Marlon Anthony
Purist
I love this post, I feel like the menu's don't get enough credit and scrutiny in the series. The sights and sounds of each menu experience in the series is just as special and as unique as the experience on the pitch in each version too.As someone that loves graphic design and UIs in general, I could go on for a while talking about this.
I'm not really into the first few Winning Eleven installments, as they have that 90's arcade styled UI, it works, but to me that's about all it does.
PES3 is where I start to really like it, the style they went for, a sort of futuristic computer vibe from old films, is well made and consistent, the OST helps too.
PES4, PES5 and PES6 didn't really do it for me, it felt like they went back into the sort of style from early Winning Eleven installments, which works, but still.
PES2008 looked stunning, very sophisticated and with a color scheme that was easy on the eyes, also loved seeing the bench in the pause menu.
PES2009 and PES2010 went with a hip vibe, graffiti and stuff, not really my thing, some of my least favorite, though they functioned well enough.
PES2011 is the best one and it's not even close... elegant and sophisticated, without sacrificing functionality, it's just perfect and feels modern even today,
PES2012 was not as good to me, but the core was the same, so it's a close 2nd, not only in looks, but function, like the game plan screen introduced earlier.
PES2013 was fine, but a downgrade in every way, and it's here that menus started turning a bit more uninspired.
PES2014 doesn't look that bad, besides the main menu, but it runs so poorly that it left a bad taste in my mouth, I don't like looking at it.
PES2015 and PES2016 both had almost the same menu and it looked good, worked good, but nothing more than that.
PES2017 had huge square boxes with very little text, a lot of empty space, don't like it.
PES2018 is better, but still not good.
PES2019 had a bright look, big images that fit the whole box, a nice styling... I like it, just wish it was consistent, to many things still have square corners.
PES2020 and PES2021 were a downgrade in my eyes, the issues were still there, but the best parts were gone, I don't like it much.
eFootball2022 and eFootball2023 have decent ideas, but the execution hurts my eyes, especially the color scheme and fonts, it's such a waste...
PES 1-3 feel much of their time going for that near future look/techno look and feel with the synths and industrial electro that was present in most PS2 games and menu's in the early 2000's.
I loved the menu music that was produced in house around the period of PES 4 to 6, repetitive at the time; sure.... But now it's iconic amongst retro PES fans, The 7 minute "Edit Mode Funk Jam" is now synonymous with the heyday of ingame editing before the convenience of option files became more well known.
From then on they went on to use licensed music with less known underground bands which much like FIFA, introduced me to artists I'd never even heard of that I listen to now and once Konami's budget got bigger, they started incorporating mainstream pop music into it's menus'. Can't blame them but in someway, it's almost symbolic as the turning point in Konami selling out against the game's original core values and selling virtual currency and neglecting everything else about the game to the point the games image & commercial appeal was a priority and everything else was an afterthought.
And while we're on the subject of menus' and it's aesthetic, it's mind boggling how even when you want to make money and in order to do that, you've got to be eye catching, they've gone for the most offensive looking GUI of all time and it just makes no sense.
Anyway, my own 2 cents... Favourite menu is that classy PES 2011 menu. It's just so slick.
I also loved the 3D render menus' of PES 2015 to 2017, until they cluttered all of that up with an unnecessary tile for just about everything. What the absolute heck.