It seems that Bandai Namco is working on a new My Hero Academia fighting game after finishing the One’s Justice series. Through Japanese freelancing site Freelance-hub.jp, Anime Fighting Game Community Twitter account @AFGCNews found out that a certain company is currently looking for freelancers for a “new fighting game based on a popular manga series.” The project will be developed for PlayStation 5 using Unreal Engine.
The workplace is said to be located at Tamachi, Tokyo. Tamachi area itself generally refers to Shiba, Shibaura, and Mita districts that surround the Tamachi Station in Minato. Interestingly, as another Twitter user @Jyosua pointed out, Bandai Namco’s main office is located in Tamachi — or specifically, in the Shiba district, just a five minutes walk from Tamachi Station’s West Exit.
While there is no confirmation that the popular manga series will be My Hero Academia, it is one of the strongest contenders for a new title. Kimetsu no Yaiba has just gotten a game adaptation. Meanwhile, Naruto (or Boruto) franchise is still going strong but it’s not as popular as it used to be. So it’s either that or One Piece. Especially since previously there have been rumors flying about regarding a My Hero Academia fighting game.
According to a leak compiled by r/GamingLeaksAndRumors, Bandai Namco was tossing around an idea for a new fighting game based on a popular Shonen Jump manga series: My Hero Academia, One Piece, or Jujutsu Kaisen. Eventually, the company settled on My Hero Academia because “future events in the anime” are hoped to give it another boost in popularity, there is an upcoming future animated project, the new game will be released closer to the end of One’s Justice 2‘s lifecycle, and Bandai Namco wanted to “draw more attention” in the esport or competitive scenes.
While the game will take place during the Endeavor Agency Arc, it will introduce a new story where some heroes were scapegoated of committing criminal acts. Turns out it was all plotted by Daedalus, an American corporation that is able of giving Quirks to Quirkless children. The corporation wants to replace all heroes with ones that it can control. Most of the enemies you’ll face in the game will be “faceless mooks”, like in Street Fighter V, with some characters having to battle against cloned heroes made by Daedalus. The final battle will be between Deku against Coleen Forge, the head of Daedalus, which has the ability to replicate any Quirk based on the information she knows about it, but she can only have one active at a time.
Based on the leak, 25 characters will be playable: Midoriya, Bakugou, Todoroki, Uraraka, Iida, Kirishima, Asui, Eraserhead, All Might, Endeavor, Mirio, Nejire, Tamaki, Endeavor, Gang Orca, Mirko, Hawks, Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Fatgum, Pixie-Bob, Shigaraki, Toga, Dabi, and Coleen. Coleen also has two henchmen who don’t seem to be playable:
- Cedric Grant, a sarcastic and cynical person who believes quirks are a danger to innocent people and heroes are given too much freedom. He can copy a person’s Quirk and implant it into another living creature, but he cannot use that copied Quirk himself.
- Deus, an artsy character who speaks in a flamboyant and almost poetic manner. He doesn’t care much about Daedalus’ plans and just wishes to create heroes to be admired by people. His Quirk allows him to create living beings from his own fat, but they quickly wither and die when they get hungry.
The gameplay will be a two-vs-two with one assist. It will have a “four-buttons” input, consisting of light, medium, and heavy attacks as well as a support button. Each character has access to varied kinds of support items, from a simple projectile to something that can affect your mobility. It won’t be as aerial combo-heavy as Dragon Ball FighterZ or Guilty Gear and will be more grounded. As usual, always take any anonymous leaks and rumors with a grain of salt, especially one as detailed as this. Could be just someone trying to troll the internet. Tell us what you think of this gossip in the comments below.