Fighting Games Friday: The Dead (or Alive) Soul of Jump Force Calibur

Following the glut of fighting game-related announcements at Evo 2018, there was an expected gap in news. It offered me a good opportunity to catch up on games I missed covering (My Hero One’s Justice and Koihime Enbu RyoRaiRai, specifically), and discuss the reduced sexuality in Dead or Alive 6 — the latter of which is clearly (and, let’s be honest here, unsurprisingly) a point of agitation for some fans. With Gamescom wrapping up, though, it was also expected that the announcements would resume this week, a prediction which easily came through.

Bandai Namco announced Jump Force at E3 2018, a Shonen Jump crossover title developed by Spike Chunsoft that’s essentially a follow-up to J-Stars Victory VS with a few twists. The last title was so Japan-focused that it was initially written off as a game that would never officially leave the country, but this title is being aimed towards the worldwide market. In addition to being revealed at a convention in Los Angeles, this is shown through the art style, where the manga characters keep their familiar designs in a realistic sheen. Some stages will also be in real-world locations, like New York City and Hong Kong. Mashups like the fusion between Dragon Ball’s Planet Namek featuring the Statue of Liberty will also be included.

The game was introduced by showing familiar characters like Naruto, Monkey D. Luffy, and Goku from Naruto, One Piece, and Dragon Ball Z, respectively, while others like Ichigo, Rukia, and Aizen from Bleach were revealed afterward. Characters from a new franchise were announced this week, along with others from franchises already represented.

Gon Freecss and Hisoka Morow from Hunter x Hunter will join the game, a series that remains popular despite its “on again, off again” manga status from author Yoshihiro Togashi. Several fans were surprised not to see Killua Zoldyck, one of the franchise’s more popular characters, but he could be introduced later. Meanwhile, Marshall D. Teach and Sanji will join Luffy from One Piece, and Vegeta will join Goku and Frieza from DBZ. The characters were also shown in a short gameplay mashup trailer.

Given the pace at which they’re revealing characters, there will be several more shown over the next several months. There’s a chance franchises that either didn’t exist or have become popular between J-Stars Victory VS’ release and now could be represented this time, like My Hero Academia and One-Punch Man, but you shouldn’t expect many characters from franchises barely known outside Japan this time. Jump Force is due for release sometime early next year for PS4, XB1, and PC.

As I mentioned above, a noticeable trend among the female characters revealed for Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo’s Dead or Alive 6 is how most of them are modestly dressed compared to how they were in previous games, at least in their default outfits. (Helena notwithstanding, who goes in the opposite direction.) It’s noticeable enough that it’s pissed off fans who apparently subsist on fanservice. This trend is also noticeable with the newest characters revealed: Lei-Fang and HItomi.

As her silhouette from Evo implied, Lei-Fang is wearing a new outfit: A track suit that’s the most practical outfit she’s ever worn for her default threads. Hitomi, meanwhile, wears her trademark gi for her default one, though with an additional headband. (In fairness, HItomi’s default outfit in Dead or Alive 5 was nothing overboard.) Despite the toned-down fanservice, both characters were shown fighting on a pirate ship stage with a giant octopus in the background, whose limbs let some fans’ imaginations running wild. I will not elaborate on this point any further, thanks.

DoA6 will release sometime early next year for PS4, XB1, and PC. Team Ninja sadly didn’t provide any teases for more characters, perhaps due to fans easily figuring out their last clues.

Soulcalibur VI was announced by Bandai Namco near the end of last year, and plenty of characters have been announced since then. The franchise’s longtime fanbase and several other gaming types have felt overwhelmingly positive about the game since the reveal, but the ride was bound to reach a rough patch.

There’s no issue with the return of the Character Creation feature, a staple for the franchise since Soulcalibur III, whichwas incredibly robust in Soulcalibur V. There’s also no problem with the existence of the “Libra of Soul” Story Mode, provided it’s actually fulfilling this time, notably unlike SCV’s story mode.

The two other announcements related to the title announced this week drew some heat. For one, Tira was confirmed to return to this game… as a DLC character (note the downvotes here). And she won’t be a pre-order bonus character that will be generally available for free later, as some were hoping. Getting her will require purchasing the Season Pass, or buying her separately. Announcing a paid-DLC character two months before the game’s release is always a good way to get people thinking this is content removed from the final game to be sold later, regardless of whether it’s true.

It was also confirmed that characters won’t have premade alternate outfits. Instead, players will have to construct alternates using the Character Creation feature. The issue here is how premade outfits tend to have more detail than customized outfits, so this isn’t that good a payoff. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, though that game had the excuse of including a massive character roster. While the initial version of Tekken 7 also lacked premade alternate outfits, they were added to the Fated Retribution, the version the console version was based on. It’s possible the outfits could be sold as DLC, but that would add another issue unless they’re free, since they apparently won’t be part of the Season Pass content.

Both the Tira DLC issue and lack of alternates are giving fans the feeling that this game is rushed, an issue that seriously hurt SCV. Hopefully that’s not the case. Soulcalibur VI will release for PS4, XB1, and PC on October 19th.

The number of overall fighting game releases has started whittling down, but DLC for existing games is becoming more commonplace. As I say often, good luck having time to play all of these, assuming you’re interested in both anime and the more mainstream-aimed fighters. You could also make an argument that some of these mainstream fighters are anime, but I’ll save that for another time.

P.S. Speaking of anime fighters: Did you know Blade Strangers is releasing next week? It’s a fighting game starring characters from several indie properties, including Cave Story, Umihara Kawase, Code of Princess, and Shovel Knight. It’s not receiving as much attention as several other fighting games, so hopefully it will get some good word of mouth if it turns out good.