finalark
SNORLAX
Link to original post: [drupal=1907]Review: Jump! Ultimate Stars[/drupal]
I'll try to keep the introduction short this time around. Jump Ultimate Stars is a Japan-exclusive fighting game that is similar to Smash Brothers. However, rather than having various Nintendo characters in it, is has various Japanese Comic characters (I'm going to call that Manga from now now) from the publishing company, Shonen Jump (Jump Comics in Japan, I think). To put that to US standards, imagine a fighting game with all Marvel characters in it. My friend brought this game back from Japan when he went on vacation there, and hardly touched it. So he lent it to me and I got to play it from the beginning.
Jump Ultimate Stars easily has the biggest and most diverse roster I have ever seen in a fighting game. Ever. They have everything from the mandatory super popular series like One Piece or Bleach to the really obscure series like I"s or Hitman Reborn. In other words, they have something for everyone in this game. They have series about exorsists and series about dead people and they even have a series about a bunch of busty High School girls trying to get into the pants of one particularly normal looking High School boy. So the roster is great (although One Piece and Dragonball characters take up roughly 1/3 of the roster collectively) and has a ton of fun characters to play as. The stages are also well varied and a ton of fun to play on (expect for the Strawberry's 100% stage, that one's just distracting).
The game play, while at a glace may seem like a typical fighting game (beat everyone up until they can't move anymore) is actually a lot deeper than that. You have something called your Manga Deck, which is a 4X5 grid that you can place panels (or Komas) on. There are three types of Komas, Battle (the character you play as), support (think "Assist Trophies") and finally, Help, which are one block panels that give a small bit a support to whatever character they're attached to. For instance, they might give them and extra jump or they might let them take less damage from attacks. I tried to shove every single Shonen Jump series I've ever liked into my deck at first (Dragonball, YuYu Hakusho, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shaman King, D. Gray-Man, Eye shield 21, Death Note, Black Cat and Rurouni Kenshin) but it turns out that there wasn't enough room so it ended up having YuYu Hakusho, Shaman King, Dragonball, Black Cat, Yu-Gi-Oh!, D. Gray-Man and Eye Shield 21 instead. I did try to play as characters and use supports from series that I knew nothing about and it just wasn't the same as playing as characters and using supports that you know. Even though there are some supports from series that I knew nothing about that I found to be pretty amusing (like the girl from I"s stunning your opponent by flashing them), but it still just isn't the same. But whatever, it's a problem with me, not the game.
The story more is pretty straight forward, you go from world to world completing various missions. Although I will admit that they get a little on the repetitive side, they're still varied enough to keep things interesting. And most of the time it's obvious what you're supposed to be doing so it's not much of a problem if you can't read Japanese. Although it does help to know at least a little bit, I can read a small amount of katakana, making navigating the Koma list a hell of a lot easier. And believe it or not, there is a storyline to this game, although I have no idea what the details are because I can't read anything but katakana so I'm going to assume that there some evil guy who's being evil and so the heroes of the J-Universe have to go and kick his ***.
So what are you left with at the end of the day? Well, I'm left with an interest in both Fist of the North Star and Bleach, and I want to go back and Reread YuYu Hakusho and Kenshin. I'd be telling you about how totally awesome the online is if the DSi wasn't a piece of crap and would actually let me connect to an internet signal for once, rather than give me some error code regardless of if I'm trying to connect at home, the library, the airport... sorry, back on track now. So yes, Jump Ultimate Stars is awesome, seeing Allen Walker punch Kinnikuman in the face is quite possibly the most satisfying thing I've ever witnessed in my life. If you're ever in Japan, pick this one up. It's well worth the time and Yen to do so.
UPDATE: I FINALLY found a signal that my DSi likes and lets me play online with. Here's my thoughs on online play:
I have mixed feelings towards online play here. Don't get me wrong, it's a load of fun when you find a group who actually want to play the game. But half the time you'll find a bunch of idiots who want to fart around and break walls and have taunt parties. And if you attack, they all go after you and make sure you know that they hate you. And then you get to watch them have a guard/taunt party for the next thirty seconds in the inevitable sudden death. But as I said, Jump Ultimate Stars online is awesome if you can get the right group.
And one last note, the only stage that anyone plays on online is the YuYu Hakusho stage.
I'll try to keep the introduction short this time around. Jump Ultimate Stars is a Japan-exclusive fighting game that is similar to Smash Brothers. However, rather than having various Nintendo characters in it, is has various Japanese Comic characters (I'm going to call that Manga from now now) from the publishing company, Shonen Jump (Jump Comics in Japan, I think). To put that to US standards, imagine a fighting game with all Marvel characters in it. My friend brought this game back from Japan when he went on vacation there, and hardly touched it. So he lent it to me and I got to play it from the beginning.
Jump Ultimate Stars easily has the biggest and most diverse roster I have ever seen in a fighting game. Ever. They have everything from the mandatory super popular series like One Piece or Bleach to the really obscure series like I"s or Hitman Reborn. In other words, they have something for everyone in this game. They have series about exorsists and series about dead people and they even have a series about a bunch of busty High School girls trying to get into the pants of one particularly normal looking High School boy. So the roster is great (although One Piece and Dragonball characters take up roughly 1/3 of the roster collectively) and has a ton of fun characters to play as. The stages are also well varied and a ton of fun to play on (expect for the Strawberry's 100% stage, that one's just distracting).
The game play, while at a glace may seem like a typical fighting game (beat everyone up until they can't move anymore) is actually a lot deeper than that. You have something called your Manga Deck, which is a 4X5 grid that you can place panels (or Komas) on. There are three types of Komas, Battle (the character you play as), support (think "Assist Trophies") and finally, Help, which are one block panels that give a small bit a support to whatever character they're attached to. For instance, they might give them and extra jump or they might let them take less damage from attacks. I tried to shove every single Shonen Jump series I've ever liked into my deck at first (Dragonball, YuYu Hakusho, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shaman King, D. Gray-Man, Eye shield 21, Death Note, Black Cat and Rurouni Kenshin) but it turns out that there wasn't enough room so it ended up having YuYu Hakusho, Shaman King, Dragonball, Black Cat, Yu-Gi-Oh!, D. Gray-Man and Eye Shield 21 instead. I did try to play as characters and use supports from series that I knew nothing about and it just wasn't the same as playing as characters and using supports that you know. Even though there are some supports from series that I knew nothing about that I found to be pretty amusing (like the girl from I"s stunning your opponent by flashing them), but it still just isn't the same. But whatever, it's a problem with me, not the game.
The story more is pretty straight forward, you go from world to world completing various missions. Although I will admit that they get a little on the repetitive side, they're still varied enough to keep things interesting. And most of the time it's obvious what you're supposed to be doing so it's not much of a problem if you can't read Japanese. Although it does help to know at least a little bit, I can read a small amount of katakana, making navigating the Koma list a hell of a lot easier. And believe it or not, there is a storyline to this game, although I have no idea what the details are because I can't read anything but katakana so I'm going to assume that there some evil guy who's being evil and so the heroes of the J-Universe have to go and kick his ***.
So what are you left with at the end of the day? Well, I'm left with an interest in both Fist of the North Star and Bleach, and I want to go back and Reread YuYu Hakusho and Kenshin. I'd be telling you about how totally awesome the online is if the DSi wasn't a piece of crap and would actually let me connect to an internet signal for once, rather than give me some error code regardless of if I'm trying to connect at home, the library, the airport... sorry, back on track now. So yes, Jump Ultimate Stars is awesome, seeing Allen Walker punch Kinnikuman in the face is quite possibly the most satisfying thing I've ever witnessed in my life. If you're ever in Japan, pick this one up. It's well worth the time and Yen to do so.
UPDATE: I FINALLY found a signal that my DSi likes and lets me play online with. Here's my thoughs on online play:
I have mixed feelings towards online play here. Don't get me wrong, it's a load of fun when you find a group who actually want to play the game. But half the time you'll find a bunch of idiots who want to fart around and break walls and have taunt parties. And if you attack, they all go after you and make sure you know that they hate you. And then you get to watch them have a guard/taunt party for the next thirty seconds in the inevitable sudden death. But as I said, Jump Ultimate Stars online is awesome if you can get the right group.
And one last note, the only stage that anyone plays on online is the YuYu Hakusho stage.
