Atsumare Pawapuro-kun No DS Koshien Release Thread

hmm, we will see who school who XDD~~~ j/k

I will probably get the game soon too...like within this month i hope. >_<

Where I just moved to is a little over 100 feet away from being able to accept DSL internet.
Stupid house. :o/

Oh well. The internet is just a daily turd depository anyway. :o)

BigMan, since your probably the worst of the Pawapuro cynics our there, if you give the game a good review, I'll most likely import it sometime this month. If not, I'll just end up buying Madden and asking for this game come Christmas time.

Good luck on trying to find any friend codes though. I'm sure that's not going to be too much of a pain. :o/

I just realize I really will get schooled, lol~~

I rarely play with the d-pad other than defense...so I cant hit at all.

Alright, guys. Get ready for this statement.

This is perhaps the best Pawapuro I've ever played.

Now, there are definite catches for the English only audience, and I'll list them here...

Catches for non-Japanese speakers

1. There is a ton of Japanese in this. The names are very complex, the Success Mode is more intricate than any I've ever seen, and there are lots of charts/menus.

2. Japanese skill is needed in order to fully communicate with others in the meet-up mode. You basically walk around this town, which is more like a chat room. You'll see other people around depending on what time it is. You can also set this up privately with friends, which is what I wanna do using this message board. So anyway, communication in this town is done via preset Japanese phrases and voice commands. I'm not sure if you can type things out, though I haven't spend much time in there.

3. Graphics are very simple and primitive, but that's what makes it great, in my opinion. As far as the ball physics go, I think it's a very fun game. The bats are all aluminum, and the ball movement reflects that. I've only played a single game, and it was against a stranger in WiFi. He beat me 1-4 after scoring 3 in the 9th inning. I was using a very weak Chiba team and he was using a team with almost all C meet and A power position players. He hit a single homerun on me. I didn't get anything. The single run I scored was via multiple hit rally.

4. You'll be losing a lot of replay value if you can't follow the Success Modes. This game's Success Modes seem to blow away Pawapuro's PS2 attempts. I'm still at the beginning, but it seems very challenging and VERY detailed.

Now, lets get to the positives and negatives so far.

Positives

1. There are a ton of teams in this. You do the math. There are around 8 sections of Japan represented. Each section has around 5-7 prefectures. Each prefecture has 20 teams or so. These teams, since they're fictional, have a ton of personality. There are distinct anime style faces for each player and they all have their own quirky stats. For instance, the strongest player on the Chiba team I used in my first WiFi match is the #4 batter with ability to play outfield and pitch. His pitch movement isn't great, but his stamina is B level. Also, his power is B level.

2. WiFi adds a whole new element of enjoyment to this game. I was hanging on by a thread against the guy I played. I was doing anything to score, like bunting and stealing. Also, I learned early on that my Pawapuro CPU batting method had to be changed. If I let the pitcher get 2 strikes on me in this, I'd strike out a lot. This forced me to swing at a lot of first pitches and it also forced me to think more like a batter(get ready for a strike when the count is 3-0). You'll also only try to hit for power when you have a player capable of hitting HRs. I loved trying to pick off my opponent and I almost got a strike out when faking an intentional walk. I also got a triple play, thanks to his poor running. I'll just say that WiFi makes playing this game more cerebral than ever.

3. Since this is HS baseball, a lot of the players are weak. This means you'll see a lot of F meet and F power guys. Unlike pro yakyu, this adds a whole new element of strategy. Instead of everyone being able to hit decently, you'll get to use strategies against one man teams.

4. Success Mode is insane. There is so much info to take in. It's almost overwhelming, but it's great to know the Pawapoke team is so passionate about their game.

5. This game almost makes you think that the DS was made for baseball games. For example, you can look at all the attribute data on the top screen during Success Mode, while practicing on the bottom screen. During actual games, the top screen is used to play and the bottom shows a display with the scoreboard, pitcher-batter matchup, pitcher-batter attributes, and fielding radar. It's very clean and presented well.

6. Announcing in the game is almost on par with Pawapuro for PS2. The announcer will say all the player names and describe the action. It's amazing how much they fit into this card.

7. This is some of the best 2D I've seen from Pawapuro. I don't know how to describe it, but it's very smooth and clean. Absolutely no slowdown at all.

8. The special WiFi Koshien mode is VERY ambitious and creative. It's basically like a Success Mode using WiFi matches. You play 6 qualifying games and 6 actual Koshien tournament games. If you lose any of them, it's game over. I believe you gain points and rank with each win.

Negatives

1. There was a bit of lag at the beginning of my WiFi game, but it ended after the first two outs were made. Keep in mind that I'm in Seattle and was probably playing against someone in Japan.

2. Like I said before, if you don't have knowledge of Japanese, this will be VERY difficult to play. The difficulty of the actual gameplay could also turn off American gamers. This is a very challenging game and you can't just pick it up and start hitting homers. You have to build your team up and know what to expect from opposing pitchers.

More to come later, including video.

ERrr.....I cant wait to play it!!!

Already told my friend to get it for me from Hong Kong, so I guess I will be getting the game within 2 weeks...

This is great. Now lemme get used to the d-pad first, so I dun make a fool outta myself XD~~~

BTW, from what I've heard, pawapoke's success modes blows EVERY pawapuro success mode. I've never played one before, but that's what I heard in Japanese forums. No matter creativity or storyline pawapoke's success modes are far superior.

I just beat a couple guys pretty easily after my initial loss. Their stats were closer to mine, so my skill level and strategy easily beat them. Of course they were probably 12 and playing for the first time, so I won't brag. It's funny, though, because I'm the starting pitcher and only have a 3 level screwball. It's VERY fun to strike guys out with only a single breaking ball. It's like Kyuji Fujikawa's fastball or Rivera's cutter. You know what's coming, but can you hit it?

Anyway, my one gripe is that I had to run to get my power cord, since the red light of death was blinking in the 5th inning of my second game. I was up like 8-1 with 14 hits compared to my opponent's 2. The WiFi connection died on me, perhaps due to lack of activity while I got my cord, and I wasn't given the win. With all the great things this game has, they should definitely have blowout detection to prevent that. The other thing I hope they have is large penalties for anyone who powers down out of a butt kicking. From what I've played so far, I don't think Japanese gamers are jerks like that. This last guy took his butt kicking like a man and I was pretty impressed.

I'd like to add this point to all of this.

If you like serious pro baseball, this game is not your answer. I think this game would just tick off the average American baseball fan.

If you want to have FUN while playing a Japanese baseball game, this is probably your best bet. This isn't a game in which you sit down and simulate seasons and play all serious. This is a game in which you come home at night, fire it up, and enjoy playing(especially WiFi). This isn't about serious simulation and recreating baseball in videogame form. That's what Pro Yakyu Spirits is for. This is more about lying down on your bed and having fun playing against the ultimate CPU, human intelligence. If you can get past the cuteness of it all(which I know a lot of you guys won't), you'll find some genius baseball in there.

If I were to make an analogy, I'd compare this to the next generation console wars. Pro Yakyu Spirits is the PS3 with it's firepower and simulation of real world graphics and physics. Atsumare is the Wii with dated graphics, reliance on storyline, and focus on just having fun.

Here you go, guys. You can get the general idea with this video. I'm going to delete it tomorrow and make a higher quality one using my new capture card. I used USB on this one and I don't like the quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHF4sSjgq0k

It's good to see that they went back to the old school 2D look on the playing field.

In the last version they "experimented" by running the engine in 3D and it made for some really chunky gameplay.

Hey BigMan, where did you import this game? It sounds like you got great service and I would like to do the same.

Well, here's to hoping that it will support dial-up internet. :o)

NCSX.com is where I ordered. I've been using them for years. They should be able to give you USPS Priority Mail(2-3 business days) if you ask them. I also suggest telling them to waive the signature, since it'll make getting the package a lot less painful. I had to call the post office and get them to bring the lazy mailman back to my place yesterday.

I just now caught that you placed your order from NYC so I'm assuming you imported it from NCSx.

Anyway, I went ahead and ordered mine today.

Prepare yourself to be crushed by my massive brain sometime later this week. :o)

Sounds good. I only have a few gripes with the game so far. The Success Mode is really long and unforgiving. I lost my prefectural final in my last year and got all my data deleted for my efforts. Also, when playing WiFi, it's pointless to pick the beginner difficulty, because the CPU will run and play defense for you. Sounds fair enough, but the AI is terrible and is way too cautious. Also, HRs are almost impossible to hit, unless you have A or B power.

I'm hoping that there's an option to at least play on the "powerful" setting and to be able to turn off the lock-on feature.

You got to keep it real. :o)

By the way, what is up with not seeing any of my posts for hours after they've been written, sometimes even days? Are you screening each and every post or do I just need to register at this site?

I turn off lock-on because it results in point penalties for player development.

This board became moderated when some jerk started making racist comments because we weren't all over his jock when he blessed us with his greatness. By the way, it's never taken me days to review any messages.

I completely agree about the lock-on feature. The penalties your player incurs doesn't even remotely offset the potential benefits during a match game. Besides that, it's always felt "dirty" to me.

Anyway, I've got a few questions.

How long is the story mode? I'm hoping that it's not any longer than an hour and a half (I think I might have ADD and that would spell trouble for me). :o/

Are you able to bring a custom arranged team with you online filled with created characters or can you only choose default teams?

You also said that the game is quite unforgiving. Losing the prefectural final shouldn't be cause to immediately have your player deleted. The usual standard is to not have your character become too self absorb and selfish, only doing strength training. If you focus on team balance and techniques in his training regiment, the manager should have enough acceptance to get him drafted. I'm just wondering what the conditions are to "clear" the story mode in this version.

Anyway, I got my dial-up service started tonight and I'm able to connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi service.

If all goes well, I'm looking at going online midnight on Thursday E.S.T. I'm here in Lansing, Michigan by the way.

It would be great if we could set up a get together.

No promises on how well my connection is going to hold though. If the gameplay is running too janky, it's okay to power down. Also, I'll be drinking a huge share of beers as well so this might have the potential of turning into a terrible nightmare for ya. :o)

I'd at least like to see if the connection settles down after a few innings though.

Anyway, here's to you being dominated by a real man of greater intelligence, whose cerebral cortex is 4% larger than your own. And no, you can't tell just by looking at me. :o)

Hook me up with your friend code and I'll do the same when the game arrives, probably on Wednesday night.

By the way, thanks for the great feedback and early review of this game. If it wasn't for you, I would have waited until Christmas to get this.

I don't know how long it was, but it took me a couple days of on and off playing. I'm guessing you get to use Arrange Teams, because some guys had some ridiculously strong teams.

I just had my first bad experience with a gamer on here. I was using default players and he was using a totally jacked up team. The best batter on my team had G meet and C power. Every single player on his team had at least B power. It was basically all A, B, and C. His starting pitcher had a 154 km/h gyroball with huge movement on his slider and curve. My pitcher had a 120 km/h fastball with little movement on a sinker and slider.

Anyway, this guy was real cocky, despite me hitting just as well as him with my G meet and F power batters. The worst was when he started bunting for automatic outs in the 2nd inning. I decided to mess with him after that and threw the ball at his strongest players' faces. You may think this was stupid, since I'd give up runs, but I never gave up any runs doing this. I'd usually get him to ground into double plays.

He also tried to run a bunch, and I caught him trying to steal a couple times. You could easily tell he invested time to make this strong team, but he was pretty dumb when it came to playing the game. In the end, I lost 0-1. The final play of the game was with two of my guys on the bases. Too bad he didn't throw a mistake pitch right down the middle. It would've been sweet to beat him.

How long were pawapoke's success mode?

pawapuro's success modes were always 1.5ish hrs in length, sometimes could be longer depending on how smooth the matches goes.

pawapuro 13 is even longer...taking around 2 hrs usually to finish.

And as James said, success mode usually depends on coach/scout's impression instead of going into koshien or losing in prefectral tournament...altho u DO get less bcoz u dun play as many matches as if u got into koshien.

Should be getting my game some time next week...then I will see if I can join u guys and maybe see how well I can control the d-pad XD~~~

hello everybody, i'm french and i have bought atsumare power power pro kun no ds..
i'm fond of this game but i can just play exhibition mode because there is too much japanese text in the others mode ,so i wonder if someone could do a translation guide for this game..(in english). thank you

Could you please make us a FAQ for the game ?

Simple Menu translations would be good for starting...

I have been playing just random teams against the Cpu, i dont know how to create my own team, and my own guys for the team... dont know how to play online... dont know how to play in multi-player...

So please make us a FAQ for the game.

If someone else wants to translate, then that's fine, but I'm VERY busy right now and this game has way too much Japanese for me to translate. Maybe if I'm feeling extra nice, I could translate menus and such, but I warned all of you that there was too much Japanese for those who can't read it. Did you listen to me? Nooooo.

I just got a call from the Mrs. saying that the game is there waiting for me when I get home tonight.

Joy!

I'll probably get a chance to go online sometime around 3:00 am E.S.T tonight if you're up for a game, BigMan.

Sorry if that's too late for you, but I'm pretty shameless when it comes to staying up late. :o)

Okay, strike that last comment about going online tonight.

Dear lord, I had no idea the game would have this much Kanji.

I think it going to take me at least a few days just to wade through all of the menus and other junk.

And I was in such a good mood. :o)

My friend code is 9045 1300 5460.

Well, guys, after a nice first few games of WiFi, I've come to find out that Japanese gamers are as immature as American ones. I've been ditched a good 7-10 times now by people who just give up playing me after not being able to guess my pitch sequences. At first I thought it was because of poor WiFi connection quality, but then I realized these people were ditching me.

Post your Friend Codes so I don't have to put up with this stuff anymore.

Here's my FC: 2019 1277 1115

I'm going by the name Jack until I can think of something more creative.

Anyway, I added you as well with the name BigZ.

I still have a tremendous amount to learn in this game but I'm still hoping to come around online at 9:00 pm Pacific Time Zone later tonight.

If that doesn't work for ya, give me a better time to hook up. No promises if I can make that though.

I'm not sure what I'm doing today. My brother just flew back from Florida so I'm thinking of heading up to go see him.

Anyway, hopefully I'll see you later tonight if all goes well. :o)

Well, I played my first online game today.

The guy had a solid pitcher with a level 6 fork ball, slider, and sinker.

I showed him no respect and power hitted through my entire line up.

I went yard twice, hitting solo home runs in each of the first two innings before he disconnected.

I'm not even remotely bothered that he/she/it powered down during the game, I still was able to get enough enjoyment out the experience. :o)

Anyway, I won't be able to come back online until Saturday night, at 9:00 pm Pacific Standard Time if anyone here wants to hook up.

By the way, I changed DS systems and was given a new friend code.

Thanks. :o)

7975 9601 9550
Jack

I've got a couple of questions if you don't mind BigMan.

What is your favorite mode of play?

I think I'm probably most partial to the Manager Mode but I'm having so much difficulty with getting my teammates to actually go out there and win a stupid game. :o/

Are there any general strategies you have found that give your team the best chance of winning?

Also, do you think you'll be up for a match or two later tonight, say around 9 pm P.S.T?

By the way, I have the worst set of pitchers on my team.

If you do decide to play against me tonight, expect to have some fun teeing off of them. :o)

Will be getting my game some time early next week

And I suppose I will get used to playing with d-pad soon after that bcoz I am basically free all day right now watching koshien everynite, lol~~

Will post up my FC later and see if we can have a match here or there

can you guys guide me how ican play vs. with the com... i dont have a router right now

Hey Big Z or Shin, any chance you might be up for a match later tonight, say around midnight EST?

Due to some problems, I still haven't got my game yet...hopefully I will within these few days...will tell u guys when I get it and is ready to play some games with u dudes~

btw, u shouldn't play tonite XD

u should come and watch the koshien final with us, we had a great time just now watching a 15-inning thriller~~

and it's gonna continue tomorrow. Come over in the chatroom and have some fun with us!

Chatroom?

You're speaking gibberish to me son.

What chatroom?

I have a question about this DS game. Can you create teams in this league (pick uniform colors, team name, etc.)? And if you can, is it possible to play online using this created team?

Rockfender, the answer is yes to all of your questions.

I think there is around 9 different sections that allow you to change the color and style of your custom created team uniform.

The only real downside is that I think you're limited to only having a 5 or 6 letter team name and location.

You can also custom arrange the players and starting rotation on your team as well.

This game has some really great features and the best overall use of WiFi gaming.

However, you'll find that when you play online, you'll be facing against some ridiculous teams that were put together using cheat passwords. :o/

What do you have to buy to be able to play online?

Woohoo! Finally got my game

Will practice a bit later, and when I get my WiFi thing working, I will post it up and we can have some fun!

A FAQ would be great, because lots of people play this game and only 5% understand a little japanese!!
Damn!! I think i'll learn japanese.
It can't be as difficult as arab

Hey Shin, it's great to hear you finally got Atsumare!

What are some of you initial impressions of the game so far?

I think it's a terrific game, probably the best overall DS title available right now, but I swear, the difficulty sometimes makes me go into seizure mode. :o/

Anyway, I thought for sure I posted a message about two days ago to mention your Friend's Code, I'm not sure what happened though. Stupid internet.

But yeah, if you're ever up for a game just tell me what a good day and time for you would be. I might even spot you 10 runs in the first inning just to put a smile on your face. :o)

Didn't really have much time these days...so I've been playing just exhibition matches to get myself more used to the d-pad...

Finally got some time today to play koshien mode. Played on captain...ended up clearing it, but I xxxx'ed up in the final prefecture tournament...therefore my team was weaker than it should've been...now it's mid-D rank, altho that's bcoz my bench players are all weaklings.

I kinda copied Waseda Jitsukyo...and of coz the captain was Saitoh Yuuki...and I suppose I was at least pretty close to it other than the stamina department.

The gameplay...as BMZ said, is very real. The aluminum bats really felt like aluminum bat...however I would've liked to see more long balls...even when playing powerful CPU, I've yet to see a homerun hit off me.

Still dun have a WiFi connection yet...since I dun have a wireless router and somehow I wasn't able to steal other's connection >__>

But I probably will have time to go get one within these 2 weeks. Wait for me there, I am improving with my d-pad controlling, if I can get it to just 80% of my analog stick ability, u can betcha I am gonna give u a hell of a ride when we face off

More on koshien mode...

I just got gameover'ed playing kantoku mode....=_=

I absolutely dun like it...the players are a bunch of idiots with CPU in the puu~ level...

1 out runners on the corners...

short grounder to second baseman...he gathers the ball...flips to second when short still wasn't in position (they got lots of time...), the ball flys into left field...E4...runners scored, first base runner rounds to third...runners at the corner again....

and they never NEVER can catch a flyball...a lazy fly ball will land in front of ur outfielders bcoz they wont charge to get the ball...but instead stand waaaay better to let the ball drop...=_=

I am absolutely disgusted with kantoku mode...at least give me some decent CPU fielding...

I can totally hear you about your frustration level with the fielding. As for myself, I don't mind it so much and actually find it quite entertaining to scream at my players over their ridiculous fielding errors.


I'll always shift the infield once there is a runner on first base. Otherwise, the shortstop will usually try to turn two before the second baseman reaches his position, resulting in overexcessive errors.


Hey, any general advice that you can give on how to get a better opinion level of your character besides winning games and taking your teammates out for their birthdays?

Thanks. :o)

Hmm, lemme try shifting them in, but then some of the stuffs the CPU does is just too much for me to ignore and stay calm. Especially when those lazy flyballs became a hit and he runner advances more than one base...or maybe even scoring in the process....it just made me wanna play fielding myself

Just created another pitcher in captain-mode. Ended up with 156km/h, C stamina and C control, with a movement 7 slider and curve.

This time I lost in the spring prefecture tournament but won the summer koshien (last time was the other way around)

For opinion of character which one are u talking about? The bar on the top right corner? or just other teammates toward u? If it's the bar, then ur only way is to win and do well in matches, or help ur teacher when he asks for volunteery help (these are events)

For teammates, either train with them, or take them out . Having the same blood type with them also increases their opinion of u faster.

If i quit a match when i was losing, when i load my game,
a women come and my players have penalties.
Can i turn-off this? I don't understand japanese.
please help me.

That's an anti cheat which 'prevents' you from reloading a save when losing a match.
I wonder if someone actually won the first tourney of captain mode. I usually qualify for it, but then I'm up against teams with C ratings while at that time my team lvl is just E at best.
After a couple of failed captain runs(6+) and finally a cleared one, I noticed some things for making a superstar team.
An B or C level pitcher on your starting team is required for succes, unless you can get points with crap players easily, because the CPU will let up alot of points in the first 6-7 innings without a decent pitcher.
After a game, every player get points depending on how well he's been doing his job. However, only the pitcher seems to be getting the credits for keeping the 0's, outfield players must make hits/points/homeruns to lvl up.
So work on the pitchers breaking balls, and train up the hitting power and meet for your main lineup, because offence will get you more stat points than you'll ever get with training.
This was really showing in my first cleared game, in which my B lvl starting pitcher became a monster, because not only was he my teams best starting pitcher, but also the absolute nr 4. with B lvl batting power at start. Seeing +200 on pitching and fielding stats after a game gets really depressing when the captain (Me!!!) is only getting a measly 50-80 at most on fielding stats.
I'll post more hints and examples of teams (and my current allstar team) when I have the time.

Going back on some of your frustrations of team fielding, I thought I would share with you a few opinions.

As strange as it might seem, the fielding has actually gotten much better.

The A.I. has been greatly improved from previous versions so that outfielders with poor fielding and shoulder strength don't fair as well with other players that have better abilities and skills. I'm not sure if that makes any sense to you, but give it some time and it will.

I know it sounds weird, but decreasing the performance of stupid players actually works out quite well and makes for better enjoyment of the game.

The reason for this is that it encourages creating more well balanced characters and not relying strictly on pure power and strength to make a great baseball player.

There is now a huge difference between a level F and a level A baseball player that has fielding strength. This is the way it should always have been.

The best advice that I can give, if you have poor fielders, is to always shift the outfield close to the infield. The reason for this is that they will most likely have a better chance of being in position on making a play at the ball if something is hit to the outfield.

It just makes sense to bring them in, especially if you don't have to worry about the deep ball.

Anyway, I hope you are really liking the game, no matter how angry it can make you feel sometimes. I still think that this is probably the best DS title out there right now.

Well, post some more general tips and strategies to help me out as well, I'm looking forward to any extra advice that you might have. :o)

wooho!

everything's setted up!!!

my friend code is 4564 0564 6791

if u guys got msn messenger @ shinigamiex@hotmail.com, u can add me to make it easier to contact each other

looking forward to smacking u guys' behind XD~~~

Regarding captain mode start and choosing stats(BBE,ACE,etc.) for a high school: The first letter is the rating for finance, second for teaching quality, and the third for popularity (all roughly translated). Now, to me it seems in captain mode, the first rating doesn't matter at all (no more or less training camps or something like that), but the second and third seemed to matter a bit. With a high rating(A or B) for teaching quality, your players' baseball sense seemed to rise a bit quicker compared to C or lower rating schools. A high rating for popularity fills the green bar in the upper right corner of the bottom screen much faster when you win matches (100% full bar after winning lots of matches halfway of the game compared to 100% full bar after winning summer koshien at the end)
Higher baseball sense will get your players more statpoints after a training or match. I don't know the effect of filling the green bar, maybe better scouting or obtaining a clear game more easily ?
Some hints regarding a few overlooked stats: The state of mind of your players (colored smiley) is very important, the difference between the lowest state (deep purple crying face) and the highest (a light purple/pink wide smiling face) is huge, I think more than 50% of his ability. You can raise it only with inviting them to a game center or video rental store(and choosing the first option on the left). There are some other ways, but harder to explain and I can't remember exactly. :P
If you follow with my startup (getting a B/C pitcher on your starting lineup), you'll notice problems with stamina management of your pitcher(s) causing them to lose control of the ball and throwing breaking balls with less and less movement. The easiest solution is
starting as a pitcher yourself so you can train stamina with your ace pitcher and switch roles as starting pitcher/relief. You can also charge stamina together by inviting your pitcher when he's available to eat ramen, which usually restores 20 stamina points.
In my second cleared game I chose the hard way, starting out as a leftfielder with one B pitcher as the ace and no decent relief pitchers. By creating a great outfield and a solid infield I could cut down the # of pitches by letting them hit on purpose, no more than 3 pitches for 1 batter. :P
But even with A stamina, your pitcher wont last trough the Koshien qualifiers with that many matches in a row, let alone winning Koshien. So at times I had to use someone who's an-excuse-for-a-pitcher to be 'relief' and finish the last 3 inning. Usually I'm up with 6+points, so letting up a few won't matter, but it's quite risky. When your pitcher is good enough, he can pitch quite decently even with no/negative stamina if really needed. My pitcher lasted a heroic 6 innings after using up all his stamina in the first 3 of the Koshien finals, succesfully defending a 1-0 lead gained in the 2nd inning with only 4 recorded hits for both teams in the entire game !
Speaking about Koshien, it might be obvious to state, but scoring points and winning Koshien games will net you alot more statpoints for players than winning friendlies. Before I went into the tournament my teamrating was C(891), after winning it my final rating became B(1079).

More info and hints when I can think of any.
I might try the 'frustrating' manager mode when I have time again, after finally having a great run with my last team (the B rating one) and a thrilling Koshien final against an also B rated opponent. (Strange enough, the opponent of my first cleared game was an E rated team...)

Wow, u actually created a B-ranked team in captain mode? O_O!! Care to share with us ur team?

The best I could do was a high C (900ish i think), but then I just stuck with 9 regulars and then the rest are all F's, so I suppose if I rotate my squad around sometimes then I can get much higher rank

As for the 3 categories, actually the first one (finance) to me is pretty important in both modes. The higher ur finance, the more exp u will get when u practice. An A can have up to 50% more exp than a C-ranked finance. 2nd one (teaching) as u said will let u increase sense faster, and also the amount of exp u get from matches will be higher. 3rd is for scouting, with it being higher u will able to scout stronger teammate (with the scout command u can choose every monday), and also ur own rating will increase faster.

U will still get the same amount of exp from training or match even if ur sense is high, but it will require less exp to increase pts, so with a higher sense ur players will increase their stats faster than someone with a low sense.

As u said it's much better to have ur players in the best conditions before matches, especially ur pitcher. I've gotten many called-games during my last time thru even before I took control of the team, with the game ending in like the 5th or 6th inning with the match like 12-0.

As onme said, it's very important to have more than one pitcher, and it is crucial usually to get far into tournaments. One pitcher wont last the whole tournament, and with a weakened 0 stamina pitcher, no matter how good he is u're gonna have a hard time (especially when u're not controlling), so always try to have a D backup pitcher. And u can throw him in during some friendlies to make him stronger.

As for the prefectural tournament, if u noticed that when during a match u dun get to choose what modes to play in, these matches are auto-matches, and no matter how weak ur team is u're gonna win, even if u trail 9-0 in the 9th. In these matches u can try to bring out ur weakling pitchers and have them pitch, while ur ace gets rest. But with a weak pitcher there's the possibility that he will get roughed up, ending up needing ur ace pitcher to come in and waste more stamina instead of resting...so it's still wise to have a decent backup to throw in these games. I usually end up with a A or B-ranked pitchers (ichimonji is THE BEST player in captain mode, with high powers and the power hitting attribute...u're bounded to get an A-rank with him)

If u're making a pitcher, be sure to go to the hillside often and choose the last option (rest), u might get the ability 'recover o', which will make ur pitcher recover his stamina faster.

If u're making a batter, then try to go to the batting centre when u have time, coz u might get abilities such as average hitter, power hitter, slapper...etc

For quick players, by doing more running training, u might get the 'run o' or 'steal base o' ability.

James:

I've never actually tried CPU-fielding with A defense players. But I always shift my outfielders in bcoz there's only shallow hit balls, and 90% of the long balls are hit so high that even if u shift in, u will still have enuff time to run back out to catch it. But with CPU I am seeing very catchable balls dropping in bcoz the outfielder is so hesitant to step in and catch it.

I enjoy playing this game a lot, but I really dun like seeing some easy players being squandered bcoz of dumb CPU. It's not like I see that happening when I face CPU, so I am somewhat annoyed why my CPU are this weak.

So when are we meeting up? I am prepared to kick some butt! XD

Hey Shin, I could be up for a game later tonight when I return home. Is 1:30 am E.S.T okay with you or is that way too late for ya?

I'll have to see if I have any messenger programs on my computer but I don't think that I do though.

Anyway, since our posts take so long before they're accepted, you could always create a topic at this forum for a faster response time...

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=933405

I'll check with that board tonight and hopefully we can arrange a time to hook up later.


Also, thanks for the great post ^^OnMe, I really need all the help that's offered to me and you provided some dense and descriptive detail in that last post.

I've got a couple of questions if you don't mind.

My team is the USA SLUGS, short for the Michigan State Wonderslugs.

All of my players on the starting roster I ported over from previous versions of Power Pro Kun Pocket.

The names include myself and a bunch of my friends (James, Steve, Trevor, Chad, Josh, Jeremy, Mike, Chris, Jack, and Tom).

How can I create the pronuciations for these names if I'm only given Hiragana lettering?

Also, on the upper screen where it shows each player's level of happiness, sense, blood type, etc., what are the rest of those categories?

Finally, on the screen that shows only one specific player, there are some new categories as well that I'm not fully able to read. Could you please translate those for me along with a brief description or definition of what each of them means?

Sorry, to sound so pathetic but I recently moved about two months ago and I haven't been able to find my japanese dictionary anywhere.

Thanks. :o)

lol, just had two games with james

and i totally got crushed, i think a total of 10 homeruns were hitted by his team...now i realize how scary his team was...imagine 8 barry bonds (the old one) with the speed of reyes + defense like ichiro XD~~~~~~~

man, will i ever be able to make a team like this in DS koshien? XD~~~

ohh btw, altho i simply got crushed, it was pretty fun to be able to play with someone. come on the ones who have the game (BMZ, onme...etc), bring it on!

Hey Shinigami, I had a great time wasting an hour or so with you this evening.

The initial game that we played together was like watching a battle of the cripples through the first 7 innings. Neither one of us could even champion mediocrity on the playing field.

You brought in a dominating closer at the end with a level 7 slider, which is the worst kind of pitch for me to sit on. I can't believe that you only threw that out a couple of times against me.

The whole foundation of a baseball game is all about the pitch sequence, and for that, you didn't fair too well.

You were chasing too many pitches that broke out of the strike zone and then I was able to follow up with slow balls, that didn't break, which you didn't even swing at.

I think that, in the end, I was able to get inside your head quicker than you were able to figure me out.

It took an enormous amount of time to put together my starting roster, probably close to 500 hours. But still, without me ever creating a pitcher, you should have had your way with me and at least made it a chase to who would have won.

The second game that we played, my pitcher only had two types of pitches that broke and each were merely a level 2.

I can't lie, during the second game, watching your pitcher suffer from a 99.9 ERA after the first and second batter made me smile just a little. The third batter almost had the same as the first two but the ball pulled too hard and didn't make it to the foul pole.

At least your starting pitcher made it out of the first inning with only a 40.5 ERA if I remember correctly.

Next time, I'll play you with default teams. That way, I can prove to you that my brain is slightly bigger than your own, but not by much. :o)

Anyway, thanks for being such a great sport tonight. I promise I'll do the same (if you ever beat me that is). :o)

lol, it's a side-effect of playing too much against computer, honestly i very rarely play against anyone but the CPU, so the way I approach was not the right approach against other players, need some time to adjust (it's been like 5-6 yrs, so i WILL need some time to adjust)

about the 1st inning of the second game, i was still typing on the msg board and suddenly realized the clock ran out, so those were balls where I didn't even pressed a single button...which became what it did

btw i was also lagging somewhat and therefore didn't really catch that many of what u swung at, that, plus my inexperience against human opponents contributed in.

I would've had more hits if I was hitting for contact instead of power. the guys dun really possess the crazy power to lift the ball into the seats, and with how huge defensive area ur players cover, most hard hit balls that doesn't leave the park would've been outs.

there's no excuse tho, I got defeated badly XD~~~~ great game tho, I never back down from defeats, I will just stand up and fight until I improve and win. Let's see if that will happen in the future XD

but anyways, I've never seen a bunch of these crazy monsters, not in any pawapuro, so it was pretty amazing to see a bunch of As with 200+ powers. I've honestly never seen so many homeruns in DS koshien, haha.

About playing a game, I would love to. I already registered on the other forum, but unfortunately I don't have much free time in the next few days, also I need to figure how for example 1.30 E.S.T translates to GMT +1 times and vice versa. :P
Shinigami: Thanks for clearing up some of the highschool ratings, my top team was created from a BBE highschool, so that might have been one of the reasons.
FYI, my team also consists of only 9 good starters and all F bench players.
Teamname SEERS, I just liked the name.
Some strong points of my team: Meet A(276), Fielding strenght B (893), Power C (172)
Weak points: 1 pitcher team, so very crappy pitcher ratings, although ballspeed is C(172) and below average running speed of most of my players except outfield.
Some star players: Me being an quite allround left outfielder with Power B (132), Meet 7 and 11 specialty's (1 or 2 negative I think). My shortstop who's really allround with B rating in every category, a defensive monster.
But the real stars are my battery: Pitcher: player rating A(186), stamina A (169), ballspeed 154km, control B(174), power B(121), meet 7 , 9 specialties, lvl 4 slider, lvl 2 changeup, lvl 3 shuuto.
Catcher: Homerun king, meet 7 , power A (147), 6 specialties.
As you can see, this is foremost a very lethal anti CPU team, with the most focus on the offensive. Every single player of the 9 starters has Meet 7, the starplayers had it already halfway of the game. With this setup the first 7 innings were killing, netting 13+ hits and 6+ points on average. When switched to human, the fun really starts: I have had 40+ hits in some games, most of them accumulated when I gained control within 3 innings, 4-5 players are able to hit off homeruns easily.
I'll reply on James when I come back home later today.

I think that the reason why the gameplay started to get a little chunky off and on during our match play was because my computer was downloading some kind of automatic update that I couldn't stop.

Also since we were chatting on a forum, I needed to keep refreshing the page to see if you posted or not.

I know that I have dial up but if you're up for another game, it should run much better this time around, especially since the update has finished downloading now.

I'll be around once again at 1:30 E.S.T if you're ready for another attempt at redemption.

By the way, any chance you could get Yahoo Messenger on your end? The Hotmail Messenger that I need to chat with you is a good 19 meg chunk of junk to download and I don't like tying up the phone line for that amount of time. Also, trying to chat with each other on that forum was very inconvenient.

Anyway, post at the other forum if you're game for tonight. The only thing I really have planned for this evening is to watch the Steelers' game, drink a few buds, and hang out with my wife for a few minutes after she gets out of work at the hospital around 1:00 am.

Oh, and I promise to only play with default teams this time around, much to your relief. :o)

I dunno, gotta see if anything comes up these few days or not

I'm usually ok on late friday nites (like 2 am EST and on)

We'll see when we can set up a time

Had a game with the Zammer the other day, and it was very exciting

This post goes out to ^^OnMe.

Just a couple of things so this shouldn't take too long to read.

You mentioned that your starting pitcher had a level 3 shuuto pitch. I've only seen that just a couple of times and simply referred to it as a shoot pitch, but still, that means nothing to me. I don't follow Japanese baseball so I was curious as to what kind of pitch throw that meant in the Major Leagues.

Also, to follow up on my old question about the pronuciation of my American named players. I'm still up in the air on how to do this.

I was thinking of just having them be called out by positions but that still would require Katakana lettering so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. :o)

OnMe: ha, as I re-read ur msg, I felt something sounded sooo familiar...so u turned on my game and looked at the team I just made...and that was exactly the same team, lol~ Altho my stats are 'slightly' better than urs (my starting pitcher had higher speed, more stamina/control, less breaking pitches), it's basically the same team

this team is probably the best and most balanced.

It's been awhile since my last post but I'm wondering if anyone would be up for a match late Monday night around 1 or 2 am EST.

The last time I played was with Big Z two weeks ago. We were only able to score a combined total of 2 runs each in the 33 total innings played. I lost the last rubber match at the bottom of the 15th and final inning. He hit a blooper to my outfield and my stupid centerfielder threw it to the cut off man instead of chucking it directly home to stop the winning run from scoring.

That fielder was too stupid to live, but hey, at least I'm not bitter. :o/

But anyway, I think Big Z had at least a total of 35 runners that were left on base so I really got smoked by him. He had some great at bats, some key bunts that he layed down, a double steal, and overall good management of team strategy.

I pretty much just went out and tried to go long on every pitch and was too aggressive with the baserunning. The truth is that I didn't really give it a full effort since I was a little punchy from all of the beers that I was chugging down at the time. :o)

Quick question. Is the best of series only available through the Wi-Fi story mode? I was just wondering if it was possible to set up a custom tournament with some of us here.

Anyway, I sure would like another opportunity at redemption if there's anyone here that's up for a match or two on Monday night. Just post a reply if you're interested.

Hey
Whats the best place to import this game from?
I live in The Netherlands in Europe.
And I'm saving up my money to buy this.
I will have enough money in about a month or something.
So whats the best place to order it?

Here are three good import sites:

play-asia.com
lik-sang.com
ncsxshop.com

I've always used play-asia.com and never had any complaints.

Well, I was hoping to go a few rounds with Shin last night but apparently he had cooler things to do, like sleeping all alone in his bed. :o/

Anyway, I still was able to get my baseball fix by playing against some poor, hapless kid.

I scored a 4 to 1 victory in 5 innings of play. I was in quite a jam earlier in the game, but was able to record my first ever true, triple play. That was totally awesome!

I still need to work on my short game though. I'm not very effective when it comes to bunting and setting up a hit and run play. I also need to work on how to better rally my team in an inning once I have a runner on base.

I did find something that can be very useful though. If you make a power swing at the top of the ball and crush it straight downward, you have a good chance of reaching safely on first. Those high choppers can be quite effective if executed properly. It just takes some time to change your typical mentality at the plate.

Well, I've got a question I'm hoping to have answered. I think my past 3 or 4 questions have come up empty but I'm really hoping that someone can at least respond to this one.

Basically I'm curious as to what the whole Wi-Fi competition is all about. Could someone please give me a brief overview and explain this to me in a nutshell?

I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me out on this.

By the way, have most of you moved on to something else or do you guys still find yourself occasionally picking this game up every once in a while?

Thanks a bunch. :o)

Anybody else having a real rough time trying to find internet players to play with?

I haven't been able to hook up with one player yet. What times are best?

Well, seeing that most of the people u'd find to play online is Japanese, best time should be during the weekends. U should be able to connect quickly from 12 am EST on friday and saturday nites in North America. And also ur settings could be a factor why u're not getting anyone to play with. Dun ever put CPU difficulties on powerful...I've had a time where I was connected looking for someone to play with for like 20 mins and still came up empty, and then when I switch to 'tsuyoi' difficulty, I got one within 2 minutes.

Or u can set up a time with the dudes here and if the timings' right we might be able to have a game or two.

Enjoy!

Shin is right. I usually try and play on weekends after midnight and I don't think I've ever had to wait more than two minutes for Nintendo to find me someone.

Also, you want to make sure that you're not searching just for friends, especially if you don't have any.

hi, i am new to this baseball series. Can someone pls tell me if it is true that you have to restart the game in captain mode if you are out from the koshien tournament?

or is it more like you lose, then you gather the same and/or recruit new players to try again next year?

btw,,,,wich game would be better on ds? the powerkun 9 or the koshien one?
thx

The Koshien tournament is like ur NCAA March madness. One lose and u're out.

And just like every other school, once the seniors (the 3rd year student) graduates, they will be gone, so u will get a new set of /studentsplayers joining the baseball club.

As for Pawapoke 9 and DS Koshien, I dunno, I haven't played Pawapoke 9, so I cant judge.