Fighting Games Friday: My Hero One’s Terminator

New York Comic-Con is never a busy time for video game news, the price of occurring after several other contentions like E3, Gamescom, San Diego Comic-Con, and PAX Prime. But there’s at least some news. This extends to fighting games, where some publishers bring games to showcase and provide info for. This year gave us an actual fighting game-related announcement, even though it was leaked just before the con could begin.

Just before I made last week’s Fighting Games Friday post, the announcement of the funnily-named My Hero One’s Justice 2 was leaked through the then-newest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. Bandai Namco officially announced the title just before NYCC started, where it’s available for attendees to play.

One’s Justice 2 is unsurprisingly a direct sequel to My Hero One’s Justice, a title that performed well enough despite bizarrely leaving the “Academia” part off the full name, for some peculiar reason. This installment will retain several mechanics from the original fully-3D fighter, but one key difference will distinguish this title’s gameplay. Off-screen videos released thus far show how its battles will still primarily be one-on-one, but players will start by choosing a total of three characters; one will be the main fighter, but the others can be summoned for assistance. Whether they can be called on will depend on a meter that slowly refills; the higher the meter is, the more powerful the attack will be. This is to prevent summons from being spammed, so the primary focus can remain on two fighters.

Speaking of the fighters: Given this title’s nature as a sequel, there will be more this time around, though not all of them have been confirmed yet. This also doesn’t mean they’re simply adding to the roster. Only 14 characters out of 22 will return for this title — 23 if you want to count the two versions of main character Izuku “Deku” Midoriya. Six new additions have been confirmed thus far: Mirio Togata, Nejire Hado, Tamaki Amajiki, Mina Ashido, Minoru Mineta, and Kai Chisaki. One character will be an alternate version of Tomura Shigaraki, returning from the first game. But how different his “Civilian” form will play remains to be seen.

Basically, this game will be like the first one with updated features and an altered roster, and should be a fun time for MHA fans and those who enjoyed One’s Justice. My Hero One’s Justice 2 will release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC sometime next year. Expect several more characters to be announced between now and its release date, and more promotional materials to come with them.

Bandai Namco is also still releasing more characters as part of Jump Force’s (first?) batch of downloadable content. Next will be Madara Uchiha from Naruto, who’s actually returning from Jump Force predecessor J-Stars Victory VS. He’ll look similar, but not identical, to his appearance in that game. He’ll arrive sometime by the end of the year.

In addition to Madara, Trafalgar Law from One Piece is also coming, along with Toshiro Hitsugaya and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez from Bleach. It’s possible all these characters could arrive within weeks of each other, if they don’t come simultaneously.

The Terminator T-800 will officially arrive in Mortal Kombat 11 on October 8th for those who purchased the Kombat Pack (the season pass) and on the 15th for everyone else, but he appeared in the game ahead of schedule. He’s an assist character for Jax in a Towers of Time fight, though it doesn’t work as an opportunity to see him in action. Consider this a light appetizer.

The bigger look is currently coming from the launch trailer and YouTubers who received him early for previews. This version of the T-800 hails from the upcoming Terminator: Dark Fate, once again played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose likeness was captured for the game. Current gameplay videos show how he’s reliant on the shotgun for several attacks, and his outer skin can melt to expose the endoskeleton version upon taking enough damage — especially fire damage. The endoskeleton variant has less attacks, but won’t take stun damage. His Fatality is also great, which involves transporting the opponent to the bad Terminator future for the finishing attack.

It’s absolutely noticeable that Schwarzenegger didn’t provide the voice for this counterpart, who was likely too expensive to hire. Chris Cox, who has handpicked by Schwarzenegger for the role, isn’t bad, but it’s creepy seeing Arnold’s voice not coming from his likeness.

It shouldn’t take long to determine how effective the T-800 will be in battle once he’s available for anyone who purchased the Kombat Pack next week. It would be better for the Dark Fate marketing opportunities if he’s very good in battle, but we’ll see if NetherRealm Studios agrees.

That’s all for this week’s Fighting Games Friday. Before you go, check out some discarded concept designs for Fatal Fury 3, as part of an interview translated from Neo Geo Freak Magazine by Shmuplations. Several of them are good, but my favorite is the Andy Bogard concept that eerily resembles Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter, a character who parodied Ryo, Robert, and Yuri from Fatal Fury sister series Art of Fighting. Note that Street Fighter Alpha, which Dan debuted in, released three months after Fatal Fury 3, so this is a funny coincidence.