Anime becomes a video game: Captain Tsubasa: Tiger shot in the fan heart

In the mid-1990s, "The Great Soccer Stars" conquered television screens and children's hearts. The anime cult around the kicking noble technician Tsubasa Ozora continues to this day. The latest video game variant takes gamers on a nostalgic journey, far from any known football simulation.

It's about friendship, the love of the game, lightning-fast actions on the ball and unimaginable shots on goal. Those who like the anime series "The Great Soccer Stars" will celebrate the video game implementation "Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions" for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Even if there is room for improvement in some parts of the game from Bandai Namco and the gameplay reveals some logic errors, it successfully captures the charm of the series about the football-mad Japanese boy Tsubasa Ozora. A football match so very different from the ever closer to reality Fifa or Pro Evolution Soccer – with high entertainment value and a large portion of nostalgia.

"The great football stars", in the original "Captain Tsubasa", became popular in Germany in the 1990s. An anime series that accompanies Tsubasa Ozora from his school team Nankatsu to the Japanese national junior team. In addition to an online mode with friendly duels and ranking lists, two large Tsubasa stories are then packaged in campaign modes in the game. The player learns the basics in the first storyline – here you slip into the role of the young Tsubasa Ozora and have to win the school championships. Ideal as an introduction, because here the most important characters are introduced again.

The second storyline then has significantly more role-play elements. Here the player has to assemble his own little soccer star and join a school to eventually challenge Tsubasa. Regional rivalries quickly become international ones. Because after victorious games against other school teams, Tsubasa will go on to the junior national team, which will take part in the World Cup in the USA. Your own character can be leveled up in the course of the game and equipped with special skills. For this, individual tasks have to be solved or friendships with other characters in the game have to be built – this works via a kind of memory system. Before each game, five possible team-mates and opponents are selected to teach skills. Depending on the grading of your own performance, the likelihood of being taught one or the other trick increases.

Face to face with Karl-Heinz Schneider

The story is not really new. With minor contemporary modifications, it is the story of the first 128 episodes from "The Great Football Stars". The matches remain exciting thanks to the dynamism and drama that are built up on the basis of rivalries on and off the pitch. First, the captains of other Japanese schools like Kojiro Hyuga, Jun Misugi or Hikaru Matsuyama Tsubasa challenge. Later it is the international stars like the German Karl-Heinz Schneider – a name based on Karl-Heinz Rummenigge – or the French Eru ShidoPierre.

What all the weighty characters in the series have in common: They all have special dribbling and shooting techniques. Whether tiger, twin, falcon or top spin – both in the series and in the video game version, this element remains the heart of the Tsubasa cosmos and is accordingly pompously staged.

These highlights, for which fans of the series had to wait five to ten episodes in places, can be triggered by video players in chord. A special shot or trick sequence follows the next. This is precisely why the game is far from being a soccer simulation. Arcade action would be more appropriate. The gameplay meets the basic requirements with standard controls for sprinting, passing, flanking and shooting, but that's about it with the possibilities. The rules are also designed for fast and action-packed play. Therefore there are no fouls. You can straddle and jostle as much as you can. This also happens in places in cutscenes that interrupt the flow of the game. In addition, "normal" goals can hardly be achieved – the super shots are needed.

Super shots rarely super effective

CAPTAIN TSUBASA: Rise Of New Champions – (Nintendo Switch)

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And unfortunately there is a logic error caused by the game mechanics. The special shots are used inflationarily. The endurance bar for players is a will bar for the opposing goalkeeper and it must first be processed with shots – i.e. the actions that are considered almost impossible to repair in the series. Very rarely you can catch the opposing goalkeeper with a top spin shot on the wrong foot. In addition, certain events are triggered within the story modes and goals conceded are inevitable – no matter how well you play. Means: In order to advance the story, you sometimes have to run after a deficit.

If you can't do anything with the name Tsubasa Ozora or Anime, you will have problems getting used to the game. Similar to the anime series, "Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions" is characterized by numerous dialogues about ambition, friendship and team spirit. In some places this is even for connoisseurs, the Japanese dubbing with German subtitles is charming, but exhausting in the long run. However, if the name of the title hero rings and childhood memories come to light – then you can look forward to an entertaining combination of action kick and nostalgia.