JUMP Ultimate Stars, a 2D Fighting game only for the Nintendo DS and it's only available in japanese. Would the language barrier spoil the fun this game has ?
First, I would like to explain the game battle mechanics. Battles take place in a variety of arenas with up to four Battle Characters to duke it out. There are basically 3 game modes, Point, Deathmatch, Capture the Stars. In Point Matches, KO-ing an enemy gives you points, at the end of the time limit, the points are used as the deciding factor of who wins the match. In Deathmatch, the goal is to eliminate all the battle characters in everyone's decks. Capture the Star, is kinda like king of the hill where players have to steal stars by KO-ing each other and at the end of the match, the player with the most stars win.
In this game the characters you choose to use in battle are based on 'Decks'. Decks are formed of comic book style inserts called 'Koma's. There are 3 types of Komas, Battle, Support, Help. Battle Characters are the Characters you control in the game to fight. Support Characters are characters that do specific actions that can directly affect the battle. Help Characters only provide stat boost or passive abilities (Eg, Health increase, Auto-Block). Battle and Support characters have a type assigned to them, these types are known as 'Strength', 'Intelligence', and 'Laughter'. This is kind of a scissors paper stone kind of system whereby a type has a damage bonus over the other. During battle, there are also status effects that affect your battle character(eg. Poison, Paralysis).
The main catch is that is ALOT of Komas to unlock in the game, making deck customization extremely deep and very rewarding to experimenting players.
In Single Player mode, the player can play through the story mode or a tournament mode fight AI controlled characters. In story mode, players will travel through the JUMP Universe and do battle in a multitude of planets that belong to the a specific manga (Eg. a Dragonball world, One Piece world). Unfortunately, I can't read Japanese so I can't understand the main plot though it seems like theres this mad scientist wanting to take over the universe. In each world, there will be multiple stages, each with its own special missions. These missions are basically generic tasks like "Ring Out 2 enemies" and "Do now use special attacks". Clearing these missions will unlock more stages and more planets to explore until you reach the end and fight the final boss.
In tournament mode, It's just a series of battles with the AI till you reach the top and you get points to be used for unlocking more Komas.
Jump Ultimate Stars as a single player game is a boring game. The main reason behind this is the AI, Its Gorilla proof. It did not provide a challenge to me. The only reason for me to finish the story mode is to unlock all the available Koma in the game.
However, Jump Ultimate Stars is a natural born multiplayer game. It comes with Nintendo Wifi support so you can play online though this game is best enjoyed with friends. With the addition of human players, this game becomes super chaotic and there is always new experiences when anyone makes a new deck. This experience is backed up by the myriad of famous manga characters that we love. Fanboy wars are common in this game and we battle to prove our points.
In conclusion, Jump Ultimate Stars is really an awesome epic multiplayer game for the Nintendo DS. The multiplayer experience overshadows its flawed single player experience. I understand that I did not explain much on the multiplayer part, its something to be experienced. Think unlimited customization + 4 players + epic manga charater moves = serious chaotic fun.
The Verdict : Cher Shen Approves :D:D:D:D (Don't play this alone .... ever)
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