Japanese Baseball Video game

Play-asia.com and lik-sang.com are two places to buy import games. I use play-asia.com and have no complaints.

As for playing Japanese games on a U.S. console, here's one of my earlier posts from another thread:

You could either mod your PS2, or you could use plastic pieces with a boot disc such as "slide card" or "twist tool."

Personally, I'm just not comfortable with openning my consoles and tinkering with their circuit boards.

So I use a "slide card" on my original, thicker PS2 and a "twist tool" on my newer, Slim-Line PS2.

A word of caution though, the "twist tool" "tool C" is a bit tricky to install. You'll need good lighting, a tiny screwdriver, and plenty of patience to correctly install it.

But the "twist tool" is only necessary if you have a V13 or V14 Slim-Line PS2.

If you have V12 Slim-Line or below, then you can use the more basic plastic parts (their name escapes me).

If you have an older/fatter PS2, then the "slide card" would be a piece of cake to install. You'll still need a tiny screwdriver, but the process is much less difficult.

Check out the following sites:

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

http://www.twisttool.com/product_info.php/products_id/71

Thanks a lot for for your help Jomcclane. It was really helpful. Thanks again.

An additional question about Japanese baseball games: I understand there are two (or three?) major versions of Japanese baseball games. What are they and what are the differences between them? According to what I have read on the other posts in the forum, Pro Yakyu Spirits has realistic graphics but not as good gameplay as the pawapuro series. If so, what makes the Pawapuro gameplay good? Are the games comparable to the major American baseball games (like MVP or the 2K series)? Sorry about all of these questions, but I love Japanese baseball and I'm seriously considering importing a game. Thanks.

Pro Yakyu Spirits 3 by Konami and Pro Netsu Stadium 2006 by Namco are both realistic-looking baseball games. They're both due out on April 6th.

I haven't played either of these realistic-looking titles. I've only played Pawapuro 11 Chou Ketteiban (Super Final Edition), Pawapuro 12, and Pawapuro 12 Ketteiban. Konami also makes the Pawapuro series.

I love the Pawapuro (Powerful Pro Baseball) series. Over the past year, it has become one of my favorite sports games of all time.

Its hard to put into words what exactly makes Pawapuro's gameplay so good. But if you're picky about your baseball video games and you actually take the time to learn how to play it, then you'll be amazed at this game's quality.

A word of caution though: I found Pawapuro's learning curve a bit steep. But the game becomes that much more rewarding once you get the hang of it.

Also, at the moment I'm favoring Pawapuro 11 Chou Ketteiban over 12 and 12 Ketteiban. As BigManZam theorizes in another thread, Konami might have had its top Pawapuro people working on Pawapuro MLB and left 12 and 12 Ketteiban to its B-Team.

Pawapuro MLB is due out May 11. I'm going to preorder this soon.

And I've recently preordered Pro Spirits 3 at play-asia.com. Again, this will be my first experience with a realistic-looking Japanese baseball game. A number of regulars on this site play both the cartoony Pawapuro and the realistic-looking games.

Even though I went with Pro Spirits 3, Namco's upcoming tile looks impressive too. I might wind up getting the Namco game at a later date.

I'll tell you which game is better come 4/6. I should be able to tell after a couple games. If Namco's defense and pitch counts aren't better, it automatically goes to Konami.

I'm actually psyched for PawaMajor after watching the WBC. I've turned into a big Ichiro and Otsuka fan. I live in Seattle, but I really didn't get the Ichiro bug until the WBC ended. Probably because Mariners games last year were so pointless. I really want to play Success Mode with a Japanese guy and break into the big leagues. The other cool thing about PawaMajor is you can even play some fantasy stuff, using one's own imagination, and bring Japanese guys into the league. I may even put Matsuzaka on the Mariners.

If anyone cares, I've created what I feel is a pretty accurate version of the WBC champions, Team Japan.

I did this in Pawapuro 11 Chou Ketteiban. Pawasuq.com has bunches of MLB passwords for Pawapuro 11. This is where I found passwords for Ichiro, Otsuka, and Hideki Matsui (because he should have played!) And I found Nishioka with better speed.

But since I'm using 11 Chou Ketteiban, the stats and ratings are based on the 2004 season, not 2005. So Aoki's not very good. If anyone knows where I can find a good Aoki password for Pawapuro 11, I'd love to hear about it. (I've seen multiple Aoki passwords for Pawapuro 12, but none for 11.)

I'm also having trouble finding a good Pawapuro 11 password for Imae.

But even if I'm unable to fix the few players I'm having trouble with, I'm still having a blast playing with this team.

Thanks for the help guys. All of these games look pretty cool, and from what I've seen I think I'd enjoy the Pawapuro series very much. However, my Japanese isn't that great (I'm studying it at school, but I'm only in level 2), but hopefully that wouldn't hinder the experience.

U probably wont find a good aoki for 11...it's just hard, coz at that time he didn't really played much, so the stats for him was unknown at that time. And by the time now, there's few people who will go and make an aoki.

If u dun mind waiting, I might be able to dig my 11-ketteiban from ashes and see if i can get an accurate aoki or not that's similar to the one in 12-ketteiban.

but u'll hafta wait, coz i wont have any time until like mid-april.

Rockfender,

The fact that you're studying Japanese in school will help you. When I began playing Pawapuro, I knew zero Japanese.

I got a one-month online subscription to rosettastone.com - though the only thing I learned there that applied to Pawapuro was the symbol for running speed.

I printed out a Katakana chart and I keep it next to me as I play the game. This is how I've learned most of what I know.

The rest I've just picked up through trial-and-error and common sense.

Shinigami,

I'd appreciate the help with Aoki. I don't mind waiting. Also, I'd be interested to hear which game you prefer - 11 Chou Ketteiban or 12 Ketteiban.

Again, I think Imae is the other guy I'm having trouble with but Aoki's a higher priority.

And if you don't get around to it, I understand. I'll likely be playing Pro Spirits 3 and anxiously awaiting Pawapuro MLB by mid-April.

...oh and I should also mention that BigManZam and Shinigami translated the individual player attributes, and BigManZam also helped with the main options/difficulty settings menu.

This help has proved invaluable. Thank you again guys.

If anyone's curious, Pawapuro contains dozens of individual player attributes for pitchers and hitters. An example for hitters is whether or not a guy is high/low ball hitter. You cannot see these during an exhibition match. You must go to a certain menu and press your controller's buttons in a certain order to see the individual attributes for all players. You can also see the individual attributes of your team's players in Pennant mode, but only your team's players.

Actually, u can see every teams' player stats in pennant as well.

How exactly?

Again, I'm talking about individual player attributes and not regular stats.

Individual player attributes include things like:
-High/Low Ball Hitter
-Batting with Runners in Scoring Position
-Pitchers' ability to check baserunners.
-Pitchers' reflexes - how easily they can catch balls
hit back to the mound.

Is Baseball Live 2005 any good to import? Doesn't look like MLB 2K6 will have the real players from Team Japan in it. No Uehara and especially no Matsuzaka! Looking to play a good real looking game. Any suggestions?

It's in one of the menus where u can see a list of the transactions/injury...etc for every team. IIRC it's the one left to the data room in pennant.

Hey, seems like i got some time right now, will try to make the aoki and imae for u...will check back in a few hrs.

btw, do u want the aoki and imae with the stats from 12-ketteiban? or would u like my own assessment? XD

Thanks for the tip, Shinigami. I'll look for that menu item right now. I can't believe I missed it. But then my Japanese is not very good.

I'd like Aoki and Imae to have their 12 Ketteiban stats.

Shinigami,

If you do create these two passwords, I'm not sure how and where you can post/send them.

I'm sure you're aware that you'll have to input Hiragana characters onto a site that recognizes Hiragana.

Anyway, thank you for your willingness to do this. And again, the 12 Ketteiban versions of Aoki and Imae would be fine.

Go here and buy this>>>

http://www.thegiantstore.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=265


This is a place where a guy sells used japanese baseball games. I have bought some from him.>>>

http://www.yamatoku.jp/game/