Bandai Namco Entertainment will release the anime crossover fighting game, J-Stars Victory Vs.+ on June 30. The game will be available for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 plus digitally on PlayStation Vita. All versions will only have Japanese voiceovers.
Speaking with Siliconera producer Koji Nakajima confirmed there will not be any new playable characters in J-Stars Victory Vs.+. The roster is exactly the same as the Japanese version released last year. Two versions on J-Stars Victory Vs. were released in Japan and a limited edition release included anime theme songs. Unfortunately, there will not be any anime songs in the English version, but there will be a limited edition made for the West. Select retailers will have the J-Stars Victory Vs+ compendium available as a pre-order bonus.
"It’s been one year since we released the game in Japan and we implemented some balance changes after getting fan feedback," Nakajima explained when I asked him how J-Stars Victory Vs.+ was tweaked. "The revisions are pretty specific such as changing the combo sequence and how much knockback there is when characters get hit. We didn’t make many major changes compared to the Japanese version."
The main new feature in J-Stars Victory Vs.+ is Arcade mode. "We understand Western gamers expect to have more replay value, which is why we added Arcade mode exclusively for the West," said Nakajima. "There are many difficulty levels for this and what’s unique is depending on the difficulty level there are conditions such as only picking characters on your team who were from the ’80s or ’90s."
Bandai Namco and developer Spike Chunsoft made a PlayStation 4 version with upscaled graphics for the West too. Nakajima said the textures are pretty much the same as those found on PS3 and the framerate is 30fps just like on PS3. "We created this game to work at 30fps so when you consider the game balance this cannot be changed even on PS4."
J-Stars Victory Vs+ was made to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Shonen Jump, but it isn’t the only Jump crossover game. Nintendo made Jump Ultimate Stars with Ganbarion. "Candidly speaking, we don’t have any plans currently for making more collaboration titles like this. This is the first time we will release a big collaboration title in the West. Hopefully some of that feedback can be implemented in the next projects we’re working on."
