Fighting Games Friday: Jump for Jump Force

Of all the games Bandai Namco could have made sequels to, it didn’t seem like J-Stars Victory Vs. was among them. It was a fully-3D fighting game developed in cooperation with Spike Chunsoft that starred several characters from Shonen Jump franchises, though the roster choices were clearly skewed for Japan. The game wasn’t a break-out hit, but apparently did well enough that all the companies involved wanted to give it another shot with Jump Force. But this title will have the kind of twist you might expect for a game releasing in 2019.

The roster choices show how this game is being aimed toward worldwide audiences, something also shown in its more (but not entirely) realistic art style. Several characters have been revealed since its announcement at E3 in June, but with the game due for release in a little under two months, the pace at which further characters are revealed is increasing. However, some recent roster additions show how appealing to a wider audience is narrowing the amount of franchise choices involved.

Three characters revealed this week are from franchises that already had several roster additions. The first among these is Boa Hancock from One Piece. Jump Force did need more female characters, as Boa will only be the second one announced after Rukia Kuchiki from Bleach, out of the more-than-30 characters announced thus far. But this is also the sixth One Piece character to join the game. Several fans were hoping Nami would be chosen instead, but I’m sure the ease in which Boa’s character model could be reused from J-Stars was a big part of this decision.

Also joining is Future Trunks from the Dragon Ball franchise, the sixth character from that series. This isn’t too surprising given how Dragon Ball’s popularity towers over any other series here, and how the game’s original story characters are from creator Akira Toriyama, but it seems excessive when some franchises are still missing in action. Renji Abarai is also joining, who’s the fourth roster addition from Bleach.

Two characters recently confirmed are notably from new franchises being introduced in this game. The first among those is Asta from Black Clover, who’s popular with a younger audience and is known for his excessive screaming. You’ll want to note that all the clips from that video are from the first episode, but there’s no word on whether he’ll be just as much of a screaming mess in the game. Bandai Namco also calmed down several Shonen Jump fans that were ready to pull their hair out by confirming Izuku “Deku” Midoriya from My Hero Academia. But let’s be honest: There was no way the second-most popular currently-running Shonen Jump series would be left out of this game; it simply took longer than expected.

Update: Bandai Namco has released a new trailer briefly showcasing Asta and Deku, and the former does indeed scream in a nigh-incessant manner. Great. They also shared several images of demon Yusuke on Twitter.

There are still several popular franchises notable in their absence here, like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Gin Tama, and maybe Toriko. But they’re revealing the remaining cast so quickly that they could be announced in the next couple of weeks. On the other hand, characters from franchises known by around three people outside Japan like Kochikame, Luckyman, and Sakigake!! Otokojuku will only have limited appearances at best, but will more than likely be left out entirely.

Bandai Namco also released a story trailer which showed heroes and villains from all the franchises confirmed thus far battling it out, and provided a glimpse at the roles of the original characters. It also provided a preview of the character creation system, which allows for players to create avatars in the art styles from many of the franchises involved. Mishmashes are also possible, as one is wearing a Dragon Ball-style Gi with Yu-Gi-Oh hair, which… mostly works. This has several more fans hoping that JoJo will be present, and that creator Hirohiko Araki’s style is among the avatar creation. There’s no way it wouldn’t be here if that was the case, right? Let’s hope.

Jump Force will release on February 15th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Another beta session for the game could be held between now and the release, so keep an eye out on Bandai Namco’s Twitter feed for an announcement if you aren’t already. More characters will also be announced soon, which will be highlighted in this feature.

I covered most of the other happenings in the fighting game world throughout the week. Kage kicked off the fourth season of Street Fighter V, the embodiment of Ryu’s excised Satsui no Hado. He’s essentially Evil Ryu with an eviler makeover, with minor changes to his move set. Since then, Capcom mentioned there are no current plans for a Season Pass this time around, which can imply two possible scenarios. It’s possible Capcom is planning to release less than the usual six characters this season, and simply doesn’t want to confirm that at this stage. But it’s also possible they want to charge remaining players more buy having them purchase each character and outfit separately. Given the company and game involved here, the latter scenario is more likely.

In either case, the ride that is this season of SFV will be considerably bumpier than the last few.

Cygames also announced Granblue Fantasy Versus, a fighting game adaptation of the insanely popular Granblue Fantasy mobile game developed by Arc System Works. It will use the same graphical style as the Guilty Gear Xrd games and Dragon Ball FighterZ for some good-looking results. There’s been no info since my post earlier in the week, but more should be provided soon considering it’s coming in 2019.

This was more of a Fighting Games Week than a Fighting Games Friday here, and it’s possible the news won’t be stopping with Jump Festa this week. This event is hosted in Japan by Shueisha, and is named after Shonen Jump, so it would be deeply disappointing if they didn’t have more Jump Force characters to share. Keep an eye out.