Did you just hear that? It sounded like the crack of a bat! ….
A baseball bat, even! I can recognize such a sound because I have “baseball fever”, and when you have such a fever the natural inclination is to play an 11 year-old simulation that features vague representations of real human baseball players. Thats right: MLB Power Pros 2008 the lone entry in the Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball series to have been given a Major League Baseball make over for the North American market! Known for its signature bobble-head meets Rayman baseball player anatomy and arcade-meets-simulation gameplay, the Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball seires had been running strong for over 14 years in Japan and now I can have a taste! –albeit 11 years after the fact. Thankfully its still the most interesting looking Baseball title I could have access to in 2019.
I like sports plenty but im not a very dedicated sports video game player. Full on simulations aren’t my bag either. The last Baseball title I put considerable time into was Rustys Real Deal Baseball on the Nintendo DS, and thats extremely far from a Baseball sim (despite being one of the most passionate sports titles for every aspect of Baseball outside of actually playing an organized game). But, ive been getting back into watching Baseball this year so it felt like the perfect time to crack open my copy of MLB Power Pros 2008 (PS2) that I picked up at a thrift shop in the winter.
I am about 15 games into a season as the Minnesota Twins (featuring one of the all time Twin greats, Nick Punto) and so far I am having a great time … but also losing a whole lot and often times by quite a bit. The struggle has mostly been getting the hang of fielding. The game is a mixture of automatic fielding plus manual and you sorta need to get the rhythm of how much it does for you and when you need to take over. Plus timing your positions and leaps, etc. Pitching I am getting better at but my lineup isnt hot and I need to level them up in practice some more; they get exhausted quickly. Hitting I can always make contact on the ball, but ive never seen more infield popups in my life. There is a definite art to the hitting that I am building toward, nothing is more satisfying then when you make real solid contact with the ball.
I will say though, that despite the the solid gameplay and a whole host of modes, I would never have bothered with this title if it werent for its presentation. The series is extremely committed to the cartoon take of the players which despite having limited bodily features they are extremely expressive with their eyes and body language. Even the raucous crowds in the stands are presented the same way and with great variety as well. The stadiums and ball parks are recreated with great detail but have a charming build to them that makes many of them more endearing than the real life counterparts could ever appear (looking at you H.H.H. Metrodome!) A real highlight for me recently that I hadnt noticed at first is the fictional advertising posted in the ballparks. Ive spotted something unique at every stadium and I really hope that continues. Ive only seen 4 or 5 parks but I want to try and chronicle those because I just love this sort of fake ephemera.
Ill try to come back with some updates later this year if I can keep the faith in my beloved 2008 Twins. 162 games is a long season, but maybe that will breeze by a bit more once I start really mashing the *bleeepin* ball. Plus I turned off injuries, I lost like three guys in game one! Including my ace pitcher BOOF BONSER! No thanks.