Power Pros

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Powerful Pro Baseball,^[a] previously known as Jikkyō Powerful Pro Baseball,^[b] and eBASEBALL Powerful Pro Baseball^[c] and marketed internationally as Power Pros, is a Japanese baseball video game series created by Konami. It is known for its super deformed characters and fast-paced, yet deep, gameplay.^[2] Most games in the series are developed under license from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association (JPBPA), allowing the use of team names, stadiums, colors, and players' names and likenesses. Six games in the series also feature licenses from Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), two from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and Korea Professional Baseball Players Association (KPBPA), and one from the World Baseball Classic.

The series began in 1994 on the Super Famicom and has since appeared on many platforms: Sega Saturn (1995–1997), PlayStation (1994–2003), Nintendo 64 (1997–2001), PlayStation 2 (2000–2009), Dreamcast (2000), GameCube (2002–2006), Wii (2007–2009), PlayStation 3 (2010–2016), PlayStation 4 (since 2016), PlayStation Portable (2007–2013), and Vita (2012–2018).

The game has two spin-off series: Professional Baseball Spirits, which features more realistic graphics and physics, and Power Pro Kun Pocket, released on handheld systems from 1999 to 2011, including the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS. Although originally part of the main series, Konami retroactively declared Power Pro Kun Pocket a separate series.

A version of Power Pro featuring Major League Baseball players was released under the title Jikkyō Powerful Major League in May 2006. The Power Pro series has included online play since its tenth installment on the PlayStation 2 and the first handheld version on the PlayStation Portable. A version for the PlayStation 3 was shown at the Tokyo Game Show in 2005, but it took five years to release the game on the PS3. During that time, the Professional Baseball Spirits series filled the gap. Another title, MLB Power Pros, was published by 2K for the PlayStation 2 and Wii in October 2007, and featured a Success Mode set within Major League Baseball.^[3]

The most distinctive feature of the Power Pro series is its depiction of characters. Power Pro baseball players are short with large, gashapon capsule-shaped heads, lacking a mouth, nose, and ears. Their expressions come mainly from their eyebrows. Similar to Rayman, they have no legs, and their feet are not connected to their bodies. Their hands are spherical and fingerless.

In Japan, the series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful, while in North America, it received mixed to generally favorable reviews^[4][5] but sold poorly.^[6] As of March 2023, the series has sold over 24.7 million copies, with 48 million mobile game downloads as of October 2022.^[7]

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