ANN’s coverage of Anime Expo 2024, sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!
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hunter × hunter is a hugely popular series with passionate and patient fans. The creators of the series continue intermittently Yoshihiro Togashi Have been suffering from health problems. But the quality has proven to be worth the wait of millions in Japan and internationally. when Samurai Road Announced in late 2023, they are developing a tag-based 3 vs. 3 fighting game hunter × hunterwhich is welcome news for well-known and widely respected developer Eighting.
Hatcho has a long history, but for fighting game fans, they are responsible for two important entries Capcom‘s “Confrontation” series: Son of the Dragon VS Son of the Dragon Capcom and Marvel VS Marvel Capcom 3. The former is an unexpected fusion of characters for Western audiences, and is the first in the series to utilize “2.5D” gameplay, in which 3D model characters fight from a fixed 2D perspective. Marvel VS Marvel Capcom 3or”Marvel 3“As is often said, the game is still actively competitive today, with over 1,300 entrants at last year’s Evo, the world’s largest fighting game tournament. A new game developed by a developer with a track record like Evening ‘s tag-based fighting game and using one of the anime world’s most popular series feels like a recipe for success.
How arc systems work Responsible for publishing duties for all games outside of Japan, I should point out that they are not involved in the actual design or development of the games tender × influence. What is different from the recent DNF duelwhich appears to be a collaboration between Augusting and Arc, tender × influence It is a 100% Hatcho project. Public commitment to release Hunter × Hunter NEN × Impact In 2024, they dedicated a large portion of the AX 2024 exhibition hall to demo stations running the latest version of the game. Machi and Uvogin are the latest characters announced to be playable in the show demo. In a later panel, by Arc and Samurai Roadthey revealed that Chrollo would be on the roster at launch, and Feitan was announced a few days later.
Fat trailer:
I was lucky enough to get some hands-on time with the game and the opportunity to learn more Samurai Road Game Operations Officer Tomoyasu Miyazaki With some questions. My first thought was NEN×Influence Will advance the canon story. Will fans anxiously awaiting story developments find any story or deeper exploration of the characters in the game? Well, it sounds like NEN×Influence Only content already displayed will be overwritten. When talking about the game’s story mode, Miyazaki said that it will recreate scenes from the animation and “players will be able to experience key moments of the series.” That’s still very exciting! hunter × hunterThe story can get extremely serious, so it’ll be cool to see these moments unfold with the enhanced experience of players controlling their own characters. “Rather than a new story experience, the point is to be able to experience the stories that exist in animation in a new form.”
Some creators might be strict about depicting their characters outside of the main work, but it sounds like a series creator Yoshihiro Togashi Give them full authority to make the game they want. “We were not told not to do anything,” Miyazaki said reassuringly. “Of course we had to submit our work for inspection to make sure it fit the original vision, but essentially we were given complete freedom.”
Ask what’s new NEN×Influence Regarding the fighting game genre, Miyazaki expressed excitement about the Greed Island card system. He didn’t reveal any details, but it sounds like the Greed Island cards from the show will be adapted for an in-game collectible feature. “Although such collection systems exist in other fighting games, we believe NEN×Influence Gives it a fun spin.
Incorporating the characters’ fantastic abilities from the anime into actual gameplay can be challenging. “Of the characters announced so far, Killua’s telekinesis is probably the most difficult to recreate in the game,” Miyazaki shared. For those unfamiliar, Killua Zoldyck’s Nen abilities are two Nen abilities, collectively known as Godspeed. You can imagine how difficult it is to balance a fast character in a fighting game! “We’re committed to making sure anyone can play it and have a great time, whether you’re an experienced fighting game player or just enjoy hunter × hunter,” Miyazaki emphasized. So how does it play? It’s hard to say much other than first impressions. I queued up to play it several times, and then just before talking to Miyazaki, I played the demo station for 30 minutes on my own without quite getting through the sweet setup and combos of tags and well-timed assist calls.
It feels solid! Pretty much everything you’d expect from the Versus series is here: assist calls, switching to teammates with a barrage of meter-burning attacks, stealing your opponent’s core character to force teammates into the ring, regenerable health while the character is sitting Reborn when on the bench…everything is there! I should point out that the combat system doesn’t appear to include throwing, which is often a key element of the “rock, paper, scissors” interaction in a given fighting game situation. I may have missed something important in my limited time, but I’m curious how it’s compensated. It will be interesting to see how the arena scene receives this game!
The game is obviously built on Marvel VS Marvel Capcom 3I admit, sometimes it feels like I’m playing a basic beat’em-up series game, wearing a coat full time hunter painting. The control scheme takes some getting used to, but system-wise, it doesn’t feel like the game breaks new and exciting territory. Admittedly, I tried too many characters to get a feel for any particular one, and CPU usage is probably not the best way to judge that.
Over the years, the Versus series has inspired a variety of tag-based 3 vs. 3 games with the NEN×Influence Directly related to a well-known anime, it’s hard to resist comparing it to Dragon Ball FighterZ, launched in early 2018. exist Dragon Ball FighterZ, the screen quickly fills up with energy blasts, fiery explosions, and so much dust and debris that it’s hard to even parse what’s going on. After playing the game for a while, you learn to filter out the visual clutter, but it’s definitely a spectacle worth watching. Guilty Gear Effort It’s the same way, although not a tag based fighter.
this is the place NEN×Influence It felt a little lacking. Sometimes screens can make people feel empty and lacking Influence. It’s hard to criticize the game considering it’s still in development. They may not have added another layer of polish to it. But I hope they look at other similar games Dragon Ball FighterZ, DNF dueland Guilty Gear Effort Some examples on how to dial in and make things a little extra. Fighting game champion Justin Wong has posted a video of himself going head-to-head with a boxer. NEN×InfluenceDeveloper. They all had a blast and made the game look more alive and gorgeous than I’m used to, both visually and in depth. So if it’s in the right hands, it can make a lasting impression.
But first impressions are everything, I’m afraid NEN×Influence Things need to be taken up a notch or two to attract more attention. The bar for visual effects is high. I’m not saying that if the game didn’t meet or exceed this standard it wouldn’t be well received, but it did leave me unsatisfied. From the perspective of wanting to jump in and click some buttons to make your favorite things hunter × hunter The character does something cool, it gets the job done, and it does it well. So interesting! How can you not smile as you watch these characters perform flashy moves and team up with unlikely allies?
For serious fighting game players, will this have the depth to keep players coming back, or even wanting to compete alongside other popular established (and competitive) games like street fighter or iron fist? It’s still a bit unclear at this stage. Even if it’s not, maybe it doesn’t matter! For a fighting game, it just needs to be a fun experience where you can push buttons and make cool stuff happen on the screen. Not all fighting games need to “become” competitive games. It’s entirely possible that I’ll need more time playing the game to reach the magical higher levels where you and your opponent are predicting each other’s next move. After all, I only play against CPU opponents. We know the developer’s pedigree is top-notch, so I remain optimistic that the game will take off and find a passionate and loyal community. at least the fans hunter × hunter There will be a really fun way to pass the time while patiently waiting for the next pieces of the story to drop.
