Pennant Simulation 3 (Free Baseball Team Management Simulation Game) Introduction and Review

Preface

I like baseball video games.
I do enjoy baseball games where you control the players, but I prefer simulation games where you manage a baseball team.
I enjoy games where you draft players, develop them, consider how to use them in each position, manage various strategies to earn money, and build a consistently winning team.
I love Sega's "Let's Make a Professional Baseball Team!" (commonly known as "Yakyu Tsuku") series, and personally, I think the third installment was the best.
Currently, there are many online games featuring real-life athletes and incorporating pay-to-win elements, so there aren't many games that meet my needs.

Personally, I absolutely love "Out of the Park Baseball" (OOTP), an overseas game that's based on Major League Baseball and is incredibly well-made.
However, the fact that everything was in English, and that I wasn't very familiar with the major league system, made it a bit challenging.
OOTP has released nearly 20 titles so far, and the 8th title is available for free download.
If you're comfortable with English and love majors, you might want to give it a try.

Recently, it seems that the number of simulation games that involve managing a baseball team, as mentioned earlier, has been decreasing.
You can do something similar in the pennant mode of "Power Pro" and "Pro Baseball Spirits," but it's a little less satisfying.
Amidst all this, I found a game that I can recommend to those looking for a detailed baseball team management game, so I've written this review of "Pennant Simulation 3".

Game Overview

This game is a simulation game where you strengthen the baseball team you choose.
It follows the actual system of Japanese professional baseball, allowing you to refer to detailed statistics and abilities.
No real player names are used, and there are no match screenshots or anything like that.
It's a game that progresses solely through text and sentences, but for those who enjoy it, it's incredibly addictive and hard to put down.

First, you select the team you want to play for.
The approximate standings and results for each team are displayed.
There are two leagues: one from leagues A through F, and another from leagues G through M.

Selecting a team will allow you to view details about that team.
This is written in quite a lot of detail, but this describes the situation at the start of the game.
This is where the team's operation begins, so you're free to start with a strong team or a weak one.

Once you've decided on a team, you'll be shown an outline of the year's schedule.
Basically, the schedule follows the flow of Japanese professional baseball.

In the section on players released from their contracts, you can view information such as age, salary, abilities, and performance, broken down by position.
This screen is very easy to read, allowing you to easily determine whether or not you need a particular player.
Make sure to keep your roster open in preparation for the draft.

At the draft meeting, you can compare the players selected based on their position.
If there are multiple teams vying for the first overall pick, a lottery will be held to determine the winner. For the second round and beyond, a waiver system will be used.
If you check in advance which positions are lacking in depth when releasing players from the roster, it will be easier to identify areas for improvement in the draft.

After the draft, we hold tryouts and negotiate with free agents, and then we acquire foreign players.
When acquiring foreign players, you first specify the desired position and type of player, and then you draw from a list.
The discovered players will then be displayed at the bottom of the screen, so if you find a player that looks promising, acquire them.
If there are no promising players, you can pay another 10 million to update the list.
I think the appeal of foreign position players is their power hitting, so I recommend positions like first base, third base, and left field, where players with high power hitting ability are more likely to be found.
You can think of this in the same way you would think about real baseball.

After that, the players are trained in a training camp before the season begins.
During training camp, players can also change positions through special training sessions.

Once the season begins, you will need to set up the player lineup and how the players will be used.
The computer will set things up automatically to a certain extent, but if you have specific preferences, you should configure them yourself.
You can watch the matches one by one, or you can skip through them all at once.

The skip settings can be customized quite precisely, so if you want to finish the season quickly, you can use this feature without any problems.
It's important to enjoy the game in your own style.

After the season ends, you can check various information such as titles and Golden Glove Awards.
As season records and overall records accumulate, breaking those records with your own team is one way to enjoy the game.

thoughts

This is a highly addictive work.
There are no graphics whatsoever; you have to manage everything with text and data, but I think people who like that kind of thing will become completely engrossed in it.
The game encapsulates the essence of baseball simulation, from winning a highly sought-after SS-rank player in the draft through a lottery to unexpectedly seeing a player you didn't expect to perform well suddenly.

I also feel that it's a very versatile game that allows for a variety of play styles.
You can also play by reviewing the results of each game, experiencing the ups and downs of who got hits, who drove in runs, and who had a rough outing.
Conversely, it's also possible to skip seasons entirely and advance to subsequent years simply by looking at your accumulated statistics and results.
It's also possible to play without using any foreign players, or with restrictions such as only recruiting high school graduates.
I felt that being able to play in a style that I enjoy was a great sense of freedom.

At first, you might feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and unsure of what to do.
However, I think you'll find ways to enjoy the game if you just go through the schedule at your own pace and get a feel for how to play.