Pro Evolution Soccer (series)

Pro Evolution Soccer, officially abbreviated as PES (known before in Japan, Korea and in the Americas as Winning Eleven) is an association football video game series developed by Konami (formerly by division KCET). The series has been produced under the guidance of Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka.

Partially as a result of EA Sports' affinity to purchasing exclusive rights for their FIFA series, the games have historically lacked the sheer volume of licenses present in EA's offerings, with the most notable absence being the German Bundesliga.

Every year, the new version of the game is released first as Winning Eleven in Japan, and after a few months a slightly modified version is released worldwide, in two different packages: World Soccer: Winning Eleven for the Americans, and Pro Evolution Soccer for the rest of the world. Additionally, in Japan and Korea a localised version is released, featuring local leagues and teams including European ones. In 2007, the franchise began to use "Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer" for the American market, which transitioned to Pro Evolution Soccer in 2008, dropping the Winning Eleven moniker entirely for that region. The game's popularity has grown over the years, and is currently one of the most popular football games world-wide, fiercely rivaling EA's FIFA Series.

Game modes and features
The Master League mode, gives the user control of a team of his/her selection. Originally, the players were all generic-fictional players, however this was later changed giving the user the option to change the settings and choose to play with default players. These players 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.
 * Master league

From Winning Eleven 8, 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.

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.
 * Editing

"PES Stats Database" and "PES Stats" are examples of websites that are dedicated to creating accurate stats for players. These are distributed via the internet in digital format, then transferred to the PlayStation 2 memory card using hardware such as the Max Drive. 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 in the Middle East and Asia. 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 (Team A, Team B, Team C etc.) 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 (but, as stated above, the non-generic teams can be edited anyways).

Games in the series
The first game in the current series of Pro Evolution Soccer games was released in October 2001 for both Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2. It was released under the name, Winning Eleven 5 in Japan and North America.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2
Pro Evolution Soccer 2 (Winning Eleven 6 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 in the US) 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. Also, unlike in the original game, the "unofficial" club names stopped using obvious city names (e.g. Manchester United was Manchester in PES1, Real Madrid was Madrid etc.), and instead used very ambiguous names (e.g. Manchester United were now Aragon, Liverpool became Europort and West Ham became Lake District). 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 tracks from Queen: “We Will Rock You” and “We are the Champions”. A PlayStation version was also released, which was again a minor update of its predecessor, and was the last Pro Evolution Soccer release for the original PlayStation.

Pro Evolution Soccer 3
Pro Evolution Soccer 3 (Winning Eleven 7 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 in the US) was released in 2003, and featured the Italian referee Pierluigi Collina on the cover (although bizarrely he is not present as an in-game referee). 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 PES2, a much better physics engine, additions such as the advantage rule improved passing and long-ball functions, while as per usual, more licenses (with the infamous Dutch Oranges removed, replaced with pseudonyms such as "Froibaad" in the place of Kluivert), more club teams and the Master League is now split into regional divisions, with competitions equivalent to the Champions League and the UEFA Cup and as Umbro was no longer revived, the company has been replaced by Adidas.

Pro Evolution Soccer 3 was the first in the series to be released for Microsoft Windows and was well received by the PC games magazines but criticized 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 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.

Pro Evolution Soccer 4
Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (Winning Eleven 8 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 in the US) was released in 2004; featuring referee Pierluigi Collina, Thierry Henry and Francesco Totti on the cover. This is the first Pro Evolution Soccer game to feature full leagues, namely the English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch top divisions, though with full league licenses only for the latter three. As a result, clubs in, for example, the English League, an unlicensed league, have ambiguous names like "West London Blue" and "Man Red" for Chelsea and Manchester United respectively, and their home grounds Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford are respectively named "Blue Bridge" and "Trad Brick Stadium".

The gameplay has improved from Pro Evolution Soccer 3, (though not as much of a significant leap as its predecessor) with improved AI, tweaked play-on advantages and better throughballs. Dribbling is tighter with the players (though at one-star difficulty, a player receiving the ball on either wing can dribble the ball down the length of the pitch relatively uncontested), plus free-kicks have been changed to allow lay-offs. The gameplay was criticized for its relatively easy scoring opportunities, as players can pass their way through opposing defenses, or hold on to the ball at the edge of the penalty area and simply wait for the opposing defenders to move away and thus give him space to shoot. A new 6-star difficulty was added as an unlockable in the shop, as well as the previous items, while the Master League included enhancements such as player development, so many players over 30 would see certain attributes decline as the game progresses. Conversely, players could improve upon their attributes up to the age of 24-25, though the improvement is most rapid and obvious in players aged 22 and under.

The edit mode has been enhanced rapidly, with the options to add text and logos to shirts (essentially sponsors) and pixel logo editing as well as the traditional preset shapes, thus making it easier to replicate a team. The game also includes an "International Cup" and four regional Cups:


 * The "European Cup" is remarkably inclusive, including almost every major European country, as well as smaller countries like Slovenia, Hungary, and Slovakia. However, countries like Israel and Iceland are not included. It also includes a Yugoslavia team; in real life, Yugoslavia no longer exists, having been dissolved and replaced by two new independent states, Serbia and Montenegro. The Czech Republic team is simply called "Czech".
 * The "American Championship" is a merger of the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Copa América. It includes most North, Central and South American countries.
 * The "Asia-Oceania Cup" includes only five Asian countries, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, and South Korea, plus Australia. Ironically, in real life, Australia has joined the Asian Football Confederation, and now competes in the AFC Asian Cup. South Korea is simply called "Korea".

Pro Evolution Soccer 5
Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Winning Eleven 9 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 in the US) was released in October 2005 and featured John Terry and Thierry Henry on the cover. The improvements are mainly tweaks to the gameplay engine, while online play finally made it to the PlayStation 2 version. The game was perceived as much harder by fans, with a very punishing defense AI making it harder to score. Some players have pointed out inconsistencies in the star difficulty rating, such as 3 star mode being harder to beat than 6 star due to its more defensive nature, but in general scoring is harder. Referees are very fussy over decisions, awarding free kicks for very negligible challenges. There are various new club licenses present, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Celtic, Rangers and a few other European clubs, as well as the full Dutch, Spanish and Italian Leagues. Pro Evolution Soccer 5 was victim of the infamous empty stadium glitch, in which when playing a game, no crowds are present in the stands although they are present during cut-scenes. There are fan-made mods which address this in the PC version, although no official patch was released. Official PlayStation 2 Magazine UK gave it a perfect 10/10 score.

Pro Evolution Soccer 5 was released for Xbox, Windows and PS2, all online enabled. A PSP version was released, but with stripped down features, such as no Master League, no commentary, only one stadium and limitations in the editor, and that's also because of the limitations to the UMD. The PSP version featured Wi-fi play, and the gameplay was faster and more “pin-ball like” in comparison to its console siblings, but it did not receive the same acclaim as the mainstream console/PC versions.

Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Winning Eleven 10 in Japan and Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 in the US) was officially released in the UK on October 27, 2006 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360 and PC platforms and on February 9, 2007 for the Nintendo DS. The PC version does not utilize the Xbox 360 engine but is a conversion of the PS2 edition. The PSP version is similar in many ways to its PS2 brother, while the DS version has graphics and gameplay reminiscent of the older PES series on the original PlayStation.

A criticism of the previous version was that the game was too unforgiving and so suppressed fluid attacking football. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 was issued with more tricks and an overall more attacking mentality, but whether it does make it easier to take on defenders and get forward is debatable.

More licenses were added, including fully licensed international kits including the nations England, Spain and Italy to name a few (as well as the ever present Japan license). The French Ligue 1 is now included as fully licensed league, as well as the Spanish, Italian and Dutch leagues, plus several other individual clubs. However, the Chelsea F.C. license from PES5 was removed and, due to a lawsuit, Konami were forced to drop the Bundesliga license. The only Bundesliga team to appear in the game is FC Bayern München. The game had not updated Arsenal's venue to the Emirates stadium; the defunct Highbury is still present. The same applies for Bayern München, who, despite having moved to the Allianz Arena, are still represented in the game as playing at Munich's Olympic Stadium. Also, the recent extensions to Old Trafford are not included, while Serbia and Montenegro are still present despite the dissolution of the country in May 2006, this being due to the disestablished state competing at the recent World Cup. All teams which competed at the World Cup featured their 23 man squads from the tournament, including those who retired from international football (e.g. Phillip Cocu of the Netherlands) and from the game altogether (e.g. Zinedine Zidane of France), although club teams were fairly up to date.

The Xbox 360 version features next-generation, Hi-Definition graphics and more animations, but gameplay similar to the other console versions, according to a recent interview with Seabass. The Xbox 360 version also finally introduces the Pro Evolution series to widescreen gaming, a feature that was sorely missing from its PS2 and Xbox versions of the game. Much of the gameplay and editing options have been severely stripped down for the 360 release.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
The game cover features Cristiano Ronaldo and a local player (Michael Owen in the UK, Didier Drogba in France, Jan Schlaudraff in Germany, Gianluigi Buffon in Italy and Lucas Neill in Australia). A new adaptive AI system entitled 'Teamvision' was implemented into the game, Teamvision is a sophisticated AI programming that learns and adapts according to an individual's style of play. As such, it will learn new ways to build attacks and to counter specific movements and previous attacking or defensive errors, ensuring games are more in line with the tactical but flowing nature of the real thing. The game was released for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 on October 26, 2007 in Europe, November 2, 2007 in Australia, and December 31, 2007 in Japan. The PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS version were released in November, and the rather different Wii version. Pro Evo Wii was released in March 2008. It was the first game in the series to drop the Winning Eleven name from its title in the US.

20 teams are also in the D1 and D2 Leagues, four more than in past editions.

The game's 'in-game editor' however was a large downgrade from previous versions, with players unable to add text to unlicensed team shirts or base copy specific players. On the PS3 the game was a huge disappointment with lots of frame rate issues and strange glitches.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 was released on the 17th of October in Europe, featuring FC Barcelona Argentine star Lionel Messi as its cover star (opposite Mexican midfielder Andrés Guardado from Deportivo La Coruña in some versions).

While in some respects keeping the same structure of its predecessor, PES 2009 makes a large number of improvements, starting from the graphics, now better suited for HD image technologies. Also, the overall pace of the gameplay was slowed down, with a better AI for computer-controlled teammates as well: they will look for better passing spaces and goal routes.

A new addition of this game is the Become a Legend mode, which follows the entire career of a single player (as opposed to a whole team, like in the Master League) as he moves to better teams, achieves national team caps and wins MVP awards, like the Be a Pro mode introduced in FIFA 08. Even so, in the Japanese versions a similar mode called Fantasista was released in J-League Winning Eleven 2007 Club Championship, a special edition only for Japan, so 'Become a legend' was not entirely a new idea.

Interestingly enough, this game has sponsored S.S. Lazio once in real life (during a match against F.C. Internazionale), but the team's in-game kit does not feature the PES 2009 sponsorship. Pro Evo 2009 saw the addition of the famous "Dods Goal" where a shot is parried by the goalkeeper into the path of an incoming striker.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2010
Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 is the latest edition in the series. The game has gone through a complete overhaul as it tries to compete with the FIFA series. It also features more licensed teams and players than ever before.

Other titles

 * Arcade
 * Winning Eleven Arcade Game Style
 * Winning Eleven Arcade Game Style 2003
 * Winning Eleven 2006 Arcade Championship
 * Game Boy Advance
 * Winning Eleven Advance (2000)
 * J-League Winning Eleven Advance 2002 (2001)


 * PlayStation;
 * World Soccer Winning Eleven
 * Winning Eleven 97 (ISS Pro)
 * Winning Eleven 3 (ISS Pro 98)
 * Winning Eleven 3: Final Ver.
 * Winning Eleven 4 (ISS Pro Evolution)
 * World Soccer Jikkyou Winning Eleven 2000: U-23 Medal Heno Chousen (ISS Pro Evolution 2)
 * Winning Eleven 2002

J-League Winning Eleven series
The J-League Winning Eleven series is exclusive to Japan and has been released since 2007 before the release of Pro Evolution Soccer and World Soccer: Winning Eleven. Prior to 2007, the game was released after the earlier games were released.

PES Rankings and the National League
PESRankings is a season long league used to determine the best players in the UK, Italy and all over the world; league points are determined using an ELO system and PlayStation Network. PES Rankings replaced the PES National League when PES5 came out. At the end of the season, the world Rankings champion and the Finals champion travel to a World Finals (Italy 2010) to play against winners of national tournaments across the world.