IGN said: "PSP Winning Eleven 9 looks like it will retain many features of its console counterpart. The game promises match, league, training and wireless modes of play. An edit mode is also included, although details on this mode have yet to be revealed.
As mentioned above in the mode list, wireless play is being prepared for WE9's portable debut. The game will support ad-hoc play, meaning you'll hook up directly to other PSP players in the area. You'll be able to save records to Memory Stick and even earn rankings based on your performance. The number of simultaneous players has yet to be revealed, but the idea is apparently for players to bust out their copies of Winning Eleven 9 at the stadium prior to the start of a real life soccer match.
Series producer Shingo Takatsuka reveals to Famitsu the surprising news that the control system for the PS2 Winning Eleven 9 is being tweaked with the development of the PSP version in mind. The goal is for the PS2 and PSP versions to have a similar control setup. As an example, Takatsuka mentions the situation where you do a side dribble. This is usually achieved with a combination of the D-pad and R2 shoulder buttons. With the PSP and PS2 versions of Winning Eleven 9, you can now side dribble using just the D-pad.
It's not the case that the PSP version will allow you to do everything that you can do in the PS2 version, though. Controls will have a simplified feel overall. You cannot super cancel in the PSP version, which is something that requires you to press both R1 and R2 simultaneously in the console version. Takatsuka reveals that the development staff wanted to make the game playable smoothly without the super cancel system both in the PS2 and PSP versions. A great amount of time was spent fine tuning the PSP version's control and gameplay in order to incorporate such changes.
All this effort will apparently pay off, both with the upcoming Winning Eleven 9 and future installments. That's right, Winning Eleven 9 won't be the last PSP entry in Konami's award-winning soccer series. Takatsuka reveals plans to continue the Winning Eleven series on the PSP beyond this installment, meaning we can look forward to new versions to appear along side their console counterparts."
