Fighting Games Friday: The Dissidia Force Academia

When fighting games are discussed, several vocally dedicated fans of the genre tend to refer to 2D games or 3D titles whose battles occur on a mostly-2D plane. But the good thing about the genre is how many types of fighting games there are, which can be a sticking point for some. You’ll usually find them arguing about whether the Super Smash Bros. titles are fighting games or not. (They are, by the way.)

All the characters revealed for fighting games this week, both as downloadable content (DLC) for existing games and for upcoming titles, are from 3D games that allow for multiple players to fight at a time. That means this post ended up having a theme I didn’t intend, but I’m perfectly okay with things working out that way.

Square Enix has been releasing characters as DLC for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT since its release in January, and every character has fit the clues provided before they started revealing them. The latest clue was for a female character returning from the previous Dissidia games from the latter half of the mainline games. Given the characters already in the game and the franchises represented, this couldn’t have been for anyone but Yuna form Final Fantasy X. That’s exactly who it is.

Yuna’s playstyle is similar to her iteration from the FFX games and previous Dissidia titles, in depending on summons and magic for her attacks. She excels at a distance from the opponents, and some attacks can knock them away. Thanks to the more limited controls in NT, since this is a 3-on-3 title instead of a 1-on-1 one, she doesn’t retain all her summons and attack options from previous titles; but she might have enough to be useful.

Yuna will also have an alternate outfit that interestingly isn’t her Gunner one from Final Fantasy X-2, which was available in previous Dissidia games. It’s instead been swapped out for the wedding outfit she wore in FFX, a more fitting one given her move set.

Both Yuna and the “Final Battlefield” stage (which doesn’t appear to be based on a stage from the FFX games) will release sometime in December. Yuna will be the fifth DLC character, meaning only one remains. The next one will be a character new to the series from the latter half of the mainline Final Fantasy games, so make some educated guesses. My guess is on Ardyn from Final Fantasy XV, since the character would arrive close to the game’s Episode Ardyn DLC, but I’m not committing to that.

Meanwhile, the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Free Edition will release in Japan on November 22nd, a free-to-play version that will feature a rotating selection of free characters, with an option to purchase them. A western version hasn’t been announced, but it would be surprising if it stayed in Japan, given the potential for expanding the game’s audience.

Dissidia NT is one 3-on-3 game, but there’s another one coming soon: Jump Force, a crossover with several Shonen Jump characters that will work as a successor to J-Stars Victory Vs. Several characters from various familiar franchises have been revealed thus far, though all the faces have been identifiable for the western audience compared to its Japan-centric predecessor. In a twist, the newest faces officially shown aren’t new characters, but transformations for existing ones.

The Super Saiyan Blue (or Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan) transformation for Goku from Dragon Ball Super was confirmed around Tokyo Game Show time two months ago, but Vegeta can do the same. Frieza will also have his Golden form from the same series. Chances are, these won’t be the only transformations in the game.

It was also recently confirmed that Kenshin Himura and Makoto Shishio from Rurouni Kenshin will be included, both interesting choices given what happened to the series and creator a year ago. Piccolo and Cell are also being added, bringing the number of Dragon Ball representatives up to five. Details about both characters are in the newest Japanese Shonen Jump and V-Jump magazines, but they’ll be further detailed when Bandai Namco officially reveals them. Look for more about them in a future post.

Jump Force will release on February 15th. Expect more characters to be revealed between now and then, especially since popular Jump franchises like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and My Hero Academia still don’t have representatives announced — though they’re likely coming soon.

Speaking of Academia: Three new DLC characters have been added to the recent release of My Hero One’s Justice. Shoot Style Izuku Midoriya and Endeavor were added on launch day. The former is an, uh, “Shoot Style” version of protagonist Izuku Midoriya, a free DLC character for everyone. (You can see how knowledgeable I am about MHA here, huh?) Endeavor is the hero currently holding the No. 1 spot in the story, a fighter with intense flames flowing around his body. His signature attacks are effective, but several of them will cause significant recoil. He was free for everyone who preordered the game, but will cost $2.99 (or an equivalent) for everyone else.

Inasa Yoarashi also released a couple of days ago. He’s a revered fighter also known as Gale Force, named such because he’s a wind-based fighter, and is one of the most respected students in MHA’s world. He also costs $2.99. It’s tough for me to tell whether Bandai Namco has further plans for My Hero One’s Justice characters, since I’m not sure if any key characters are still missing.

These posts are getting busy again, as you might have noticed. Given the teasers for further reveals, next week could be equally as busy. As it turns out, convention season isn’t necessary for these posts to be lengthy.