Smashboards Creates: Jump Stars EX REBOOTED - A Shonen Jump Platform Fighter

[Jondolio]

In 2021, I launched a creation thread for a game called Jump Stars EX. Unfortunately, due to my own mismanagement, I let it die... But I'm gonna try it one more time, if you'll allow me.

In 2006, a game called Jump Super Stars was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan only. Oddly enough, it was something akin to a platform fighter back when the genre was still at its infancy (Smash only had two games back then), and just like Smash, was a crossover for a specific company, that being the Shonen Jump manga magazine. An updated version/sequel called Jump Ultimate Stars released the following year with even more content, but like the original never made it out of Japan.

Since then, there have been multiple Jump crossover fighters, but they’ve mostly utilized the 3d arena fighter style popularized by other popular anime fighters such as Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm. For this creation thread, we’re gonna pretend that after seeing the success of big crossover platform fighters like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the head of Shueisha decided to contact Bandai Namco and Ganbarion for another go at a game of this style. Only this time, the team has more time to refine the game’s mechanics and implement more traditional fighting game modes. In a sense, this is a complete reboot of the Jump Stars series, with a mix of old and new characters and a refined set of mechanics. We are the team at Ganbarion, and it’s our job to decide which stages, modes, mechanics and most importantly, characters, get added into this game. If you’re interested in joining our team, it’s as easy as submitting an item that matches the current job description or joining the voting process.

Roster​

While I would love to pull a Smash Ultimate and say “Everyone is Here” and then add 20 more characters on top of that… The reality is more complicated than that. The world of Shonen Jump is very cutthroat and many series get axed in favor of others that take their place. Others are forgotten in the sea of time while new, promising faces hit the manga scene. Time hasn't been kind to some of the series represented in the first two Jump Stars games, with some being forgotten and others having their license lost to another publisher (like Shaman King). Also, while it was great having all these characters, the gameplay, while fun, left something to be desired, and since we’re setting out to make a more refined platform fighting experience, we are gonna start with a clean slate. As such, we'll take the soft reboot approach and simply add whichever characters we see fit. Of course, you still can submit and vote for Jump Stars veterans (barring Yoh and Anna from the aforementioned Shaman King). We'll also decide on a roster number early on. Our roster includes:

1. Ryotsu Kankichi (KochiKame)​
2. Kinnikuman (...)​
3. Cobra (...)​
4. Arale Norimaki (Dr. Slump)​
5. Kenshiro (Fist of the North Star)​
6. Son Goku (Dragon Ball)​
7. Pegasus Seiya (Saint Seiya)​
8. Jotaro Kujo (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)​
9. Yusuke Urameshi (YuYu Hakusho)​
10. Himura Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin)​
11. Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)​
12. Gon Freecss (Hunter x Hunter)​
13. Naruto Uzumaki (...)​
14. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (...)​
15. Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach)​
16. Gintoki Sakata (Gintama)​
17. Tsuna Sawada (Reborn!)​

Stages
The stages for this game will also be either brand new or completely reworked from the original. The current stage lineup is:

1. Tenkaichi Budokai Arena (Dragon Ball)
2. Green Dolphin State Prison (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
3. Dark Tournament Arena (YuYu Hakusho)
4. Thousand Sunny (One Piece)
5. Royal Palace of East Gorteau (Hunter x Hunter)
6. Hokage Monument (Naruto)
7. Sokyoku Hill (Bleach)

Mechanics
The Koma system from Jump Ultimate Stars will be streamlined in order to allow players to jump (heh) in and play with their friends in local multiplayer.


Modes
You can’t play without modes. We’ll be introducing more new modes as we get further and further into the game’s development, including both single and multiplayer modes.

Our current mode selection includes:

1. Vs. Mode
2. Online Battle

We also have a Discord server for further discussion if you're interested.

 

[Jondolio]

Job #1: Submit a character
Submit a new Jump character. Any character will do, just make sure to explain a bit about who the character is, the series they come from, and how they would fight, in case someone might not be familiar with them. For example -

Yuji Itadori (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Yuji is the main character of one of Shonen Jump's latest hit series, Jujutsu Kaisen. After his grandfather told him on his deathbed to make sure that he dies surrounded by people by helping, Yuji happens to get involved in a supernatural event involving a curse that attacks his friend, which leads to swallow a finger of the ancient evil curse Ryomen Sukuna, allowing Sukuna to partially take control of his body.

However, Yuji is able to contain Sukuna to an extent, and gets the ability to use Cursed Energy and enrolls in Jujutsu High, vowing to eat all of Sukuna's fingers in order to follow his grandfather's instructions to help people by making sure Skuna is contained.

Yuji is both incredibly athletic and has the ability to control cursed energy, which for him translates to basically punching people really hard. He can also use a strong burst of cursed energy called "Black Flash" when synergizing his cursed energy with a physical hit. However, he can also transform into Sukuna on command, which would translate into this game by him being a stance character, as Sukuna has a vastly different moveset and fighting styles compared to Yuji.

Job #2: Submit a Roster Number between 30 and 50
Exactly what it says on the tin. Keep in mind that we might do DLC later down the line and that this number is only going to be for the base game.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

I’ll submit 40 for the roster number

 

[Speed Weed]

I'm happy to see we're back in town. As such, I feel I am destined to do this one again. IMO, the 5th, probably 4th even, big essential of any Jump roster

Job #1: Kankichi Ryotsu from Kochikame
View attachment 337384
Kochira Katsuhika-ku Kameari Koen Mae Hashutsujo - better known as just Kochikame - is a Weekly Shonen Jump comedy manga that began in 1976.

The series follows the misadventures of one Kankichi Ryotsu - a middle-aged cop who works at a neighborhood police station in downtown Tokyo. The typical plot in the series revolves around Ryotsu coming up with some get-rich-quick scheme based on the latest fad or a new gadget of his and achieving great success, only for it to always come crashing down on him at the end. Believe it or not, Kochikame is actually a very very important series to Jump history - it's immensely popular in Japan, to the point that real-life Japanese celebrities often made appearances in it. Although most of the characters never aged, the series always evolved with the times, often centering chapters around - and subtly mocking - recent trends or events in Japan. Interestingly enough, the chapters actually weren't numbered - each one was its own completely self-contained little story, which meant it was a lot more accessible than most other Jump series which you oftentimes have to, like, actually catch up to. This also allowed it to go for a really long time - it ran for 40 whole goddamn years, clocking in at 1,960 chapters and 200 volumes, until it finally ended in 2016. This makes it not just the longest-running series in Jump history, but one of the longest-running manga of all time. In fact, it's also the seventh highest-selling manga of all time, beating out such series as Demon Slayer, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Crayon Shin-chan, Attack on Titan and goddamn Astro Boy. It's gotten such things as an anime, three animated films, a live-action series, two live-action movies and several stage adaptations.

So Kochikame is generally just a very revered series within Jump's library of franchises. They went all out when it reached its 30th anniversary, with several special events being held, and it's a near-constant presence in Jump crossover games. In fact, the only notable large-scale Jump crossover game (so not counting stuff like Battle Stadium DON that's only supposed to cross over a select few properties) that Ryotsu has missed out on.....is Jump Force. J-Stars? He's there! The Jump Stars games on the DS? He's there! The two Jump crossover RPGs on the Famicom? He's there! The mobile games like Jumputi Heroes and Jikkyou Janjan Stadium? He's there! The obscure Game Boy quiz game Cult Jump? You bet your sweet bippy he's there.

There's also the fact that as it stands, our roster has no non-action characters whatsoever, and IMO Ryotsu is unquestionably the top pick from that batch. So when looking at all this, I think I've made a good case for Ryotsu. Despite the regional barrier oftentimes preventing him from getting acknowledgement, he's a surprisingly iconic and important character to Jump history, and it definitely kinda weirds me out seeing the amount of rosters that omit him. He'd also just be a generally fun character that helps diversify our genre representation a bit more, but above all else, I feel he's genuinely too important to exclude.

I'll admit also part of it is nostalgia cause the anime used to air where I live but LETS NOT WORRY ABOUT THAT-

 

[GamingFan1997]

After much thought, I've decided to go with the protagonist of one of Shonen Jump's most recent hit manga...

Denji (Chainsaw Man)
Denji starts off the manga working off the Yakuza debts inherited from his father by hunting Devils (creatures born from human fears), with the aid of his companion Pochita, the dog-like Chainsaw Devil. After being betrayed and killed by the Yakuza, Denji forms a contact with Pochita, fusing and reviving them as a powerful human-Devil Hybrid. By pulling Pochita's cord embedded in his chest, Denji can transform into the titular Chainsaw Man, resulting in him manifesting chainsaws from his head, arms, legs, and feet, which can be used to cut through Devils' flesh. After getting his revenge on the Yakuza that murdered him and killing the Zombie Devil, Denji is approached the Public Safety Division, a group of government-sanctioned Devil Hunters assigned to deal with devils that have become public threats as well as small-scale incidents involving devils. Denji is convinced to join their ranks by the promise of having his basic needs accounted for and the seeming kindness of the high-ranking Devil Hunter Makima, whose division (Tokyo Special Division 4) Denji joins.

For the roster size, I'll submit 45.

 

[Megadoomer]

JOTARO KUJO (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

There are a lot of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters out there (the series has been running continuously since the 80's, with part 9 starting not that long ago), but out of all of them, Jotaro seems to be the face of the franchise.

Jotaro is the main protagonist of part 3 of the manga, where Stands were introduced. He appeared in parts 4 and 6 as well, but his 17 year old incarnation from part 3 (yes, the character in the picture above is the same age as pre-time-skip Luffy) is probably his best-known. (and definitely when he's at his most effective)

The resurrection of Dio Brando (a vampire who had a feud with Jotaro's great-great-grandfather) resulted in Jotaro and his grandfather Joseph gaining Stand abilities due to their fighting spirit, but as Jotaro's mother lacked that fighting spirit, the awakening of her Stand ability was slowly killing her. As a result, Jotaro, Joseph, and a motley collection of Stand users have to travel from Japan to Egypt in order to put an end to Dio and save the life of Jotaro's mother.

Jotaro's Stand, Star Platinum, is generally straightforward - appearing as a purple perpetually-angry ghost-like man, Star Platinum is extremely fast and precise but mainly good at hitting things really, really hard.

Jotaro is serious and always seems to be annoyed by something, but he's a quick thinker and is quick to fight dirty if needed. I figure we should have at least one JoJo's Bizarre Adventure character in here, though hopefully we'll go beyond just including playable characters from part 3 (like Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars did), given how much the series' popularity has expanded since then.

 

[cashregister9]

Roster size of 50

Tanjiro & Nezuko (Demon Slayer)

Tanjiro and Nezuko are the main characters of Demon Slayer.

Tanjiro is a demon slayer who uses different breathing techniques to power up his sword attacks. Mainly water and fire attacks.

Nezuko is his sister who was turned into a demon. For most of the series she lives in a box on Tanjiro's back, but when things get real she can absolutely battle herself and she is a very powerful demon

Having both of these together to represent this super popular manga would not only be a fun but also unique.

 

[Perkilator]

Ignore this

 

[Speed Weed]

I already submitted him

 

[Janx_uwu]

Katsuki Bakugo (My Hero Academia)

He's cool. My Hero is definitely a franchise where side-over-protag is justified.

Also, you don't see a ton of characters use explosions as a mobility tool which would be awesome to have in a platform fighter I think.

 

[Speed Weed]

So something I've been mulling over is it's probably hard for some of you to go deeper on the Jump catalogue, so I'd like to propose a few resources.

First things first, I have to recommend the "Ages of Jump" series of blogposts by George J. Horvath. It's an incredible historical resource for learning about Jump history - it can feel a bit dated, as it was done in early 2016, but I think it's still worth checking out. Not only that, but the author has recently been updating it with new bits of info!

An Introduction to The Ages of Jump

A Happy New Year to everyone! I may be entering "part-time" status with the blog, but that doesn't mean that I'll be holding back if I have ...

landofobscusion.blogspot.com

One resource that's been gaining a lot of attention lately is the Jajanken website, which documents the contents of each Jump issue - which series ran in each, which ones started or ended when, plus popularity statistics from the time and a list of all Jump series' ordered by longest-running. It is good.

Jajanken - Weekly Shonen Jump Lab

Browse Jajanken for Weekly Shonen Jump table of contents (ToC) and chapter title data (1968 - 2024). Come visit to see order movement in recent issues, ToC order charts for manga / authors, and table of historically popular works!

www.jajanken.net

After that, it's good to see which manga appeared in previous crossover games. But don't stop at the obvious J Stars/JUS/JF ones! Go deep! The old Famicom RPG has a ton of their older hits featured, and the more recent mobile games have a staggering variety of manga featured (do be warned though: one of them, Jumputi Heroes, can be a tricky one in terms of being used to see which ones are important. It's mostly still really good for that, most of the featured series are indeed big deals, but they've also had a habit of adding really minor manga based solely on their creators' pedigree, so just be a bit careful). Also, check out their 50th anniversary material, plus the WCF figures they released for their 45th and 50th annis (https://myfigurecollection.net/list/32711, https://myfigurecollection.net/entry/127499).

There are also lists of their best-selling manga online. Wikipedia has a list of the best selling manga ever that features 40+ Jump ones, so that one's good. There's also this video, which is a bit.....tricky. It documents the 150 highest selling Jump manga, but it does have several big blindspots. For example, a lot of the data featured hasn't been updated in a long time, coming from very old sources that wouldn't be accurate to how much those series have sold nowadays (a couple series' in there are even shown with data so old that it comes from when they were still running), and the creator has even outright admitted that there are manga that by all means should be on there, but they couldn't find any info for (and provided a list of them). It's a vid that very much runs on "whatever info I could find", so while it's not completely worthless, errrrrr do be careful.

How about this job? Well, we'll prolly want to focus on the big ones for now, so here are 20 suggestions from me for big hitters that YOU can choose to submit:

Spoiler

-Fist of the North Star
-Hunter x Hunter
-Kinnikuman
-Rurouni Kenshin
-YuYu Hakusho
-Rokudenashi Blues
-Gintama
-City Hunter
-Cobra
-Dragon Quest: Dai no Daiboken
-Yu-Gi-Oh!
-Dr. Slump
-Saint Seiya
-*******!!
-Sakigake!! Otokojuku
-Assassination Classroom
-D. Gray-Man
-Reborn!
-Toriko
-Hell Teacher Nube

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

Gon

Yeah getting the obvious out of the way. Gon is the protagonist of Hunter X Hunter which is really popular and has been running for nearly 25 years. It’s a mainstay of Jump crossovers and is an obvious pick for this title.

 

[Jondolio]

Alright, sorry for the wait, but I'm closing submissions. We will now begin voting for the next job. Your choices are:

Jondolio Yuji Itadori
Speed Weed Kankichi Ryotsu
GamingFan1997 Denji
Megadoomer Jotaro Kujo
cashregister9 Tanjiro and Nezuko
Janx_uwu Katsuki Bakugo
Champion of Hyrule Gon Freecss

As per usual, vote for your top 3 characters in order - your 1 will be worth 3 points, 2 will be worth 2 points, and 3 will be worth 1 point. You can vote for your own submission but only in second or third place. The two characters with the most votes will he added to the roster.

My votes:
1. Gon
2. Denji
3. Yuji
As for roster size, vote in this here poll (I set it to close in a week)

 

[Speed Weed]

1. Jotaro
2. Gon
3. Yuji

 

[tonygameman]

1. Ryotsu
2. Bakugo
3. Tanjiro & Nezuko

 

[GamingFan1997]

1. Ryotsu
2. Tanjiro & Nezuko
3. Jotaro

 

[Deleted member]

1. Jotaro
2. Gon
3. Tanjiro

 

[Megadoomer]

1. Ryotsu
2. Gon
3. Jotaro

 

[Perkilator]

1. Denji
2. Jotaro
3. Ryotsu

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

1. Jotaro
2. Ryotsu
3. Gon

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

1. Tanjiro & Nezuko. The thing with these two is that I feel like they're almost necessary inclusions. Demon Slayer has been incredibly popular worldwide, to the point where it's been selling more than most comics from Marvel's or DC's lineup in the US - and the pair undeniably have a lot of potential too. Plus, it's important to represent the "New Guard" alongside Jump's long and storied history!
2. Jotaro Kujo. I feel like a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure rep is near-inevitable, and for good reason - it's consistently been a mainstay of Shonen, at least up until Part 7. Whilst Jotaro might feel, at first glance, like a bit of a white-bread pick from the series given he's obviously the most iconic character from it, I think he's easily warranted - as well as being decently unique and interesting, and having the potential to be decently mechanically complex.
3. Kankichi Ryotsu. A character from an interesting part of Jump's history, as well as being an icon of the Jump brand for just as long, Kankichi makes a lot of sense to include here. I personally think it also helps his case that he's not from a battle manga, providing a bit of variety to the game's roster and adding a little flair!

 

[ninjahmos]

1. Jotaro Kujo
2. Kankichi Ryotsu
3. Tanjiro & Nezuko

 

[cashregister9]

1. Jotaro
2. Gon
3. Denji

 

[Jondolio]

After giving it some thought, I decided to end the voting process way earlier than I originally intended since we got so many votes. So here are the results

Yuji 2
Ryotsu 15
Denji 6
Jotaro 21
Tanjiro 8
Bakugo 2
Gon 13

Jotaro Kujo and Kankichi Ryotsu join the roster! Congratulations to Speed Weed and Megadoomer ! Voting for the roster number will stay on for a while longer (Make sure to vote on that poll).

So now we move on to the next set of jobs.

Job #3: Submit a Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto, or Bleach stage
Pretty much self explanatory. Submit the location and layout and any cameos in the stage. Please note that stage cameos don't disconfirm characters from being playable. Two stages will be added.

Job #4: Submit a 60s-70s character
Submit a character that debuted between 1968 and 1979. Two characters will be added.

 

[Speed Weed]

So the thing with this job is that this early era of Jump is much more obscure than their later catalog, so I imagine people here Will Not Be Familiar and won't know who to submit. As such, I felt it'd be good to provide some suggestions to look into. I kinda worry I'm backseating at this point, buuuuuut

So the following two are The Big Ones. The true icons. These should be your top priority for submission. They are as follows:

Kinnikuman: A manga starring the titular superhero/pro wrestler, teaming up with and fighting many wacky superpowered characters in the ring. This is probably the single best pick here, hugely iconic and successful Jump manga, and Kinnikuman himself tends to show up a lot in Jump stuff.

Cobra: An influential sci-fi manga starring Cobra, a legendary space pirate who blocked his memories to hide himself, but comes back into action after his memories reawaken. Very important and successful manga, and Cobra himself would be a great add for some flavor.

After those two, you have other picks like:

Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho: the lone 60s series I'm suggesting, an action-ish manga starring Mankichi Togawa, a rowdy boy who dreams of becoming the toughest man in Japan. This manga is often considered Jump's first true "big hit", and the genesis of the common Shonen Jump style. Very influential on future battle manga on the magazine, and would be a really cool historical pick.

Dokonjo Gaeru: A gag/slice-of-life manga about a boy named Hiroshi, who falls into a frog one day - said frog, Pyonkichi, becomes a sentient part of his t-shirt, and the two get themselves in a variety of hijinks. Another iconic earrrrrrly Jump manga, having debuted in 1970, and Hiroshi could be a fun gag fighter.

Koya no Shonen Isamu: A western manga about a boy named Isamu, who learns to fight and survive in the wild west. This manga ran for a good amount of time and got its own anime, and having a cowboy fighter could be a lot of fun.

Circuit no Okami: One of the more unconventional picks I'm suggesting, this was a very successful car racing manga. Featured a lot of actual cars, was a big hit, and I think its protagonist, Yuya Fubuki, could be an interesting Captain Falcon-ish add.

Doberman Deka: An early manga by Fist of the North Star writer Buronson, it stars Joji Kano, a hardboiled detective who shows criminals no remorse and is armed with a gun. Kano could be a pretty cool fighter.

Ring ni Kakero: Boxing manga by the Saint Seiya creator, it stars Ryuji Takane, a young boxer who rises up through the ranks with the goal of facing off with his rival for the world title. BIG hit for Jump, and majorly influential on a ton of shonen action stuff that would follow. Probably the third best pick after Kinnikuman and Cobra.

so er yeah! make sure to look into those and see if any of them tickle your fancy

 

[Jondolio]

Thanks Speed! To be honest, despite managing this thread I'm somewhat of a Jump normie myself so this kind of stuff is very helpful.

After doing some research (by that I mean I literally skimmed a Wikipedia article) I have decided to submit Cobra

Cobra starts out the story as Johnson, an office worker in the far future with a very dull life. He remembers his identity as a space adventurer after going to a dream simulation and becomes a wanted man. He has an arm cannon and a revolver.

Cobra was influenced by western films such as Spaghetti Westerns as well as the works of Osamu Tezuka. The anime might've been the first Jump series to get a major following in the west as it was very popular in France and inspired many filmmakers from there. It also influenced many popular anime and manga such as Cowboy Bebop and even Berserk in certain aspects.

Not to mention, there aren't many well known sci-fi series from Shonen Jump, and Cobra would provide a lot of variety in that department. I'm surprised he hasn't made it as a playable character in a Jump crossover before considering how well known he is.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

I'm going to go a little outside the box here and submit Hayato Nanjou, from Chichi no Tamashii - a serialised baseball manga first published in 1968 by Hiroshi Kaizuka.

Chichi no Tamashii is a fairly typical sports manga centring on Hayato - the baseball prodigy of his school and the son of a bat manufacturer. The story itself revolves around Hayato's dream of playing at Koshien, and the difficulty he faces between his father's desire for him to carry on the bat manufacturing business. Where this becomes notable is that Chichi no Tamashii was one of Jump's first long-running serialised works, and one of the more popular early series that really helped it come to prominence. If anything, it was a part of Jump's very first "Big 3" lineup - alongside Harenchi Gakuen and Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho - and the unique place it has within Jump's history I think cements it as an interesting series to represent.

That said, Hayato himself has plenty of combat potential. Whilst he originates from a sports manga as opposed to something more combat-based, baseball has been effectively translated into fighting games before with varying levels of complexity (from Rival Schools' Shoma Sawamura to Persona 4 Arena's Junpei Iori), and the use of a baseball bat as well as solid pitching would give Hayato a unique stage presence whilst also fitting quite well as a historical pick and providing him a solid base for a unique take on the shotaclone formula (perhaps using his own baseball as a projectile or something of the like.)

Whilst Hayato might not be the most famous character from the era in retrospect, his manga's presence in Jump's original lineup is one of the main reasons they're so prominent today - and Hayato's own unique look feels like it'd be well-suited to round out this roster in a few ways.

As for a stage, I'll go with Hidden Leaf Village from Naruto. (I'm a bit uneducated with these series but it felt like a good pick.)

A good way to handle it in my mind is to have the cliff face as an imposing background whilst the fight itself takes place either on street level or above it! I can imagine it'd be possible to sneak in a ton of cool references here and there, too - maybe including various different characters from the series, the ramen shop, and other such unique things. Given the location's importance within Naruto overall, it feels right somehow.

 

[Megadoomer]

I know very little about the 60's and 70's for Jump (I'm more familiar with the 80's, 90's, and 2000's - I'm way behind on modern manga), but looking at the list that Speed Weed posted, it helped me understand this reference (I had no idea what Nanako was talking about in Persona 4 Golden when she said this:

so I'm glad to finally have that explained - if it's not a reference to this, then I'll be even more confused), so I think I'll nominate this. (the only series that I'm even kind of aware of here is Kinnikuman, whose sequel is also known as Ultimate Muscle in North America, and I don't want to snatch up what's likely the best-known option, though hopefully someone nominates him - I'm well aware that people tend to avoid the obvious picks so that someone else gets the chance to nominate them, only for nobody to wind up nominating them as a result)

Hiroshi and Pyonkichi (Dokonjo Gaeru/The Gutsy Frog)

As Speed Weed explained, this is a manga about a boy and the frog that's become a sentient part of his shirt. It's a gag series, and the frog (Pyonkichi) can seeming pull the boy (Hiroshi) around, or eat things, and generally force Hiroshi into situations that he doesn't want to be in, which could play into how they fight. (for example, Pyonkichi sticks his tongue out to smack people, or drags Hiroshi forward with enough force that Hiroshi falls flat on his face)

 

[Jondolio]

Everyone seems to have forgotten about the stage job, so I'll submit one first:

An iconic location from Dragon Ball, Kame House is the residence of Master Roshi (and also Krillin and his family for some reason) and serves as sort of the unofficial base of operation for the Dragon Team. It's also where Goku and Krillin trained under Roshi.

The stage would be somewhat similar to Tortimer Island but the rooftops would serve as platforms. Also, Roshi, Turtle, Launch, Bulma, Krillin, Oolong, Android 18 and possibly a few more of Goku's allies would appear in the background.

 

[tonygameman]

Job #3: One Piece Stage - Thousand Sunny

The Thousand Sunny is the second ship of Monkey D. Luffy's crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, which was designed and built by Franky with help from Yokozuna, Iceburg and the remaining Galley-La foremen after their original and previous ship, the Going Merry, was destroyed following their escape from Enies Lobby, as of Water 7 Saga.

Layout-wise (which is almost similar to that of Super Smash Flash 2's on the ground and Going Merry in Jump Super Stars by aerial part), the stage takes place on the deck of a ship with two huge crates stacked on the left side with a plank next to them, acting as a slope. Other crates are placed next to each other in the right side. Two floating wooden platforms are shown above the stage far from each other, with a longer soft platform right below them. The Straw Hat Pirates themselves (depending on who becomes the second rep) would appear as background cameos, such as Roronoa Zoro, Nami, Vinsmoke Sanji, Franky, Nico Robin, Usopp, Jinbe, Brook and Chopper.

Job #4: 1960/1970's Fighter - Kinnikuman

Kinnikuman, also known as Suguru Kinniku, is the titular protagonist of the eponymous action-comedy/sports manga Kinnikuman (translated "Muscle Man"), which was created by the duo "Yudetamago" (consisting of story writer Takashi Shimada and artist Yoshinori Nakai) and originally published in Weekly Shonen Jump from May 28th, 1979 to May 4th, 1987, despite having started as two gag one-shots in December 1978 and March 1979, which were originally a parody of Ultraman. The story focuses on Suguru, a clumsy, lazy and foolish superhero who discovers that he is the missing prince of Planet Kinniku before being transferred to Earth, attempting to prove himself worthy of the king's throne (formerly held by his father, Mayumi) by participating on intergalactic wrestling competitions and fighting wacky opponents & evil Chojin (literally translated as "supermen"), while culminating in a tournament against five pretenders to the throne, with some of his allies among Justice Chojin having started as villains or arrogant heroes who warmed up, all thanks to his honor and noble heart.

The manga has proven itself hugely iconic and popular by impact, being among one of the best-selling manga series in Japan with over 77 million copies by 2021 and Shueisha's oldest mangas that are still running on Shū Play News since November 28th, 2011, even receiving several awards, sequels/spin-offs like Kinnikuman Nisei/Ultimate Muscle (which focuses on Suguru's son, Mantaro/Kid Muscle), Tatakae!! Ramenman, Chojin Dai Meikan (sequel to a spin-off involving Ramenman), and multiple anime adaptations/films. It also achieved merchandise such as eraser-like Kinkeshi action figures which were brought by Mattel to a Western audience as M.U.S.C.L.E., plush dolls, trading card/video games, picture books, pen drives, a series-themed onigiris, a pollen mask advertisement and many others. It was also used to promote 2011's Green Lantern film for it's Japanese release and Kinnikuman himself showing up in a lot of Jump stuff like events, crossovers and video games as a playable character since a RPG title Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden in 1989.

The series has also been highly influential, inspiring a lot of modern manga creators such as Fullmetal Alchemist's Hiromu Arakawa, Fairy Tail's Hiro Mashima, Assassination Classroom's Yusei Matsui and Yu Yu Hakusho's Yoshihiro Togashi, even having inspired real-life wrestling events like Kinnikumania 2009 at the JCB Hall in Tokyo Dome City for the 30th anniversary and Fight Entertainment Group's FieLDS Dynamite!! 2008 martial arts event at the Saitama Super Arena, where Bob Sapp fought Akikhiko Tanaka (who played Mantaro Kinniku), with even several wrestlers using the Kinniku Buster as a finishing move, the most notable example being Samoa Joe. One Piece's creator, Eiichiro Oda himself, even created a reoccuring easter egg/cameo character "Pandaman" to enter a character-design contest.

When it comes to combat potential, Suguru/Kinnikuman is a strong fighter who uses a combination of professional wrestling skills (like flying punches, dropkicks, chops, bearhugs, suplexes, elbows and body attacks), 48 Killer Techniques, 52 Submissions and some techniques of his own such as the signature/trademark Kinniku Buster (which may likely be implemented as a command grab with Kinniku Driver as the follow-up), it's various variations, Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan (four-part maneuver attack), Burning Megaton Punch (a quite powerful punch), Burning Bazooka (which involves him catching a projectile and throwing it back as a flying fireball), Niku Curtain (a defensive technique), Chojin Hanging (with the ring ropes being summoned), Face Flash (allows Suguru to stun opponents in-front of him with a bright flash) and his ultimate technique/attack, the Muscle Spark, even being able to increase his attack power for a brief time by tapping into Burning Inner Strength.

 

[Oracle Link]

JOB #3 Dragonball Stage World Tournament Arena (Classic)

This Stage housed many battles like Goku vs Mute... Jackie Chun! Goku Vs Tenshin Han and Goku Vs The Reeincarnated Piccolo eventho it has all these battles under its belt it usually gets passed of in facvor of the somewhat unimportant Z Version of it! Lets Fix That by putting it here! And if you want to make it more unique you could have the stage be played at Evening similar to the final fight of the 1st seen tournament!

PS. I dont have any knowledge of Anime of that time period so sorry!

 

[Jondolio]

By the way we'll only be adding one stage per series, at least for this job. Meaning that unless more submissions are made, Thousand Sunny will be added by default and the choice will be between the two Dragon Ball stages submitted.

 

[Megadoomer]

I'm not a huge Bleach fan, but a stage hasn't been nominated for it yet, so I'll pick one.

Soukyoku Hill (Bleach)

The large rocky plateau is the execution grounds where the climax of Bleach's Soul Society arc takes place. The Palace of Penitence is located in the background of the stage, and the rest of Soul Society can be seen in the distance. Occasionally, a halberd that's stabbed into the ground will erupt into a massive flaming bird, though as nobody's scheduled to be executed, it's mainly just there for dramatic effect, and will eventually return to the halberd.

The stage is flat, free of hazards, and it's a giant pillar so players can't go under it.

The first Bleach locations that came to mind were this or Hueco Mundo, and Hueco Mundo... isn't exactly interesting from a visual standpoint.

 

[Deleted member]

Valley of the End
Iconic Naruto location and a cool setting for a shonen battle

 

[Jondolio]

The poll for Job #2 has closed, and the results are in - we will have 50 characters. Just like the last thread, except this time the rules regarding who gets in are much more lenient.

Submissions for jobs #3 and #4 will remain open for no longer than two days, so make sure to submit ASAP

 

[Speed Weed]

Job #4 (Old Fart): Ryuji Takane from Ring ni Kakero

Ring ni Kakero is a boxing manga by Saint Seiya creator Masami Kurumada, serialized from 1977 to 1981. The series revolves around the story of a young boy named Ryuji - his father was a legendary boxer who died before becoming world champion, and so his older sister Kiku coaches him with the intention of having him carry on their father's legacy. Now, Ryuji is a bit of a pissbaby, so he doesn't really want to become a boxer, and things take a turn for the worse when they end up having to run away from home to escape their abusive stepfather, and so they land in Tokyo with nowhere to go and major fish-out-of-water syndrome (they came from the country). They meet a girl who lets them stay in her rich parents' mansion, and both there and in school they run into one Jun Kenzaki, a boxing prodigy who becomes a rival of sorts for Ryuji. The latter eventually finally agrees to box after thinking over the situation, and he rises through the ranks with the mission of facing off with Kenzaki for the champion title.

So why am I submitting this manga? Believe it or not, it was a huge hit for Jump. During that late 70s/early 80s period, it was one of their marquee titles, and it was responsible for several innovations in the shonen action formula Jump would become so famous for. Shueisha calls it the "Hot-Blooded Fighting Manga Bible", thanks to how successful and influential it was. It's a big deal. And yet, it's not gotten much in the way of major Jump crossovers. It shows up in a lot of stuff, sure, but it's never been in the big ones everyone pays attention to, like the DS duology, J-Stars or JF. Considering how much of a milestone it is in the Jump timeline, I do think it'd be great to get it in, and Ryuji is an extremely easy sell for a fighter, cause, well, he brings us a boxer archetype. He'd be cool.

 

[Jondolio]

Submissions are now closed. Voting will now begin. Please vote for your top 3 stages out of this selection (Two will be added, but they won't be from the same franchise) -

KneeOfJustice99 Konoha Village
Jondolio Kame House
tonygameman Thousand Sunny
Oracle Link Tenkaichi Budokai Arena
Megadoomer Soukyoku Hill
@DarkVortex Valley of the End

As well as your top 2 from the character selection (the top two will be added) -

Jondolio Cobra
KneeOfJustice99 Hayato Nanjou
Megadoomer Hiroshi and Pyonkichi
tonygameman Kinnikuman
Speed Weed Ryuji Takane

My votes:

1. Thousand Sunny
2. Tenkaichi Budokai Arena
3. Konoha Village

1. Kinnikuman
2. Cobra

 

[Speed Weed]

1. Kinnikuman
2. Cobra

 

[tonygameman]

1. Cobra
2. Ryuji Takane

1. Tenkaichi Budokai Arena
2. Soukyoku Hill
3. Thousand Sunny

 

[Megadoomer]

1. Kinnikuman
2. Cobra

1. Tenkaichi Budokai Arena
2. Thousand Sunny
3. Konoha Village