The balloon is our best friend!
Do you remember the long afternoons spent in front of the television in the company of Japanese anime? How not to mention the beloved Holly and Benji, Captain Tsubasa for purists. On the other hand it is impossible to forget the thousand thousand episodes in which the young man Ozora Tsubasa (Oliver Hutton for the older ones) ran around the kilometer-long soccer fields of the Japanese suburbs.
Well, it is important to know that like many other anime, Captain Tsubasa has also had various videogame adaptations. At present, the series counts over 19 video game additions, of which only four managed to cross the coasts of the rising sun.
Having said that, we can face this journey into the world of memories together.
Tecmo Cup Soccer Game (NES) - 1988
This is the very first title connected to the brand, which landed in Europe in 1992, represents an attempt to Tecmo in transforming the brand into a video game for NES. The fairly simple controls allowed players to calmly decide whether to pass, shoot or dribble.
The narrative part, on the other hand, was clearly inspired by the events of the animated series, even if partially modified. In fact, the good Ozoro Tsubasa was replaced by a blond player, named Robin Field, apparently anything but adolescent.
Meanwhile, in Japan, the success of the brand led the development team to realize ben four sequels for the NES and SNES and two spin-offs released on Sega CD and Game Boy, actually all very similar to each other.
Captain Tsubasa J: Get in the Tomorrow (PS1) - 1995
After the long history in Tecmo, the brand passed into the hands of the guys of Bandai, who brought a title with a strong football imprint to the newborn PlayStation 1. The title, released exclusively in Japan, featured two main game modes, one capable of transporting you to the middle of history, the other dedicated to friendlies.
This title started from the narration of the intense final between Germany and Japan, then moving on to the debut of Shingo Aoi (Rob Denton).
In the same year, Bandai decided to exploit the brand by launching two new titles, one on the Game Boy and one on the SNES, as if they wanted to “cancel” the legacy of Tecmo.
Captain Tsubasa: Aratanaru Densetsu Joshou (PS1) - 2002
After Bandai's long silence, another Japanese company has decided to take over the brand: Konami. The software house released two dedicated titles in the same year, one for Game Boy Advance and one for PS1.
Both games were strongly tied to the single-player, but the game mode was decidedly bizarre, in fact, it forced the player to move the character one square at each turn, so much so that the matches lasted about 40 minutes each.
Captain Tsubasa: Ougon Sedai no Chousen (NGC) - 2002
Also in 2002, Konami tried to bring an experience that mixed the RPG mechanics ed typical elements of football titles to GameCube owners.
It is one of the strangest titles ever launched by the publisher, so much so that it is remembered for the excessive ugliness of the polygonal models, often without a face.
Captain Tsubasa Jikkyou Typing (PC) - 2003
Unfortunately, even the best series hit rock bottom and as we have seen Captain Tsubasa is not without failures. The most obvious disaster is connected with the development study E-Frontier, who, we still don't know why, decided to create a typing game with the brand created by the mangaka Takahashi.
In case you don't know this genre, we only tell you that it requires the player to write sentences (often very long) within a time limit. Leading to a disastrous and not very funny title.
Captain Tsubasa (PS2) - 2006
After years of failures, the brand is back in the hands of the Bandai guys, who managed to create a very pleasant and fun game for PlayStation 2. The title, saw us directly impersonate the good Tsubasa, who through a series of commands indicated to the his companions the actions to be performed.
In addition, many of the actions performed, especially the special shots, made use of Quick Time Events and resulted in animations not very dissimilar to those present in the anime. In fact, Bandai in those years thanks to other titles inspired by Japanese manga or anime (Dragon Ball, Naruto, Knights of the Zodiac) had developed a fun and stimulating QTE system, so much so that some gamers still regret it today.
Captain Tsubasa: Kick Off (NDS) - 2010
Konami, after the little-loved chapters of the 2000s, decided to try again, this time on Nintendo DS. The title, despite a good quality visual rendering, was damaged by a decidedly uncomfortable mapping of the commands and a not very incisive rhythm.
Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team (Mobile) - 2017
In the wake of the success of Fifa Ultimate Team, KLab Games decided to launch a mobile title that was intended to make us create the team of our dreams, fielding players like Schneider e Carlos Santana in the same team.
Although the idea was very interesting, the title proved to be quite boring and devoid of pathos.
Here we conclude our brief analysis on the videogame history of Captain Tsubasa, too often characterized by mediocre and shallow titles.
However, the new title made by the guys from Tamsoft e Bandai Namco seems to be on the right track. In fact, it seems to have transformed (finally) into an entirely football title, all enriched by the story mode and the possibility of playing online.
What else to say, we'll find out what it has in store for us Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions from the next 28th August. In case you haven't pre-ordered it yet, click here and score a goal against boredom.
