If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: My Hero Academia is one of the best stories currently running. Full of heart, well-written characters, and mind-blowing action, My Hero is the type of franchise that just begs for a fighting game adaptation. I had the chance to play this very adaptation, My Hero: One’s Justice, at E3 last week. While I think basic combos and attacks could use some work, One’s Justice is a lot of flashy fun that could be an incredibly enjoyable fighter to play with your fellow weeb friends.
While the demo’s roster was obviously limited, the characters revealed so far suggest that One’s Justice will feature primarily (or only) characters from the beginning of the series to the Hideout Raid arc. This makes sense, since the anime is just coming up on the Provisional License arc now, but I’d love to see the roster at least reach the Overhaul arc.
I played as Deku, All-Might, and Bakugo over my three sessions, each of whom played incredibly different from the others. Bakugo’s attacks are fitting of his Quirks, as almost every one of his moves creates explosions and blasts. Deku’s attacks are more subdued and grounded, while All-Might’s entire moveset is visually spectacular and over-the-top. Each character felt entirely unique, and their movesets were fitting of their personalities and stories.
Movement in One’s Justice is fluid and slightly floaty, though this lack of weight works with the game’s combat. Fighting in the air and while moving are both quite common in One’s Justice, especially when either you or your opponent is smashed into a wall. When smashed, both characters will stand on the wall, perpendicular to the ground below. It’s similar to the recent Naruto games by CyberConnect, and while it doesn’t feel like something you’d often see in My Hero Academia, it’s a fun mechanic that gives battles a bit of extra variety.
Though it could be because I had a limited time to learn the controls (game journalist joke), I found the regular combos in One’s Justice to be clunky and dissatisfying. Regular punches and kicks didn’t seem to chain into one another, as the majority of hits seem to blast foes away immediately. Perhaps I was doing something wrong, but I played around with combos and came away with little to show for it. The special attacks and air combat are a blast, I just hope combos feel more natural in the full game.
One’s Justice is visually perfect, as the colorful comic visuals perfectly adapt the style of the manga and anime. The addition of comic book sound effects (WHAM, POW, CRACK, etc) that pop out of big hits is another great touch, minor as it may be. There are lots of small details for series fans as well, from the perfectly remade stages to Present Mic serving as the announcer, or how Deku’s sleeve and fingers are visibly destroyed as a result of his super attack. It’s the smaller references that help anime games really appeal to fans, so I’m glad Bandai is stuffing as much fanservice as they can into One’s Justice.
Overall, I’m quite excited for My Hero: One’s Justice. While I do hope the combo system gets a small tune-up (unless I’m just missing something big), the bombastic combat and glorious visuals are enough to draw me in. Fans of the source material should keep an eye out for future trailers, as One’s Justice is shaping up to, overall, be quite a lot of fun.
