Review of the latest "eBASEBALL Powerful Pro Baseball 2022"! Enjoy various forms of "baseball" including high school baseball and professional baseball!

While there is a simple mode in which players can play games against other players or COM (computer), the real appeal of the "Pawapuro" series is that it does not stop there. There are a total of 21 game modes in this title. In addition to "Success," in which players aim for the Koshien championship while enjoying the story, "My Life," in which players can enjoy 30 years as a professional baseball player from joining to leaving the team, and "Crown Nine," in which players can lead their team as the manager of a high school baseball club, "Live Scenario," in which players can experience famous games in Japanese baseball, each of which offers a different way to enjoy baseball. In addition, there are "LIVE Scenarios," which allow players to experience famous games in the Japanese baseball world.
Since there is no end to what I could write about all the modes, I will focus my review on "Success," which I personally recommend the most. I will explain the details later, but Success is not only for beginners, but also serves as an introduction to the other modes, so it should be especially helpful for those who are just starting out with "Power Pro".

Success Mode: Aiming for the Koshien National High School Championship from Three Different High Schools

Success Mode features three storylines: "Powerful High School Rivals," "Hot Blooded Aoharu Academy," and "Senryo High School: You're the Captain! The Success mode has three storylines. While enjoying the stories that unfold in each story, players train their players to compete in the Koshien National High School Baseball Championship.

Players receive experience points for each practice session, such as hitting, defense, and breaking ball. By allocating experience points, players can strengthen their own stats and gain abilities. However, as the player practices, his/her physical strength decreases, and the probability of injury increases. Injuries have disadvantages, such as lowering the experience points currently possessed, and should be avoided as much as possible.

In addition to practice, you can also go out with your teammates. Depending on the event, you can get experience points or new items.

Since physical strength is recovered by taking a break, it is important to take a good rest at times, not just practice. While enjoying practice, rest, and the events that occur during these periods, the player ultimately aims to win the Koshien championship in the summer of his senior year in high school and be selected in the draft to become a professional baseball player. In other words, players will have to think about how much and which performance to develop in a given period of time.

In addition to the limited time available for training, the game also requires a high level of skill, such as reading the pitcher's pitches and swinging the bat, or conversely, selecting the appropriate type of pitch based on the batter's status and ability. If you are an offensive player, you need to consider what the opponent's pitch is, what he is good at, and which type of pitch you should aim for, such as a hit or a bunt. If you are a defensive player, you think about what type of pitch to throw, whether you should throw out a base stealer, and to which baseman you should send the ball if you get hit by a pitch.

If you are familiar with baseball, you will have no problem with these elements, but if you are not familiar with baseball, you will be at a loss. Personally, I found the game tough even on the normal difficulty level. In my case, the first game I played, "Powerful High School Rivals," I did not win the Koshien championship, but lost in the final of the regional tournament and could not even participate in the tournament.

However, such difficulties can be covered by the way the game is played. The player can set the timing and target of the controls in detail (e.g., only his turn, only at chances and pinch points, everyone after the 8th inning, etc.), or he can leave all controls to the COM, so that the player can concentrate only on practice and events.

However, there is a drawback to the "control only yourself" mode. Even if a player gets a hit at bat, whether or not it leads to a run is up to the COM. Therefore, it is recommended to control all players once you become accustomed to the game.

On the other hand, in between games, cute, round, deformed characters tell various stories. First, there is the royal road where a team with no special characteristics aims for Koshien, and then rivals from other schools come into the mix. One would think that baseball would be the core of the story, and the story would be an afterthought, but the story is very well developed.

In addition to practicing on the field, players can enjoy a student-like lifestyle by shopping and eating in the shopping district with club members, asking girls out on dates, and other such activities. There is also plenty of development of magic balls and training with rivals in a slump, making the game feel like it is straight out of a sports comic book.

The three stories in Success are different in content, but they all share the same upbeat atmosphere. Depending on the outcome of the matches and the choices made in the events, a variety of events occur, including successes and setbacks, but in the end, there are many good endings, and at least as far as I could tell, there were no bad endings in the stories I played this time. If everything were hard-hitting, the heavy atmosphere would be tiring, but "Power Pro 2022" seems to have achieved a good overall balance thanks to its upbeat story.

You can fully enjoy the story and baseball from two different perspectives, that of a high school student and a ball player, and the volume of success is quite reasonable. If you enjoy the story carefully and play "all players after the 8th inning," in which you perform all operations in most games, it takes quite a long time, but if you use the story skip function and perform only minimal baseball operations in games, it takes only half to one third of the time. If you get used to it, you can play several games in a day.

The reason I wrote "Success is for beginners" at the beginning of this article is largely due to the ease of use. If you are a beginner, you will not be able to win if you play against other beginners, and Success is not a good starting point for enjoying baseball.

On the other hand, Success is a story-based game that allows players to spend a certain amount of time learning how to use the controls while enjoying the story, and once they get used to the game, they can use the various skips to focus solely on training players. The immersive experience is also very different, as the player becomes the main character. The game is not only an introduction to the game, but also a way for players to enjoy the player development that is the charm of "Power Pro" in short intervals. The data of the players you have developed can be used in other modes such as "My Life," so it's all good.

So far, we have reviewed the overall aspects of Success. From here on, we will focus on the different high schools that can be enjoyed in Success.

Powerful High School Rivals" branches into three different scenarios.

In "Powerful High School Rivals," the player must lead the team to the Koshien Tournament at Powerful High School, a school that has had no significant success since its first appearance at the Koshien Tournament several decades ago. The basic system, including practice, has already been written about, but this scenario incorporates both the story and baseball in a well-balanced manner.

Unlike "Hot-blooded Kirameki Aoharu Gakuen" and "Senryo High School: You're the Captain!" the scenario here branches out even further. There is the "Eternal Rivalry Arc" in which the Inogari brothers of Akatsuki Daisuke High School appear, the "Tragic Ace Arc" in which Ryo Tomozawa of Teio Jitsugyo, a powerful baseball team, is the main character, and the "Akatsuki Golden Generation Arc" in which the members of Akatsuki Daisuke High School appear.

The storyline branches off depending on which of the choices that appear in the beginning of the Powerful High School Arc are selected.

In the "Eternal Rivalry Arc," Inogari fights the player many times, but in the "Akatsuki Golden Generation Arc," he is already an active professional player. The storyline changes dramatically depending on the branching, so "Powerful High School Rivals" is most recommended for players who want to focus on the story of the ball players.

The element of competing with rivals can also be seen in the story and training. Various rivals appear at every opportunity to talk about their goals and feelings, and they may even cooperate with the player depending on the training menu. As the name "Rivals" suggests, players can enjoy heated battles with rivals who are aiming for the Koshien Stadium.

Aoharu Gakuen: A Hot-blooded, Sparkling Aoharu School" for a full-blown coming-of-age experience.

In "Hot-blooded Kirameki Aoharu Gakuen," the protagonist, who is the first member of the baseball club at Aoharu Gakuen, which is characterized by its free school culture, aims to win the Koshien championship with his childhood friends. In addition to the fact that most of the members are childhood friends, this scenario places more emphasis on school life than other success stories.

The practice menu includes school events, such as a seaside school, a Christmas party, a barbecue, and a zoo, all of which seem to have little to do with baseball, but are in fact school events. In addition, all of the childhood friends have their own individual events, making the story even more intense than in "Powerful High School Rivals. It can be said that this scenario is filled with the elements of adolescence appropriate for Aoharu, where friendship with male friends is deepened in school life.

There is one more important element in "Hot-blooded Kirameki Aoharu Gakuen. That is that the menu of exercises is randomized each time. Which exercises are available each week depends on luck.

There are two main attributes to the practice menu: "sparkling" and "hot-blooded. As you complete each practice, the corresponding attribute accumulates in a special gauge, and when either reaches a certain amount, you are in a "FEVER" state. If the Kirameki Gauge is the starting point, it is a "Kirameki FEVER," which means that you will receive more recognition from the people you practice with, and you will also receive "tricks" for your special abilities. In contrast, during a "hot-blooded FEVER," the number of experience points gained from training increases. This is ideal when you want to concentrate on training a specific status.

Since the training menu is random each time, it is up to luck to determine how the main character's status will improve. However, thanks to the boost provided by the two types of FEVERs (Fever and Kirameki), a certain amount of delay can be made up in a blink of an eye, so it does not bother me too much. Especially if you practice during the Kirameki FEVER, you can learn 4 or 5 tricks at once. If you are lucky, you may be able to develop stronger players more easily than in "Powerful High School Rivals.

Baseball-focused "Senryo High School, You're the Captain!

Senryo High School, You're the Captain! you are the captain of a moderately strong and well-known Senryo High School, and you lead your team to the Koshien National High School Baseball Championship.

One of the unique features of this scenario is the "Captain's Circle" system. By placing club members around them, they can receive various benefits such as training, events, and games. In addition, the level of benefits changes depending on the affinity between club members. Additional effects are activated according to the level of the circle. Since it is necessary to take into account the status of each student, it may seem a bit confusing, but the key is to place the students so that their compatibility is maximized.

An even more significant element is "substitution. Although there is a goal of winning the Koshien championship, there is no clear goal, and every year first-year students join the club and third-year students retire. Therefore, it is important not only to strengthen the stalwarts, but also to train their successors with generational change in mind. Compared to other scenarios, the main character is more strongly portrayed as a captain, and those who like simulation games may be particularly interested in this game.

While there are more baseball elements in the game, the storyline is less dramatic. As in other scenarios, there are events during practice, outings, and dates. However, the content and the look of the film are a bit light, perhaps because there are no unique characters other than the main character and the director. However, considering the unique element of this scenario, in which the characters are replaced every year, it is better to emphasize the tempo rather than the intensity of each event, and such a specification is rather appropriate.

Unlike "Powerful High School Rivals," in which players can enjoy a good balance between school life and baseball with a rival as the core, or "Hot-blooded Kirameki Aoharu Gakuen," in which players can fully enjoy their youth through school events, this is a more stoic mode in which players can concentrate on baseball.

In addition to the storyline in which players aim to win the Koshien championship and become professional baseball players, there is a severe simulation element in which players have to develop players within a limited period of time, different play styles for each Success, and an easy volume that makes players want to play over and over again. Success is a mode that can be enjoyed by beginners as well as advanced players.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Success is just one of the many game modes available in Power Pro 2022. We hope that those who actually play this title will enjoy baseball in various forms by experiencing not only Success but also other modes.

(Text by Yoshiyoshi Natsumunouchi)

• Information on this title
• eBASEBALL Powerful Pro Baseball 2022
• Genre: Sports
• Compatibility: PS4/Switch
• Release date: April 21, 2022
• Number of players:
• Nintendo Switch (1-4 players in TV mode, 1-4 players in table mode, 1 player in portable mode *One Joy-Con per player is required)
• PS4: 1 to 4 players (1 to 2 players when online)
• Price: Normal Edition (package and DL)
• Nintendo Switch/PS4: 8,250 yen, Powerful Edition (DL) Nintendo Switch/PS4: 10,450 yen
• Manufacturer: KONAMI

Approved by the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization Approved by the Nippon Professional Baseball Famous Baseball Association Approved by the Nippon Professional Baseball OB Club Approved by the Professional Baseball Franchise Baseball Stadium In principle, the in-game signs reproduced in the game are based on data during the 2021 professional baseball pennant season. Japan Baseball Data Inc. Data is collected independently by Japan Baseball Data Inc. and may differ from official records. Reproduction, transfer, sale, or any other use of the provided information by any means for any purpose is strictly prohibited. Nintendo Switch logo and Nintendo Switch are trademarks of Nintendo. PlayStation", "PlayStation" and "PS4" are trademarks of PlayStation", "PlayStation" and "PS4" are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. eBASEBALL" is a registered trademark of Konami Digital Entertainment Co. (C) Konami Digital Entertainment Contact: Customer Service Center TEL: 0570-086-573 *Weekdays: 10:00-18:00 (Closed: Saturdays, Sundays and holidays)