The Dark Age Of Anime Arena Fighters 

Here is my thing. Arena fighters can be amazing. The problem I have is that ALL of these games are rushed, made on a shoestring budget and have terrible design decisions.

Cursed Clash didn't set a record for the most refunds, some guy on tiktok said that and everyone spread it around I believe

I feel like arena fighters can be fun because it's a 3D fight where you can run around anywhere which can fit the style depending on the Anime. If they do make good controls and gameplay then we probably wouldn't have this problem

DBZ BT3, Kill la Kill IF, Demon Slayer Hinokami, J-Stars, Kamen Rider Kabuto PS2, Gundam Extreme Versus, Dissidia, Urban Reign are my favorites. DBZ Sparking Zero is gonna be great no doubt

I will never forget seeing people actively defend Cursed Clash when it was incredibly obvious the game was looking rough

The Dragon Ball series is one of the only mainstream anime to have a wide variety of games to choose from you have: Kakarot - an rpg style game and mainly exists if you just want to experience the story with incredible visuals Xenoverse - a create character that includes characters from dragon ball heroes and several player battles and raid bosses and also has light rpg elements Breakers - an asymmetric game that allows you to play as a raider or survivor with multiple friends FighterZ - a competitive fighting game that boasted a huge fgc scene for its incredible visuals and it’s depth and technicality appealing to a wider audience And now Sparking Zero a continuation to tenkaichi series which is essentially the ultimate dragon ball battle simulator with the biggest roster, incredible visuals and the ability to create your own scenarios or experience what if scenarios

At this point, M.U.G.E.N. anime games don't seem that bad

U didnt give storm 4 and dbzbt3 enough credit. Ppl still love arena fighters, they just dont like being scammed.

Japanese and now U.S competitive player here. METEOR / t3 is actually extremely deep and complicated. The mechanics seen to be blatantly Ignored by critics and casual players. The western player base found the complexities rather late. with Italy player Paige and co. being the forefront of finding tech too! I hope some people will experience this in ZERO as the manager, has confirmed that it wont be a casual title.

While I would agree that most anime arena fighters aren't good, I do understand the appeal of them. People aren't looking for a deep competitive games withe them, they are looking for a toybox to smash their action figures together. And I think it's pretty obvious that's what the appeal is. So I don't get why so many people don't understand that.

One's Justice 2 is the best example of a development team taking criticism and feedback seriously and creating a better product for it. All its really missing is a sizeable budget, doesn't matter how good your development team is, they'll only be able to do so much with what they are given and they are definitely not getting the same love and budget DBZ and Naruto typically get.

Say what you will I think J stars better than jump force and actually like the game a lot honestly

One thing to add about Jump Force is the amount of manga spoilers for many characters (mostly Bleach)

Bandai Namco has become Krabby the Clown

People often expect traditional fighting games when a beloved IP announces a new title. Yet, it's crucial to understand that the focus is not on the consumer, but on revenue generation. Fighting games don't achieve the mainstream status of franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Rainbow Six, or even Pokemon, primarily due to player retention issues. The fighting game community (FGC) sees a decline in players over time, either from boredom or the daunting challenge of competing against professionals. Consequently, developers may opt for arena fighters, which are presumably simpler to create, require varying levels of effort, and leverage brand recognition to ensure sales. The choice then becomes: produce a complex game that may lose players and revenue over time, or develop a cost-effective, basic game loaded with well-known characters that could sell millions at launch due to instant character recognition.

Saint Seiya: Soldier's Soul is still one of my fav arena fighters along with DBZ BT3, J-Stars Victory and Gundam Extreme VS Maxiboost On.

I think because of increase in Mobile gamers, devs have moved to Gacha games. Not saying that console gamers have reduced, but obviously there's a heavier attention being put in innovating Gacha games, making all current and upcoming Arena Fighters more formulaic. I hope Sparking Zero breaks the curse

J-Stars Victory Vs expanded my horizon in anime and holds a special place for me

Sparking ZERO looks at least like it’ll be good. I hope the lesson that Bandai will take from it is that by giving a game a lot of time and allowing the devs to put lots of work into it, you can make a successful game

I think you're half right about why they make so many 3d arena fighters, but some other reasons are theyre easy to get into without becoming "good", yes they're cheap but they also tend to be more casual oriented so more people who maybe dont game that often can get into them pretty easy if theyre just into the IP, the other is because you can capture the feeling of the show more easily (ala storm and tenkaichi series really feel like they belong in those franchises)

It's a crime gundam exvs mbon wasn't talked about here

Im surprised Saint Seya Soldiers Soul was left out of this. Besides the BT series i think Urban Reign is one of the best arena fighters of all time. Not anime but still worth a mention

Another thing I wonder is why so many anime games just retell the story of the anime/manga instead of telling a new original story. If they're afraid that an original story will muck up the continuity, they can just say that the games story is non-canon.

The problem isn't arena fighters, it's the fact that they refuse to get good studios to make them

Where's Gundam Extreme Versus? The only good competitive arena. Not even bait, it's a series of games that's been around for 20+ years.

All anime fighters are fun, they just weren’t meant to be competitive. A lot of them are actually very different mechanically (I’m meaning the arena fighters) they just have a similar vibe- But you wouldn’t play Storm the same way you’d play Cursed Clash or Raging Blast- or even any of the Fate games. The issue with those games is that they’re never built on balance, they’re cash grabs. You play them with your friends and mess around, not online in any sort of ranked setting. This is why the only real successful anime fighting games are 2d. Idk when people started taking anime games so seriously as if they weren’t always kinda bad. Probably around the same time people forgot that games were meant to kill time and be fun.

Anime fans say they don't want anymore arena fighters but will then ignore games like OP Odyssey, DB Breakers and NxB Shinobi Strikers. They don't know what they want.

They really did Jump Force dirty, just a generic cash grabs!! Better just play j-stars victory vs I do love MHOJ2 tho, better than other 3d anime arena fighters in recent years..

Bandai, plz bring back One Piece: Grand Battle and Naruto: Clash of Ninja. Not every anime fighter has to follow the same template.

dragon ball games have always been great and don't suffer the issues other arena fighters do with their deep combat mechanics, Budakai 4 (sparking zero) is going to be the greatest anime arena fighter no matter how you look into it. I'm not glazing, I'm just basing my opinions on all the trailers and gameplays out there showing the developer's passion to make a good game for the people who have been waiting for 17 years.

Man I just can't wait for sparking zero.. I preordered it already

Demon Slayer HC had such high potential to be something great. I feel it just needs one sequel with more characters and balance changes to be a classic arena fighter .

Byking is most known for developing the Gundam Vs series an anime arena fighter series so successful that Bandai refuses to make an up to date port of the game from the arcades where it originates, just so that they can keep selling the unbelievably expensive arcade machines whenever they port something it's usually outdated by 2-3 years behind the current arcade version, or something completely inferior and only somewhat based of the arcade version, like Gundam Versus it is however, still better than 90% of the games discussed on this video

I think the biggest culprits in this curse are Spike Chunsoft. Their games are shallow with boring gameplay and cheap visuals, games like Jump Force and OPM are the prime examples of rushed development leading to an undercooked product that leaves fans ultimately disappointed. CC2's games might be samey, but their presentation is top notch and I think that's ultimately what anime fans want out of these sort of games, and it looks like Spike Chunsoft is taking a page out of their book with Sparking Zero, considering how visually impressive that game is shaping up to be. I also think that this recent trend of anime games trying to be more competitively viable is really healthy for the genre, it's better for arena fighters to be properly considered and respected as a subgenre of fighting games rather than relegating them to cheap, silly party games. The best games to feature this sort of direction are Demon Slayer: Hinokami Chronicles, and My Hero: One's Justice 2. Both of these games received proper balancing updates with feedback from the community, and had competitive communities for a while. Now on its own that doesn't say much (Jump Force also has a competitive scene) but it's moreso that these games feel like their mechanics were designed with proper competitive fighting in mind, the cast feels more balanced than your average Storm game, and the gameplay is much more deliberate than those games too. One's Justice 2 specifically feels like more like a fighting game than an arena fighter (if that makes sense) because every character plays completely differently, and both combos and neutral in that game feel more like what you'd get in a standard anime fighter over the usual button mashing you'd see in Storm games.

With DragonBall Fighterz, it is hands down the ultimate DragonBall game. It features all of the elements of a good anime tie-in game. A good original story, feeling like you are using the actual characters, fun gameplay, solid presentation, all of the important characters in the franchise, and plenty of cool easterer eggs and references.

We need more Smash Bros clones/anime platform fighters like Jump Superstars and Jump Ultimate Stars on DS.

When dragon ball started being the only series I thought was releasing good arena fighter or just good anime games told me a lot. I realized this after storm went on hiatus. FighterZ, and Xenoverse2 are great. I really think anime games should be looking at different genres… you know like Kakarot and FighterZ not being arena fighter. Imagine bleach with devil may cry gameplay. That would be so on brand especially if you know Nero and Ichigo share the same voice actor. Was that one piece rpg that came out any good?

I wish anime games tried their hand at the formula Fullmetal Alchemist PS2 games had, RPG platforming beatemups. Those game were so fun, dope, and really did the source material justice. Beating Scar (a battle you were supposed to lose) was so hype. Imagining something like that at a grander scale with modern consoles, my God...

The problem with arena fighters is they usually don't differentiate characters much. I played one of the Jump games I didn't really feel like there was strategy

Tbh, my main issue with Kill la Kill: if was the fact that Super Ryuko wasn't playable post-game

Next year anniversary, need a fighting game that utilizes what will be for Sparking Zero and add more characters. Maybe add more than just Weekly SJ and include Monthly SJ titles that were originally going to be Weekly titles.

What is the ending music for this video? It sounds good.

You should check out Anarchy Reigns, it’s a pretty decent arena fighter done right. It was developed by Platinum the devs behind Bayonetta and MGRR. Also, you left out the raging blast games, lmao. Great video either way. As for Naruto, the series had a bunch of games, from RPGs on the DS to open-world adventure games. There was the Clash of Ninja series, which was pretty good, unfortunately, it’s the Storm series that gets to live on. I feel like the lack of completion made them complacent later on.

going through all the smash themes was smart

What's the music that played at the end? Sounds like it's from a DS game.

Like I said in the last video, they really need to make a anime free roam game like a MHA Game where it's like DC universe online where you can create your OC choosing a side between being a Hero or Villain because I'm really getting tired of anime arena fighter games and it's starting to get repetitive and old.

Raging blast 1&2 : oh really so I’m just a joke to you huh?

The gundam extreme versus game was so goood no lie it's just true

great video, but there is a small mistake in it, JJK is not developped by byking they only supervised the project gemdrops devellopped it

It would've been cool if Saint Seiya Soldiers Soul was talked about here, although the reason why might've been because it was delisted literally everywhere

That’s why I have hope for nen impact while yes it isn’t that visually appealing due to its low budget but if it really controls like marvel vs Capcom I think it’ll really take off

I agree with all those arena game but Fighter Z, Storm connection and Demon slayer are my only exception bcz they are Good like GOOD i wish to have a really good One piece Game like those three if you think it's impossible look at One piece fighting path such a great game should be in Consol😢

Hey since you are the anime video game guy could you do a video on fairy tail since it’s getting a sequel

The end point is a bit of a contradiction. The problem isn’t the genre, it’s the lack of polish fed into the genre. I personally love arena fighters, even the ones that follow a formula.

Sparking Zero will save us all

Consumers are not tired of Arena fighters, consumers are tired of bad games

I really love one justice, byking did a excellent job with the quirks of everybody in the roster and it shows how they csre about it, hopefully we get a Third installment

Man, the Bamco arena fighting curse isn't even just anime games. 2012 had Kamen Rdier Super Climax Heroes, a 3d fighter with like 60 characters with each one feeling fairly unique. The next two Climax games were straight up arena fighters with only like 30 characters and they all play just awfully. We haven't had another Climax game since 2018.

Would love to think after Sparking zero is where Bandai changes how they do things but it's been the same for so long that Dragon Ball is the series that gets the most put in it

I think you should have also gone over the other arena fighters Dragon Ball had post Tenkaichi. Raging Blast, Zenkai Battle, Battle of Z, and maybe Ultimate Tenkaichi.

For a long time now I've wanted an anime smash Bros. Not just in the fact that it's a crossover but in the gameplay. What helps is that bandai namco worked on the last two smash Bros games.

Dude, you should look up videos for the upcoming Bleach Soul Resonance game. I think you would be impressed

Sparking Zero will save us

it's a sad state of affairs for licensed anime games when im more impressed when their game installements AREN'T arena fighters, like Fairy Tail being able to get away with being a Turn based RPG (that's getting a sequel) is impressive, don't know if the actual game is good or not, but you'd think a shonen like fairy tail would fall into that trap.

The arena format can be amazing if well done like DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3, it's a perfect template for many shonen battle manga, the problem is these companies don't care about the games they make and so they completely ignore the mechanics and presentation. So many manga just waiting to be adapted into competitive fighting games and/or arena fighters and they would sell amazing if the developers cared. Just to mention a few: BLEACH BAKI ONE PIECE ONE PUNCH MAN SAKAMOTO DAYS

19:40 "Glorified dlc for the previous instalment" just like Generation and Revolution, at least compared to these two Connection has a real story mode

J stars will always be the best anime fighting game hands down.

I still feel like kill la kill of is the closest it got I wish the team got another chance to do it but people really hate arena fighters now

I'm glad anime-licensed games are becoming more varied. I may not like Spy x Family, but the open-world adventure format of Operation: Memories actually... fits it? Granted, it's just a retelling of S1's events in Anya's POV (a character I find extremely annoying...) but styll.

Xenoverse is by far the best anime game series. None of the other games last a year while XV2 has been going strong forever 5+ years

Sparking zero is going to do very well. It's the return of a now classic title, Dragon Ball is still very popular, and the game clearly has a lot of time effort put into. Also the reviews from people who have played it are pretty positive. How NB takes away that it sold because it's an anime arena fighter will be the wrong take and pretty mind boggling. After a series of flops like JJK and Jump Force, it's hard to fathom not understanding that putting effort into a project equates to a better chance at success. It's cray this even has to be said and that we hope that this very normal, and obvious conclusion is reached.

I actually played ones justice until OJ2’s release. It wasn’t dead. Oj2 didn’t die quickly after launch either. It died recently

Sparking zero is gonna be so good though

even Kamen Rider got sweeped by this genre too.

You forgot Battle Of Z

Anime arena games=cod cycle💀

If y'all are looking for good arena fighters than definitely xenoverse 2 and gundam vs franchise. Gundam vs is even playable on Android through ppspp(psp emulation)

I think anime arena fighter fatigue just hit arena fighters are now in the same boat as the MCU are there the MCU of video games Sparking Zero will probably still be amazing and at least Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact is doing something slightly different so we can give the props for that at least.

We need more games like DBZ Kakarot😭🙏

Thats why i love the Fairy Tail game and will most likely love its sequel too They are not 3d fighters, but Turn based/action RPGs which fit waaaay more in the world and story

damn black clover quartet knights didnt even get mentioned

I thought Danganropa was made by Spike before the merger?

Dont know why j stars gets alot hate even though it is janky sometimes it still is more to play with bunch of different characters gimmicks then jump force.

I just want a new shonen jump platform fighter ... Like the one on DS

Having RPG elements in arena fighters just ruins the mood of them being actually fighting games. Reason why I didn't enjoy Xenoverse, Kakarot, and One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows, some of these games should've been made into a different genre.

You need to revisit one piece burning blood, youve severely missed out on what that game actually means to anime 3d fighters and gameplay especially. Spend some time researching and specidlfically practicing. You'll find that a lot of aspects outshine most of the games on this list.

Wheres Xenoverse 2?

8:31 Asbr created by the same developers is a great 2d fighting game

i will go down with this boat but cursed clash is a good game

Can’t put Budokai Tenkaichi Series in the same sentence as the others

The only anime arena fighter im gonna buy at this point is Storm 5 & My Hero One Justice 3. Storm 5 goes without saying but i never bought connections. The Disappointing Return of Naruto Storm video gave me the fnal realization that this wasnt needed. I accepted that I'll be sham'd just for additions the next game gonna get anyways. Connections is no different than revolution and generations, filer cash ins. It's no different from buyjng a Atlus rerelease My Hero at least it had 2 entries before it and got better with the next installament so with 3 being the next after 2 it should be good enough. It'll have every mha character and be on next gen. No less its the best arena in recent times

sparking 0 is the exception

The only fighting game i play anymore is blaze blue central fiction stuff like dragon ball fighters or curse clash after a couple of months get boring

cursed clash is literally peak i dont get the hate

Sparking zero:

U cant call xenoverse a areana fighter since they fly they move up down left and right areana fighters can only move left and right

meanwhile I'm still not tired of Fate Unlimited Codes after 16 years.. while crappy anime arena fighters age like milk left on the sun.

Where jojo all star r?

WHY IS UR PFP A MII

3d arena fighter is bad , but what's worse is crossover one. characters is miss match and doesn't look like it's belong in the same game.