This site contains non-obvious hints and detailed information about Konami's excellent soccer simulation for the Playstation 2. Quality rather than quantity. No repetition of the manual here.

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Select a topic:
Gameplay Hints
Form Arrows
Shot Feints
Challenge Training FAQ
PES3 Stadium List

Gameplay Hints

• The -cancel (note: This is different from the Super Cancel). To cancel your last input, press . If you first pressed or , the power bar will raise and then disappear when you press . The -cancel also cancels headers and short passes (initiated with ). As mentioned in the manual pressing will turn a shot or a long pass into a shot feint. The -cancel simply cancels the move and the player continues to run with the ball.

  Best usage: To cancel a header after you realize that no opponent is near your player.

• Long, low shots. Often a long shot will go way over target, even if you just tap . The secret to avoid this is: The player must shoot with the inside of his foot (well, at least more inside than outside). So, for a right footed player the goal must be a little to his left. In other words, when the right footed player shoots a long shot he must face a point somewhere between the right corner flag and the goal post. If the player is turned too far away from goal (i.e. facing the side line) the shot will be less powerful (depending on his shot technique ability).

  You can tell from the shot animation if the player shoots with the inside or outside of his foot. The "outside" animation is slower than the "inside" animation, so there's also less time for the opponent to block your shots if made with the inside of the foot. It's easier to shoot with the inside if you aim left with a right footed player (and right with a left footer).

• Super Cancel (performed with +). This can be used to stop a player from chasing a ball that is going out of play. It has a better use however: When you are chasing a loose ball and the opponent gets to it first, your player normally "freezes" for a short moment. To avoid this, press + well before you get near the opponent. This disables the CPU-aid and your player won't freeze. If you can predict your opponent's first touch, it's often possible to steal the ball back right away. (Note: It might take a little while to get used to this move, but it is very useful especially when you steal the ball from defenders.)

• Injured players. If one of your players gets injured you can see the type of the injury and how long he's out in the Team information screen (accesible under Viev information). Simply highlight the player and press .

Form Arrows

(This was posted by someone on the pesinsight.com web board. Thanks to cjshp for the numbers and engl for the graphics.)

A green arrow (normal) does not change the player's stats. The three rightmost columns describe injured players and players recovering from injuries.

Q: What does all this imply?
A: It implies you'd better look at the players' form arrows when deciding the team's starting lineup. A player with 80 in all stats on red arrow performs like a "normal" (green arrow) player with around 90 in all stats. When shooting free kicks and corners you should also take the player's form into consideration.

Q: Babangida has 99 in Top speed. Will he be even faster (99+9% = 107.9) if he's on red?
A: No. 99 is the maximum possible value. His other stats will improve, though, if he has a red or yellow form arrow. And all his stats will deteriorate if he has a blue or grey arrow (or is injured). I've found out that 99 is the maximum through some experimenting with players that had 99 in all stats. They performed equally well on red compared to green arrows (and of course performed worse on less than green arrows).

Q: What determines the form arrows?
A: Random chance, it seems. I've done experiments showing that the consistency stat has no effect on the form arrows. Also, the condition stat has a very tiny, if any, effect on the arrows. But the form changes gradually, like real life. If a player is in one game, he's more likely to be or in the next game. It is possible for the form arrow to change by more than one step per game, but it happens very seldom.

A typical sequence could be: => => => => => => => => => => ...

Averaging over a season the chances are around
= 5%
= 20%
= 50%
= 20%
= 5%

Q: How can I get to see the COM team's form arrows?
A: If you're playing an exhibition match or a cup match, pause the game and go to the Player Settings screen. Then switch side to the COM team, and you should be able to see the form arrows in the Formation Settings screen. The trick doesn't work in League mode and ML mode. Thanks to 'socrates' for making this clear.

Q: That table is just confusing with all them numbers!
A: As a simple rule you could say that each step corresponds to 5 (or 6) percent. So that the difference between and (2 steps) is 10 percent, the difference between and (3 steps) is 15 percent, and so on.

Accumulated fatigue

Q: Beside the form arrow and below the green stamina bar there is a small grey/brown bar. What's that?
A: That small bar displays the player's accumulated fatigue, so let's call it the fatigue bar. It grows when the player plays several matches in a row.

Q: OK. What is the point of the fatigue bar?
A: It influences the player's performance. Before kick-off the value of the fatigue bar is subtracted from the stamina bar. Suppose the fatigue bar is at 30%; then the stamina bar will start at only 70%. The player will then be more tired during the game, so he will perform worse than if started fully rested.

Q: How do I make the fatigue bar go away?
A: Let your poor player have some rest. Or you can switch off "Accumulated fatigue" in the General Settings screen.

Player positions

Q: The manual says: If the player participates in a match at a position for which he is not suited, the player's abilities will suffer greatly. What happens if I play, say, a CF in the defence?
A: I don't know. The players do not have less stamina if played in a "wrong" position (I checked this), so it is not a general lowering of abilities. Also, players with the both foot feint special ability can still do BFFs when moved out of position, so they don't loose their special abilities.

Shot Feints

Here's a step-by-step guide explaining how to perform each shot feint (using the default controls):

Regular shot feint

1. Knock the ball ahead.
2. Press immediately followed by .
3. When the player has caught up with the ball again, he will perform a shot feint.

   (The regular shot feint is also mentioned in the manual, but the following feints are not.)

Double shot feint

1. Knock the ball ahead.
2. Press as if you were going to shoot.
3. When the player catches up with the ball, he will try to do a regular shot. Immediately before he shoots the ball, press . He will stop executing the shot (1st feint), then he'll do a regular shot feint (2nd feint).

   The double shot feint looks better if you do the 1st feint with the player's weaker leg.

Lob shot feint

1. Knock the ball ahead.
2. Press together with or as if you were going to do a lob shot.
3. When the player catches up with the ball, he will try to do a lob shot. Immediately before he shoots the ball, press . He will stop executing the lob shot and do a shot feint.

   This trick is very similar to the double shot feint.

Shot fake to lob shot

1. Knock the ball ahead.
2. Press as if you were going to shoot.
3. When the player catches up with the ball, he will try to do a regular shot. Immediately before he shoots the ball, press or . He will stop executing the shot and lob the ball instead.

   This combo is more likely to fool the keeper than a regular lob shot is. If done properly, the keeper will dive down for the first shot, and he will be lying helplessly on the ground when the ball is chipped over him. The trick has an even higher show-off value if you can do the initial shot feint with the player's one leg and chip the ball with his other.

Triple shot feint

1. Knock the ball ahead.
2. Press as if you were going to shoot.
3. When the player catches up with the ball, he will try to do a regular shot. Immediately before the player shoots the ball, press or . He will fake the shot (1st feint) and go for a lob shot instead.
4. Immediately before the player shoots the lob shot, press . He will then fake the lob shot (2nd feint) and do a shot feint (3rd feint).

   The triple shot feint is a bit hard to pull off. You have to press very shortly after pressing (or ).

The last shot feint in a sequence (the one made with ) will always be performed with the player's stronger foot (i.e. right footed players always use their right foot). But... you can choose the dribble direction (inside or outside) of the last feint with the directional buttons.

Challenge Training FAQ

Q: How do you complete the dribbling challenge on 5 stars?
A: Dribble through the 31 ports in less than 50 seconds. Don't tip over any cones while doing so.

Q: Isn't that freaking hard?
A: Yes, it is. However, you don't need to do a perfect run. A perfect run would probably be around 40-45 seconds, or maybe even lower. So there is still room for error and less than optimal dribble lines.

Q: Any hints?
A: Yes, here we go...

• First, don't use a wide camera angle. Set the Camera Type to Vertical Intermediate or Vertical Short (I prefer V.I.). A vertical camera angle makes it easier to dribble through ports 10-13 and 21-24 than with a horizontal angle.
• IMPORTANT: Practise all different parts of the course before putting it all together. If you practise the course fom the beginning every time, you will feel completely lost and probably fail when you finally face the last couple of ports.
• Use your controller's digital directional buttons to dribble (not the analog stick).
• If some part of the course requires you to do certain difficult moves, first practise these moves another place on the pitch away from the cones. When you have internalized the moves, take them back to the course.
• Assuming you've set the camera type to vertical your first move should be NorthWest-, i.e. press up and left on the controller while holding . This takes you through the first port. Your second ball touch shold be to the right and without holding .
• Ports #2-#4. Here you must be able to switch directions directly between NE-SW and SE-NW.
• Ports #5-#7. Immediately after you exit port #4 dribble North (up), then do a dribble to the NE, and finally do a dribble to the N. Because the player tries to turn from NE to N, the final dribble should - if performed correctly - send you in the NNE direction right through the 3 ports.
• Ports #10-#13. You could try to go through these ports with a diagonal run switching between NE and SE. However, unless your dribbling skills are truly super-magnificent, this is not worth the trouble. Instead do 90 degree turns going N-E-S-E-N-E-S.
• Run diagonally SE while holding between ports #16 and #17.
• Ports #18-#20. Dribble like this: (sorry for the graphics; feel free to send me a better diagram and I'll put it here)
  
  .................|.....
  .................|.....
  .................|.O...
  .........________|.....
  ........|........|.#18.
  ........|.....O..|.....
  ......._|______........
  ......|................
  ......|..O...#19.......
  ......|................
  ......|................
  ....O.|.#20............
  ......|................
  
  O = cone
  _| = your path
  . = grass
  
  That is, S-N-W-S-E-W-S, and you will be in perfect position for port #21. If you are going for the perfect time, you could try this clever path:
  
  .................|.....
  .................|.....
  .................|.O...
  .................|.....
  ............_____|.#18.
  ............|.O........
  ............|..........
  ......._____|..........
  .......|.O...#19.......
  .......|...............
  .......|...............
  ....O..|.#20...........
  .......|...............
  
  O = cone
  _| = your path
  . = grass
  
  However this is much more difficult and you don't need to do this to get below 50 seconds in total.
• Ports #21-#24. See ports #10-#13. Try not to get too far down, or you will collide with a cone after port #23.
• Go diagonally SW through ports #27, #28 and #29.
• Put it all together! When you fail a run, go and practise the place you failed.

Q: Which player should I use?
A: Anyone with Dribble acc., Dribble sp., Top speed and Acceleration in the eighties or nineties should do the trick.

Q: Which player do you use?
A: I've "cheated" and created a player with 99 in all vital stats. However, I don't really feel like cheating, because there's too little room on the course for faster players to draw an advantage of their speed. When it comes to Dribble acc. it might even be easier to control the player's movements if he has a low Dribble acc., so that he doesn't touch the ball too often. So, basically, choose anyone that is not too slow and who responds consistently to your commands without stumbling over his own legs.

Q: How do you know the time limit is 50 seconds?
A: My best times are 50''56 = 975 points and 49''56 = 1019 points. You need 1000 points to pass the challenge. Go figure.

Q: What about the other 5 star challenges?
A: Oh, yeah, the attack challenge and the free kick shooting challenge are quite challenging but really nothing compared to the dribbling challenge. The ball possession challenge is not difficult if you just play conservatively and keep possesion.

Q: What happens when you complete all challenges?
A: I wouldn't spoil your game by telling.

Q: Ahh... come on?
A: No.

PES3 Stadium List

Country	Stadium	Real Name	Location	Capacity	Built	Home Team(s)
England	Trad Brick Stadium	Old Trafford	Manchester	68,174	2000	Manchester United
	Red Cauldron	Anfield Road	Liverpool	45,000	1996	Liverpool FC
	Blue Bridge Stadium	Stamford Bridge	London	42,449	1997	Chelsea FC
	North-East Stadium	Highbury	London	38,500	1997	Arsenal
Netherlands	Orange Arena*	Amsterdam ArenA	Amsterdam	51,324	1996	Ajax
Germany	Bayern Stadium	Olympiastadion	Munich	69,060	1969	FC Bayern M�nchen 1860 M�nchen
France	Monaco Stadium	Stade Louis II	Monte Carlo	18,500	1985	AS Monaco
Spain	Catalonia Stadium	Camp Nou	Barcelona	98,000	1957	FC Barcelona
Italy	San Siro	Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro)	Milano	85,700	1927	AC Milan FC Internazionale
	Stadio Olimpico	Stadio Olimpico	Rome	82,307	1952	AS Roma Lazio
	Stadio Delle Alpi	Stadio Delle Alpi	Torino	71,012	1990	Juventus FC Torino Calcio
South Africa	Cuito Cuanavale	Free State Stadium	Bloemfontein	36,538	1995	Cats Super 12 (rugby) Free State Rugby Union
Japan	Porto Folio	Yokohama Intl' Stadium	Yokohama	70,000	1997	Yokohama Marinos World Cup Final 2002
	Haze Hills	Olympic Stadium	Tokyo	60,000	1958	National Team
	Queensland Park	Nagai Stadium	Osaka	50,000	1996	Cerezo Osaka
	Kanji Dome	Sapporo Dome	Sapporo	42,122	2001	Nippon Ham Fighters (baseball)
Argentina	Estadio Gran Chaco	Estadio Alberto J. Armando (La Bombonera)	Buenos Aires	60,245	1940	Boca Juniors

*Guess what happens to Orange Arena when it's raining!

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Mmmm... Jennifer