Pro Evolution Soccer
eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer, known as in Japan, is a series of association football simulation video games developed by Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. and published by Konami.
The series consists of eighteen main installments and several spin-offs, including the mobile game Pro Evolution Soccer Club Manager. Listed as one of the best-selling video game franchises, the series has sold copies worldwide, in addition to mobile downloads,.
Pro Evolution Soccer was regarded as a rival to the EA Sports' FIFA series; it has been described by The Guardian as the "greatest rivalry" in the history of sports video games.
An esports league, eFootball.Open, has been held by Konami annually since 2010.
As the successor to the PES series, Konami released eFootball in 2021.
Gameplay
Gameplay simulates a typical game of association football, with the player controlling either an entire team or a selected player; objectives coincide with the rules of association football. Various game modes have been featured in the series, allowing for gameplay variety, including the Kick Off, Online and Offline modes. In addition to these modes, there is an editing one where the player can create teams of their own.Master League
The Master League mode, gives the user control of a team of user's selection. Originally, the players were all generic-fictional players, however this later changed giving the user the option to change the settings and choose to play with default players. These players, such as Brazilian forward Castolo, have become cult figures to many people playing the Master League. The aim is to use these players and gain points by winning matches, cups and leagues. Using acquired points to purchase real players to join the team. Ultimately, one should end up with a team of skilled players.From PES 3, players' growth and decline curves were added, where a player's statistics may improve or decline, depending on training and age. This added a new depth to purchasing players, adding value to an up-and-coming youngster whose abilities rise dramatically and creating a trade-off if the player buys skilled but declining veterans.
Editing
Fans of the series often make "option files" and "patches" which modify all player names into those of their real life counterparts, as well as including transfers from the latest transfer window and, occasionally, altered stats of more obscure players whose in-game attributes do not precisely replicate their real life skills.More experienced gamers often use "patches", editing the actual game code and modifying the graphical content to include accurate kits for unlicensed teams, new stadiums, and footballs from Nike, Inc., Puma, Umbro and Mitre, as well as more Adidas balls. Most patches also contain licensed referee kits from FIFA and the official logos of the various European leagues. These patches are technically a breach of copyright, and are often sold illegally in territories like South America. Konami have become less tolerant of this kind of fan editing in recent years, and now encrypt the data pertaining to kits and player statistics in each new release. However, fan communities invariably find ways to crack this encryption, and patches still appear once this has been achieved.
Since Pro Evolution Soccer 6 onwards, there has been a separate league with 18 generic teams present, which can be edited fully. This is thought to be due to the fact that Konami failed to get the rights to the German Bundesliga, and is usually made into the Bundesliga or another league of one's preference by patch makers. However, most people use this to put their edited players into playable teams from the start instead of having to play through Master League to purchase them or alternatively edit the existing non-generic teams. This feature does not appear in the Wii version of the game.
History
International Superstar Soccer, the first game in Konami's International Superstar Soccer series, released for the SNES. A rivalry subsequently emerged between the FIFA and ISS franchises.International Superstar Soccer Pro, released for the PlayStation in 1997, was considered a "game-changer" for association football games, which had been largely dominated by rival FIFA on home systems for the last several years. Developed by Konami Tokyo, ISS Pro introduced a new 3D engine capable of better graphics and more sophisticated gameplay than its rival. Whereas FIFA had a simpler "arcade-style" approach to its gameplay, ISS Pro introduced more complex simulation gameplay emphasizing tactics and improvisation, enabled by tactical variety such as nine in-match strategy options. It spawned the Pro Evolution Soccer series, which became known for having "faster-paced tactical play" and more varied emergent gameplay, while FIFA was known for having more licenses.
The PES series had sold more than units by 2002, while the FIFA series had sold over units by 2000. In the late 2000s and onwards, EA and Konami began borrowing gameplay elements from one another's respective titles, and eventually, FIFA managed to pull ahead by a significant margin in the early 2010s and emerged as the world's most successful sports video game franchise. The rivalry between FIFA and PES is considered the "greatest rivalry" in the history of sports video games.
In 2020 the series was rebranded to eFootball and switched to a new engine. This was met with mixed to negative reviews from both critics and customers alike.
Series overview
''Goal Storm'' / ''ISS Pro'' series
Pro Evolution Soccer series traces its roots to Goal Storm. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and was released in 1996. The first Winning Eleven game, without the World Soccer prefix, was J.League Jikkyou Winning Eleven which was released only in Japan for the PlayStation in 1995, and featured only the 14 clubs that played in 1995 J.League. The following three games in the series were also produced by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and they were released under the name of for the European market and for the rest of the world. Every game in this series was released on the PlayStation.''Pro Evolution Soccer'' series
Series overview
''Pro Evolution Soccer''
Tagline: "We are the Football Tribe"The first installment in the series of games was released in October 2001 for both PlayStation and PlayStation 2. It was released under the name in Japan. Commentary on the game was provided by Jon Briggs and Terry Butcher.
''Pro Evolution Soccer 2''
Tagline: "They Will Rock You"and exclusively in PS1 is the second installment and was released in October 2002 and some felt that it was a slight backwards step from the original Pro Evolution Soccer. Others argued that it had improved. The pace of gameplay was much faster than in the game's older sibling, with sharper turns and quicker reactions to tackles. It also included a training session mode. Extra clubs were added, with an extra Master League division. There were two new commentators, Peter Brackley and Trevor Brooking, but this aspect of the game was criticised for the commentators' inaccuracies and tendency to speak over each other.
The licensing was much the same, but infamously all Dutch players were called "Oranges", because Konami did not hold the rights from the Royal Dutch Football Association, for use from Dutch players; in fact, plenty of other football games of the period with FIFPro licences also saw this happen to them, following Netherlands' unsuccessful campaign at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. Also, unlike in the original game, the "unofficial" club names stopped using obvious city names, and instead used very ambiguous names. The edit mode included a club editor which offset this problem to some extent, with editable kits and logos as well as club and player names.
The game notably included licensed tracks by Queen: "We Will Rock You" as opening theme and "We are the Champions" as ending for champions final. A PlayStation version was also released in last April 2002 with matchball world cup 2002 by adidas Fevernova, which was the last Pro Evolution Soccer release for the original PlayStation with matchball by Umbro.
''Pro Evolution Soccer 3''
Taglines: "The Season Starts Here" ; "Football is Life"Cover athlete: Pierluigi Collina
is the third installment in the series and was released in 2003. The most significant update was the overhaul in the graphics engine, with more life like players and much improved likeness. The gameplay was changed to accompany this, with more fast-paced action than that of PES 2, a much better physics engine, additions such as the advantage rule improved passing and long-ball functions, while as per usual, more licences, more club teams and the Master League is now split into regional divisions, with competitions equivalent to the Champions League with matchball Adidas Finale 03 without UCL watermark, the UEFA Cup and as Umbro was no longer revived, the company has been replaced by Adidas and Adidas Fevernova as Official Match in Winning Eleven 7 Japan version.
Pro Evolution Soccer 3 is the first in the series to be released for Microsoft Windows and was well received by the PC games magazines but criticised by fans for its lack of online mode and bloated system requirements at its time, particularly not supporting the common Geforce MX series. Its rival, FIFA Football 2004, had online functions and had more modest system requirements in comparison. The game was essentially a direct conversion of the PlayStation 2 code, albeit with sharper graphics and is easier to download fan made mods for the game. First time, 7 Team fully licensed was added with 3 renamed stadium from generic to real stadium name with 6 club. A.C Milan, SS Lazio, AS Roma, Juventus, Parma from Serie A and Feyenoord Rotterdam from Eredivisie. National team was added South Korea from Asia.