Pawapuro 12 Release Thread

cant wait for this game to come out...

It looks great. Sadly, I won't be getting it. Man, I wish it was more import friendly like pro yakyuu spirits. I

Famitsu reviews are in.

Playstaion 2 Version - 9 9 8 9 for a combined score of 35 of 40

Gamecube Version - 8 8 8 9 for a combined score of 33 of 40

The Gamecube version is supposed to load faster and lacks a couple new modes. Maybe the load speed and GC hardware make the gameplay a little less impressive than the PS2. Now, here are random points people have been giving on the game...

-Players have team specific attributes now. For example, Matsuzaka and Cabrera have the attribute of "Softbank Killer" which means they shine against Softbank. Fukuhara is a Giant Killer. Each team is said to have 3-5 players with these team specific attributes.

-Tani has an updated theme song when he goes to bat called "Yume No Hashi"

-Brumbaugh and Lee both have A power

-Kiyohara has the power hitter attribute

-New batting and throwing forms were seen for...

Ohnishi(Orix Buffaloes)
Toritani(Hanshin Tigers)
Batista(Softbank Hawks)
Zuleta(Softbank Hawks)
Isobe(Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles)
Cabrera(Seibu Lions)
Noumi(Hanshin Tigers)
Shoda(Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters)
Kamakura(Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters)
Takahashi(Chunichi Dragons)

-Shinjo supposedly has a new attribute called "laser beam", which I guess is a throwing attribute.

Oh, and you can also have a Pennant Mode with up to 16 teams now. Now we'll be prepared if a couple new teams come along next year.

Pennant Mode will also have a starting pitcher rotation system, much like Pro Yakyu Spirits.

hmm, interesting

so in order to make ichiro, he's gotta have the laser beam attributes XD~~

i wonder how big a difference it would make

Seems that it's for the guys who can throw people out regularly, like Shinjo, Alex, Ichiro, etc.

I've seen some of the updated stats, and I can't say I'm too happy with some things I've seen. I haven't been able to see Hamanaka on the default Hanshin roster. Okawari Nakamura is supposedly not even in the game. Andy Sheets has A level power, which is just ridiculous. I'll have to remake him with B level. Komiyama has the Shake. It's basically an 80 km/h knuckleball.

Ok, I've seen all the Pacific League stats. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the Central League's until I get the game. I'll only do an overview of the position players, since those are the stats I know really well right now.

Overrated players

Hirano CDCDBF
Muramatsu CDBECB
Shibahara DCBBBB
Shimada DCEDFB
Hashimoto EBEDFB
Nakajima DBCCEF
Kaizuka CCDDEC

Underrated players

Ogasawara BADDEE Has the average hitter attribute, but no power hitter, so his HR total may be down.
Kimoto DCDFEF
Lee Seung Yeop EAEEDD If Benny gets the power hitter attribute, so should Lee.
Franco DBEEEE
Ishii Yoshihito CDEEEF
Kuriyama EFDDFD

There's no sign of Okawari Nakamura. He better be in as an extra, or else Konami is insane.

Forget Hirano being overrated. I hadn't seen his stats in a while, and he's hitting well now. He's just fine. I wanna add a couple Pacific League pitchers to underrared players, though. Sugiuchi, who has been fantastic this year, has very normal stats. Saitoh Kazumi has a very weak E level control and C level stamina. He should definitely be updated, since he's 9-0 right now.

I've actually had a chance to look at Central League stats now. Let's take a look at who's underrated and overrated...

Underrated players

Miyade FDEDED
Aoki EFBDDE
Arai EBFDEB
Koike EFDEED

Overrated players

Kapler GBCBCD
Shima BADCDG
Sheets DAECBD
Hiyama CBEEDC

Hamanaka is nowhere to be found on the default roster. I think I'll have to remake these guys on Success Mode and use the arrange option to get the teams fairly accurate. A few of the changes I want to make are...

-Sheets with low B power
-Shima with D meet and high B power and no Average Hitter attribute
-Kapler with D power
-Arai with A power and Power Hitter
-Aoki with C meet
-Koike with low B power
-Jacked up Sugiuchi and Saitoh
-Nakajima with D meet and D power
-Kimoto with high B power
-Ogasawara with Power Hitter attribute, E meet and no Average Hitter
-Franco with C meet and high B power
-Ishii Yoshi with B meet
-Kuriyama with high C power

My Okawari Nakamura will probably go with EBFEFE with an arch of 3, Power Hitter, and first hit ability.

Hey Bigman Zam, what's the Meet attribute? is it for contact of the bat?

skinz,

Your suspicion is correct. "Meat" or "Mito" refers to contact hitting. I don't speak much Japanese but I'm pretty sure about this.

Can anyone point me in the direction of getting a modchip or a "slider card" used to play japanese games on american ps2's, i want to get some yakyu games, but sadly live in Fla., some site links or URL's would be appreciated

I don't know where you can get a JPN ps2, I got mine from a friend. You can check Play-asia.com to see.

NCSX is a great place to buy Japanese PS2's and other Japanese games and consoles.

www.ncsx.com

Yomiuri20,

http://www.modchip.com/ps2/

This is the site I used, I think.

For more options, just google search "mod chip slide card."

Hey guys, thanks for all the sites, you guys are life savers, much thanks.

I just figured out how the condition system works. They're the smiling and frowning faces.

Yellow means your stats are exactly as listen.

Blue means your bat meet is down by 0.5, power is down 15, stamina is down 30, control is down 12, breaking pitches are down by 1, and your velocity is down 6 km/h.

Purple means your meet is down 1, power is down 30, stamina is down 60, control is down 30, breaking pitches are down 2, and velocity is down 4 km/h.

Red means your meet is up 0.5, power is up 15, stamina is up 30, control is up 12, breaking pitches are up 1, and velocity is down 2 km/h.

Pink means your meet is up 1, power is up 30, stamina is up 60, control is up 25, breaking pitches are up 2, and your velocity is able to hit maximum speed.

That should be "listed" not "listen".

Thank you Bigman!!!!!

Is this how it is for the pro yakyu spirits and baseball live series? If so, I am getting closer to fully translating these games.

So purple is the worst color? I always thought the player were tired on purple.

My list was the following:

red = happy and maximum production
Yellow = regular
blue= unhappy and need more playin time or less playing time

purple = tired

purple = ???

I guess I was right on some parts.

Most players with purple condition should be avoided, since they become very weak. Guys like Rhodes, Cabrera, Takahashi, etc. should always play, though.

Yes, it's the same system. Winning Eleven uses this system, too.

as anyone from outside Japan got the game yet ? and if so , how long did it take to receive it ? ( I'm in Canada , and planning to get it on the Gamecube )

Well, Hamanaka is listed on the official site's player list, but Okawari is still nowhere to be found. Here are player stats you should really switch before starting Pennant Mode.

Aoki - CEBDDE 2 Arch, Steal Ability(4),Lefty Batting(4), Infield Hit Ability
Arai - CAFDEB 4 Arch, Power Hitter
Koike - FBDEED 3 Arch
Iida - DEDDCD 2 Arch, Chance(4)
Nakamura - EBEFFE 4 Arch, First Pitch Hittr
Kimoto - DBDFEF 3 Arch
Nishioka - DDADDE 2 Arch, Base Running(4)
Kosaka - DEADAB 2 Arch, Steal Ability(3)

I'll probably just stick with default settings for the rest of the guys. If I mess with the settings too much, there won't be a good progression in abilities for multiple year pennants. You don't want to give Ogasawara E meet due to his lack of base hits this year. If you do that, there's a chance his batting will get worse in the following years of Pennant play.

Whoops. I forgot the Seibu guys I am changing.

Kataoka EDDEEE 2 Arch
Kuriyama DCDDFD 2 Arch, Chance(2)

I'm also going to give B control and A stamina to Sugiuchi and B control B Stamina to Saitoh Kazumi.

how's sugiuchi's stats?

D control and B stamina. His ball movement and velocity are fine, but he needs allstar level stamina and fairly decent control. I should be playing the game this time tomorrow.

On the day of release, Konami will release passwords for four players. One of them is definitely Takeya "Okawari" Nakamura. Let's hope they update a number of players in the following weeks.

Ok, I've yet to get the game. Hopefully, I will be playing sometime tomorrow. In the mean time, check out the amazing list of players Konami has updated on their site. It takes a little Japanese knowledge to put in these codes, but it should be too hard. Here are the updated guys in order from top to bottom.

Seibu Lions
Ishii Yoshihito
Okawari Nakamura
Takanami
Kuriyama

Softbank Hawks
Kamiuchi
Sugiuchi
Zuleta
Ide

Nippon Ham
Darvish
Hashimoto
MICHEAL
Morimoto

Chiba Lotte Marines
Watanabe Shunsuke
Franco
Nishioka
Lee

Orix Buffaloes
Okubo
Yoshii
Kikuchihara
Kato

Rakuten Eagles
Takasu
Asai
Sekikawa
Okihara

Chunichi Dragons
Kawagishi
Martinez
Morino
Kamata

Yakult Swallows
Fujii
Hanada
Aoki
Miyade

Yomiuri Giants
Hayashi
Mullen
Abe
Yano

Hanshin Tigers
Hashimoto
Egusa
Fujikawa
Maeda

Hiroshima Carp
Oyamada
Nagakawa
Umetsu
Fukui

Yokohama Baystars
Kawamura
Ryotaro
Kinjoh
Tamura

It seems like Konami had the same thinking as myself. They left guys like Ogasawara, Tani, Shima, etc. unchanged because it'll effect their future years in Pennant Mode.

I've already worked out how to modify the rosters. Here is how I would do it...

Kamata <----> Mori
Kawagishi <----> Ogasawara
Martinez <----> Endoh
Hanada <----> Kamada
Mullen <----> Goto
Maeda <----> Kuji
Ryotaro <----> Wakatabe
Nakamura <----> Takagi Taisei
Takanami or GG Sato <----> Inubushi
Ide <----> Deguchi
Hashimoto <----> Shibakusa
Okubo <----> Iwashita
Yoshii <----> Okamoto
Okihara <----> Maeda
Asai <----> Kobayashi

from the way sugiuchi's been pitching this yr...D control and B stamina is just way too low

6 CG and 2nd in PL behind only matsuzaka in innings pitched, he should have at least a mid-A stamina

I got the game this morning. I haven't even really been able to play real games, since I've been busy in Scenario and the training mode. I have to unlock everything I can before really getting into a game.

Right now I'm doing My Life mode. They've improved it a lot. Just little things like graphics changes and the condition monitor are great. It also seems like there are reports on high school and college baseball on TV. I made myself(Chiba Lotte outfielder with Nagashima batting stance). I really hope I can give myself a theme song while in My Life, because I made a really good one of Return Of The Channel 5 by DJ Hazime.

Other great changes...

-Smoother defensive motions
-New animations for walks and moving out of the way of wild pitches
-Pitchers walking to the mound to meet with the infielders after a change has been made
-Valentine chocolate ranking on MyLife. It ranks who's really popular with the ladies, I guess. Nishioka got like 1000, Hayasaka got 600, and I got 10. Hehe.
-REALLY tough computer AI. Hard level batting is like Powerful level on Pawapuro 11. Everything has been brought up a notch.
-New animations after a player hits a ball into play
-New realistic animation for when the catcher throws to second on a pick off play

hmm, powerful level was quite insane in pawapuro 11...probably gonna get the game today or something...

too bad no ps2 for now...so i can only play around a little at my pal's home...

BigManZam,

I got the game this morning too.

1) The only reason I'm bothering you with this is because Pawapuro 12's default difficulty settings differ from those of Pawapuro 11 Final Edition. On the default difficulty settings, if you go down to the 2nd-half screen, there are 2 boxes that are already GREEN. The top GREEN box toggles the pitching cursor on an off, but what does the bottom GREEN box adjust?

2)If this would be too difficult, I understand. But is there any way you could walk us newbies through entering passwords to update players?

You helped me before, I hope you can help me again.

I haven't played that many regular games either. I'm still completing the training and scenario modes. But I'd like to second what someone else has already said about the difficulty settings. In the few exhibition matches I've played so far, I've had the difficulty set exactly as I did in Pawapuro 11 Final Edition. But this game seems harder on these exact same settings! Oh well, this will either force me to improve or I could always just bump everything down a notch.

Also, here's my quick first impression on fielding:

In last year's game if you initially ran the wrong direction/took a bad line toward a grounder or fly ball, you still had some time to correct your mistake and make the play. You can't do this as easily this year. If your first few steps toward a grounder or fly ball are in the wrong direction, you're much more likely to be completely out of position when the ball reaches you...even when you then try to correct your initial missteps.

The first few steps a fielder takes matter more in this game. This feels more like real baseball.

Finally, for any non-Japanese speakers out there who might still be on the fence about buying Pawapuro 12: I don't speak much Japanese but I still love this game.

Shinigami,

I haven't forgotten how helpful you were either. If you get the game, maybe you could answer one or both of my questions above.

Any help would be much appreciated.

You definitely have to think more on defense. I've missed a lot of grounders and learned my lesson. Double plays are also a lot harder to complete now. They have to be set up perfectly.

It also seems like outfield assists are fewer, since you really need the laser beam ability to be accurate with throws.

My settings right now are mit cursor off, strike zone off, fielding cursor on, direction pad control, hard level CPU defense/running, normal level CPU batting, powerful level CPU pitching. These settings are doing fine for me, but it's hard to judge, since I've only played Rakuten and Orix in Pennant. I love the new draft scout format. It's way more convenient.

I'll translate those options later today.

A couple more observations:

- The CPU hit a weak little looper towards my second baseman. I had to move back a bit and then to prevent it from falling in over my fielder's head, I hit triangle to do a leaping catch. But the ball came in lower than I anticipated and deflected off my leaping fielder's arm, shoulder, or back. It was ruled a hit though. I never used to see this in Pawapuro 11. In Pawapuro 11, I took these plays for granted - when in doubt just do a leaping grab and 90% of the time you'd catch it no matter where the ball came down. Another example of fielding being more refined in Pawapuro 12.

- Sometimes my catcher seems to shake off the 1st pitch I decide to throw to a hitter. I don't think I'm imagining this. When I see my catcher shake off a 1st pitch, does this mean I've lead with the same pitch to this same hitter in his previous at-bat?

- I'm also seeing more fly balls hit to the warning track.

BigManZam, any translation help would be much appreciated.

Sorry for the late reply. It was just laziness on my part. If you need anything else translated, holler at me.

To get into the password entry area. You click on the bottom middle option on the main menu. After that, you click on the top right option. That should give you the password entry screen. You enter the passwords Konami gave on their official site, and then you enter those updated guys onto teams via Arrange Mode. A decent knowledge of Japanese hiragana will be needed for efficiency. It's not very difficult to learn at all. I relearned hiragana and katakana via games and Japanese pro wrestling.

Translation of the main option menu...

1. Difficulty presets - rookie or normal

I believe rookie sets a lot of things to auto, like defense and running.

2. I can't quite figure out what this is. Doesn't seem important.

3. Running - manual, semi-auto, auto
4. Defense - manual, semi-auto, auto
5. Batting - manual, auto
6. Pitching - manual, auto
7. Managing(controls substitutions) - manual, auto
8. Meet cursor - normal, assisted, lock on
9. Fielding cursor - on off
10. Pitching cursor(formerly mit cursor) - on off
11. Pitch type display - on off
12. Strike zone - on off
13. Handicap - This controls what the smiley face conditions for the teams are. You can tell how to set them via the colors used to label.

If you guys want me to, I can try my hardest to translate My Life Mode. Success is pretty deep and would take a long time to do, but My Life shouldn't be too difficult. Let me know if it's needed. I could also translate the statistic menus.

sorry for the late replies...been working my @$$ off at work, and since i dun have my ps2 with me in hk, i dun get to play too much

was playing it at my relative's house last nite (well, he lives next door actually...^^, got the first 2 training modes done...the jitsuryoku i haven't touched yet

also went thru a few scenarios...done lions, softbank and hanshin...

as for the settings and stuffs, gotta look at them before i can tell which is which, coz i never bother to memorize the order...

about success mode, i probably wont go thru it many times until sept when i return from my hk trip...we'll see

so far i didn't find the difficulties to be much higher...maybe before i left for hk i've been playing too much my life mode on hard mode as a pitcher, therefore my pitching skills actually improved a lot, but fielding as u guys have said it, is tougher than before, i myself missed a few easy grounders bcoz of midjudging the first step

my settings are basically the same as before, with the exception i am playing on hard CPU instead of normal. my weak point is batting, so i dun dare turn CPU pitching to powerful like BMZ is doing...^^;

kuon hikaru already gave me tons of trouble back in 11:chou's success mode >__<

Any advice on pitching? I can't do the Lions scenario to save my life.

For batting, this is my advice.

Only go after pitches before a 2 strike count with batters who have the strike out attribute. For example, if runners are on second and third, there are two outs, and the batter is Jose Fernandez, go for a solid base hit to bring the runners home. The pennant stats will be very realistic with this, too. If runners are on second and first and there are two outs, you can try for the full swing.

I also try to avoid going after early pitches, since I want to make the opposing pitcher's count go as high as possible. It's key to learn which pitches are strikes and which are balls. After a while, you'll be able to play without the cursor and can just react to the pitches like a real batter. This makes for very tense and realistic gameplay.

Be very careful of how you use the power swing. If I am playing with Kazuhiro Wada, and I can't get the big swing on the first two strikes, I will almost always just try to finish the at bat by making solid contact. The only exception is when there are two outs. I usually just go for it all when there are two outs, unless it's a rally situation.

heh, basically that's what i am doing at bat too, only problem is that i just usually move within range to hit the ball, but many times just hit the side of it, resulting in easy grounders or pop-ups.

the pitch i have the most trouble with are sliders and shoot-balls, i've no problems with any other pitches, coz for me moving vertically is way easier than horizontal (i play with analog stick)

as for pitching advices...

anything CPU batting above normal makes opponent power hitters bat like barry bonds...give them any easy pitches and they will take u out of the park most of the time (had some bad experiences with hard in mylife for 11:chou...coz i think those batters are on powerful level if u're pitching well for a few months...)

this is advices for 11:chou tho, coz i notice slight differences in 12...i will mention these differences below

if u're playing on hard/powerful, it's wise to dun go too much to ur fastballs, CPU reacts to them in an instant, and the next thing u know, u're watching the ball sail out of the park. I'd say a 75% off-speed pitches to 25% fastball is a good ratio. However, i noticed that in 12, even players like jojima doesn't slam fastballs out like 11:chou, i had him swing and miss at a 147km fastball towards the inner part of the zone...so there could be some adjustments in 12...haven't really tested it out enuff yet...

Do not ever try to throw the ball anywhere near the middle of the strike zone...i tend to like to work around the batter' corners, especially against power hitters, even if ur pitches gets slammed, u get a chance it will sail beyond the foul line. i also have a tendency to go for high pitches against power hitters so even if they hit the ball, their chance of a homerun becomes less, and more of them becomes easy fly-outs for ur outfielders.

the easiest type of batters are the ones with the strike-out attribute, after 2 strikes, u can basically catch most of them swinging air with a fastball anywhere other than the middle of the strikezone, most of the time they wont get to it, but will swing.

so basically try to switch pitches every time, aim for the corners (or if u just want less pitches, easy groundouts/flyouts, use tons of fastball towards the lower/upper part of the zone)

oooh, as for the lions scenario...

kawahara can only work for 1 inning, after that he should be taken out immediately after the 7th, mori relieves in the 8th, and toyata to close it out.

oomura seems to like to punt here, so be prepare to move kawahara up to catch the ball to throw him out.

it's best to retire the side so u dun have to face matsunaka with kawahara, or else u might not even get out of the inning.

it's gonna be pretty tough to get matsunaka and jojima out, high flyouts work with jojima, but matsunaka can still take the ball out pretty easily even with a high fastball (personal experience, lol). if u get past these two, then zuleta u just need 2 strikes and u can easily get him out with a fastball.

after that, it should be pretty easy facing the weaker batters with toyata.

good luck~

I got by it by scoring 7 runs in the next inning. They almost came back. I went ape when Johjima flew out to left. I immediately came back down when I realized that GG Sato wasn't unlocked.

I also scored a number of runs in the Lions scenario and thought I had them beaten. Big mistake. They roared back to take the game. I'm sure I'll beat them eventually. It is encouraging to hear that someone else had some trouble with this one.

BigManZam, thank you for your password walk-through and option menu translation. I found both extremely helpful.

I, for one, would love it if you translated My Life mode...if you think it wouldn't be too much trouble. This would open up a whole new game mode for me.

The statistic menus would also be great. I've figured out some of the stat menus on my own through matching my in-game performances with the post-game numbers, but I just can't figure out some symbols' meanings. I also know of at least two other people who would greatly appreciate the translation help.

Has anyone else played the new tournament mode? And why can't you adjust the CPU difficulty in this mode? Specifically, in the OB tournament. I won the OB tournament with the Pacific All-Stars. I won the first two games by the 10-run rule and wanted to increase the CPU difficulty, but that part of the difficulty menu was locked. Then when I got to the final/championship game, all of a sudden the CPU difficulty increased. The difficulty menu was still locked, but I could just tell from the CPU's on-field performance that the game had gotten tougher. I won the final game 9-6.

Usually when you clear a scenario, a treasure chest opens to reveal a couple of new players' names. Who are they, where are they located, and what are they used for?

I did pretty well in a round of home run derby. A treasure chest opened to reveal one pitcher. Turns out he's an OB player from the 1960s. Now I know you can hit against these unlocked OB pitchers in batting practice. But what else can you do with these unlocked OB players? Can you add them to a team for exhibition or pennant play?

Is this the same Jomcclane from Operationsports.com?

Anyway, I can help you out with figuring out the stats. I'll post it later.

Here's some definition I found out for stats:


�ベン�ャー】bencher

�完�】 baseball shutout

�犠飛】 sacrifice fly
�三振】 strike out

�四�】 walk

�自責点】 an earned run

�出�率】 on-base percentage

�短打】 single

�盗�】 base stealing

�本�打】home run

�三】Triple

�二】Double

�スイッ�ヒッター】 switch-hitter

�エラー】 error

I really want to get this game. The animation and graphics look so neat and fluid.

What interests me most about the game, though, are the role-playing elements in some of the game modes, such as the "My Life" mode (the girlfriend impressing aspect, etc.), and that's why I'm still on the fence about buying it. I know absolutely zero Japanese, and I've never imported a game from Japan before, so I am worried that I won't be able to get much from these role-playing elements.

If I buy the game, will I be able to understand what is happening in modes such as "My Life" mode? Will I just have to skip through all of the text, not know what is happening, and just play the games?

my life mode aint really that hard to understand, coz there aint really THAT much stuffs u need to know in order to play, most things should be easy to understand by common sense...

however, one of the other mode, a pretty popular mode also, the success mode (where u can make ur own players), have tons of japanese and is hard to understand or to be good at if u dunno japanese.

and also, if u wanna play import, i think u'll also need to mod ur ps2.

If I were to buy a book on hiragana and katakana, study it, and keep it by my side as I played the game, would I be able to truly understand what was happening in the My Life and Success modes?

Here is the book that I had in mind: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0804833915/qid=1121905980/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-4492957-7387966?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

This is the same jomcclane. I frequent these two sites because they're the only two I've found so far that discuss Pawapuro in English.

Any stat help would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your help Skinz. Again, I've figured most of these stats out on my own. But I'm sure others will find this information helpful.

Also, I can't read your Japanese characters on this site. They appear as jibberish on my CPU. I remember you telling me on operationsports.com that you didn't know how get Netscape to use Japanese fonts. But on operationsports.com I could at least still see/read your Japanese characters. Here I cannot even see/read them. Weird. Is anyone else having the same problem?

I was thinking about translating the two post-game pitching breakdown screens. I mean the two post-game screens where you see the strike zone from the catcher's perspective in the lower right portion of the screen.

I'm fuzzier on the 1st screen than I am on the 2nd. I already have the 2nd screen completely translated. But the 1st screen basically uses the same characters that the 2nd uses, so it shouldn't be too hard to translate the 1st screen too. I will post this information within a day or two.

BigManZam has offered to translate My Life mode and the stat menus.

Sorry about the japanese fonts. It was right when I was writing it but came out horrible. Can the Moderator delete that post? thanks

I'm still learning myself so Shinigami and Bigmanzam are the pros with this kind of stuff. Hopefully they can work together on a translation guide.

Is this correct?

Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 12 sold
277,907 units in the week of July 11-17.

WOW!! this can't be true can it?


Pro yakyuu spirits only sold 167,228 units in the first quarter of 2005.

and

Baseball Live 2005 sold 120,008 units

dunno if the stats are right or not...but even if it is...it could be true...

there's a reason pawapuro is up to its 12th edition

and it always sell well in japan

According to this website, Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyu PS2 version sold 278,000 units, which is number 1 for Japan sales. It beat out games such as Ape Escape 3 and Ominusha 3. The GC version sold 34,000 units, good for number 6.

According to this, the PS version is on pace to sell a half a million.

http://www.m-create.com/eng/e_ranking.html

does anyone know if there is a freeloader available for ps2 ?
( I just bought Pawapuro 12 on the gamecube with the freeloader , but would like to get Yakyu Spirit on the ps2 too )

Let me get this straight , we have to unlock players beofe making a season ?

In order to play import games on the PS2 you'll need either a mod chip or a slide card. I use a slide card because, unlike a mod chip, it doesn't involve opening my console and inserting/removing parts. Check out modchip.com. If you go the slide card route, make sure you get the NTSC version for North American PS2s or the PAL version for European PS2s. Also be sure to get the regular version for the original PS2 design, or the slim version for the new slim PS2.

You can begin a season whenever you want. I think the earlier posts were just refering to player updates.

Thought I'd share an animation that I just saw for the first time. I was pitching with a runner on 1st. The CPU hits a hard grounder up the middle to the right of 2nd base. I range over with my 2ndbaseman and make a fully-extended, diving, backhanded grab. Now I've done this before...but here's the new part. When I throw to my SS covering 2nd to start the double play, my 2ndbaseman does not get up. Instead while still laying on his stomach, he backhand flips the ball directly out of his glove to the SS. Double play.

Also, I'll probably post translations of the three final post-game screens later today. I'm refering to the three screens that come up after you've cycled through the regular post-game stat menus. The first two screens break down pitching, the last screen breaks down hitting.

Woo-hoo! I cleared the Lions scenario. I didn't even need any extra runs. I got two double-play balls at opportune times and that made the difference. I've only 3 scenarios left to clear: 4-star Giants, Tigers, and Baystars.

And now as promised, here are the 3 final post-game screens translated. These are the last 3 screens you cycle through after you've gone past the regular stat sheets. The 1st two of these screens break down your pitching performance. The last screen breaks down your hitting performance. Bear in mind that I don’t speak much Japanese. I’m not 100% about any of this, but I’m fairly certain about a lot of it. If anyone sees any mistakes, I’d like to know about them.

1st Pitching Breakdown Screen:

You should see 7 boxes across the top of your screen. Here's each box's meaning from left to right:

1-Total Pitches Thrown in Game by Your Team (press
SELECT to switch between the two teams)
2-1st Pitch Thrown to Each Hitter
3-Swing&Miss Strikes
4-3rd Strikes
5-Balls Put in Play but Resulting in Outs
6-Hits
7-Homeruns

Along the far left side of the screen you should see 2 or more rectangular boxes. The top box represents all pitches thrown by your team. Boxes below represent the pitches thrown by each individual pitcher.

The 7 boxes across the top and the 2 or more boxes along the far left side work together. For example, if you wanted to see every homerun ball your starter threw, you would move the top cursor to the 7th box and the far-left cursor to the 1st individual pitcher.

The 2 diagrams on this 1st screen tell you: -how many of each type pitch you threw and –how many pitches passed through 9 regions of the strike zone and 16 regions surrounding the strike zone. The pitch types are listed like this: on top you’ll always have 1)fastball, 2)slowball, and 3)mistake pitches/where your pitcher shouts an exclamation mark and your pitch is off target. *I’m not sure about 3)mistake pitches. The diagram below with the giant baseball with red arrows coming out of it in all directions tells you how many of each type of breaking ball you threw.

2nd Pitching Breakdown Screen:

This screen resembles the 1st screen, but now each pitch type is assigned a symbol and a color. Here, 3)mistake pitches(*again, I’m unsure about this.) from the 1st screen are lumped in with fastballs. Orange circles represent fastballs. White circles represent slowballs. All other breaking pitches are assigned a colored arrow. With certain breaking balls, the arrow’s color and direction depends on whether the pitch was thrown by a right-hander of a lefty.

If you have your cursor on the very top box on the far left side of the screen, the box that shows all pitches thrown by your team, certain pitches will be lumped together under the same colored arrow. But if you move the far left cursor down to each individual pitcher, then the pitches that were lumped together should be broken down more thoroughly. For example, I think a pink arrow can mean both slider and cut fastball with your cursor on the top box. But if you move your cursor down to the individual pitcher who threw both sliders and cut fastballs, you’ll see two different pink arrows with a distinct name assigned to each.

By pressing the L1 and R1 buttons you can cycle through any category pitch by pitch (with sound effects!). The pitch-by-pitch menu that pops up when you hit L1 goes as follows:

-Pitch # in Game
-Hitter
-Pitch Type
-**Pitch Result** (see immediately below)
-Pitcher

**Pitch Result**: For Swing&Miss Strikes and 3rd Strikes, there are a couple of symbols useful to know.

With Swing&Miss Strikes, you'll always see a symbol resembling the capital letter "I" with 2 small circles on top of it. But if you see 2 other symbols after the "I", the 2nd of which looks like a "Y", then you know that this Swing&Miss Strike was only for strike 1 or strike 2. If you only see 1 symbol after the "I", a symbol that has 3 prongs jutting out in its upper right corner, then you know this was a swing and miss for strike 3!

With 3rd strikes: If you see the same capital letter "I" with 2 circles on top of it along with the symbol that has 3 prongs jutting out of its upper right corner, then you've got a swing and a miss for strike three. But if you see 3 horizontal lines stacked on top of each other next to the symbol with 3 prongs jutting out of its upper right corner, then you've got a called strike three.

What’s great about this screen is that it enables you to easily recap and visualize every pitch thrown in the game.

3rd Hitting Breakdown Screen:

You should see 6 boxes across the top of the screen, each with a number inside. They read like this from left to right:

1-Batted Balls Put in Play
2-Hits
3-Homeruns
4-*(unsure)
5-Flyouts and Lineouts
6-Groundouts

You should see three rectangular boxes on the far left of the screen. They read like this from top to bottom:

1-All Batters
2-Right Handed Batters
3-Left Handed Batters

The large divided square in the center of the screen breaks down: 1) swing type (meet or power) and 2) quality of contact (based on how accurately you aim the hitting cursor and how well you time your swing). The 3 quality of contact colors (red for perfect contact, yellow for decent contact, and blue for not so great contact) in this chart are the same colors your hitting cursor will turn while you’re playing the game.

I’m unsure about the chart in the lower left that contains percentages.

On the right, the baseball field diagram tells you how many balls were hit to each location.

Again, let me know about any mistakes.

nicely done...good job...but it's too long i didn't read it :P

been playing around with success mode a bit...it seems harder to create good players...BUT

this time u can meet dr. daijobu more than once...i met him twice with my DBCDDC second baseman in one of my game...and both times the surgery failed...or else i'd probably end up with a player with 4 b's and 2-3 a's if i didn't take the surgery...and would've gotten full A's if both time were successful...damn that mad scientist...

finished with all 3 groups for pawapuro academy, and also done missott a few times...didn't want to start pro-test scenario just yet for some reason...

would probably try it in the next few days

generally it seems harder to get good stats this time around...coz money is harder to come by (at least in academy mode, u only get to do part-time jobs on weekends...where u gotta date if u want stuffs from the girls)...cpu's seems to be easier than pawapuro 11...where u're facing hard-powerful CPU's in the last 2 games of the tournaments.

my first ever character (pitcher) was able to get like 17 k's a game in the last tournament...and it came by pretty easily...unlike 11 where u get insane CPU's who will slam ur pitches out of the park if u aint careful...

Sorry about the length of my last post. I just wanted to get in as much as I knew about those three post game screens. Again, I hope someone out there finds it helpful.

Also, I've noticed that in my last post there are many places where there's an "a" with a funny symbol on top of it. These should be regular apostrophies, like this: ' . Sorry for this too.

Whenever people start talking about success mode, it makes me wish I knew Japanese.

heh, no need to be sorry, it's just coz i can just read it off the game therefore i didn't take the time to look over what u wrote...but i am sure others will find it helpful

good job

Thanks.

I've noticed that when you clear a new scenario a treasure chest opens to reveal some new players. These guys are listed under PRO in Arrange Mode (3rd Box on the right at the very top).

But when you have a good round of homerun derby, you unlock OB players. These guys are listed under OB in Arrange Mode.

My question is: Who are these PRO guys that you unlock in scenario mode and why aren't they already assigned to a team?

I've cleared all but 2 scenarios. Giants and Baystars are all I have left. The Tigers one was tricky but I finally got it.

The right-handed pitcher you face in the Tigers scenario does not have curves, sliders, shooters - i.e. any pitch that breaks left to right or right to left. So all you have to do is look for a fastball, slowball, or dropball.

I pinch hit for the first Tiger batter. I did this because he's a right-handed batter and because he doesn't run well. I put in the left-handed batter with OK speed (I think he has a C). In general, lefty hitters tend to hit right-handed pitching better than righty hitters do. And because this lefty has better speed, you've got a better shot at legging out an infield hit.

Can anybody help me with these things :
1- how do you play the equivalent of the franchise mode ? ( wich square )( i'm using the 2nd square )
2- How can I set the batting,pitching settings ? ( cpu strenght )
3- is it possible to get a behind the pitcher view when pitching ?

I got the game this morning , and been using the default setting , but can't draw any walks , and never allowed a Homerun

thanks

I've just emailed Bullpen45 a walkthrough on how to adjust Options/CPU Difficulty in both Exhibition and Pennant modes.

This walkthrough is kind of lengthy, so I hesitate to just post it here. If enough people express interest, I'll post it. Or if just a few people want it, I could email it to them too.

I would like the walkthrough. My e-mail is paneiro1122@yahoo.com. Even though I don't have Pawapuro, I own Pro Yakyuu 2004 and they have the same options. Your translation helped me greatly because beofre I didn't know where I could view the pitch count.

about jomcclane's questions on the PRO players and OB boys:

PRO players are players in the league right now that joined with the club after the league's started, players like okawari nakamura (seibu), martinez (chunichi)...etc

coz konami's already finished with the roster a while before the game was released, it was too late for them to add the players into the roster, so they just put them there, while some of them they just gave out passwords on the pawapuro official site so u can add them back into arrange teams.

as for OB players, those are the players from the past (OB stands for old boy...meaning the oldies, weird name huh? XD), u can unlock all of them by hitting 100 HRs in the HR derby, or u can slowly unlock them by playing HR derby many many times

oooh, there's also 2 types of scenario clear for the scenario modes, a complete clear and a partial clear. u can see which one u got by the word on top of the team flag, if the word 'clear' is in gold, then u've got the complete clear, otherwise the clear would be blue, meaning u won the game, but did not follow what actually happen that day in real life.

for example, for the softbank scenario, u need to have batista get on base, then have cabrera's timely to get him home, any other way of clearing the scenario will get u a partial clear only, and u will get a few less players according to my understanding...

therefore the hardest is giants, coz u need kokubo to hit the game-winning HR and then have kubo to shut out all 3 batters in the bottom of the inning, and in most cases kubo should be tired by then.

Hi,

To the people already owning this game: is it possible to create your own players without surviving all the Japanese in Success Mode?

I love the Pawapuro-series to death, but it saddens me I've never been able to guess right in the Success Mode and thus can't ever create my own man...

Thanks,

Jacob.

how is your strike vs ball ratio ?
I'm asking because so far pitchers are having something like 85 strikes and 12 balls at the end of the game ( even if I let the CPU hit for me ).
Am I the only one ?
is there a way to correct that ?

Sent.

Sorry about my "Sent." message above. It was supposed to appear under Skinz email request a few posts up. Lately for some reason whenever I try to post a reply beneath a specific post, my reply always comes up at the very bottom of this thread. Is anyone else having this problem?

Shinigami, thank you for your help. When you say 100 Homeruns, do you mean 100 with 1 hitter in one at-bat? Because if you do, I have to say, "Wow!" I haven't come close to that yet. Though I am getting better.

I have unlocked enough OB players to create a new OB team in arrange mode. My favorite guy is the outfielder who has an "F" in Meet, but straight "A"s in everything else.

When I created my OB team in arrange mode, I started with a copy of the Pacific All-Stars. I then removed all of the current players and replaced them with my unlocked OB players.

Here's my question: Can I edit the logo of my new OB team so that its not still the Pacific All-Star logo?

Thanks jomcclane.

Also it looks like this game is ranked number #1 on the Famitsu list of 30 games.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/rank/top30/2005/07/28/120,1122549981,41846,0,0.html

On a few sites I've read that by hitting: UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, START - that you can unlock hidden stadiums.

But I've tried this a few times with no results. Am I entering this code in the wrong place? I've been entering this code at the openning title screen were you press start to get to the main menu.

Here is a link to some hints and tips, the link is long because I've run it through a translater:

http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/body/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fpawaball.my-sv.net%2Fpage017.html&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2

I'd like to apologize for my silly question about logo editing. If I had just searched more thoroughly myself, I would have realized that this is the 1st option in the upper left corner after you select a team in Arrange mode (Arrange Mode is located in the far right box at the very top of the main menu).

I can't believe I overlooked this. But then again, I don't understand much Japanese. Anyway, sorry.

Also, I think Homerun Derby really helps Pawapuro newcomers make the jump from the Assisted (PINK) Batting Cursor to the Default/Normal (YELLOW) Batting Cursor. I've been playing a lot of Homerun Derby lately. I've unlocked all OB players, and I've also dramatically improved my batting skills.

I'll post Homerun Derby hints/tips and a translation guide soon.

I was reading some reviews by japanese gamers and some are not too fond on this game. The average score for this game was a D. Here's some things they complained about:


-The Giants and Tigers are way too powerful than the rest of the Baseball clubs. The Dragons are are suddenly weaker than the two when the Dragons won the pennant last year.

-There's a bug when inputting a password and other bugs in the game.

- The fastball is very weak

-The balance of the pitcher and batter interface is messed up. The hitting is strong while pitching is very weak.

-The CPU is really hard. Its very hard to stike out people because the CPU rarely swing at balls out of the strike box.

Most are choosing Pro Yakyuu spirits 2 than pawapuro 12 and are waiting for the fall version for fixes. Can anyone comment on these before I try to get this game?

You've probably already figured out from my posts here and at operationsports.com that I love the Pawapuro series. But I thought I should say this again at the start so you know where I'm coming from.

I haven't noticed a bias in favor of the Giants and Tigers.

I haven't noticed a bug with the password input or any other bugs. Though I haven't used the password input that much yet.

I've bumped up the CPU's pitching ability and fastballs don't seem weak to me.

Pawapuro 12 is probably the most balanced sports game I've ever played. And I'm not just refering to the batter-pitcher interface. I'm also talking about defense/fielding, bunting, and managing/strategy.

*I agree that the CPU rarely swings at balls out of the strike zone. Maybe "rarely" is too strong a word, but I would like to see CPU hitters chase a few more balls out of the zone.

I disagree that the CPU is too hard to strike out. The CPU was actually too easy to strike out until I bumped up the CPU's hitting ability. Now, it feels just right.

I've been impressed with all of the difficulty settings I've experimented with. Put everything on the lowest setting and you've got a game that a 1st-timer or small child could enjoy. Bump everything up to the highest setting and you've got an extremely challenging game. (I play with settings somewhere in the middle.) And yet no matter the difficulty setting, the game never seems to lose its "balance".

Here's what I mean by "balance". I used to bat with the assisted hitting cursor and I kept the CPU's pitching ability extra low. Not surprisingly my hit, HR, and run totals were high. But so were the CPU's. I still blew out the CPU occasionally, but not too often. I got tired of slugfest after slugfest so I turned off assisted hitting and I bumped up the CPU's pitching ability. Now I'm getting realistic amounts hits, HRs, and runs and so is the CPU. *Even though I didn't change the CPU's hitting ability, it seems like the CPU hitting adjusts depending on how well you hit. Some might not like this, but I do. Balance.

A few months back, I too was trying to decide between Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2 and Pawapuro 11 Final Edition (this was before 12's release). I went with Pawapuro and here's why:

-The Pro Yakyuu Spirits series has not been around that long. I think it takes gamemakers a number of years to truly polish a sports title. Especially baseball. Madden football is the only sports series that's had a longer run than Pawapuro.

-I think Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2 has a separate "hit-the-ball-to-the-opposite-field" button for batting. I don't like the sound of this.

-Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2's fielding camera places you BEHIND your fielder. Its more of a 1st-person, over-the-shoulder perspective. And I don't think you can change this if you don't like it! I prefer a more traditional approach to the fielding camera.

Famitsu gave Pawapuro 12 a very high score. Famitsu is a tough judge...much tougher than any of the major game reviewers over here, in my opinion. I give Famitsu's reviews a lot of weight...much more weight than random reader reviews.

In this thread on July 23, 2005, John Brooks and yourself posted some pretty incredible sales figures for Pawapuro 12. On July 30, 2005, John Brooks also posted a link to Pawapuro's #1 ranking at Famitsu.

The Final Edition of Pawapuro 12 probably won't be released until the middle of December. That's still 4 and a half months away. I plan on getting the Final Edition too.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the comments Jom. The reviews I was reading stated that they loved Pawapuro 11 and the rest of the series. It was just pawapuro 12 that they didn't like for some reason.

Anyway, I didn't know that about Pro Yakyuu spirits 2 fielding camera. I thought you had the option to choose if you want to play behind the fielder or not. If that's the default and only camera angle then I'm going straight for Pawapuro ASAP. I hate that angle, I played All star baseball 2005 and it had that angle and it was horrendous.

No, the default in Pro Yakyu Spirits 2 is normal, in front of the fielder, view.

And you can hit to the opposite field just fine with the "X" button as opposed to the circle.

Skinz,

I think you might be witnessing the same phenomenon that occurs each year when Konami releases a new verion of Winning Eleven soccer. Every year, many who have grown accustomed and attached to last year's version rant, rave, and proclaim "this year they finally screwed it up!" Where in actuality, they just haven't taken enough time to adjust to the new game's "feel".

Last night just for the heck of it, I tried Pawapuro 11 Final Edition (I let my brother have this copy.) for the 1st time since I've started playing Pawapuro 12. The difference was pretty striking. Pawapuro 11, while still a great game, just didn't feel as good. I wish I could elaborate more, but I'm not sure how. Pawapuro 12 just "feels better". Examples: -Balls come off the bat with greater realism and variety. -Positioning, jumping, diving, and lunging on defense all seem tweaked.


Keibu's Dad,

Thanks for the info on Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2. I was just guessing about this game because I've never played it myself.

I thought I remembered reading some posts by non-Japanese speakers who wanted to know how to change the fielding camera. And can't ever remember reading a post that actually explained how to change it. That's the only reason I said what I said in my last post.

If the "X" button works just as well to go opposite field, then I wonder why the gamemakers even included the other button ("O")?

Keibu's Dad,

Do you play both Pawapuro and Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2?

If you do, then I'd be interested to read your comparison of these 2 games.

The PS2 version of Jikkyuo Powerful Pro Yakyu 12 is at #2 of 10. It's behind Sengoku Basra a action game made by Capcom.

Though the game is still above games such as the popular Square Enix RPG Full Metal Alchemist which is a fairly new game in Japan, and is always a craze in Japan.

http://www.m-create.com/eng/e_ranking.html
http://www.gamespot.com/news/sales_chart_japan_sales.html

Here are 2 bits that made me happy. Both are located near the bottom of John Brook's 1st link in his latest post.

1) Quote: "Nevertheless, these results are somewhat disappointing, with sales at 80.54% of last week's average. Although quite a number of new titles made the top 100, more than half failed to sell 10,000 units. This is a rather weak performance for the lineup of new titles during the summer sales rush. **No new title matched the sales performance demonstrated by "Jikkyo Power Pro. Baseball 12" released last week, which may be one of the reasons for the slump (emphasis added)."

2) Microsoft's XBox has a 0.16% share. The regular/old version of the Game Boy Advance has more than twice this amount.

Jomcclane,
I haven't played Pawapuro 12, but I do have 9, 10 and 11.
And I have all 3 versions of Pro Yakyu Spirits.

I'd have to say that both are great. I know that sounds like a cop out, but it's true. Sometimes I like a little more of a 'fun style' game that i find in Pawapuro. And the controls in Pawapuro are somewhat tighter.

But usually I opt for more realism with Pro Yakyu Spirits. No American baseball game can touch Spirits or Baseball Live, IMO.

Then again, I'm really psyched about Mario Baseball, so take my review for what it's worth.

Mario Baseball is seeing a August 29th release in the United States, it shall be a interesting game from what they showed of it at this year's E3. Right now it's the #3 game in Japan.

This game will be a different twist on baseball video games.

http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/sports/mariobaseball/index.html?tag=mp_2to9

Keibu's Dad,

Thanks for your impressions. Those still trying to decide on a Konami baseball title should find your comments helpful.


Mario Baseball looks interesting. Can you edit/create teams a la Baseball Stars for the NES? Does anyone know if Mario Baseball will have this feature?

"Can you edit/create teams a la Baseball Stars for the NES? Does anyone know if Mario Baseball will have this feature?"

According to this post on Gamefaqs by Lizard2033, you get a starting team w/a team captain and can swap anyone you want later after you meet certain requirements.

These are the starting teams:

Mario:
Luigi
Monty Mole
Red Noki
Green Noki
Blue Noki
Red Pinata
Blue Pinata
Yellow Pinata

Peach:
Daisy
Toadsworth
Toadette
Red Toad
Green Toad
Blue Toad
Yellow Toad
Pink Toad

Yoshi:
Birdo
Baby Mario
Baby Luigi
Red Shyguy
Blue Shyguy
Green Shyguy
Yellow Shyguy
Black Shyguy

Donkey Kong:
Diddy Kong
Dixie Kong
Goomba
Paragoomba
Red Koopa
Green Koopa
Red Parakoopa
Green Parakoopa

Wario:
Waluigi
King Boo
Pakun
Boo
Red Kamek
Green Kamek
Yellow Kamek
Blue Kamek

Bowser:
Baby Bowser
Red Drybones
Blue Drybones
Green Drybones
Black Drybones
Bat Brother
Hammer Brother
Boomerrang Brother

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=925314&topic=22528015

Thanks John Brooks.

In the new Famitsu Top 30 for this week, Pawapuro 12 is ranked #2 of 30. Capcom's action game Sengoku Basara is number #1.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/rank/top30/2005/08/04/120,1123148630,42104,0,0.html

I'd like to have an update of the difficulty settings you guys are using after 3 weeks of release of the game.

thanks

The week of July 25th-July 31st saw Pawapuro 12 fall on the list.

Though Sega's baseball simulator Let's Make a Pro Yakyu Team 3 was at number 2. Number 1 was Banpresto's Super Robot Wars Alpha 3.

The Japanese video game market throughout August will probably heat up some more, then after the Tokyo Game Show in September it will probably will speed up a lot. Grandia 3, a RPG published by Square Enix and developed by Game Arts, will probably dominate next week's rankings.

http://www.m-create.com/eng/e_ranking.html
http://www.gamespot.com/news/sales_chart_japan_sales.html

been diving deep into suparobo alpha 3 and sakura taisen 5 recently...didn't really touch much of pawapuro...just a match or two once in a while after playing a li'l too much of those games.

tomolo's match on yahoo.co.jp is a must watch, matsuzaka vs hawks...lions got killed today

is pawapuro a Hardcore sim baseball game?

"is pawapuro a Hardcore sim baseball game?"

No, Pawapuro is a normal baseball game. Sega's Let's Make a Pro Yakyu Team 3 is more of a hardcore simulation game.

My guess was right, Grandia 3 debuted at number 2. The new baseball game Power Pocket Koushien by Konami debuted at number 10.

This week's list was very strong.

1-World Soccer Winning Eleven 9
2-Grandia 3
3-Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness
4-Summon Night EX Thesis: Yoake no Tsubasa
5-Super Robot Wars 3 Alpha
6-Armored Core: Last Raven
7-Bleach:Erabareshi Tamashii
8-Gentle Brain Exercises
9-The King of Beetle Mushiking: Greatest Champion
10-Power Pocket Koushien

http://www.m-create.com/eng/e_ranking.html