Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is legitimately the best arcade sports title to come out since Rocket League.

When the issues of a game are rolled and stomped by its greatness, then it’s something to invest on if you have some spare.

I love anime games and arcade sports so combine the 2 and what do you get? Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions! Let's get to it.

In short, Captain Tsubasa is a simple tactics-adjacent sports game with characters you’ll quickly grow to love. Nothing here is particularly groundbreaking, but it is so much fun seeing Japan’s Golden Generation grow into tomorrow’s stars. The game probably doesn’t have much of a competitive future. That said, it did make me go out and pick up the manga. So, it's a win-win for creator Yoichi Takahashi. If you’re looking for a game that’s easy to get into and hard to put down, Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is as good as any.

In the end, Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is an exceptionally fun arcade soccer experience that can be forgiven for its lack of an intriguing story because the gameplay is so fun. The story isn't choppy or hard to follow, it's just too repetitive to keep the player's attention.

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is the wild and hyper-stylised sports game I've been craving for over a decade. The gameplay is quick to pick up, but hard to master, and the over-the-top anime transitions and animations that are sprinkled throughout the action make it endlessly entertaining. Offline and online versus is sure to give you hours of entertainment if you're the competitive type, while the hefty amount of single-player story content can keep you just as equally entertained. Anyone who's been waiting for the next great arcade sports game need not look any further – it's here, ...

The name Captain Tsubasa might not be that famous if you grew up in the US as well as some other countries. But if you, like me, grew up in Latin America, then you know it and probably love it. This long-running manga and anime franchise was an absolute hit among us football-loving kids, to the point that many professional players in Europe and the Americas decided to become pros after watching it when they were young. I’ve been hoping for a video game adaptation of Captain Tsubasa for so l...

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is not a perfect game, and it's not the most mechanically dense game, but thankfully, it doesn't have to be. Its strengths lie in its unhinged, over-the-top on-pitch action and its delightfully silly presentation. If you're looking for a football game that lets you focus on all the fun aspects of the sport while ignoring almost everything to do with tactics and strategy, this is the game for you.

Have you found yourself upset as of late with mainstream soccer games? No one would blame you. Fifa and Pro Evolution have become stagnant. For the past several iterations, both franchises have failed to see any real, significant, change. Thus, it’s hard not to look at them and feel as if EA Sports and Konami have been coasting through their development cycles. I understand that as we inch closer to a new generation, it’s difficult for a team to split their resources up in order to cater to a lesser version of a product. NHL 15 suffered immensely from this. But, regardless, sports game fans ar...

Unless you’re pretty deep into your anime, you’d be forgiven for not knowing exactly what Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is. Although it saw a successful reboot in 2018 and was renowned in the 80’s and 90’s, it hasn’t quite reached the same height of the usual suspects like Naruto and Dragon Ball. Hopefully that’s rectified with this new release though, as Captain Tsubasa is stylish, fun and full of heart.

If you’re a big fan of Captain Tsubasa, you might actually get a kick out of what’s on offer here. While its story scenes are a bit lifeless, they are genuinely entertaining, and there are plenty of twists and turns. You’ll have to grit your teeth and make your way through many unfulfilling football matches to enjoy them though. Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions didn’t have to be FIFA, but it at least had to provide a game of football that felt dynamic, fair and fun. It doesn’t do that, unfortunately, and so for most it’s going to be a major disappointment.

We can't imagine there's a huge overlap on the Venn diagram for football fans and anime and manga and enthusiasts, but here we are. Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is aiming squarely for the demographic of people that have both a Sky Sports and a Crunchyroll subscription, and good luck to it, we say.