Fighting Games Friday: Jump Force, Dead or Alive

It makes a lot of sense that I’m covering news for both Jump Force and Dead or Alive 6 in this week’s fighting games post, despite the games themselves taking different approaches to the genre. While they’re two examples of upcoming fighters, they’re also both releasing on February 15, in what’s a ridiculously busy month for video game releases. These are the only key fighting games releasing in the first quarter next year, and they happen to be directly competing. The number of those looking forward to both games isn’t large, but those who are will have a hell of a time learning to play both efficiently.

Two characters from another popular Shonen Jump franchise were revealed for Jump Force, though it’s a controversial one. Kenshin Himura and Makoto Shishio from Rurouni Kenshin are the newest characters getting the most focus. While it’s partly known for being a fun samurai series, it’s also been in the news recently because creator Nobuhiro Watsuki was arrested and charged for possession of child pornography around a year ago. Despite not being ashamed of it, his sentence was hilariously light thanks to the lack of scrutiny regarding the crime in Japan. Possession of child porn has only been illegal for a little over four years, though it’s always been illegal to distribute it. Fans were also frighteningly forgiving of him, depending on the country.

New Kenshin manga series Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc was ceased for a short time, but it resumed in Japan earlier this year. Viz still hasn’t resumed it in America, thanks to child porn and associations with it being viewed as a much more grievous crime in this country. But both characters will still be available in Jump Force worldwide, since it would have been complicated to make them exclusive to some countries but exclude them from others. The franchise is also still popular, so they couldn’t be left out. Kenshin thankfully isn’t a perverted series (yet?), so whether they made the right decision will depend on your perspective. But you can’t blame anyone for feeling uncomfortable about the characters being here.

The other two characters confirmed aren’t controversial, but have left several fans scratching their heads. Piccolo and Cell will be joining Goku, Vegeta, and Frieza from Dragon Ball, bringing the total number of franchise representatives to five. It’s clear Dragon Ball and creator Akira Toriyama are favorites here, considering the latter is also contributing four original characters to this game. But several Shonen Jump fans who are still waiting for franchise reps from titles like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and My Hero Academia are at least a little miffed.

Bandai Namco likely plans to reveal several more characters for Jump Force before the release date in two-and-a-half months, given how they’ve increased the pace for the reveals. There will also be nine DLC characters, though Bandai Namco could likely follow the same format they utilized with Dragon Ball FighterZ and reveal them after the game’s release. They undoubtedly have big reveals planned for Jump Festa next month, an event that focuses on Shonen Jump properties. But keep in mind that if a character you want doesn’t make it into the game, it will also a have an ostensibly good avatar creator.

Three more characters were revealed for Dead or Alive 6. NiCO is the second brand-new character revealed, following Diego, who sticks out from other characters on the roster. She’s a genius scientist and a master martial artist in the Pencak Silat style originating from Southeast Asia, despite her youthful appearance. Her blue hair and outfit make her look noticeably more “anime” than other characters, thanks to DOA6 keeping the more realistic art style introduced in Dead or Alive 5. Her name sounds like it would be more fitting for an android, which could be a potential (unsurprising) twist.

NiCO was introduced alongside returning characters Kokoro and La Mariposa. Kokoro looks similar to her appearance in previous installments, though like other returning female characters, she comes with a more modest default outfit. That’s not the case for La Mariposa, thanks to female wrestler outfits being skimpier. La Mariposa, also known as Lisa Hamilton, keeps her noticeably lighter skin tone from DOA5, though keeps the facial features of a dark-skinned woman. It can only be one or the other, apparently.

Several more characters will be introduced for DOA6 between now and its release, though the count will likely be lower compared to Jump Force. At least a few characters from previous games haven’t been shown yet, and could be soon.

Cody on the streets is frightful, but Sakura is delightful.
Since Falke has learned to let go, Blanka glows, Blanka glows, Blanka glows!

🎄 Celebrate with festive holiday costumes for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition on November 27! pic.twitter.com/LJmJn5SjAi

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) November 19, 2018

Meanwhile, Capcom is releasing more outfits for Street Fighter V. Holiday outfits are coming for Blanka, Cody, Falke, and Sakura. Cody is noticeably more dressed in this outfit compared to some of his others, while this is another outfit where Falke forgot her pants. Sakura’s is the most interesting here, thanks to being dressed as a… goth reindeer, I think?

Become the master of unlocking! ☣️

Resident Evil costumes for Urien, Cammy, and Kolin will be unleashed on November 27! pic.twitter.com/3z8NEHla1q

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) November 20, 2018

Other characters will receive Resident Evil tie-in outfits. Here, Kolin will receive Ada’s Resident Evil 6 outfit, while Urien will get Wesker’s from Resident Evil 5. I feel like the latter outfit would have worked better on Nash, since he has short-distance teleportation powers like Wesker, but it’s possible Urien needed another one. The biggest one here is Cammy getting Jill’s outfit from the first Resident Evil game, which will hilariously be her first outfit with pants for this game. All these outfits will be available on Tuesday, November 27th.

Since both Jump Force and Dead or Alive 6 will release on February 15th, this likely won’t be the last post I make featuring the two of them together. We’ll see how soon characters from other franchises will be revealed for Jump Force (assuming they will at all), while DOA6 could receive surprise roster additions with guest fighters, who are popular these days. Keep an eye out for future posts.