Jump Ultimate Stars

[D.A.N.]

Jump Ultimate Stars[/u]

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Gambarion

Genre: Fighting

Players: Four Player (Online Compatible)

Elements: Over 300 characters from 41 different Shōnen manga series. Battle, Support, and Help characters are the classes. So don't expect 300 playable characters.

Graphics: Very nice chibi-ish sprite style.

Soundtrack: Quirky, but decent. Japan Import means it lacks the english dub quality of Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragonball, and other anime characters.

Gameplay: Fuses Smash Bros style frantic fights with a deeply thought out card system in great fashion. You have full control over your deck and the characters in it and everything flows surprisingly well. Oh, and the map design improves tenfold from Jump Super Stars.

Longevity: 5/5

Overall: 9.5/10

Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Metroid Prime Hunters? Nope. All of these titles fall prey to Jump Ultimate Superstars in terms of supremacy on the DS and supremacy as an online handheld game. Jump Ultimate Stars is the kind of crossover game that could totally suck and still be bought and become rather overrated. Luckily it has so much depth which makes it a game worth importing or buying on Amazon for the $30. I can't stress the amount of fun it is with your friends to do things such as Goku vs Naruto vs Inuyasha vs Yusuke and the like. The only real flaws are that you can't jump to come back to the edge of a stage, and that the majority of text is in Japanese, however all it takes is twenty minutes on Gamefaqs to figure out how to navigate the game correctly. Here's a list of the series that are represented in the game. Bolded series are well known in America.

Black Cat
Bleach
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
Buso Renkin
Captain Tsubasa*
Cobra (Space Cobra)
D.Gray-man
Death Note
Dr. Slump
Dragonball (Remember in Japan this includes DBZ)
Eyeshield 21
Fist of the North Star
Gintama
Hoshin Engi
Hunter × Hunter
I"s
Ichigo 100%
Jigoku Sensei Nūbē (Hell Teacher Nūbē)
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Jungle King Ta-chan
Katekyo Hitman REBORN!
Kinnikuman (Ultimate Muscle)
KochiKame
Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro
Midori no Makibaou
Muhyo to Rouji no Mahoritsu Soudan Jimusou
Naruto
Ninku
One Piece
Pyū to Fuku! Jaguar
Rokudenashi Blues
Rurouni Kenshin
Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac)
Sakigake!! Otokojuku
Shaman King
Slam Dunk
Taizo Mote King Saga
The Prince of Tennis
Tottemo! Luckyman
Yu-Gi-Oh!
YuYu Hakusho

Like I said, this game is a must buy. When I first got it my friend and I had it and we couldn't stop versing each other to see who had a better deck and who unlocked what. Then my other friend and cousin got the game and we really haven't had time to do much other than kick each other's asses in it.

[Johans Nidorino]

Hmm... Do you recommend it to someone who doesn't watch too much anime? The only ones I saw more than 25 episodes of are Dragon Ball and Kinnikuman. I'm familiar with Saint Seiya and my bro would like Yu-Gi-Oh!. But the others sound like ramen soup to me

[D.A.N.]

Hehe. Well, my friends who don't watch anime and only know who Goku and Yugi are have picked up the game, and even senseless button mashing entertained them. I really think that while the game's crossover appeal is what sells it, it's worth playing by non-anime fans.

However, the Japanese text navigating may not be incredibly worth it if you don't have familiarity with all the characters and stuff. So, I'm not sure. It really depends on whether or not you mind navigating and having to check on a website what certain menus mean and such.