Super World Stadium '97/Walkthrough

Once you have inserted a coin into the cabinet of Namco's Japan-only 1997 arcade game Super World Stadium '97 the text "PUSH 1P OR 2P" will appear upon the screen (much like its nine predecessors, it allows two players to play on one credit); regardless of which Start Button you press, the game will proceed to a menu, from which you will have twenty-nine seconds to select one of three returning three-script texts: 1-ri de asobu (1人で遊ぶ), which again means: "one person plays", 2-ri de asobu (2人で遊ぶ), which again means: "two people play", and 1-ri de asobu kōshiki-sen (1人で遊ぶ公式戦), which again means "one person plays official game", before proceeding to the team selection screen. You will now have forty-four seconds to select one of the thirteen returning teams by pushing the joystick up, down, left and right, before pressing the first button to confirm your choice - and much like all nine of the previous games, if you had only pressed that 1 Player Start Button, you will now have to select another team for that CPU to predetermine the behaviour of, but if you pressed that 2 Player Start Button, that second player will now have to pick another team to take control of (which, as with all nine previous games, is too bad if that first player happened to have chosen the team he wanted to take control of). Twelve of these returning teams are also real, and their namings now reflect their 1996 lineups; however, the USA team is fictional and was created specifically for Super World Stadium '96.

The game will then proceed to the new position selection screen, as the timer in the top-right corner of the screen continues counting down; it displays the Kanji texts senkō (先攻), which means batting first (1P), and kōkō (後攻), which means after the attack (2P) with one player from the first player's chosen team in his home outfit (holding his bat), and another one from the second player's chosen team in his away outfit (wearing his mitt) beneath them. Either player can push their joystick to the right to change the player from the first player's team into his away outfit (swapping his bat for a catching mitt) and the other one from the second player's team into his home outfit (swapping his catching mitt for a bat, and both Kanji texts' positions will also be swapped) then push it back to the left after doing that to change them back to how they had been before, before pressing the first button to confirm their choices - and the game shall now proceed to its new defensive-half selection screen, which displays the flags of the Central and Pacific Leagues with the Kanji texts DH-sei mu (DH制無) which means no defensive-half system (Central League flag) and DH-sei yū (DH制有) which means defensive-half system (Pacific League flag) above them, so once you have pushed the first button to confirm your choice (after either player pushes their joystick to the right to select the latter option if they wish), the game shall proceed onto its new team lineups screen. All 104 of the players' names again have their abbreviated positions next to them, but the name next to the number 9 will once again always be tōshu (投手), which means "pitcher", with a "P" next to it, given that the game has not proceeded to the new pitcher selection screen yet; however, when it does, the timer in the top-right corner of the screen will still continue its counting down. You will now have to select one of your chosen team's five pitchers (the static images of whom are no longer displayed on the screen, as you push your joystick up and down to highlight them), and if you had only pressed that 1 Player Start Button, the CPU shall automatically select the first of its team's five pitchers to predetermine the behaviour of (it is not bothering to create the illusion of random selection any more) - and all 65 pitchers' names will, for the third time since 1991, also have either the Kanji characters hidari (左) or migi (右) next to them, which indicates whether they will pitch while facing the left or the right. The game shall now proceed to the stadium selection screen and you will have to select one of the game's six new stadiums for your match to take place in (the second of them has also been renamed from "Kōshien", while the fifth of them has been renamed from "Dome"), which all have different "centre" and "both wings" measurements (given in metres for all six of them, and that Urban Stadium is also based on the Kōrakuen from the first three WS titles):

...and after you have pressed the first button to confirm your choice, the screen will fade out before fading back into a shot of the sky above your chosen stadium. The camera will then pan down to the field of the stadium as all eighteen players (and all six umpires) run out and take their positions on it, and both of your chosen teams' logos will then fly into view from the left and right sides of the screen as a "VS" appears between them; that Hillside Stadium features an advertisement for Starblade, that Trad (Kōshien for old players) Stadium features six advertisements for Great Sluggers, Outfoxies, Tekken, Xevious, Mappy and Dig Dug (however, back in the NS2 era, it featured an advertisement for SOS), the Urban Stadium features two advertisements for Mappy, a third for Pac-Land and two murals of a Pooka and a Fygar from Dig Dug, and the Kaihei Dome Stadium features advertisements for Pac-Man, Ace Driver, Galaga, Outfoxies, Mach Breakers, Tekken, and Midway Games' first unauthorised Pac-Man sequel Ms. Pac-Man. The match will then start, and it is also worth noting that the Hillside and Urban Stadiums first appeared in the aforementioned Great Sluggers, which plays similarly to this series.

The view will now change to a shot of the centre of the stadium's field, as the Katakana text purei bōru (プレイボール), which means "play ball", flies into view from the right side of the screen and disappears off the left one; the score will now be displayed up in the top-right corner of the screen (with the batting team's initial underlined in red) under the number of 1 and the two Kanji characters of kai omote (回表), which means "front time". The statistics of the No. 1 from that first player's team will again be displayed in that bottom-left corner of the screen below that team's initial - and the statistics of the chosen pitcher from that second player's team will also be displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen below the team's initial. The first player must use his joystick to position his batter inside that batting box, and the second player must push his joystick to the left or right to position his pitcher upon the pitcher's mound, then press his first button to throw the ball; he must now push the joystick to the left if he wants the ball to curve horizontally, down-left if he wants it to curve vertically, right to shoot horizontally, down-right to shoot vertically, down to fork and up to be a speed ball. If the other player's team's current batter failed to hit it, the Katakana text of sutoraiku (ストライク), which means "strike", will appear upon the screen, with the speed at which that ball travelled in kilometres above it, as a yellow circle appears next to the letter "S" on the left side of the screen - and you both then have to repeat the pitching process, but if the other player's team's current batter fails to strike the ball again, the Katakana text sutoraiku (ストライク) will again appear on the screen, with the speed at which the ball travelled in kilometres above it, as a second yellow circle appears. You will both then have to repeat that pitching process again, but if the other player's team's current batter fails to hit that ball once again, the Katakana text battā auto (バッターアウト) which means "batter out", will appear upon the screen (with the speed at which the ball had travelled in kilometres above it), as both yellow circles next to the letter "S" disappear and an orange circle appears next to the letter "O" below it and the other player's team's next batter is brought in; he will have different statistics. Those text boxes that were introduced in Super World Stadium '93 will also reappear on the left side of the screen: Heisatsu-da (併殺打), which means: "hitting double play", Hitto (ヒット), which means "hit", Niruida (二塁打), which means: "two-based hit", Sanruida (三塁打), which means "three-based hit", Honruida (本塁打), which means "home run", Gifurai (犠フライ), which means "sacrifice fly", Gibanto (犠バント), which means: "sacrifice bunt", Shikyū (死球/四球), which means "dead ball" or "walk", Uchifurai (内フライ), which means "fly in", Uchigoro (内ゴロ), which means "grounder in", Sotofurai (外フライ), which means "fly out", Sotogoro (外ゴロ), which means "grounder out", Funige (振逃げ), which means: "shake relief", Shissaku (失策, which means "mistake", and Yasen (野選), which for a second time only means what it is read as.

The first player must press the first button to make his batter swing and the second button to make him bunt; once he has struck the ball, the view will change to a shot of your stadium's field as it flies up into the air. If the ball does not land within the white lines, the umpires (of which there are six) will hold their arms up and the Katakana text fauru (ファウル), which means "foul", will appear upon the screen and it will be counted as a strike - this will also be signified by a yellow circle appearing next to that letter "S", once the view returns to the image you see above. Also, if the current batter hits the ball so hard that it flies out of the stadium, the Katakana text hōmu ran (ホームラン), which means "home run", will appear upon the screen with the distance that the ball travelled in metres next to the Kanji text hikyori (飛距離), which means "flying distance", and the Katakana (or Kanji) text for where the ball landed (レフトスタンド: "left stand", バックスクリーン: "back screen", ライトスタンド: "right stand", ラッキーゾーン: "lucky zones" for the Trad Stadium, and 場外: "curb", for all of the stadiums except for the Kaihei Dome and Air Dome Stadiums), below it; the current score will then be displayed upon the screen (the teams are still represented by their logos), as a window rotates into view at the bottom of the screen showing your chosen team's players running around the bases as their mascot(s) cheer them on (and if you'd chosen to take control of either the Yomiuri Giants or Hanshin Tigers, you will have the chance to see their secondary mascots, "Sister Giabbit" and "To Lucky"). If the ball landed within the white lines after your chosen team's current batter hit it and one of the other players on your chosen team caught it as it fell back down to the ground, you will have to press the first button to make him throw it to one of the other players while pushing the joystick up and down to indicate which player you want him to throw it to; once you have done so, all the umpires will either hold their arms out, and the Katakana text of sēfu (セーフ), which means "safe", will appear on the screen if the player was safe, or they'll hold their right arms up, and the different Katakana text of auto (アウト), which means "out", will appear on the screen if he was out (yet again, this will also be counted as an out, and it will be reflected by one orange circle appearing next to the letter "O" once the view has returned to that screenshot you see above). The radar of the field which now appears down in the bottom-left corner of the screen shows the positions of that other team's players (indicated by the moving hats, which still match the colours of their own) - and when your team is batting and the other player's team is pitching, push your joystick up and press the first button to tag out a runner on the other player's team who is attempting to steal a base (they can still be seen in the windows, on the left and right sides of the screen). Once you have done so, the runner will run out of sight from the left side of the screen, as the other player's team's chosen pitcher throws the ball; once your team's current batter has struck on the ball, the view will again change to a shot of the field as it flies up into the air, but the other player's team's chosen pitcher will then run off the pitcher's mound, and onto the catcher's plate. You will now have to push your joystick to the left and press your first button to make your chosen team's runner start running, then push your joystick up, and press your second button to make him run back again - and once three outs have occurred, the view will cut to an overhead shot of your chosen stadium (in all except that of the Hillside Stadium, there will also be crowds cheering) with a scoreboard at the top of the screen and a list of the next three batters on the right side of the screen (or the left side of the screen, if it is the first player's turn to bat again). The match will then continue; "Raina", the secondary mascot of the Seibu Lions (who had previously appeared in that team's "FAVOR" screens of Super World Stadium '92 Gekitōban and '93), was also rendered specifically for the previous game, so if you choose to take control of that team and manage to hit the ball so hard that it flies out of the stadium, you get the chance to see her cheering the players on as they run round the bases for a second time as the window rotates into view.