Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu '95

"Hmmm... do I like this game of World Serries Basebal '98 more?"

Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu is a long running series of baseball games in Japan. The series has evolved over the years, and recently (July ’00) there was a Powerful Pro part7 on the PS2. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu ’95 was released in Japan just months after the Playstation and Saturn first made their appearance on the console scene. The game is Japanese baseball with stubby, big headed, googly eyed players running around the field as opposed to the more human like players that the U.S. baseball fans have grown accustomed to. There is quite a bit of humor used in the game. When the bases are loaded, the pitcher is cross eyed and little dots circle his head, if a good pitch crosses the base and the batter doesn’t swing, he will turn around and glare at you. If the outfielders are clumsy and drop the ball, the baseball teams manager will begin yelling (in Japanese of course) at the unlucky outfielder. The humor is very welcome in the game and often makes the game more enjoyable. The teams are all real Japanese baseball teams, there’s The Lions, The Dragons, The Marines, etc. The uniforms look A LOT like certain American teams. The Dragons uniforms look just like the Dodgers, and The Carp’s uniforms look just like the Cincinnati Reds uniforms. The control is very easy to get accustomed to (even on a Saturn controller) so just about anyone could pick up this game and enjoy it. Why Konami has not brought any of the games long series to the U.S. is beyond me. If given a chance, people can clearly see that this game is full of depth. Even if you don’t like baseball video games (me) you will still get much enjoyment out of this game. I would much rather play a human opponent though, the computer is too hard and the score ends up being 27-4 in the computers favor. Get a friend to play this game with you and the both of you will find this game very enjoyable. There is a practice mode so that you can practice fielding and pitching, and you can even pick 2 teams to play while you just watch. I would recommend that you pick up any of the games in this long running series. Why not try the new one on PS2?

Game play: 7 the game has very good control. Just like I said earlier, almost anyone could pick up this game and enjoy it. When fielding, B button is home, C is first base, Z is second base, and Y is third base. Pitching is done with B button, and you can even look at the top of the screen where the catcher is displayed (in a front view) and see just where the ball is headed. Batting is just like any other baseball game now days line up the crosshair and make solid contact. Fielding is easy too, although the outfielders are EXTREMELY slow. That is what keeps the game play from receiving any higher of a score.

Sound: 6 Although the Japanese speaking announcer does a decent job of calling the play by play (some in English), the noise of the drumbeat really gets on your nerves after a while. You can only hear so much crowd noise before you get annoyed and just mute the sound.

Graphics: 7 Well… It looks better than anything on the Super Nintendo J. Everything is 2D and the characters are well shaded so that they appear 3D. The game is extremely dated by today’s standards, but this was 1995. For it’s time, it looks just fine. To my knowledge, this was the last game in the series to use sprites. After this game, the series was (and still is) completely 3D and made up of polygons. For it’s time however, there was much detail given to everything. The batter shuffles his feat, and when he strikes out, he falls over and roles his eyes around in circles. Overall, the graphics get the job done, and go a little beyond the ordinary by adding little humorous animations.

Replay Value: 8 the game really shines under this department. I have owned the game for quite a while now, and whenever I want to play a baseball game, I grab this before I even thank of playing World Series Baseball ‘98, which was thought by many to be the best baseball game on the Saturn. My friends prefer this game to World Series Baseball ’98 as well. Whichever Powerful Pro baseball game you decide on, you are sure to get your moneys worth.

You can occasionally find these games on ebay. The new one (part 7) just recently came to PS2. You have nothing to loose. This particular game is 5 years old and I still play it. Give the series a whirl; you will be glad you did.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/22/00, Updated 10/22/00