Title: Koushien 2
Release Date: 06/26/1992 (Japanese only release)
Developer: Affect
Publisher: K Amusement Leasing
While Koushien 2 is yet another baseball game, it does have the distinction of being the first game to be solely about the Japanese baseball league, known as the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). While I enjoy the sport of baseball, I haven't been invested in American baseball in some time, mainly due to being a Baltimorean and having one of the consistently lousiest baseball teams to follow in the Orioles. Now I have had the privilege of seeing a baseball game in Japan, a match between the Yokohama Baystars defending their home turf against the Tokyo Giants.
Japanese baseball is quite exciting: there is a lot of pageantry and ritual surrounding the sport for both the teams and fans alike. In Japan it is much more of a team sport, and individual players are not showcased for their talents. Each game begins with both teams removing their caps and bowing to one another, and you will only see good sportsmanship and camaraderie on either side. Each team has a set of songs, dances, and chants that their fans perform at set times. Fans get decked out, as well, in ridiculous garb and bring noise makers, flags, and paraphernalia to help cheer on their team. The food at the parks, too, is really quite good. All in all, the energy is quite infectious and it made the sport feel alive in ways that American baseball just hasn't for me in quite some time.
Background
Now you wouldn't know this as a person who can't read Japanese script, but this is actually a high school Japanese baseball game, so we aren't playing with any well known Japanese baseball teams. You are actually playing through the tournament bracket that Japanese schools have every summer. Koushien, actually, refers to the Hanshin Koshien stadium near Kobe Japan, home of the Hanshin Tigers, and where the yearly high school tournament is held.
This game was developed by Affect, which showed up before on this blog as the developers for Nolan Ryan's Baseball. They developed games up until they shut down in 2008, but mainly little known Japanese titles that were never brought to the states.
Now the publisher is a new one for the blog: K Amusement Leasing. There really isn't much about this company available online. They did develop Koushien 1 for the NES, but mainly published other sports games for the Super Famicom. Their most well known published games I could find were the Ikari Warriors games, but those are also notoriously bad.
Gameplay
Well the game is actually, dare I say, the best baseball game we have gotten thus far for the blog. The character sprites are big and well animated, the controls are to pick up, and the game moves at an energetic and brisk pace. The game interjects aspects of Japanese baseball into the play, such as fan chants and both teams bowing to each other before and after the game, giving this game a very unique flavor.
Overall, though, it is still a baseball game, and perhaps an overly simplistic one at that. This is as barebones as a baseball game gets, for better and for worse. It is quite charming though, and it is probably the best representation yet of real proportioned people playing baseball.
Music
The music is simple and based on the popular baseball chants that Japanese fans sing at the games.
Final Verdict
The Koushien series actually had many entries into the early 00's, with the last entry being for the PS2. This means we will actually see the next two sequels somewhere down the line on this blog. Overall, this is a fun baseball game! You caught me on the right day Koushien 2. I'd collect it!
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