WhileFIFAandPEScontinue to churn out yearly releases, the arcade sports scene has seemingly died off, especially when it comes to soccer. While theMario Strikersseries used to be a nice alternative, all we have seen recently is a soccer mode inMario Sports Superstarsfor 3DS in 2016. Fortunately, Bandai Namco Entertainment looks like it will be giving a nice alternative this year withCaptain Tsubasa: Rise of New Championsfor PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Based on the popular sports manga and animeCaptain Tsubasa, this game is a more arcadey and high-octane take on soccer that will hopefully be refreshing in a sea of sports simulators. Bandai Namco usually opts to create 3D fighters for most of their anime adaptations, like the upcomingOne Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows, so seeing a full-on sports game from them is a nice change of pace.
Every player will have special offensive and defensive moves to use on the pitch. Of course, these are all accompanied by flashy visual effects and an overall nice-looking anime-inspired art style. So far, a story mode, as well as online and offline versus matches, have been confirmed for the game.Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Championswill only have Japanese voiceover, but Bandai Namco has confirmed that English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles will be present at the game’s launch.
The version ofCaptain Tsubasa: Rise of New Championsthat excites me the most is the Nintendo Switch port as that system has been thoroughly lacking in great soccer games. WhileFIFAhas come out on Switch the last three years,FIFA 20: Legacy Editionwas particularly bad as it really only changed the roster fromFIFA 19and not much else. EA Sports' games often get a lot of flack for being samey, but that was actually the case on Nintendo Switch last year. IfCaptain Tsubasa: Rise of New Championslooks good and runs well on the system, it could become one of the premier sports games on the platform.
You can see the first screenshots for the game below.Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Championswill release for PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch sometime in 2020.
