Mini Import Review: Bleach DS
While relatively unknown stateside (outside of anime circles, at least), Bleach has been one of Japan’s most popular anime/manga for the past few years. Without giving too many spoilers, Bleach is about a society of people, aptly called “Soul Society” who go around destroying wayward souls using totally sweet and varied skills. And, of course, whenever an anime gets popular enough a couple crappy games come out, satiate fans, and sell like hotcakes. Released in early 2006, Bleach DS actually breaks this mold and becomes, what I believe to be, the DS’s first truly deep fighting game (sorry Jump Superstars, but this game has you beat).
Since it has only been released in Japan so far, and because I doubt it will be coming stateside as well, I urge any 2D fighter aficionado to import it immediately. The language barrier is virtually nil, and there are a lot of FAQs online anyway. Bleach DS is a 1-4 player fighting game which uses 2 planes for the action, has a whopping 28 characters, and has *gasp* excellent WiFi play. The only way to described this Treasure created fighting system is to say it’s a mix of Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, a dash of Guilty Gear, along with some completely new elements. What’s more fantastic is that it works as a one on one strategic fighter as well as a multiplayer bash — this is basically what Guilty Gear Isuka should have been. Truth be told, my only caveat with the game is its ridiculous card system, but luckily it can be turned off.
The game supports one cart multiplayer and doesn’t limit number of players, character choices or stages, but the trade off is that the load time is a little long. The WiFi is great as it features a ranking mode, a “Japan battle” mode, and a friend battle mode. Get some friend codes online and you’re ready to battle people locally with hardly any lag.
Definitely another must have title for the DS.
While relatively unknown stateside (outside of anime circles, at least), Bleach has been one of Japan’s most popular anime/manga for the past few years. Without giving too many spoilers, Bleach is about a society of people, aptly called “Soul Society” who go around destroying wayward souls using totally sweet and varied skills. And, of course, whenever an anime gets popular enough a couple crappy games come out, satiate fans, and sell like hotcakes. Released in early 2006, Bleach DS actually breaks this mold and becomes, what I believe to be, the DS’s first truly deep fighting game (sorry Jump Superstars, but this game has you beat).
Since it has only been released in Japan so far, and because I doubt it will be coming stateside as well, I urge any 2D fighter aficionado to import it immediately. The language barrier is virtually nil, and there are a lot of FAQs online anyway. Bleach DS is a 1-4 player fighting game which uses 2 planes for the action, has a whopping 28 characters, and has *gasp* excellent WiFi play. The only way to described this Treasure created fighting system is to say it’s a mix of Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, a dash of Guilty Gear, along with some completely new elements. What’s more fantastic is that it works as a one on one strategic fighter as well as a multiplayer bash — this is basically what Guilty Gear Isuka should have been. Truth be told, my only caveat with the game is its ridiculous card system, but luckily it can be turned off.
The game supports one cart multiplayer and doesn’t limit number of players, character choices or stages, but the trade off is that the load time is a little long. The WiFi is great as it features a ranking mode, a “Japan battle” mode, and a friend battle mode. Get some friend codes online and you’re ready to battle people locally with hardly any lag.
Definitely another must have title for the DS.
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