- Staff
- #1
I've just posted this over on Eurogamer as part of their current competition (where it's been downvoted out of existence, presumably because it's too mushy to stomach), but thought it'd make sense for me to post it here too - especially if it encourages anyone else to tell their story of their first Pro Evo experience.
For those without Twitter:
What are your favourite PES memories?
For those without Twitter:
I've been a big football fan since I was a kid. In my teens I managed to save enough money for a PS1, then a PS2. I used to buy ISS (International Superstar Soccer) each year, which eventually became PES (Pro Evolution Soccer), said to be the most realistic soccer game you could buy - but best played with friends.
None of my friends at the time were into football - in-fact, the only other person I knew who was, was my dad. My relationship with my dad was tough, growing up. There were days when he'd work for 12 hours, and when he came home from work, he was so shattered that it wasn't long before he had to go to bed.
He was overworked, and understandably grumpy - but looking back, as a kid, I genuinely never once saw him happy. My memories of him from being younger are of him getting home from work exhausted, sitting behind a newspaper and watching football on TV, with me trying to join in, but not having a lot to say.
So when I bought the PlayStations, I tried to convince him (in his mid-50s) to play these footie games with me - and my mum did the same, in a desperate attempt to help us form a bond.
At first he relented, saying "games are for kids". But after I somehow convinced him to play a few games of Pro Evo, eventually he'd start playing a few matches with me before bed, and I could see he was starting to enjoy it, even though he'd insist he was only playing for my benefit.
I loved the game. Every year, when the next title was due, I'd phone every game shop in the local area, and travel to computer fairs that were miles away from where I lived, trying to get hold of the latest version first. I was obsessed - and every year, my dad would play the game with me, and he'd say the exact same thing - "I don't like this as much as the last one".
When I asked him why, he'd never answer. But I knew why - he was getting older, his reaction times were getting slower, and I was getting better at the game. I started to let him win, but he always knew when I was, and would tell me not to be a "soft lad".
Eventually, he just stopped wanting to play the game.
The one real connection I had to him had gone.
Fast forward a few years. When I discovered (i.e. when we could afford) the internet, I read that the Japanese version of PES was called WE (Winning Eleven). This was the most exciting thing I'd ever read, for two reasons...
One, Winning Eleven was available months before Pro Evo. Two, sometimes there would be "enhanced" versions released after the original (in the same year), with even better gameplay.
It was now my life's mission to find, import and play this mythical football game.
I didn't buy PES that year - I was saving up my money. The next available Winning Eleven was WE6. I pre-ordered the game. It arrived. I was beyond excited - but I had to go to school, do chores and all that. When I did get around to playing it, I realised that the majority of the game was - of course - in Japanese...
Well, it took me until the early hours of the morning, sat in my bedroom, to figure out what the buttons did (thank you, internet translation guides), but I managed it. I crept downstairs to put the PS2 into the big family TV. The game started. The intro video played, this time on the big screen, set to "We Will Rock You".
It sent shivers down my spine, and still does. The photos working backwards from the full stadium, the smoking flares, to the kids playing football in the street, the grass at the park. The choreography of it from start to finish. (My favourite intro of all-time.)
But it was the early hours, around 3am, and I knew I couldn't really play it. I needed to go to bed. Except, I heard some creaking around upstairs, and it was my dad. Who I realised was coming downstairs.
My instant thought was, "I've woken him up, he's got work in a couple of hours, he's going to kill me".
He opened the living room door, saw me sat next to the big TV and said "you got it working then?"
"Yeah, want a few games before you have to go to work?"
"Errr... Alright, I can't sleep. But then I'm going back to bed."
He sat in his "man of the house" chair by the TV, I passed him the controller, and set up a match. He was more animated that morning than I'd known him be when playing a game - he was literally kicking out with his leg every time he pressed a button for his player to shoot.
We laughed in astonishment as we played. Just the memory of it is still bizarre to me, and I still can't think about it without getting emotional. This man who was (and is) pretty "closed" by nature, who I never really saw happy, or laughing... Here he was, like a kid in a playground.
We played until he had to leave for work. Match after match, trying new things, scoring goals in new ways. (The gameplay was more "free" than ever, and quicker to respond to your inputs - meaning you had a little more time to think about your actions - and suddenly, because of that, he could play.)
When he stood up to get ready to go to work, he said something - and I'm guessing, written down, to anyone with enough time to read all of this (sorry), that it'll look like the most meaningless, throwaway comment. But it truly wasn't; he just didn't say things like this.
He said: "This is brilliant, isn't it."
Seeing my dad transform like that is something that will always be one of the happiest memories of my life.
To this day, we play football games together (currently we've got a career mode with Everton on the go). He even plays online, despite being in his 70s now and not exactly eSports-material - but it's all because of that one moment, in the wee hours, when he decided to give gaming one more go.
None of my friends at the time were into football - in-fact, the only other person I knew who was, was my dad. My relationship with my dad was tough, growing up. There were days when he'd work for 12 hours, and when he came home from work, he was so shattered that it wasn't long before he had to go to bed.
He was overworked, and understandably grumpy - but looking back, as a kid, I genuinely never once saw him happy. My memories of him from being younger are of him getting home from work exhausted, sitting behind a newspaper and watching football on TV, with me trying to join in, but not having a lot to say.
So when I bought the PlayStations, I tried to convince him (in his mid-50s) to play these footie games with me - and my mum did the same, in a desperate attempt to help us form a bond.
At first he relented, saying "games are for kids". But after I somehow convinced him to play a few games of Pro Evo, eventually he'd start playing a few matches with me before bed, and I could see he was starting to enjoy it, even though he'd insist he was only playing for my benefit.
I loved the game. Every year, when the next title was due, I'd phone every game shop in the local area, and travel to computer fairs that were miles away from where I lived, trying to get hold of the latest version first. I was obsessed - and every year, my dad would play the game with me, and he'd say the exact same thing - "I don't like this as much as the last one".
When I asked him why, he'd never answer. But I knew why - he was getting older, his reaction times were getting slower, and I was getting better at the game. I started to let him win, but he always knew when I was, and would tell me not to be a "soft lad".
Eventually, he just stopped wanting to play the game.
The one real connection I had to him had gone.
Fast forward a few years. When I discovered (i.e. when we could afford) the internet, I read that the Japanese version of PES was called WE (Winning Eleven). This was the most exciting thing I'd ever read, for two reasons...
One, Winning Eleven was available months before Pro Evo. Two, sometimes there would be "enhanced" versions released after the original (in the same year), with even better gameplay.
It was now my life's mission to find, import and play this mythical football game.
I didn't buy PES that year - I was saving up my money. The next available Winning Eleven was WE6. I pre-ordered the game. It arrived. I was beyond excited - but I had to go to school, do chores and all that. When I did get around to playing it, I realised that the majority of the game was - of course - in Japanese...
Well, it took me until the early hours of the morning, sat in my bedroom, to figure out what the buttons did (thank you, internet translation guides), but I managed it. I crept downstairs to put the PS2 into the big family TV. The game started. The intro video played, this time on the big screen, set to "We Will Rock You".
It sent shivers down my spine, and still does. The photos working backwards from the full stadium, the smoking flares, to the kids playing football in the street, the grass at the park. The choreography of it from start to finish. (My favourite intro of all-time.)
But it was the early hours, around 3am, and I knew I couldn't really play it. I needed to go to bed. Except, I heard some creaking around upstairs, and it was my dad. Who I realised was coming downstairs.
My instant thought was, "I've woken him up, he's got work in a couple of hours, he's going to kill me".
He opened the living room door, saw me sat next to the big TV and said "you got it working then?"
"Yeah, want a few games before you have to go to work?"
"Errr... Alright, I can't sleep. But then I'm going back to bed."
He sat in his "man of the house" chair by the TV, I passed him the controller, and set up a match. He was more animated that morning than I'd known him be when playing a game - he was literally kicking out with his leg every time he pressed a button for his player to shoot.
We laughed in astonishment as we played. Just the memory of it is still bizarre to me, and I still can't think about it without getting emotional. This man who was (and is) pretty "closed" by nature, who I never really saw happy, or laughing... Here he was, like a kid in a playground.
We played until he had to leave for work. Match after match, trying new things, scoring goals in new ways. (The gameplay was more "free" than ever, and quicker to respond to your inputs - meaning you had a little more time to think about your actions - and suddenly, because of that, he could play.)
When he stood up to get ready to go to work, he said something - and I'm guessing, written down, to anyone with enough time to read all of this (sorry), that it'll look like the most meaningless, throwaway comment. But it truly wasn't; he just didn't say things like this.
He said: "This is brilliant, isn't it."
Seeing my dad transform like that is something that will always be one of the happiest memories of my life.
To this day, we play football games together (currently we've got a career mode with Everton on the go). He even plays online, despite being in his 70s now and not exactly eSports-material - but it's all because of that one moment, in the wee hours, when he decided to give gaming one more go.
What are your favourite PES memories?
the top of my desk actually lifts off because I've banged it that many times with my knee ! ..Well it's fourteen years later & I'm still loving playing & modding PES , I'll probably still be here in another fourteen years modding some football game or another..it's what I do...Love it !!
