Konami has been a strong supporter of the Nintendo Switch with both of its baseball series in Japan. While only one of the titles left Japanese shores in the form of WBSC eBaseball Power Pros, the sub genre has been going strong on the system since 2019. With the Switch 2, it’s only natural that the company will bring their baseball offerings to the platform…or is it? Let’s get into it.
Background
Just in case you didn’t know or just want a refresher, Konami has two mainline baseball series - Power Pros and Pro Yakyū Spirits. Both series have seen releases on the Nintendo Switch. Outside of Power Pros and Pro Spirits, there was one other series that was released in Japan - the Family Stadium, or Famista series. We’re not going to talk about the two released in that series today, but you can check out my review of Famista Evolution from 2018 here. At any rate, here’s a look at all of the Konami baseball titles that released on the platform up until 2025.
*spinoff titles
- Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū (2019)
- eBaseball Powerful Pro Yakyū 2020
- eBaseball Professional Yakyū Spirits 2021: Grand Slam
- *Power Pro-kun Pocket R (2021)
- eBaseball Powerful Pro Yakyū 2022
- *WBSC eBaseball Power Pros (2023)
- Powerful Pro Yakyū 2024-2025
- *Powerful Pro Yakyū Eikan Nine Crossroads (2024)
There were a total of seven Power Pro related titles released on the Nintendo Switch between 2019 and 2025 including spinoffs. In that same time period, the Pro Spirits series saw a release on Switch in 2021, proceeded by 2019 on the PS4 and Vita, the PS5 and Steam (2024-2025) and a completely new spinoff title for mobile worldwide, MLB Pro Spirit, in 2024. Fun fact and a bit of a brag - I was right outside of Konami’s booth at Tokyo Game Show 2024 when they announced MLB Pro Spirit. I really wish they would just make a full fledged game for consoles, but I digress.
Power Pros NOT Coming to Switch 2…for now…
Both baseball titles from Konami are in the middle of their second years on the market, right smack dab in the middle of their two year release cycle. With that being said, it makes sense that we haven’t heard anything from the company about a Switch 2 version up to this point. Not only that, but if Konami were to make some kind of a Switch 2 enhancement, it would have made more sense for them to announce that before the console came out.
It took quite awhile for the company to fully embrace next gen hardware in the past, so there is some precedent for holding back. When going from the PlayStation 3 to PlayStation 4, Power Pros did have an entry in 2014 for the PS3 (and Vita), but didn’t have a PS4 version until 2016. Even now, the series has still yet to have a PS5 version with the company opting to release the game on PS4. While I don’t think it’s going to take Konami that long to put out a Switch 2 version of the game, I don’t think we’ll see one with 2026-2027, but more likely with 2028-2029 given their history with the franchise. They’ll also likely be taking a close look at the success of Nintendo’s console and benefits of implementation of the system’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) upscaling tech before they make any big decisions regarding one of their biggest console franchises.
Pro Spirits Coming
Pro Spirits on the Switch was a huge deal for the series. In fact, in terms of the sales data that is available (via Game Data Library, a great resource for game sales), the 2021 Switch title is the second highest selling Spirits title to date, only a handful of units behind Spirits 2019 on the PlayStation 4. Just to note here, these numbers do not include digital, nor do the current digital numbers we have for the most recent 2024-2025 version on the PS5 and Steam, so it’s a bit hard to gauge. Regardless, Konami’s realistic sim baseball game was a hit on Nintendo’s platform.
With the success of Pro Spirits 2021 in mind, it’s very likely that we’ll see a version of the game on the Nintendo Switch 2. Spirits 2024-2025 saw a release on both PS5 and PC, a first for the series. Given that the game is also available on PC, it must be scalable to some degree. With that in mind, a lower spec version for the Switch 2 is a possibility. It won’t look anywhere near as good as the game running natively on PS5, but the Switch 2, with the help of the upscaling tech, can make something that looks pretty decent.
Sales Numbers (via Game Data Library)
Pro Spirits 2019 | 259,227 (PS4)
Pro Spirits 2021 | 259,126 (Switch)
English Support
When I finally got my hands on Pro Spirits 2024-2025, I was really happy to find that the game had English support. Sure, it’s still very limited, but it’s enough to ensure that fans can at least understand the basics to get things started. Although I think that Konami will continue this trend in the future for Spirits, the real question is whether or not they will do it for Power Pros. Yes, WBSC Power Pros has full English support, but that’s essentially one mode from the regular version of the game. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, though, especially considering that Pro Spirits 2024-2025 released a few months later than Power Pros. With both games being so similar, the translations are basically done for the basic stuff. It’s just a matter of whether or not Konami feels that it’s worth it.
Will we see MLB licensed baseball games from the company? I don’t think so. I have no idea what the licensing situation is for companies looking to make a console MLB game, but things are probably a lot more profitable on mobile, which is exactly what the company did in late 2024 with MLB Pro Spirit. It’s still unclear just how popular or profitable that game has been for the company. If the game goes belly up and gets pulled from mobile storefronts, well, we’ll have our answer.
Conclusion
Baseball fans are going to be in for another great generation of baseball games from Konami. While I think Power Pros might wait another iteration before moving on to the Switch 2 exclusively, it makes sense for the company to stick with a Switch 1 version for the time being given the massive number of users. Pro Spirits would be a great fit on the Switch 2, but it will definitely be lacking when compared to the native PS5 version of the game. I’d still like to see what Konami could do with the Switch 2 hardware. Expect more news from Konami about baseball on the Switch 2 at some point in early 2026.
But, let’s turn things over to you guys. Are you looking forward to Konami baseball games on the Switch 2? Which series do you like more? What are you predictions? Sound off in the comments down below. We’d love to hear from you.
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