Announced all the way back in 2016 for PS4, Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road of Heroes – originally named Inazuma Eleven Ares – has been stuck in development hell for several years. But here’s a glimpse of some gameplay from the upcoming Level-5 soccer RPG – albeit focused on the Nintendo Switch version, given the audience in Japan.
It shows the various different playstyles available, including the ability to hold the handheld in portrait mode to mimic the experience on a smartphone. It’s worth noting that the game is also slated to release on mobile.
We can’t say we’re exactly blown away by the trailer on display, but more information is expected in February, so perhaps the next round footage will look more appealing, eh?
[source youtube.com, via gematsu.com]
Comments 15
Given that level 5 closed their localisation Studio, there's no chance this is coming west now.
Boy, I really like Level-5 but that game looks like it was developed for a 7 year old tablet…
I just hope it’s good. The Inazuma Eleven games are some of the best sports games out there. The first one especially is a classic.
@Amnesiac Your Not That Far Off lol the switch might as well be a 7 year old tablet.
Isn't level 5 circling the drain and largely bankrupt? I thought the failure of Yokai to become a Pokemon like sensation pretty much destroyed them and relegated them to mobile games. Which this very much looks like.
@NEStalgia The first few Yokai Watch games were insanely popular but popularity seemed to wane with later entries. It’s one thing to make a popular game, it’s another to keep a franchise going for many years.
@nessisonett Yeah and they bet the farm on it becoming a multimedia empire. Merchandise, tv series, basically everything Pokemon has. It seemed too much at the time, especially expecting it to become huge with kids outside Japan when everything about it was so very Japanese.
But it's sad what became of the one great studio. When they tried "fantasy life 2" that was basically just a mobile port of fantasy life, and they didn't even make most of fantasy life, brownie brown (1up studio) did, I thought they were beyond recovery.
@UltimateOtaku91 Sad but true. Same goes for the Ni no Kuni franchise, if we ever get a third console entry game.
@NEStalgia @nessisonett In the market YoKai Watch and Pokémon are in release cadence does seem to be important. Spend a long time to release something of higher quality and your audience grows up and moved on. Getting it out frequently even if it means the game doesn’t look AAA seems to be a better strategy. Development hell does not a profitable company make.
Do you play this?Who is gonna buy this abominaton of a game,it's like all the trashware from the psstore.Thats a gamepass *****.PS is gonna die.
@NEStalgia this is the perfect time for one of the big three to acquire them. They have a fantastic archive and have made poor decisions financially in the past few years. Same with platinum games, though I was surprised Microsoft didn't try to buy platinum awhile back.
It's okay, someone will translate the game aha
@NomNom Definitely agree! They have so much IP and potential just rotting away. Though I wonder how much real development capacity they have gutted for their failed attempts at TV and shift to mobile.
Platinum.... They're a tough one. They don't really have much IP at all, and they are way too top heavy. Nintendo even bought back Astral Chain, Sega owns Bayonetta, a lot of stuff was licensed. Not sure who owns nier now. Embracer maybe? They have W101, so theres that, 😆 they're not super attractive for anyone to buy. Tencent invested heavily...
@Ryall Wait, the Pokemon market grows up? You've been to Nintendo Life, right?
Tbh I think Pokemon could get away with the delay and be fine. The annual cycle is surely more profitable for the same reason fifa is, but I don't think it would harm the brand. Yokai, just never managed to take off, and I don't think it ever could have like they wanted. Their ambition exceeded their actual brand. Pokemon was kind of uniquely universal and hit at the right time. Yokai was super Japanese, super weird, and trying to compete in a very red ocean for the same demographic add Pokemon, only more childish and less appealing in the west. Then they tried westernizing it which lost the Japan market they did have. Making a global media empire out of it always seemed like a doomed plan... And it was.
@NEStalgia I'm biased for Sony to acquire them (obviously) but it's because I'm a huge fan of Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy. I always wanted a sequel before they moved towards Ni No Kuni...chances are they won't go back to them which is a shame.
I can dream. I hope they as a company get their butts out of their own face before they crash the ship.
@NomNom I can't argue against Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy, I'd definitely be up for that! Absolute classics. I'd say fantasy life too, but they technically didn't make that, it was a studio now owned by Nintendo that did, tough L5 owns the IP.
Though I don't get the impression that sort of thing is on Sony's radar anymore... They're all into the big market blockbuster stuff. Plus it's been ages since they had much to do with L5. But it'd be my personal preference for the same reasons.
Nintendo has been their closest tie in the modern age, and they'd be a perfect fit, though Nintendo doesn't do much in the way of acquiring studios. MS is pushing hard to get Japanese devs onboard, but, L5 probably doesn't offer much other than the IP, and MS really needs functional production, which is one thing L5 lacks.
I wonder if someone like Sega or Bamco could have interest in the IP?
My fear is they already crashed the ship, and now they're perfectly happy as more or less a mobile studio, and all those great IP just languish forever, or, worse, become mobile gatchas, like a worse Konami.
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