Going for Glory!

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions launched back in the summer of 2020 and was well received, partially due to the popular Manga and Anime series of the same name. Instead of following traditional soccer rules, Tsubasa throws it all out of the window in favor of an over-the-top arcade style full of action.

This vision allows the developer, Tamsoft, to go all out with the signature super skills and shots that the series is renowned for. Aside from its action-packed gameplay, it has a fully featured story, where it follows a young Tsubasa and his rise through the ranks as a soccer player, as well as the relationships he builds along the way.

The story of the first game developed by Tamsoft (Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions), has you go through the early years of Tsubasa’s career, where his goal is to obtain a three-peat at the 16th National School Tournament as well as eventually joining up with your custom-made player, where you challenge for the Junior Youth World Challenge, a tournament for under-16s.

World Fighters, then, is a direct continuation of Rise of New Champions. Set four years after the previous game, the game begins during the Asian Qualifiers, where you’ll go up against old foes while you try to reach the ultimate youth world championship.

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Follow Tsubasa through the World Youth Arc in World Fighters.

Getting Up to Speed

If you’re new to the series or you want to remind yourself of how to play the game, since it’s been ten years since the previous game, you can use Free Practice. This mode allows you to play friendly matches against either the CPU or vs another player in all stadiums with any national team. You can even turn off the AI for the CPU, allowing you to master all the controls before you take it into the single-player or multiplayer modes. This is where I picked up my time with my hands-on, as a new player, getting to grips with some of the systems.

Another similar mode is Offline Match, where, like Free Practice, you can play against either the CPU or another player, but this mode has a bit more on the line as you can’t turn off the AI for the CPU, so there’s a little more bite for this mode. Both modes gave me a small taster of what I can expect when it comes to the matches in World Fighters.

The Customization option allows you to fully edit every team in team edit. Inside, you’ll be able to change the team formation, lineup, and what super skills are equipped. In this same menu, you’ll also find the player edit option. Here, you can fully customize most of the players, including your custom character. This includes their appearance, super moves, unique moves (if they have them), combo moves, and much more. For the custom player, you’ll unlock more by leveling it up or clearing missions. I didn’t spend too much time here, but as a big soccer fan, I can see myself getting stuck in here a lot come the full release.

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Customize gives you plenty of options to set up your team and add different moves to each player.

Reliving the Dream

One of the main grabs for the Captain Tsubasa games is the story mode, and this one takes you through the World Youth arc. Here, you can take your custom player into Japan and play alongside Tsubasa as you fight for glory.

Generally, you’ll play a match against the CPU, each with their own storyline with old rivals. As you play through the story, you’ll unlock side and link scenarios where the former allows you to experience events that unfold behind the scenes of the main story, and the latter gives you the option to interact with various teams and players. Progressing through the story also unlocks new moves and hidden player abilities, so there is a lot of incentive to focus on playing through the story to completion.

Without too much knowledge of the Anime that Captain Tsubasa is based on, I was still able to get to grips with the part of the story I had access to, and it was intriguing enough to keep me hooked on what happens next. Still, there may be some moments that you might miss from not having played the previous entry, such as returning characters.

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Be prepared to go up against old rivals.

One thing that has improved a lot in the sequel is the visuals, looking ever closer to the Anime. Add in the great animations for the super moves, and you have a game that not only feels great but also looks the part. Another thing that stood out to me was the soundtrack, which features 80+ new tracks, led again by composer, Tadayoshi Makino. Every track is of high quality and fits the game perfectly. On top of this, the commentary in the matches goes well with the arcade gameplay.

Dusting off the Boots

As a new player to the series, but a long-time soccer fan, I was intrigued by how the games handle the over-the-top action while weaving story segments in between. Although you can use Free Practice mode to learn the controls and the flow of the game, there wasn’t any tutorial on how to play it; instead, I was just thrown into the action. This made learning the game a lot more difficult due to the various abilities that each player has access to.

After playing for an hour or so, it becomes a lot easier to understand how the game is played, which is, interestingly, not like a normal soccer game. The general idea is to pepper the Goalkeeper with shots to lower their stamina, so it makes it easier to score. At first, this sounds easy, but with the new super moves added to tackling and dribbling, it becomes far more difficult. Especially when a defender comes charging at you from across the pitch just before you charge up your shot. This makes the game a lot more tactile, and you’ll need to choose when to dribble, pass, tackle, or perform a super skill.

One new feature added to the game was the Chain System. By linking dribbles and super moves, you’ll increase the Chain Level. The higher the level, the quicker and stronger your shots will be. However, if you get tackled, the Chain Level will reset. This keeps the game fast-paced and dynamic, and was something I instantly grew attached to.

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The Chain System rewards you for using dribbles and Super Moves by increasing your shot force and charge speed.

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Tactical Battle gives you a short time to guess where the ball is going. A successful guess will cause your Goalkeeper to take less stamina damage.

Another feature added is the Tactical Battle with the Goalkeeper. When you take a shot, you can change the trajectory of it during the animation by pressing one of the six directions, causing more stamina damage should the Goalkeeper choose the wrong direction, and can even trigger a “Break,” reducing the stamina and creating an advantage for you for the rest of the game. This goes both ways, though; if you’re the one receiving the shot, you’ll have a short time to press the right input (similar to taking a shot), and guessing the wrong way will give you the same disadvantages.

One thing I noticed during my time with World Fighters is that tackling is very strong in this game. Charging up a tackle almost always wins the ball back, and with the new super moves for defenders, you’ll end up losing the ball a lot more often. Fortunately, this is somewhat countered by the new dribbling skills, where the important timing of the skill can leave the defender out of position, giving you more room to get a shot on target. I found that this gave me a bit more strategy for how I approached the matches and made me think a bit more.

I did feel that in the story mode, one thing I struggled with was the constant story segments throughout the match. Just when you’re in the middle of the action, sometimes you’ll get a story segment that breaks the flow of the match. The segments themselves are enjoyable, but you’ll get a loading screen for each one, and it takes you out of the game. These can be skipped, but you’ll still need to load the segment up first before the option becomes available.

All in all, after my hands-on with World Fighters, I found myself thinking that if you’re looking to go into the game expecting a regular soccer game like EAFC or eFootball, you may end up disappointed; however, if you go in with the mindset that you’ll get an action-packed 90s-style arcade game, you’ll be pleasantly surprised, especially if you’re a fan of the Manga or Anime series. There’s still some time until the full release, and I’m curious to see how the game develops from here, but for now, I’m fully on board with the latest journey for Tsubasa.