Fighting Games Friday: Jump Force Ninja no Daibouken

Bandai Namco has announced a plethora of characters for Shonen Jump arena fighting game Jump Force since it was announced at E3 2018, which isn’t too surprising. Even though this game’s cast was chosen to cater to worldwide manga and anime interests compared to the Japan-centric J-Stars Victory VS, several character models could be reused from that game. The returning characters have simply been adjusted for this game’s art style, a merging of realism and manga that fits the story in being a fusion between several manga worlds and the real world, something represented in several in-game backdrops.

Several Shonen Jump properties with representatives in this game are more popular than others, shown through those franchises having more characters. For instance, both Dragon Ball and One Piece have six characters each, and while Bleach is getting four despite not being quite on par with them. There was one popular franchise lacking in representatives compared to even Bleach, but it wasn’t going to stay that way for long; several more characters were announced for that series this week.

I’m not sure why I’m pretending the announcement of more Naruto character for Jump Force is a mystery, but that’s it. The titular Naruto Uzumaki was announced alongside the game in June, while Sasuke Uchiha, who’s really cool, was announced not too long afterward. Both those characters are returning Naruto representatives from J-Stars. After months of suspense, Gaara, Kaguya Otsusuki, and Kakashi Hatake have been confirmed. Gaara started off in the original series as a villain, but became more heroic after receiving character development down the line. Kaguya, however, is an outright villain, while Kakashi served as a mentor for some central main characters for a good part of the series.

Meanwhile, Boruto Uzumaki from the also-titular Boruto was also confirmed, who’s pictured above. You likely already know that he’s the son of Naruto and Hinata Hyuga, and inherits some moves from both of them — especially the former.

The characters chosen are garnering a mixed reception among Naruto’s fans. There’s upset over the inclusion of Kaguya, who some feel is stealing a spot from a more deserving character due to disliking her character arc. There are others who’d rather see Sakura Haruno instead, the franchise’s designated heroine.

Bandai Namco also provided more media showcasing the two playable original characters: Galena and Kane. The game includes four original characters are designed by Akira Toriyama, and though it’s no surprise that the Navigator isn’t playable, it is surprising that Director Glover isn’t among them due to his human size. It’s possible they simply having confirmed his playable form yet.

One of the most surprising additions to the roster is Dai from the Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai (aka Dai no Daibouken) manga and anime adaptation. Characters from adaptations of other video games aren’t usually considered for titles like this, but this one is likely an exception thanks to the series starring characters who weren’t in Square Enix’s Dragon Quest games.

Dai existence was previously leaked when a collage featuring several heroes accidentally went live too early on Instagram, one which also showed… Jotaro Kujo from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders. He still hasn’t been officially unveiled, but this was enough to calm down JoJo fans who started thinking the franchise might be left out of this game. There’s a good chance Jotaro may not be the only one from the series, given his popular memetic nemesis.

The Jump Force beta happened last weekend, which provided an opportunity to try out the game and test the online play. Only 17 characters were available, just the right amount to prevent too many duplicate teams from squaring off with each other. Opinions are divided regarding whether the core game is better or worse than J-Stars, while there are a few online connectivity issues that will hopefully be ironed out by the time it releases. It took only hours for some players to discover easy infinites for certain characters, while server issues on Bandai Namco’s side delayed some sessions.  

Jump Force is due for a release three weeks from today on February 15, so the developers at Spike Chunsoft don’t have much time to iron out the last few kinks. Some fixes could be part of a day-one patch, which games include more often than not these days. The last group of characters for the initial release should be announced soon, including Jotaro, and the nine DLC characters will be revealed afterward. There are bound to be some people disappointed with the final roster, but it will be big enough to satisfy most fans of the franchises involved, so it will be fine.

Well, it will be fine assuming the game itself isn’t as bad as several other Shonen Jump adaptations. Let’s hope that’s not the case. In the meantime, take a look at the story trailer.