That being the case, the stories are truncated in a way that we’ve seen with plenty of other anime tie-in games, but unlike various One Piece titles or the recent Fairy Tail, Captain Tsubasa is a sports game, and we don’t necessarily expect in-depth narratives with this genre. As someone who has never actually watched (or read) Captain Tsubasa, I do assume that the first narrative tracks along with the anime narrative arc, while the second is more a self-insert original story. All that lets it down is some occasionally wonky AI, but it’s nothing that outright ruins the game.Ĭaptain Tsubasa offers two narratives via the story mode, and combined those two form the bulk of the game. Coupled with the cel-shaded visuals and character models that are appropriate to the classic anime and manga property, and Captain Tsubasa is quite the audio-visual treat. The only real hope you’ve got to score on goal is to let loose with one of those special shots, and each time you unleash one of those, you get to watch the goalkeeper desperately try to grind out a save, which may well end up hurling him, ball and all, deep into the net. Little cut scenes highlight special shots and particularly heroic displays of tackling and passing. Coupled with a fairly pacey flow, Captain Tsubasa does feel like an arcade experience, though one that, unlike some other arcade football titles (remember SEGA Soccer Slam?), still manages to resemble the behaviour of real football. Do it really well and it’s possible to run the entire length of the field with a single character, but of course the higher-level AI will never allow that to happen. Key to success in this particular game is managing each player’s stamina for sprints, and knowing when to press the “dodge” button to avoid tackles and efforts to shove your player out of the way and steal the ball. I miss when football games were a simple, clean combination of pass, shoot and tackle commands. Unlike the more serious football games, you won’t need to memorise dozens of control inputs with Captain Tsubasa… which is a good thing. Captain Tsubasa, meanwhile, has real personality and charm going for it. I mean, sure, you can’t stare awestruck at a precise digital recreation of Neymar’s face, but since the real football games haven’t managed to emulate Neymar’s inability to stand up, that “realism” in the face mapping area doesn’t really mean that much, when you think about it. This humble little “arcade football game”, produced by a tiny team at Tamsoft for a fraction of the cost that EA and Konami’s monoliths are made with, is simply better entertainment. Who the hell needs FIFA and PES when you’ve got Captain Tsubasa to play now? Not me.
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March 2023
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