As the final season of one of the most popular shounen anime series wrapped up last December, after nearly 10 years since it started airing, I believe it hit a lot of fans hard. And that’s exactly why I think this new 3D arena fighter will be a real treat and salvation for everyone who loved the world of U.A. Academy and the adventures of all the heroes from Class 1-A so much. Because here, not only can you relive legendary moments and the story from the anime, but you can also try out the fights that defined that story firsthand.
If you’re not familiar; in short, My Hero Academia is a story where most of the population has some kind of superpower, or rather Quirks. Due to evolution, these powers are passed down genetically. Everything except one: One for All. The main character, Izuku Midoriya (also known as Deku), doesn’t have a Quirk, but from an early age he’s dreamed of becoming a hero and studying at U.A. Academy for heroes. His idol is All Might, who attended the same academy and is the bearer of the One for All Quirk. And when All Might one day sees Deku trying to save his childhood friend Bakugo, he decides to pass One for All to him. And that’s how Deku ended up in the world he’s dreamed about for so long, side by side with Bakugo and all his new friends in Class 1-A at the academy. And of course, none of them had any idea they’d have to defend the world from the League of Villains, a group of evil “heroes.”
The story of My Hero Academia: All’s Justice is set right in the final season and focuses on its climax, namely the last battle of the Class 1-A students and their effort to save the world from the group of villains. For all those who might not be familiar with the story but would play this game: from my personal perspective, you’ll have a perfectly solid experience. Of course, if you don’t mind spoilers too much. I’ve watched like, I don’t know, 5 seasons and haven’t been up to date with the series for a while, but that didn’t stop me at all from enjoying the game and getting back into that world—and honestly, with real pleasure and a dose of nostalgia.
As soon as you jump into the game as Deku, you’ll be fighting against Shigaraki, one of the main villains from the League of Villains group. This throws you right into the 3D arena action and gives you a picture of what’s waiting for you. I’d say every detail in the game is really well thought out, from the tutorial, through character customization options, missions, story segments, and of course all the way to the fights themselves and using Quirks. And I have to admit that at one point the options and modes can be pretty overwhelming ’cause you just don’t know where to start or what to do first. Which was actually a real surprise, ’cause I had no idea I’d get so many options alongside the 3D arena fights. Good thing ’cause everything’s right at your fingertips on Deku’s phone. There you can pick all available modes and access settings. On top of that, a really cool option is exploring the town and finding training spots, missions, and other modes by walking around. It’s interesting to do at the start, though later you’ll probably prefer using the phone for quicker access to everything. A real little parallel to the real world, right? Though, the dev team made sure walking doesn’t get boring or pointless, ’cause that way you can run into other characters from the MHA universe, chat with them, fight, and unlock new goodies—like cards/collectible stickers you can gather just like you used to collect stickers for, I don’t know, say FIFA or Winx albums. You can use those same cards for the loading screen later, and each one has a special quote that’ll show up on screen.
The character and world design is really nice and looks just like you’d imagine the MHA world looking in a game. I didn’t get to play previous games like My Hero One’s Justice, but at first glance, graphics-wise, it’s a nice upgrade. Animations are super smooth and visually really pretty, with bright colors; which fits perfectly with the original anime’s aesthetic.
Combat is in a 3v3 style—you pick characters before the match starts and in that lobby you build your team, as well as your opponent. During the fight, you can switch characters or do combo attacks. You can move freely around the arena in a predefined space, so you’ve got plenty of room to dodge enemy attacks. Now, since I already mentioned the game has a really huge selection of modes, it’s about time I talk a bit about them.
Tutorial
Tutorial as a tutorial, but the game lets you choose which specific exercises to do and whether you even want to do them at all. Some are even locked, and the game gives you a little heads-up that you’re not obligated to do them unless you absolutely want to. I think it’s useful to do them all, ’cause… what’s the harm? You’ll probably need all the necessary tricks when it’s time to compete on the Ranked ladder, right?
It’s not naive to follow what moves and attacks you can pull off, let me tell you. From simple dash, jump, dodge, and counterattack moves all the way to using Quirk powers, of which there are a total of 4, Plus Ultra attacks (that’s like your special ability). There’s also the so-called Rising mechanic which is like an upgrade and then your hero’s power is greater. You can track it in the bottom left corner along with the Plus Ultra bar. On top of that, you gotta watch the Stamina gauge, Health bar (top left for you and top right for your enemy). Of course, there are combo moves too, and the tutorial teaches you all that in a well-planned way.
Customize mode
Even though characters already have their well-known costumes, the game offers a huge selection of recolor costumes and other outfit options you can buy with in-game currency. You can change character poses that’ll be on the display banner before the fight, as well as the banner color and banner border.
Besides that option, you can decorate and change the UI you have during fights. Health bar with a special illustration? Say no more. Narrator voice is Deku? Let’s just say it can be Ochako, or Bakugo… or 20 others. That Battle starting screen text? That can be more in your style too, no problem. You can also use Emblems which are like badges on the left side. For chat, you’ve got the Emote wheel option which you can change too. You can buy a ton of stuff but a lot you have to unlock; whether it’s by completing a certain part of Story mode, missions, or something else entirely. You can always check out the item you want and see what you need to do to unlock it.
Network mode
This is the PvP mode. Here you can choose between Unranked, Ranked, Room, and Event matches, and at the same spot you get a view of the Ranked list.
You use Room matches if you wanna set up a private match type against your friends, and you follow Events for new challenges and special events. Both you and your opponent build your teams and fight in 3v3 battles.
Battle mode
Or rather Free Battle mode is like a custom offline match you can play against another player or the computer. If you’re playing against the computer, you can pick the difficulty level for it, so you practice gradually. And here, too, you build your team for 3v3 fights.
Training mode
Training mode is perfect for “simulating” certain arenas and seeing what fights in them would look like. Here you can practice combo moves and everything you need to become just like the real Deku and beat every opponent. Of course, it doesn’t have to be Deku, you can practice with any other character from Class 1-A.
Really useful mode ’cause this way you can clearly see which character suits you and what playstyle each one has. It can be tricky when you pick a character you haven’t even tried before and then fight another player or even the computer and have no clue what’s going on or what to do. Though, the game does a great job technically forcing you through other modes to try different characters, so it’s never boring. The only frustrating part is that, again, you have no idea what you’re doing the first few times. In some cases even longer (looking at you, Tsunagu)…
Memory mode
Memory mode, or rather Hero’s Diary within it, offers stories from the perspective of other characters and Deku’s friends. Here you can play “scenarios” you haven’t had the chance to see before. Just like fragments of memories. But you have to unlock them through missions. In them, you can fight, explore, and just have fun. The point is to immerse yourself in the segment. In the same phone section, you have options to browse the card collection I mentioned (little hint: there are tonnnns of them), as well as pick BGM tracks. You also get access to a gallery of moments you wanna “relive” and see again.
Archives mode
Or the Arcade building in town gives you the chance to relive the legendary fights that defined the anime series. For each fight, you have challenges on the side that, if you complete them, you get bronze, silver, and gold badges. You have to unlock these fights too by doing missions.
Missions mode
Ah, those famous missions… finally getting to them. Here you get the chance to play and do missions following the original script in the game’s virtual reality.You won’t be alone, you can pick characters to keep you company and help you complete tasks. Also, besides the main missions, you have Unique side missions where you help a character or do certain tasks. So side-quest type missions. When you finish them, you unlock Assist Characters who in return can help you and are divided into 3 types: Attack, Cure, and Result, so depending on that you get benefits like increased stats.
You can have up to 9 assistants total. So it wouldn’t be right to have a whole squad with you finishing everything—you still gotta show your own skills. And at the end you get a grade (C, B, A, or S), so if you try hard enough maybe you get a reward. Oh yeah, one more really important and super fun thing: here you can use characters’ Quirks to make certain missions easier but also to bring the Academy world to life.
Story mode
This mode lets you experience the fights from the final MHA season from this game’s unique perspective. It’s really immersive and a very, very cool chance to experience a story that already exists in some form. I think this was my favorite mode and I reckon it’ll be even more interesting for people who’ve watched the season and are up to date. The story goes linearly, left to right, and segments are locked so you can’t just skip half. And since this is a 3D arena fighter game, logically you can expect a ton of fights which, by the way, get harder and harder.
I’m not usually talented at these fighters. I mean, at least I know that now. But even so, I said the game left a really positive impression on me. The only flaw I’d point out is that fights sometimes get too chaotic. It’s hard to keep track of what’s happening and then it becomes overwhelming, you make mistakes easily and lose. I mean, all that is on-brand with the explosive fights of the anime itself, but in the game it can get tiring, especially for this type of fighter game. Or at least that’s my opinion, and we gotta take into account I don’t have much experience with this type of game. I’d add that this “problem” was more present when I was fighting against/with characters whose attacks I didn’t really know ’cause they didn’t interest me much (Tsunagu, looking at you again), so it’s very possible that once you get to know the characters and their attacks better, you’ll have a less chaotic experience.
We would like to thank CD Media Greece for providing us with a copy of the game for review purposes.
My Hero Academy: All's Justice (PC)
If you've been following the anime but haven't finished the final season yet, keep in mind this game has a ton of spoilers. You can definitely finish the story here too, so… what do I know, maybe you prefer to watch everything first, so heads-up. In that case, better hurry up, 'cause the game officially releases on Steam on February 6th, as well as on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
