That's more than I can say about Pawapuro.

Now, let's take a look at the heads of Pawapuro's development team. This should give you a good insight as to why they suck now. Head producer is Hiroshi Tanibuchi. He took over for Isao Akada after Pawapuro 8. His mistakes aren't as obvious as the last guy I'll write about, but the series has been slipping each year since he stepped in. When you have threads on the internet dedicated to telling you to die, I don't really think you've done your job. Director is Fujinori Narita, and he's been director from Pawapuro 12-14. There's not much info on him and he's not hated as much as the producers, but since 12-14 all suck, we can assume he's not too great. Akira Toyama is a former director, designer, and produced Pawapuro 12, which was basically the bridge from the decent Pawapuro 11 to the unbearable 13. He's an anime otaku who was responsible for adding the anime openings to the series as well as the female characters and overall otaku style to Success Mode. He's just a bit less hated than Tanibuchi, but still very hated for being an anime otaku and turning the series into what it is now.

So yeah, all you have to do is analyze the development teams and you'll know who'll be able to come out with quality software each year. Pawapuro has all the newbies who ruined the series while Pawapoke and PYS have the old guard. Bet on Pawapoke 10 this December and PYS5 around March to be worthy purchases.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Just a few more days! :D :D :D

And for those of you worried from all the negative Japanese feedback, don't fret too much - it would only really be a concern if you've been playing the Pawapuro games over the past several years. Plus there's still a small chance the US version will have several of these annoyances fixed. BigManZam put it nicely in a recent post:

BigManZam said:
All the American gamers will be just fine. What's super craptastic to us longtime fans will be almost nonexistent for the average gamer. We're just very picky, since we're die hard yakyu fans and there are only so many games being made per year. Reminds me of when I was a wrestling fan and the quality of wrestling games in Japan started to fall. Luckily, there are a handful of companies competing in the yakyu market(Konami, Namco, Sega, and the American companies to a lesser extent), since it's so huge. There was only really one company competing in the wrestling market back when I was following that. Monopolies and buy outs are not good for quality control. Hehe.

If you have the patience to get over the outdated rosters and bad stats, you'll be just fine. If you're just looking for fun and possibly play with friends, you should have a blast. No joke. I remember when I was first sent Pawapuro 10 by my friend Muka back in 2003, it was a completely new experience. You'll enjoy it, and maybe it'll open up new doors to NPB or other games like it did for me.

As for the stats, they could be annoying when you're simming a season. Daisuke's stats could possibly have him with an ERA in the high 1s or low 2s. Prince will only have 20-25 homers. We still aren't 100% sure the stats are the same for Power Pros, though. We also still aren't sure there isn't a full edit for Power Pros. It's just something we have to wait for.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
First impressions on the Japanese PS2 version from http://www.japanesebaseball.com/for...43482Japanesebaseball.com's video game forums

BigManZam said:
I've been playing PawaMajor 2 for a short while now. I won't be able to play the American version, MLB Power Pros, until it releases in the US in a day or two. Honestly, as bad as some of the stats are, I'm pleasantly surprised by how solid PawaMajor 2 is so far. Let me run down the goods and bads.

First the bads to get them out of the way...

1. English commentary is absolutely horrific with awkward editing, mispronounced names, and poor grasp of American terms. For example, he'll claim a ball is "hit" for a foul out when you'd usually say "make contact" in baseball terms. You'll understand when you play.

2. Not much of a design change from the first. Guess we all expected this when we saw the few videos uploaded by Gamespot. Menus and such are identical to the first.

3. Player stats are god awful. Some good examples can be found just on the Mariners roster. Brandon Morrow has a fastball that tops out in the mid-80s when he regularly throws 95-98 in real life. Adrian Beltre has D arm strength while Raul Ibanez, Jose Vidro, and Willie Bloomquist have B. JJ Putz throws a level 1 splitter while having a better curve and hard slider. He doesn't even throw the latter two pitches. MLB The Show did the same thing. George Sherrill has no slider. You'll find things like this on every team. Konami clearly needs to bring in a handful of people schooled in MLB if they want to make a third MLB game. You can tell that they rely on some computer stat system, but that doesn't fly. Yes, they even gave Hideki Matsui E meet, C power, and 2 arch. Their craptastic stats show no bias.

4. Simulating a season takes forever, just like last year. I'm simming right now. I should have enough time to write this all, take a shower, and go to the store to pick up some muffins by the time it ends. I'm not kidding.

5. No My Life mode. If you ask me, this was a big mistake. My Life is the one great thing that English speaking fans are really missing out on. You know Japanese fans would like a My Life in America and the majors, too.

6. I haven't touched Success yet, but I'm reserving this space for yet another crappy installment of making all A fielders and 105 MPH aces.

Now, here's the good...

1. Physics and AI seem really solid. This surprised me a lot, since the NPB Pawapuros have been so awful for the past few years. I was used to putting the game into my PS2, having CPU batters swing at every first pitch, end a game with no Ks and a 40 pitch shut out, baseballs seem like they're made out of iron, etc. PawaMajor 2 has solid AI so far, realistic Ks, nice difficulty, and shockingly good physics. I found myself struggling to hit homers with analog control, but yet it didn't feel cheap at all. I also fouled pitches off, which I really like.

2. In addition to the preset difficulty of normal and rookie, there is a new expert difficulty. I liked this a lot. You can't see your own pitch cursor, fielding cursor is off, etc. Very nice change of pace to just hit expert difficulty and get right into a game without tweaking everything like crazy.

3. Graphics look better. I was very impressed with how smooth and pretty the SafeCo Field roof looked. I can only imagine how great the other parks look(especially the ones with water).

4. Much tighter presentation. Cut scenes in between innings are very smooth and don't suffer drops in framerate like Pawapuro 13 and 14 had. PawaMajor has a different programmer from Pawapuro(some guy simply named "O"), so I'm not surprised by this. They also added MLB2K style instant replays with American TV style presentation. Very nice touch from the dated and boring Pawapuro replays.

5. A lot more options. So in addition to the new gameplay options of Pro Yakyu Spirits style timing(which kinda sucks, since you can't tap X to make pitches go faster) and ball cursor, there are more pregame options. Some examples of these are replay frequency and mixed weather patterns. The addition of the new difficulty level between hard and powerful is a nice touch, too.

6. Sound. I like the fact that sounds are very different from Pawapuro. The sound of the ball cracking the bat, the Americanized smooth music played during selection screens, bilingual commentary, etc. all separate this series from it's slumping NPB counterpart.

7. This is something a lot of longtime fans love about this series. They still have the feature of pressing triangle on player names to bring up the in depth player attribute screen.

8. Player cards seem like a bit less of a waste of time, since they've added little career blurbs to them all. For example, Chase Utley's mentions his recent contract signing and how he's arguably the best second baseman in the majors. This is a nice feature for MLB newbies in Japan who don't know players well.

That's all I can think of for now. If anyone has any questions, fire away. I'm still very interested in playing MLB Power Pros, since I want to check out the facial graphics, translation, any modifications made for the American market, and whether it has an edit or not.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
bluemax said:
Disappointing impressions. I might still get it, but those impressions are pretty hurtful.
The actual on-field gameplay sounds pretty good, it's the broken player stats that will make or break this game with most people. We'll have to see if 2K managed to get Konami to fix those issues in the US version.

If not and you can get over the stat problems, I think you'll probably have some good fun with this game.
 

fennec fox

ferrets ferrets ferrets ferrets FERRETS!!!
I would argue that the intended audience for Power Pros doesn't give two shits about things like stats and editing, but that's just me.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
fennec fox said:
I would argue that the intended audience for Power Pros doesn't give two shits about things like stats and editing, but that's just me.
That's just it, Pawapuro has a pretty hardcore baseball following in Japan, and they're also pissed off about the stats and lack of editing. The shift of various key production and development people to different teams has had a definite effect on realism and accuracy on the baseball side of things the last several years.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Reading some reports on the OS forums of some stores breaking street date for this one. Also, someone claims that a full edit mode is in the US version, so even if the stats are messed up we'd be able to fix them!
 

Torgo

Junior Member
I ordered the PS2 version, so I hope to have it tomorrow or Thursday. If I get enough play, I'll give some impressions on this weeks' show. I have '95 on the Saturn and I love it, and I've played a few others in the series. $30 is an awesome price point as well. If I wasn't moving etc, I might have actually considered the Wii version, but I won't have it gooked up for a while until I buy a new house.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
My local Best Buy had copies in stock, woohoo! Picked it up for the Wii.

I'm already impressed by the manual, colorful and full of info on the various game modes. Much bulkier than the typical 2K manual.

Been messing around in Edit Mode, Practice Mode, and played an Exhibition game. After a quick look through the edit mode, it looks pretty complete. You can alter name, jersey number, appearance, attributes, and even set the previous season's final stat line! I was able to fill in Bonds' 2006 numbers when I was fixing his name from Great Gonzales. You're also not allowed to use any team retired numbers when choosing a new number for a player.

In the exhibition game, I lost as the Giants vs the A's, 2-1. It was a bit easy to strike out batters, but I was playing on one of the lower AI levels so I'll have to bump that up. Even at the lower AI levels though, you could tell the CPU was starting to pick up on your throwing patterns if you're too predictable (i.e. if you consistently pitch away, they'll start to cheat a bit and setup the batting cursor there earlier).

I only had 3 hits, A's had 5. Saw several foul balls, a few double plays, and a throwing error by the A's catcher trying to catch one of my steal attempts. AI showed good decisions with field adjustments - they always moved their infield and outfield out deep when Bonds was up to bat (no extreme shift available though, so no "Bonds shift"). The AI did put in 2 pinch runners in the late innings when someone got on base, which was a bit odd.

Haren and Chavez were named co-players of the game - Haren for the complete game, Chavez for hitting the game-winning single in the top of the 9th.
 

sk3tch

Member
Nice, thanks for the impressions XiaNaphryz. Dig into the franchise and stats modes...I need to know more about this. I'm a baseball RPG nut. :)
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Still getting a feel for what settings are most comfortable. There's multiple hitting options, with the most difficult being completely manual batting and the easiest being a setting called "Best Try" or something like that - basically, the game will treat ANY bat contact as if you had hit the ball with the sweet spot of the bat. In-between are the different lock-on settings, and "Normal" batting mode defaults to Lock-on level 2.

There's also an option to Hide or Show stats in the pre-game setup. This defaulted to off, so I was confused during gameplay as to why there was no player info on the screen unless I paused the game (I'm used to this being on in older Pawapuro games). Changing that option addressed that easily.

There's a ridiculous amount of stuff to dig through, I don't think I'll be able to get to all of them until after work tomorrow. I'll probably tackle Franchise and Success mode next. Looking through the manual is promising...I'm seeing a mention of "Team All-Time Records" and "Career Records" and other similar items for Franchise mode, so I'm hoping if a player breaks a key record we'll see a little cutscene acknowledging the achievement like in the Japanese games!
 

RBH

Member
Thanks for the impressions.

Could you describe what the "completely manual batting" option is like? Also, have you tried out the Wii-mote controls yet?
 

kamikaze

Member
XiaNaphryz said:
You're also not allowed to use any team retired numbers when choosing a new number for a player.

ha, nice touch! guess i should've made the trek out to best buy afterall.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Completely manual means no assist help - the lock-on levels will adjust the bat cursor towards where the ball will cross the plate and try to keep it there, the higher the level the faster the adjustment. At lower levels, you will still need to move the bat cursor if you want to get solid contact on the ball, but if the cursor is in the general area already the slight lock-on will help you maintain your location (on completely manual, you can still adjust the cursor during your swing so even though you might be lined up when you started to swing the bat, if you accidentally adjust the analog stick your cursor will be off by the time the bat swings through).

Only messed around with the Wiimote mode once, an exhibition game so I can't comment on HR derby. At-bats aren't quite as satisfying as Wii Sports in the sense that your bat motion while standing in the batter's box isn't reflected at all on the screen (bat waggle, etc). Swinging the Wiimote will start your swing animation, holding it horizontal will put you in a bunt animation. Pitching is similar to Wii Sports as well, though you select a pitch with the D-pad and can adjust which way to break a pitch with the - or + keys. Shaking the Wiimote will speed up baserunners. Fielding and defense is all automatic. You can choose to play this mode with any MLB team, any created team, a team made of available user-created Miis, and a team made of random generic Miis.
 

RBH

Member
XiaNaphryz said:
Completely manual means no assist help - the lock-on levels will adjust the bat cursor towards where the ball will cross the plate and try to keep it there, the higher the level the faster the adjustment. At lower levels, you will still need to move the bat cursor if you want to get solid contact on the ball, but if the cursor is in the general area already the slight lock-on will help you maintain your location (on completely manual, you can still adjust the cursor during your swing so even though you might be lined up when you started to swing the bat, if you accidentally adjust the analog stick your cursor will be off by the time the bat swings through).

Only messed around with the Wiimote mode once, an exhibition game so I can't comment on HR derby. At-bats aren't quite as satisfying as Wii Sports in the sense that your bat motion while standing in the batter's box isn't reflected at all on the screen (bat waggle, etc). Swinging the Wiimote will start your swing animation, holding it horizontal will put you in a bunt animation. Pitching is similar to Wii Sports as well, though you select a pitch with the D-pad and can adjust which way to break a pitch with the - or + keys. Shaking the Wiimote will speed up baserunners. Fielding and defense is all automatic. You can choose to play this mode with any MLB team, any created team, a team made of available user-created Miis, and a team made of random generic Miis.

Thank you for the quick response. :)
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Forgot to mention - minimizing the amount of movement of the bat cursor after the pitch is thrown will result in a bit of extra power if you make good contact.

Also, you can set batting to Analog or Digital when using the control stick (if using D-pad for batting control such as on the classic controller or GC controller, this is always digital) . In Analog, the bat cursor will always reset to center if you let go of the analog stick. When set to Digital, the bat cursor will stay put if you release the analog stick. To reset the cursor to the center you have to tap the appropriate button (- button on the Wiimote for nunchuck/wiimote control scheme).

So players who can't seem to get comfortable with the batting system have a ton of options to tweak until they get it just right for them and their current skill level.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Haven't played much of franchise yet, but here's more interesting tidbits from the manual:

- There's an "Expansion Mode" option available when you start, where you can edit and add up to 2 new teams. You can choose team name, uniforms, logo, where you hold spring training, etc.
- As mentioned before in thread, there's a Fantasy draft option.
- If you purchase the option in the shop, you can directly import any created or modified team from the Arrange Mode into Season Mode.
- There's a "Manage" option called Quick Game for quickly playing through games similar to MVP 05, where you give commands to your players and see what happens as opposed to simming with no control or input.
- There's a yearly draft in June, though it doesn't go nearly as long as a real draft (doesn't say how many rounds it is in the manual).
- There's a 15 day DL available, but nothing longer it seems.
- There's free agent negotiation and contract extension talks available in the mode.
- Only one level of minor leagues (AAA)
- Typical postseason stuff - 3 division winners and 1 wildcard for each league, Divisional Series than LCS then World Series. There are also various awards given out after the season (Silver Slugger, Cy Young, MVP, etc). There are also Player of the Month awards for each league.
- Lots of team customization - define specific roles (starter, situational lefty, pinch runner, defensive substitution, pinch hitter), team strategy (you can quickly preset batting lineups by choosing options such as "Emphasis hitting ability" or "Emphasis on fielding/defense," etc. and choose settings like how often to steal bases, how often to pinch hit, etc).
- There's something called "Turn Setup" that you can use during Quick Games to have the game automatically pause or even enter into regular gameplay at specific times. You can use this to observe a specific player during games, and even use this to play as one specific player throughout the franchise! I'll have to mess with this to see how specific a situation you can setup, it would be neat to have the game enter gameplay mode for you to take manual control if certain things happen (opposing team takes the lead in the last 3 innings for example).
- The mode goes up to 10 seasons.

Other general info:
- No progressive scan or 16:9 support on the Wii.
- There's not many hitting stances/pitching deliveries available at the start when creating players, they need to be purchased in Shop mode.
- Alternate uniforms are also available in the shop.
- Completing games in Exhibition earns money for the Shop mode. You can also earn money in Success Mode, HR Derby, and Season (franchise) mode.
- You can exchange created players with other people by giving them a password. Entering the password will add that player to the other person's game, complete with stats and everything.

Also, it looks like the Japanese fanbase is not too happy about getting shafted:

BigManZam said:
Man, they are ticked. I'll do some translations before I pass out.

"This is horrible."

"Are you kidding me?!?!"

"They are seriously underestimating Japanese gamers."

"After seeing this, any thoughts I had for buying the Japanese version completely vanished."

"It's hilarious that the only thing really kept out of the Japanese version is edit."

"My blood is boiling."(very loose translation)

"If they can do something so messed up like this, I'm never going to buy Pawapuro again."

"I'm totally jealous of the American version. I'm going to cancel my order."

"If your stats are going to be such garbage, include a damn edit mode, Konami."

"This...is...terrible..."

"AAAAH!!! Release PawaMajor International now!"

"Just like always, the stats aren't even close to being decent. If you're going to scam us all, at least do it before opening day."

"Why does the American version get this? It's even half priced."

"I really want this! I laughed at the guy making Posada faster, though. Haha."

"People yelling about 'put an edit mode in!', you should just make players in Success Mode. Perhaps you can't because you suck at it?"(this is probably the saddest post in all the thread and raises my suspicions about whether it's a Konami employee or not)

"When you see the American version's edit, you can't help but think that the Japanese version belongs in a ditch by the side of the road. It doesn't belong on a store shelf."

"Has facial graphics, edit mode, and is half priced. This is awful."

And that's all I'm going to do for now. Yep, they're ticked.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
No reviews yet? They even generally talked about it on EGM Live review crew but didn't really evaluate it substantively at all.
 
AstroLad said:
No reviews yet? They even generally talked about it on EGM Live review crew but didn't really evaluate it substantively at all.

IGN lists the release date as today, so maybe reviews will show up tonight?

NBA 2K8 & NBA Live 08 reviews didn't appear until late last night.

IGN's page on the Wii version of the game:
http://wii.ign.com/objects/954/954663.html
Published by: 2K Sports
Developed by: Konami
Genre: Sports
Release Date:
US: October 3, 2007
MSRP: $39.99

It is nice to see 2K ship 3 different MLB games. I don't like exclusive licenses (even partial 'third party' exclusive licenses like 2K) but at least they've published multiple MLB games for people to chose from.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Rummy Bunnz said:
I'm torn on which version to get. Does the Wii version offer any extras other than waggle?

As far as I can tell, the only extra things the Wii version has are the Wii-mote only party modes.
 
Ah, I'll probably never play the party modes...but can you copy the save file on the Wii version? If so someone could post a save online with less screwy stats for the players, right? Would someone actually do this? Someone should! Even though I most likely wouldn't notice a difference since I haven't paid attention to baseball since 1990. It would give me flashbacks to downloading Fire Pro Wrestling D saves!
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Rummy Bunnz said:
Ah, I'll probably never play the party modes...but can you copy the save file on the Wii version? If so someone could post a save online with less screwy stats for the players, right? Would someone actually do this? Someone should! Even though I most likely wouldn't notice a difference since I haven't paid attention to baseball since 1990. It would give me flashbacks to downloading Fire Pro Wrestling D saves!
Haven't tried myself, but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to copy the game save to a SD card. It's then a trivial thing to transfer over to PC and post online somewhere.

And yes, a few people on the OS forums are trying to organize an effort to make accurate rosters for both PS2 and Wii.
 
I think a few Wii games have copy protected saves, though I may be mistaken. Awesome that people are working on the rosters, though. Thanks!
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Wow, the unbelievable OP has me excited for Wii version!
I can't believe I'd ever say that for a MLB game, but I really enjoy the baseball bit in Wii Sports and I always wished it had a full blown mode where to control all the players an whatnot. Is this something comparable to what I had in mind?

Is the swingin' and pitching similiat to Wii Sports?

I wished they'd left the SD's japanese look in though...

No progressive scan or 16:9 support on the Wii.

Damn, that sucks.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Dash Kappei said:
Wow, the unbelievable OP has me excited for Wii version!
I can't believe I'd ever say that for a MLB game, but I really enjoy the baseball bit in Wii Sports and I always wished it had a full blown mode where to control all the players an whatnot. Is this something comparable to what I had in mind?
Sorry, the Wiimote-only control modes play pretty much like Wii Sports - no control over fielding, baserunners, etc. That said, it's still a more complete baseball game - you can play up to 9 innings or more (if you go to extra innings), you can walk batters, etc. Plus you can use real MLB teams and stadiums in addition to your Miis.

The primary baseball game modes use a more traditional control scheme, no Wiimote swinging involved.

This is Konami's first installment on the Wii, and it pretty much feels like they ported everything from the Gamecube and quickly threw in the Wiimote party modes. Like EA Sports and 2K, this is a yearly installment for them so there wasn't much development time on this. Here's hoping they'll have had enough time to do better Wiimote support in the maing ame modes in the next game.
 
I'll be buying the Wii version. No 16:9/Progressive scan hurts, but if it's fun I'll get over it. I was considering buying The Bigs for the Wii earlier this year--I'm glad I held off on that now.
 
Colonel Mustard said:
I'll be buying the Wii version. No 16:9/Progressive scan hurts, but if it's fun I'll get over it. I was considering buying The Bigs for the Wii earlier this year--I'm glad I held off on that now.

The Bigs is pretty good on the PS3 & 360 but I guess the Wii version isn't quite as nice.
 

Klotera

Member
XiaNaphryz said:
I'd be curious to see how well the PS3 upscaling works out for this one...

Is the PS2 version at least widescreen? I've picked up the wii version, but I'd switch if it's widescreen as, like you noted, it can have ps3 upscaling.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Klotera said:
Is the PS2 version at least widescreen? I've picked up the wii version, but I'd switch if it's widescreen as, like you noted, it can have ps3 upscaling.

I don't think the PS2 version has 16:9 support either. Previous PS2 and GC versions of the game never had them.
Rummy Bunnz said:
Best Buy didn't have the PS2 version, so I got it for Wii.

Aaaand you can't copy the Wii saves. OYYY.
DOH. :(

Is there any sort of 3rd party utility that would be able to transfer them?
 
I don't think so. Usually you can just copy them to SD card but Power Pros' save is copy protected. I wonder if the PS2 saves are too.
 

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
This game is awesome! What a blast. I was down 4-0 in the bottom of the 9th, and staged a rally to tie it up. Joe Nathan came in for two innings of scoreless relief work, and Morneau hit a walk off solo jack (to the same place I saw him hit a jack at the last Twins game I was at :D) in the bottom of the 11th to win it. So fun!

The announcer is horrible. The no widescreen is depressing. But dammit, this game rules.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Hopefully we'll see more impressions here in the next few days. There's quite a bit of activity on the OS forums though - the Baseball (Other) forum has had more activity there than any of the other forums over the last several days! :D
 

Klotera

Member
This is definitely the best baseball game I've played in a long, long time. The pitching and batting mechanisms just feel more fluid than in other games. Those who aren't familiar with the series (as I wasn't) may not realize due to the art style how good of a baseball game this actually is.

The little touches really make it shine. Yadier Molina even keeps the bat on his shoulder until the pitch is thrown!
 

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
Klotera said:
The little touches really make it shine. Yadier Molina even keeps the bat on his shoulder until the pitch is thrown!
It's awesome! Even though he has no arms or legs Power Pros Pat Neshek pitches just like Pat Neshek. I'm still getting ued to fielding with the little blobby guys but boy this is a good playing game of baseball.

I need a portable Power Pro now.
 
I couldn't find the PS2 version today, hopefully places around Seattle get it tomorrow. I still play the previous Japan-only titles, and I'll miss the facial expressions from the Japanese titles, but I don't care. We're getting Power Pro in North America, something I never thought would happen.
 
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