My Hero Academia is a series with a large cast, and lots of the characters are appealing. While sometimes you have to wait for the anime or manga to feature them, My Hero One’s Justice is good about paying attention to the people who are not Deku. He definitely is the star in the campaign, and people like All Might, All for One, and Tomura Shigaraki are big deals, the story and mission modes both also make sure the other characters get a lot of attention and look just as cool as the more prominent people.
My Hero One’s Justice makes sure it emphasizes the importance of other characters early on in the campaign. The fourth match shifts the focus off of Izuku and onto Tenya. In the series, Tenya’s elder brother, Tensei, was injured so badly by the Hero Killer Stain that he needed to retire. We then fight as Tenya against Stain, as he attempts to get some sort of revenge. It really lets us appreciate his Engine Quirk, which allows him to speed through fights and deal extra damage enhanced by the engines on his legs. It is almost like Byking and Bandai Namco are letting the player know that this is the sort of series where every member of the cast has a part to play and is showing early on that other people are going to get their due.
The campaign them immediately shows that was not some one-off, rare occurrance, as we end up being able to see scenarios where Gran Torino, Shoto, Tenya, Eijiro, Katsuki, Kyoka, Momo, and Tsuyu get times to shine. The story wisely doesn’t just focus on Izuku’s quest to become a hero. It shows off different facets of the My Hero Academia storyline. Lots of battles shift between various viewpoints where other students (and teachers) get to be the focus or we have the option to choose one of them instead of the default star. I appreciated that a lot as I played, since so many are so interesting. We get to see glimpses of what makes them special in the story and in subsequent battles.
My Hero One’s Justice’s mission mode functions similarly. But here, rather than point out how important these other characters are to the story, we get to see how strong their movesets might be. For example, the second mission mode segment has some battles against people who you might not consider as intimidating. There is a Froppy fight where only Plus Ultra attacks do any real damage to her and you have to defeat her within a very limited amount of time. Her skillset is great at picking at you, then running away. There is also an Uravity match where you can’t have sidekicks with you and she is very liberal about grabbing and tossing you around the classroom if you get too close to her. These sorts of fights are enlightening, in that they show off what these characters are capable of and maybe make them look a little more appealing to use.
I especially want to call attention to Creati, aka Momo Yaoyorozu. This is a character that could have been really difficult to pull off, since her Quirk allows her to create items if she knows the chemical composition of them. Her appearance here really highlights everything to do with it. She has the book that lets her know what things of made of on her back. When you use her Quirk, you can cycle through various weapons. Once you pick one, she can use it for a certain number of times before chucking it away and requiring you to make a new one. When you use her standard attack combos, she puts together a number of various weapons for her assault. It really does a good job of visualizing what might be a hard to imagine power.
The same goes for Earphone Jack. Kyoka is a young woman whose earlobes have earphone jacks attached and can enhance her hearing or let her use her heartbeat as an attack. In My Hero One’s Justice, we see her use this skill in multiple ways. A more physical means of attack is turning her earlobes into whips that quickly strike opponents. This is great, because it allows her to remain a fighter who can maintain the distance between her and her foe, but still have a melee attack. Her other Quirk skills rely on her heartbeat, pulling up speakers that offer amplified ranged attacks that assault a foe. They really keep with the spirit of the character, which is great for someone with such an odd Quirk.
My Hero One’s Justice is good at showing what makes each of the characters special. This occurs in each moveset, the campaign, and during the missions. Every element makes sure someone does not go with the major players who are familiar, like Deku or All Might. It is an ensemble piece, just like My Hero Academia is, and I hope others get that same feeling from it and appreciate that.
My Hero One’s Justice is available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
