Pro Yakyuu Greatest Nine '98 Summer Action

Baseball really is the great American sport, but it's important to note how much the Japanese love this game and how well they play the sport. Having said that, Americans probably won't love this title since it suffers greatly from loads of Japanese text. The game is playable, but don't plan on making too many changes to your team or surfing through the Team Edit options. NOTHING is in English aside from the in-game text like PLAY BALL, STRIKE, BALL, OUT. Some menu options are in English making it possible to choose different modes of play.

Gameplay is decent and easy enough to get to (see my lame faq below), but there is a major flaw when you get a hit down either the left field line or right field line. The game switches somewhat slowly to that particular side of the field leaving you second guessing where the ball is going. The ball is moving and you aren't while the game scrolls and zooms to this part of the field. This results in you missing the ball almost every time. Major flaw? You bet. Another thing this game suffers from is pixels galore which makes it look sloppy. Have fun trying to distinguish any features.

Pitching is decent and quite accurate and hitting is also on par, but remember that if you are on defense and the other team gets a hit, you have to endure some crappy scrolling and zooming if the ball is hit left or right. The game is playable, but horribly flawed.

I went ahead and did baseball fans a solid by exploring the main menu a bit further and here are the options in order from top to bottom:

- 1P vs. CPU or CPU vs. CPU
- Penant Race
- Narikiri Mode (whatever that is)
- Multi Player (up to 4 players)
- Team Edit (good luck!)
- Game Options (audio and screen)


Hitting A will get you through the menus while C will confirm some choices. I found that hitting A will get you all the way to some gameplay. Pitching is done by choosing whatever directional options are displayed on the screen, and hitting is done with C and moving the directional pad to match the pitching location. You can explore these options a bit more as you play to figure out bunting etc.

I've also located a hidden mode on the internet. Hold down LEFT and RIGHT shift buttons at the options menu to open Home Run Derby Mode at night. Probably more fun than the main game... Overall a decent enough title, but I'm sure you can find better.