MLB Power Pros

MLB Power Pros

Release Date	North America: October 1 2007
Adapted From	Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2
Platforms	Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2
Developer	Pawapuro Production
Publisher	Konami
Original Price	$29.99 (PlayStation 2), $39.99 (Nintendo Wii)
Team Names	Real MLB teams
Player Names	Real MLB players
Cover Athlete(s)	Ryan Howard, Iván Rodriguez, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Ichiro Suzuki
Preceded by	Jikkyou Powerful Major League (Japan-only)
Followed by	MLB Power Pros 2008

MLB Power Pros (Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2 in Japan) is the start of an all-too-brief golden age. Konami finally brought its feature-rich Pawapuro series stateside, at a bargain price point. A sequel, MLB Power Pros 2008, would come out the next year.

Description

MLB Power Pros is an America-set reimagining of the Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu series which started in 1994. The game is a sequel to the original Jikkyou Powerful Major League released in 2006 only in Japan, which similarly switched the series’ typical setting from Japan’s NPB league to MLB.

The PlayStation 3 had already been out for nearly a year at the time of release, hence the PS2 version’s especially low price point of $29.99, compared to $39.99 on the still-fresh Nintendo Wii. Konami would not release a PS3-native version of the Pawapuro series in any region until 2010.

A replayable story mode with RPG and life sim elements called Success Mode is the game and series’ key differentiating feature. In Success Mode, players live out a college baseball career, deciding how to level up their attributes with a create-a-player, who will become available for use in other modes on the completion of Success Mode.

The Japanese version also includes My Life mode, which lets players inhabit the day-to-day life of a major leaguer, with life sim elements. This mode is not included in the American release, though it would be included in the sequel MLB Power Pros 2008.

Roster

25-man rosters for each team in Major League Baseball are included, with a limited number of additional licensed players (4-10 per team) assigned to a AAA roster.

There are a handful of players who were not part of the MLB Players Association whose names and skin colors have been changed, such as Barry Bonds being replaced with G. Gonzalez. Each replacement player’s name starts with an initial G. like that example.

Series Firsts

• First game in the Pawapuro series released in the United States (Bottom of the 9th is an earlier Konami baseball game released in the US).
• The American version of the game is the first in the series with customized face details to provide basic likenesses for the game’s real athletes (beyond skin color). Pawapuro would eventually adopt this change in the Japanese game releases as well.
• First game in the series to include an Edit mode for changing player abilities and attributes (American version only. Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2009 would later add an Edit mode.).

Cheats

• View MLB players in the Custom Players menu - Go to the View or Delete Custom Players menu then enter this variant on the Konami Code: PS2: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, L1, R1 Wii: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left Right, 1, 2
• Unlock all extra batting and pitching forms - At the main menu, press Right, Left, Up, Down, Down, Right, Right, Up, Up, Left, Down, Left

Intro Cinematic

Besides the title and logo differences, the Japanese intro movie keeps the generic Pawapuro-kun faces for each player, unlike the customized player likenesses in the American version. The Japanese version also replaces the Alex Rodriguez hero shot towards the end with Hideki Matsui.

Physical Media

• 

  MLB Power Pros PlayStation 2 box art

• 

  MLB Power Pros Nintendo Wii box art

External Links

• "Remembering the weirdest MLB game you've never heard of" essay by Jude Noel in Inverse, May 4 2021