I never thought I’d see the day, but Konami is finally providing baseball fans with an English version of their Pro Spirit series in eBaseball Pro Spirit 2026. While players have been enjoying the series for over 20 years in Japan, is this NPB licensed title worth checking out now that it is available in English? Today, we’re taking a look at that as well as modes, the Japan and Asian exclusive World Baseball Classic 2026 mode and more in this detailed review. Let’s get into it.
Language Support
Just so there isn’t any confusion, Pro Spirit 2026 features full support for English this year for the first time ever. Unlike the previous title, Pro Spirits 2024-2025, this is not just limited to menus and a few other areas - this spans across every single mode. Whether you are looking to dive deep into the more text heavy modes or just simply play exhibition games, you don’t have to worry about language holding you back. Just to note, Traditional Chinese, Korean and (of course) Japanese are also supported.
This doesn’t end with just text either. English commentary is provided here by Josh Lewin, fresh off of his debut with the free-to-play eBaseball Pro Spirit from March 2026. The only unfortunate thing about this option is that Lewin handles everything by himself as there are no color commentators joining him. If you are interested in a more robust experience when it comes to commentary, you can switch the commentators in the Game Settings over to the Japanese team. You can’t do this mid-game, so you’ll have to do this before you jump in. Lewin does sound a bit robotic at times with the delivery, but I honestly think this could be helped with the addition of a color commentator. We’ll have to wait on that for now, though. At any rate, the main take away is this: The language barrier that has kept potential players away in the past is no longer an issue. Pro Spirit is also available in most regions worldwide, which is another plus for interested fans, though the physical version is limited to Japan.
Gameplay
If you’ve played a game in the Pro Spirits series before, things haven’t really changed here in terms of gameplay. If you’re not familiar, things are relatively easy to pick up if you’ve played any modern baseball game. Batting has players control a bat cursor with the left stick, while swings are performed with X, delay hits with Circle and bunt with Square or R2. A power swing can be initiated with R1 which shrinks the cursor considerably but adds quite a bit more power to hits when they connect.
Pitching has players choose a pitch with the joystick or d-pad and then press X once the location is decided. From there, the pitcher winds up and X must be pressed once again while a cursor is shrinking down to the size of a baseball. If you time this right, your pitch will go where it’s intended. If you get this wrong, you risk having your pitch end up pretty much anywhere. It’s a system that Konami has been using for years but it works well and is fun to play.
Fielding is pretty straight forward with bases assigned to the four face buttons and the cutoff man to R1. Dives and jumps can also be performed as well. It’s an easy, no nonsense approach and it works well. For more on some of the nuances, I would highly suggest checking out the training section of the game as some things (like individual base running, for example) need a little bit more explanation and practice.
Modes
Booting up the game will bring you to three options (two if you are outside of Japan and a few other territories…more on that soon): eBaseball Pro Spirit 2026, World Baseball Classic 2026 and eBaseball Pro Spirit (the free to play title). We’ve covered the free-to-play Pro Spirit elsewhere (you can check out our review here), so today I’m going to focus on what’s on offer in Pro Spirit 2026 and the World Baseball Classic Mode.
World Baseball Classic Mode
The World Baseball Classic is represented in eBaseball Pro Spirit 2026. Well, kinda. If you live in the US, you won’t be able to access the mode. It may be possible to do so if you pick up the Japanese physical version or the version on the Japanese PlayStation Store - I can’t say that for certain. Here are the regions where the WBC is included:
- Japan
- Brunei Darussalam
- Cambodia
- Hong Kong
- Macao
- Malaysia
- Myanmar
- Philippines
- Republic of Korea
- Singapore
- Taiwan
It’s a shame that not everyone has access to this mode and when it boils down to it, it’s all about licensing. For most other markets, MLB The Show 26 has the WBC license for this year which is why you may not be able to access it. Since I live here in Japan and primarily play games via my Japanese account, I was able to check out this mode. So, what’s in here?
The World Baseball Classic has a handful of options, with the main two being highlighted at the top of the screen with the Tournament itself and Scenario 2026. You are also able to play Exhibition games, edit the national teams, view your own records/stats, check out Training or Tutorials and adjust the Settings.
Scenario 2026 is the WBC version of Live Scenario. This allows players to relive or recreate moments from the tournament in short missions. Every game from the event is available spanning the entirety of the pool games leading up to the quarterfinals, semifinals and the finals. If you are looking to jump in and out of games in quick fashion, I’ve always found this mode to be awesome in both the Pro Spirit and the Power Pros series. Completing these rewards points that are used to see how you stack up against other players who are playing around the world. There are also multiple difficulty levels to try out as well, which could extend replay value for some, but once things are done, they’re done.
Of course, if you’re looking for something that’s a bit deeper, the Tournament play is where it’s at. Here, you can play the tournament with all of the real teams or make use of a custom option and substitute one custom team. After getting that set up, things play out as they would in the real event with the group stage and then the tournament. You can simulate, play or spectate as much as you like here. When I was trying this out, I opted to do Player Focus with different members from team Japan and eventually took the team to the promised land. It’s a fun part of the overall WBC package and does a good job at recreating the tournament. Similar to Scenario, once you clear the tournament, you can play through it again if you like, but there just not a lot of depth here. I’m very happy that this mode is included, but it’s not the main reason to pick up the game this year.
eBaseball Pro Spirit 2026 - Main Mode
The main component of the game, Pro Spirit 2026 is your gateway to numerous modes set in the world of Nippon Professional Baseball. Here are the modes that you can check out:
- Exhibition
- Season
- Star Player
- Hakkyu no Kiseki (High School Baseball, now with DH)
- Spirits
- Live Championship (online play)
- Live Scenario
- Grand Prix
- Home Run Contest
- Training
- Tutorials
- Player Data
- Team Edit
- Edit Share
- Prospi Shop
- Settings
From the main menu, there is one difference if you’re playing in English versus Japanese. With the latter, a news feed is running the latest news from NPB - games, trades, you name it. This is not available while playing in English, which is unfortunate as it would have been a great way for fans to keep up on the sport in English.
Available modes are pretty much on par with the 2024-2025 entry in the series offering almost the same amount of content. For online play, Live Championship is where you’ll go. Grand Prix has you build a team of your dreams and then compete (not really my thing), and Spirits is a card based mode where you can create players. I’m not going to go over every single one of these, but rather the ones that I enjoyed.
Hakkyu no Kiseki
Hakkyu no Kiseki, or “white ball miracle,” puts you into the role of a brand new high school coach. You are tasked with turning this group of kids into competitors that are good enough to reach the Koshien tournament. You will be in charge of selecting training exercises for the students, choosing the region where you’ll play, creating your schools uniforms and more. While a lot of the mode is managerial, you will have the chance to take control of the kids in games. Not only that, but you are also able to edit appearance and names of your students.
Hakkyu no Kiseki is a great look into one of the most popular forms of baseball in the Japan. It might not be as deep as some of the other modes in the game, but its unique look at this aspect of Japanese baseball culture is a great inclusion and worth checking out.
Season
Baseball fans looking for a deep experience will want to head over to Season, which is one of the deepest modes that Pro Spirit 2026 has to offer. There are several ways to tackle this. If you want to stick to just managing your team, developing players, deciding optimal lineups, controlling the finances and acquiring players, you can do that. If you want to play through every game with all of your players, or use the Player Focus, you can do that, too. You can also opt to play full or abbreviated seasons which lets you play milestone games throughout the season and into the playoffs. You even have control over your choice in your coaching staff and can even bring on players you have created. To top this off, you can play as many seasons as you like. Simply put, Season offers a lot for baseball fans in terms of playing actual games of baseball and taking over the front office.
Star Player
Star Player puts gamers into the role of either a created or existing player in NPB. You won’t just be playing games, but you’ll also be going through events off the field as well. For the purpose of this review, I took on the role of Yokohama DeNA Baystars infielder Shugo Maki. You’ll be playing through Player Focus sections of games in attempts to lead your team to victory. Outside of that, you’ll have chats with your agent, journalists, teammates and more. In the mode, each player has a “Star Level,” which indicates the good players from the truly elite ones. Basically, if you can work your way up to a Star Level of 50, that means you have left your mark on NPB and the baseball world. You’ll spend the career of your player striving to do that.
Of course, playing the actual games of baseball is fun, but what’s more interesting about this mode is the interactions you have with your teammates and others. Just as an example, I had Maki get ahold of his teammate Taisei Irie to come over and watch pro wrestling. Interactions like this and others can lead to meeting more people, leaning new skills and more. It’s a really fun mode that is quite different from what’s available in other baseball games and is definitely a highlight of the Pro Spirits series.
Live Scenario
Live Scenario here is almost identical to what’s found in the WBC iteration, but the focus here is of course on NPB games. Every single game that is played over the course is found here giving players a chance to change or keep the outcomes of the game for both teams involved. During the season, Konami updates these within an hour or so upon the completion of games and gives players a chance to try their hand at what amounts to a short mission on either offense or defense. Once completed, players are awarded points which are used to determine how you stack up with other players around the world. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve always been a fan of this mode as it can help you relieve some of the best moments of the game or to overturn ones that you wish you could unsee for the season. The mission style of play is also quick, making these pretty easy to jump in and out of if you don’t have the time to play one of the deeper modes in the game.
Other
A few other interesting customization options are in Pro Spirit 2026. One of these is the fight song creator, which can be used to create in-game songs. You can even from a USB stick if you like. I’m not so musically minded, but the possibilities here are almost endless. You can even check out some premade fight songs based on classic series from Konami, which was fun to hear. The customization doesn’t stop here, either. Players are able to share their created teams and players with others online. You can even sort through lists of the post popular ones to find something you like. Like the fight songs, this is great to see.
Visuals, Audio & Performance
Utilizing Unreal Engine what Konami calls the eBaseball Engine, Pro Spirit 2026 offers one of the most realistic baseball experiences on the market. Player models are hyper detailed and look just like their real life counterparts. Other touches, like rain beading up on helmets, proper signage in stadiums, cityscapes and more really bring the game to life. While limited depending on what region you are accessing the game from, it was also great to see the super stars from around the world appear in the game via the WBC mode. I mean, how cool is it to see Aaron Judge or Fernando Tatis Jr. in something outside of The Show with THIS much detail? The stadiums are also extremely well done as they capture the essence of Japanese baseball perfectly. With LoanDepot Park as well as other fictional locations, there are a lot of cool places to play baseball.
Sound is also a high point in the game. The pop of the bat, the roar of the crowd and other elements add to the realism. Sure, you don’t get the (licensed) chants that you’ll see in real life, but the differences between indoor and outdoor stadiums, the reaction of the crowd and even the beer girls are all a part of the experience that are on display. It’s absolutely fantastic.
I would say that the only gripe I have with visuals is that some of the lesser known players, or in some cases some of the foreign players, don’t have as much detail that is found in the superstars. Not only this, but some of the coaches, particularly ones that are on the WBC teams, look kind of bad. Some of these are clearly created using in game assets versus getting actual likenesses, which I can understand in some cases. Still, it can be a bit weird. In addition to this, while the game runs pretty smoothly for the most part, there are occasions when the game stutters a little bit on a standard PS5 (I don’t have a PS5 Pro and won’t be getting one anytime soon, so I can’t test that out). I don’t recall seeing this happen in gameplay, but rather some of the in-game cutscenes. Not a deal breaker, but you may notice that when playing the game.
Conclusion
eBaseball Pro Spirit 2026 is a fantastic baseball game that finally has been given the accessibility that the series deserves. The ability to play the game completely in English is a godsend, even for someone like me (and some of you guys out there, too) who has been playing the series for a number of years. The gameplay is fun, the visuals are great and the sound is awesome. It’s a shame that the WBC section of the game is limited with its release, however, the NPB content is still stacked and can give players dozens of hours of gameplay. If you’re looking for something a bit different from The Show but in the same simulation vein, Pro Spirit 2026 is definitely worth checking out.
But let’s turn things over to you guys. Did you pick up Pro Spirit 2026? Have you played any games in the series before? For me, my first time playing the series was with Pro Spirits 5 (2008 release) on PS3. At the time, I didn’t know any of the teams, but it was just cool to try out something different. Anyway, sound off with any and all comments down below. We’d love to hear form you.
Final Score: 9.0
by Danny Bivens
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