Jump Superstars is a fun, innovative fighting game for the DS and an excellent addition to any importer’s collection.
Jump Superstars is often compared to Super Smash Bros. and for good reason. The gameplay is easy to pick up. Each fighter character has a weak attack, strong attack, and 2 special attacks. You can perform additional attacks by pressing different directions on the D-pad such as performing aerial counters and defensive push attacks. Your character’s health is determined by a life bar referred to as your “J-Soul.” As your J-Soul is depleted, your character begins to literally lose color. Meaning an almost monochrome character is close to death which is a nice touch. Just below your J-Soul is your Special bar along with a number representing how many full bars you have. Each special move uses one full bar.
Of course this simple gameplay hides some nice depth. Each character plays differently and has his or her own respective strengths and weaknesses. Luffy from One Piece, for example, can stretch his body and is good at fighting from a distance. However, Yusuke from Yu Yu Hakusho is stronger fighting close up. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
As stated before, Jump Superstars features over 150 characters. They could not feasibly put all your favorite characters in fighting form in this game. So they devised a unique fighting system that adds a lot of variety and depth by splitting up the roster into different types of “koma.” Koma are like the panels in a manga. You see, in this game there is no regular character select screen. Instead you go into a “deck maker” menu and create a deck of characters to fight with using koma. Once you have named your new deck, you have a 4x5 grid you must fill with koma. In order for a deck to be valid and fight-ready you must have at least one of each of the 3 types of koma.
First, there is the Help koma. Every character in the game has at least this form. It only takes up one spot on the grid. Help koma do not appear in the battlefield. However, they can give health, energy, or enhancements to your current fighter character on the battle screen.
Second are the Support koma. They take up 2 or 3 spaces on the koma grid. When used, support koma appear briefly on the battle screen for various effects. Most will attack but some will also cause status effects to your opponents or even heal you (or your opponent if you are not careful).
Third are the Battle koma. These characters take up 4 to 7 spaces on the koma grid. These are the main fighters that you take direct control of on the battle screen. You can use as many as you can fit on the grid. Some battle characters have multiple battle koma. For example, Goku has a 4, 5, 6, and even 7 battle koma. You can only use one koma of any character in a deck at a time though. The amount of space the koma takes up makes a difference in the special attacks the character has and how much health and specials that character can carry. For example, 4 koma Goku has his black hair and can do a basic Kamehameha special. But 7-koma Goku has golden hair and can do a more powerful Super Saiya-jin level 3 special. So it becomes a question of quantity or quality.
Also, each Battle koma has one of three natures. For example Goku of Dragon Ball fame is a Power Battle koma, Sasuke from Naruto is a Knowledge Battle koma, and Don Patchi from Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is a Laughter Battle koma. It is kind of like rock-paper-scissors. Although it should not always dictate who you choose it can be fun to mix and match.
This is where much of the depth comes from. You can mix and match the koma any way you want as long as it all fits. But pairing certain koma next to each other can boost your deck to be more powerful. Help koma can boost the effects of both Support and Battle koma. Support koma can boost your Battle Koma and each other. Battle koma can boost both Support and Battle koma. So by experimenting you can come up with some powerful decks. Usually koma from the same series will boost each other but this is not always the case. You can gain longer J-Soul and extra Special bars by boosting so it is definitely worth the time to put certain koma together though it is not necessary.
With so many characters and koma to use you would think the control scheme would be difficult. But this is where the touch screen comes in. The top screen is the battle screen and the touch screen is where you will see your deck of koma. With the whole koma grid filled, the bottom screen looks like a manga with each panel representing a different character. To switch between Battle koma, simply touch the other character on the screen. To use a Help or Support koma, once again simply touch the koma you wish to use (both Help and Support koma use one Special bar when activated so as not to be abused). So the koma are like graphical buttons representing the different characters in your deck. It does not take long to get familiar with the koma system and get into the gameplay.
The meat of the Jump Superstars lies in the single-player J-Adventure mode. When you first play the game you only have a few koma. So of course you will want to start unlocking more playable characters from your favorite manga. In J-Adventure mode you will move from level to level on 4 different worlds by completing mission objectives. Each level has multiple missions to complete that vary from easy (knock a crate around 8 times) to difficult (ring out every opponent at least 3 times). Completing these mission objectives is fun and helps keep things fresh as you try to meet each new challenge. By reaching these mission objectives you unlock pre-made decks of pre-selected koma, Help koma or Serif koma.
Serif koma can take up 2 to 7 spaces on the koma grid. However, Serif koma are always missing a space or even more which must be filled by the correct Help koma to complete it. Completing a Serif koma creates a Support or Battle koma. This is how you unlock Support and Battle koma. Finding the right Help koma to complete the Serif koma can be a pain if you have racked up hundreds of koma or if you just play level to level without trying to complete the Serif koma in the Deck maker menu. The trick is that the Serif koma can often be completed with the Help koma you unlocked in the same level or at least a koma associated with the one you unlocked (though this is not always the case). So if you just earned some Dragon Ball koma, try completing the Serif koma with Dragon Ball koma. Needless to say, much time will be spent on the J-Adventure mode trying to unlock all your favorite characters.
Of course, a good fighting game would not be complete with multiplayer. This game really shines here. You can play with up to four players with or without four carts. Of course those without carts are limited to who they can play with. You can play with any of your own made decks (you can create and save up to 10 decks) or any of the game’s 20 pre-made decks. You can also download decks that your friends made and save them for future use.
Gameplay is fast and can get hectic with 4 players running around calling out their Support characters. You can set the rules of how long you want to play and what level you play in. During battle you can bust walls to create ring-out opportunities. Defeating opponents yields gold P-coins that will help charge your Special bar (as will beating your enemies to a pulp).
All the while you can break open crates, barrels, and chests to reveal power-ups and special items. Sometimes you will find food to replenish health or perhaps some shoes to speed you up. But watch out for poison for it can gradually deplete your health. The randomness of what shows up in the barrels and crates helps create the fun and hectic atmosphere in the game as do the graphics and sound.
The graphics in the game definitely show off the DS’s ability with 2D graphics. The sprites are small and simple. But they are also very colorful and well-animated. If you pay attention, you can find some nice little details. For example, Sanji (from One Piece) always has his left side covered by hair. So when his sprite is facing right, you can see his face just fine. But when facing left, his face is covered by hair.
Another nice touch is the graphical “sound effects.” When hitting an opponent, not only do you hear it, but a little graphical sound effect pops up (a Japanese equivalent to a “pow” or “wack”). Little details like this can easily be missed but add to the whole manga theme.
The levels also look nice and simple. The game is based on manga and the levels literally look like pages from a manga complete with a page number in the corner. However, each level varies a bit based on the series. For example, the Dragon Ball level features the dragon Sheng Long in the background along with cloud-like platforms and some pits which you would want to avoid. Other levels might have moving platforms or slippery platforms.
However, this is where Jump Superstars falters a bit. There really is not much variation between the multiple levels. And there is not much to interact with aside from the crates and barrels. Sheng Long is only there for aesthetic purposes. You can’t jump on him and he does not wack you with his tail. There could have been more effort put into the areas because most of them just feel the same and have a flat feel to them. I understand that the levels are supposed to be pages from a manga, but it should not interfere with the level design.
The sound in Jump Superstars is a nice mix. Every level has music to go along with the theme of the area. Some of it is pretty catchy too. Also, the sound effects in the game, from pounding your opponent into the wall or the sound of an unfortunate soul accidentally being poisoned, are all well-done and appropriate.
Some anime fans might be disappointed due to the lack of any familiar anime themes or voices. But this game is based on manga so it is a moot point. Furthermore, voices would probably make the sound rating worse. Do you really want to hear Luffy shout “Gomu Gomu no…” every time he performed a move? That would get annoying quickly.
One thing you should know before importing is that the game is entirely in Japanese. But if you are importing this game then you know ways around this anyway. You can always find an FAQ with translations on the net to help you out. And a lack of understanding Japanese will not hinder gameplay one bit.
Also, as stated earlier, not every manga has a playable battle character. And even some manga that are represented are rather underrepresented. For example, Dragon Ball and One Piece both have 5 playable characters while Black Cat and Bleach only have 1 each. This does not really affect gameplay but may serve as a disappointment to some fans.
Jump Superstars is a fun, innovative fighting game for the DS and an excellent addition to any importer’s collection. If you have a DS and are a fan of these manga characters then you will definitely enjoy this game as it is currently one of the most enjoyable on the portable. With 25+ hours of gameplay to unlock all the characters, plus multiplayer, Jump Superstars will keep you busy for quite a while.