What's the first impression that the uninitiated receives when staring at any Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball game cover? If you mumbled, "It's a kiddy baseball game," you would be correct. This is where NCS schools you on the majesty of Konami's baseball simulation which is built on a game engine that has been refined for fourteen generations. Forget the childish graphics for a minute and immerse yourself in the actual gameplay. The controls rely on a cursor targeting system where every pitch or swing of the bat is governed by a reticule which pinpoints the area of impact. The fielding isn't as precise as the pitching and batting but players in the infield or outfield can efficiently sidle left and right to home in on grounders as well as fly balls that pop upwards momentarily.

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View the back cover and screenshots on the main NCSX website.

» In the animated introduction to the game, a stadium at night appears along with a theme song and the players inside compete as the crowd cheers. The logos of all 12 progessional teams are shown rapidly near the beginning of the game. The call goes out for a relief pitcher for the Vulcans and he prepares to pitch when sequences of other baseball games cut into the screen. After a blazing set of baseball action snippets, the camera goes back to the pitcher and he throws a pitch right before the title screen pops up.

» Leave the title screen alone and a demonstration baseball game loads up between two teams. The action will go on for four batters and then boot back to the title screen.

» Press START and the following options pop up:

TAISEN / Choose the teams, the stadium, and play ball - no season commitment required
SUCCESS / Create a new character and live the life of a baseball rookie on his way to the top
HOME RUN / Select a team, a batter, and then a stadium and try to hit homers on 10 pitches
YAKYU KYO SHISTU / Tutorial which uses in-game video captures to teach the ways of Pro Yakyu action
ARRANGE / Set up a schedule of games against various teams and the line-ups for each game as you see fit
DATA AREKORE / View and arrange saved data across 12 different categories.
PENNANT / Choose a team and start the year on March 25 where you play an entire season's worth of games
MY LIFE / Professional Baseball Life Simulation where you start a career as a rookie on a pro team
PAWA PURO TSUSHIN / Online Powerful Pro game mode - must have a BBA connected to the PS2 to go online
OUENKYOKU / Create your own cheer song. Once created, press the START button to listen to the composition
SOUND / Set STEREO, DOLBY PRO LOGIC II, Adjust sound volumes for BGM, the crowd, announcer, umpires, etc

» In the TUTORIAL, the first exercise is a 10-swing batting challenge where any hit onto the field is marked with an "O" and adds to your percentage score. If you hit a foul ball or swing at air, you'll get an X which means miss. Similar to previous Pro Yakyu tutorials, the manager wears shades indoors and is helped by a little dog will pulls down the shade for the projector. The second exercise requires that you take 10 pitches but you must change the hitting cursor to the reticule instead of the bat outline. Later tutorials test fielding, throwing, and other baseball skills.

» The pitcher in the HOME RUN mode throws the balls right down the middle so as long as your timing is right, you can hit 10 homers on all 10 pitches.

» At the outset of the SUCCESS mode, you'll create a baseball card for your new character and choose a portrait from four available player models. Other than the different shades of skin color, the four players are identical. The SUCCESS mode is an interactive adventure where you level up your character. There's no actual baseball action within its confines.

» During a baseball game, the Japanese announcer gives the play by play in concise and rapid-fire fashion.

» Before each game, you can throw three practice pitches before the opposing batter steps to the plate. Throwing pitches that are high and inside will normally result in infield grounders that are easy to field. A red outline designates the strike area when you're pitching so any pitch within that outline counts as a strike.

» The cel-shaded graphics of JPP14 are vibrant and the animation is fluid. The crowd graphics hearken back to the days of 8-bit however.

» When you throw out a runner at first, you can see his head tilt back in a dejected fashion as he crosses the plate.

» Advertisers on the scoreboard and around the stadium include Coca Cola, Mizuno, Sunstar, Panasonic, Kirin, Sammy, Asahi, Amano, and more.

» To change the batting cursor from bat outline to reticule, press either the R1 or R2 trigger

» When a pitcher is tired, he can be seen swiping his glove across his brow to clear out the sweat. If he's kept in the game, he can be seen heaving with his shoulders noticeably rising up and down. A pained expression may also be witnessed on his face.

» Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 14 is another enjoyable baseball game that plays well and offers a solid bevy of game modes. Don't let the kiddy graphics fool you. The game has substantial depth and there's a reason why its been around for 14 incarnations.

This document is ©NCSX 2007. All rights reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part of this document may be made without express written consent of National Console Support, Inc.