A beginners' guide to Kairosoft's football manage-'em-up Pocket League Story

Pocket League Story is the easiest to master of Kairosoft's excellent management games, and there aren't as many secrets hidden away in its depths.

That doesn't mean, however, that it isn't just as addictive as the rest. Nor does it mean that it's not nice to have a helping hand every once in a while.

We've put dozens of hours of play into Pocket League Story, exploring every corner and experience this title has to offer.

Now we're reporting back with our findings, allowing you to get the most out of the game without all the hard work. Here's our extensive guide and walkthrough to Pocket League Story, with extra tips and tricks for good measure.

When you first start the game, your team will be full of kids who, as harsh as it may sound, are all a bit rubbish.

It doesn't matter how much you train them - they simply do not have the potential to become superstars. They're all average, and will remain average no matter how many resources you pump into them.

Hence, from the very beginning, you're looking to bump your team up with only the best hirings. Whenever you see that there are new players available to hire, jump in and check them out.

Under their names you'll see their potential skill, ranging from Average to Exceptional to World Class to Superstar. There are also other classes such as Striker, Bodybuilder, and the like, but it's best to concentrate on the main classes, as these are the most well-rounded.

When you first begin, you'll only see Exceptional players. Grab these, and replace the Average players in your team with them. Then, as World Class players become available, grab these and replace the Exceptional ones (if you have already replaced all the Average).

Then do the same with the Superstars. Superstars grant your serious fame points too, so they're well worth it. Eventually, you should have a team full of Superstars, and you'll be unstoppable - as long as you train them properly.

From the main menu, you can choose Special Practice. This is pretty annoying and takes up far more time than it should.

You can choose three players from your team and use special points to give them extra training. The best thing to do here is choose three players in different positions - say, your goalie, a defender, and a forward - midfielders are a bit pointless in this game - and train them over a period of a few months.

After every match, just jump into the Special Practice section, do a few training sessions with your select three, then go back to the game. Every few months in-game, change up the three you're training, so you get a good spread across all your players.

But remember - only train those players who are worth it. There's no point, for example, training Average players. And when you have Superstar players, there's no point in training Exceptionals any more, as you're going to be replacing them soon.

Fan Activities are incredibly important, as they give you access to pretty much every new feature available.

As you perform fan activities and your rank in each goes up, you'll unlock new buildings, training exercises, coaches, players, cups, and more.

Make sure you unlock ranks in the various activities evenly, so that you're unlocking everything available in all sections at the same time, rather than focusing on one pariticular activity.

Of course, you'll need points to invest in your fan activities - indeed, you'll need special points to get involved with most areas of the game.

These are unlocked in a variety of ways, but the main way is via buildings on your football complex. When you select a building to be constructed on your lot, it will show which types of points it gives.

Try to have a good spread so that all four types of special points are coming in evenly. That way you won't be crying out for research points while you have an abundance of training points.

To make these buildings work, you need extra players who aren't training on the pitch. You can have up to 30 players, so make sure you fill that quota quickly. You can always shave off stragglers at the end of the season.

And make sure you upgrade your facilities regularly. Upgraded facilities will produce more points per player.

Other tips

Make sure you grab as many sponsors as possible - these give cash and other special stats, so the more you have, the easier the game will become.

When it comes to formations, try to have a good spread both in defence and up front, as this is where the action happens - your defenders are rather good at belting the ball all the way to the forwards.

A 4-3-3 formation worked best for us - you can unlock it by choosing a coach at the end of the year who uses this formation.

Can't decide whether to play a league or a cup? Play all the cups first - they provide good training for your team to prepare for the league, and also offer special stats now and again.

During matches, there isn't much you can do, besides hammer the player names in the bottom-left corner constantly - this will ensure that the moment one of your players has aura ready, you'll activate it straight away.

Unlike in other Kairosoft games - e.g. Grand Prix Story - your team can easily beat other teams who are miles better than them. Never be afraid to take on teams that have much better stats than you.

The game ends after eight years and four months, but after that you can start again using the same team and coach with the same bumped up stats.