''Jump Force'' is a Japanese

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in ...

featuring characters from various

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series featured in

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

's ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that run ...

'' anthology in celebration of the magazine's 50th anniversary. The game was released on February 14, 2019 in Japan for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

and

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, and the following day worldwide in addition to

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. A

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

port was released worldwide on August 28, 2020. The game received mixed reviews from critics.

Premise

When the real world collides with many of the ''Shōnen Jump'' universes, humanity is invaded by the "Venoms", an army of mind-controlled villains led by Kane and Galena. In order to fight back, many heroes are recruited to join the "Jump Force" under the leadership of Director Glover and his

A.I. Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech rec ...

partner Navigator. But a suspicious figure is using both the Jump Force and the Venoms as an attempt to gain a mysterious artifact and merge all worlds into one.

Plot

Frieza attacks

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with an army of Venoms, being confronted by Son Goku; however, a stray laser blast from Frieza fatally wounds a civilian in the war zone. Trunks revives the civilian with a cybernetic device called an umbras cube, giving them the potential to be a hero like them. Frieza withdraws, allowing Goku and Trunks to take the civilian back to their HQ, where they are greeted by Director Glover. Glover explains that the manga worlds from "

Jump Jumping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living (e.g., robotic) mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory. Jump or Jumping also may refer to: Places * Jump, Kentucky or Jump St ...

" have somehow begun merging with the real world and using their own umbras cubes to turn evil-hearted humans into Venoms, forcing him to create the Jump Force to quell the threat; the organization consists of heroes from the "Jump" worlds, along with other people saved through the cubes. The group is divided into Alpha, Beta and Gamma teams; Son Goku leads Alpha (along with

Piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

, Zoro and

Gaara is a character in the ''Naruto'' manga and anime series created by Masashi Kishimoto. Originally debuting as an antagonist, Gaara is a shinobi affiliated with Sunagakure and is the son of Sunagakure's leader, the Fourth Kazekage. He was born a ...

) to fight off the invading Venoms, Luffy leads Beta (along with Boa Hancock, Sanji, Boruto and later Vegeta) to reclaim the territory from the Venoms, while Naruto leads Gamma (along with

Kakashi , is a 2001 horror film based on the Junji Ito manga of the same name. The film follows Kaoru Yoshikawa, whose search for her missing brother Tsuyoshi leads her to Kozukata, an isolated village that seems to harbor dark secrets. Plot T ...

, Sasuke, Trunks and Sabo) for stealthy reconnaissance. The new hero, who serves as the game's player character, is asked to join one of the divisions to help repel the invasion.

Light Yagami is the main protagonist of the manga series ''Death Note'', created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. He is portrayed as a brilliant but bored genius who finds the Death Note, an otherworldly supernatural notebook that allows the user to kill a ...

, whose Death Note lost its powers by the merging of worlds has also joined, secretly intent on restoring it. The Jump Force discover other heroes being mind-controlled by umbras cubes charged with evil energy. They free the heroes and recruit them, taking the cubes for inspection. Duplicates of the Jump villains made of the dark umbras cubes also appear, along with the real ones, adding to the confusion. After an amnesiac girl named Angela is rescued, several members of the Jump Force suddenly become possessed by evil auras during missions, leading them to suspect a traitor is among them. While Sanji is initially blamed, the culprit is revealed to be Angela, who is a disguise for the evil Galena. She steals the collected umbras cubes and gives them to her master Kane, a man seeking to wipe out humanity in revenge for the deaths of his family. The player pursues and defeats Kane, but Glover reveals himself as Prometheus, the true mastermind behind the merging of the worlds and Galena's true master, having used Kane to sow chaos across the worlds. Having outlived his usefulness, Galena seemingly kills Kane and proceeds to stall the heroes to allow Prometheus to continue his plans. The heroes defeat Galena, only for Prometheus to absorb her afterward. The heroes confront Prometheus, who reveals himself to be a "keyman" charged with showing the real world the stories of "Jump", but grew tired of humanity's vices and attempts to merge the real and the Jump worlds together in order to guide humanity in the right direction. He steals the player's cube for its good energy, planning to use it to balance the evil energy he collected from the villains to become a god. The villains form a temporary truce with the heroes, while a still-alive Kane uses the last of his strength to give his cube to the player and Goku empowers them further with the energy from all of the Jump Force, allowing them to destroy Prometheus. However, Prometheus's death does not separate the realities, leaving Earth still under threat from the ''Jump'' villains. At Trunks' suggestion, the player character becomes the new Jump Force director and continues to protect humanity. Meanwhile, Light finds an umbras cube left behind by Prometheus, planning to use its dark energy to re-power his Death Note.

Gameplay

''Jump Force'' is a 1-v-1

where the player controls a team of three characters from a selection of various

series featured in the ''

'' magazine. Players control one character at a time while the others are used as support, with players able to switch between them during battle. Combat functions similarly to the previous ''Jump'' fighting game, such as ''

J-Stars Victory VS is a crossover fighting video game that combines the universes of several ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' manga series, including former series and some that have been transferred to other magazines. It was released in Japan by Bandai Namco Entertain ...

'', '' Dragon Ball Xenoverse'' sub-series, '' Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm'' sub-series and '' One Piece: Burning Blood'', with players moving around a 3D space and utilizing various combos and special moves to attack their opponents. The match ends when one team depletes the other's health bar.

Characters

The game's launch roster features 40 playable characters from 16 series, with 14 additional characters available as downloadable content via Character Passes and three added as part of a free update for a total of 57 characters. In addition, players are allowed to create their own unique playable character, customizing them with abilities, outfits and accessories earned through gameplay.

Playable characters

;''

Black Clover is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since February 2015, with its chapters collected in 33 ''tankōbon'' volumes ...

'' * Asta ;''

Bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

'' * Ichigo Kurosaki * Rukia Kuchiki * Renji Abarai * Sōsuke Aizen *

Tōshirō Hitsugaya is a Character (arts), fictional character in the manga and anime series ''Bleach (manga), Bleach'', created by Tite Kubo. In the series, Hitsugaya is a captain of the 10th division or squad of the Gotei 13, a group of List of Soul Reapers in Bl ...

(DLC) * Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez (DLC) *

Yoruichi Shihōin is a fictional character in the anime and manga series '' Bleach'' created by Tite Kubo. Character outline Yoruichi Shihōin is a woman who can transform into a black cat for long periods of time. She is intelligent and witty, and is intimatel ...

(DLC) ;'' Boruto: Naruto Next Generations'' *

Boruto Uzumaki is a fictional character created by Masashi Kishimoto who first appears in the finale of the manga series ''Naruto'' as the son of the protagonist Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Uzumaki. He later appears as the main protagonist in the 2015 anim ...

;'' City Hunter'' *

Ryo Saeba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1985 to 1991 and collected into 35 ''tankōbon'' volumes by its publisher Shueisha. The manga was adapted into ...

;''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters colle ...

'' * Son Goku * Vegeta * Trunks *

* Frieza * Cell * Majin Buu (DLC) ;'' Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai'' * Dai ;'' Fist of the North Star'' * Kenshiro ;'' Hunter × Hunter'' * Gon Freecss *

Killua Zoldyck Killua may refer to: Places Ireland * Killua Castle, Clonmellon, County Westmeath * Killua (civil parish), a civil parish in the barony of Delvin, County Westmeath * Killua, County Westmeath, a townland in the barony of Delvin Other * Killua ...

* Kurapika * Hisoka Morow * Biscuit Krueger (DLC) * Meruem (DLC) ;'' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' *

Jotaro Kujo is a fictional character in the Japanese manga series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. The main protagonist of the series' third story arc, ''Stardust Crusaders'', Jotaro is depicted as a rough delinquent ...

* DIO *

Giorno Giovanna The ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' manga series features a large cast of characters created by Hirohiko Araki. Spanning several generations, the series is split into eight parts, each following a different descendant of the Joestar family. Parts 7 ...

(DLC) ;''

My Hero Academia is a Japanese superhero manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 2014, with its chapters additionally collected into ...

'' *

Izuku Midoriya , also known by his hero name , is a superhero and the main protagonist of the manga series ''My Hero Academia'', created by Kōhei Horikoshi. In the series, he is an ambitious first-year high schooler and the 9th (and current) holder of "One ...

All Might The ''My Hero Academia'' manga and anime series features a vast world with an extensive cast of characters created by Kōhei Horikoshi. The series takes place in a fictional world where more than 80% of the global population possesses some for ...

(DLC) * Katsuki Bakugo (DLC) *

Shoto Todoroki , also known by the mononym , is a superhero and one of the main protagonists of the manga series ''My Hero Academia'', created by Kōhei Horikoshi. Being the only child who inherited both Endeavor and Rei's Quirks, Shoto was often separated from ...

(DLC) ;'' Naruto'' *

Naruto Uzumaki () is the titular protagonist of the manga ''Naruto'', created by Masashi Kishimoto. As the series progresses, he is a young ninja from the fictional village of Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf Village). The villagers ridicule and ostracize Naruto on ...

* Sasuke Uchiha *

Kakashi Hatake is a fictional character in the ''Naruto'' manga and anime series created by Masashi Kishimoto. In the story, Kakashi is the teacher of Team 7, consisting of the series' primary characters, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and ...

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Madara Uchiha is a fictional manga and anime character in the ''Naruto'' series created by Masashi Kishimoto. He appears for the first time in "Part II" of the manga and the ''Shippuden'' anime adaptation, as a major antagonist. He, along with its first Hokag ...

(DLC) ;''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

'' *

Monkey D. Luffy , also known as , is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''One Piece'' manga series, created by Eiichiro Oda. Luffy made his debut as a young boy who acquires the properties of rubber after accidentally eating one of the devil f ...

Roronoa Zoro , also known as , is a Character (arts), fictional character in the ''One Piece'' franchise created by Eiichiro Oda. In the story, Zoro is the first crewmate to join Monkey D. Luffy's crew after he is saved (by Luffy and Koby (One Piece), Koby ...

* Sanji * Sabo * Boa Hancock * Blackbeard * Trafalgar D. Water Law (DLC) ;'' Rurouni Kenshin'' * Himura Kenshin * Shishio Makoto ;''

Saint Seiya , also known as ''Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac'' or simply ''Knights of the Zodiac'' (translated from the French title ''Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque''), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada. It ...

'' *

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;''

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine between September 1996 and March 2004. The plot follows the story of a boy named Yugi Mutou, w ...

'' * Yugi Muto/Yami Yugi *

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(DLC) ;'' Yu Yu Hakusho'' * Yusuke Urameshi *

Younger Toguro The ''YuYu Hakusho'' manga series features a diverse cast of fictional characters created by Yoshihiro Togashi. It follows fourteen-year-old junior high school delinquent Yusuke Urameshi, who dies and is resurrected in order to become the Underw ...

* Hiei (DLC) ;Original ''Jump Force'' characters * * *

Non-playable characters

;''

Death Note ''Death Note'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 2003 to May ...

'' *

* Ryuk ;Original ''Jump Force'' characters *

Development and release

''Jump Force'' was developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Bandai Namco. The game is using Unreal Engine 4, and was created in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. ''

'' creator

Akira Toriyama is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for his highly successful manga series ''Dr. Slump'', before going on to create ''Dragon Ball'' (his best-known work) and acting as a character design ...

designed the original characters created for the game. ''Jump Force'' was announced at E3 2018 during Microsoft's press conference. It was released on February 14, 2019 for

and

in Japan, and on February 15, 2019 in the west for the same platforms, as well as

. A

port was announced in April 2020. The Switch version, titled ''Jump Force Deluxe Edition'', includes the downloadable content from the first Character Pass and was released worldwide on August 28, 2020.

Discontinuation

On November 10, 2021, Bandai Namco announced the discontinuation of the game. It was delisted from digital stores along with its downloadable content on February 8, 2022, and the shutdown of its online servers happened 10 months later on August 24, 2022.

Reception

The game received "mixed or average reviews" according to review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

Sales

In Japan, approximately 76,894 physical units for PS4 were sold during its launch week, becoming the top-selling game that week. As of 17 March 2019, the PS4 version has sold 190,214 physical units in Japan. The Nintendo Switch version sold 15,588 retail copies during its first week on sale in Japan, making it the seventh bestselling game of the week in the country. In North America, the game debuted at number two on NPD's monthly sales chart for February 2019, behind only ''

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

''. ''Jump Force'' is North America's fourth best-selling game of 2019 (behind only ''

Kingdom Hearts III is a 2019 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch. It is the twelfth installment in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, and serves as a conclusion of the ...

'', ''Anthem'', and '' Resident Evil 2''), and had the third highest launch month sales for a Bandai Namco game in the territory. In Europe, ''Jump Force'' debuted at number four on the weekly UK charts, with the PS4 version accounting for 74% of launch sales. It debuted at number one on the weekly Italian charts, and at number three on the weekly Switzerland charts, behind the other two new releases of the week, ''

Metro Exodus ''Metro Exodus'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver. It is the third installment in the ''Metro'' video game trilogy based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novels, following the events of ''Metro 203 ...

'' and ''

Far Cry New Dawn ''Far Cry New Dawn'' is a 2019 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is a spin-off and sequel to ''Far Cry 5'', and the twelfth overall installment in the ''Far Cry'' series. Set seventeen years aft ...

''. Steam Spy estimates that the PC version sold between 50,000 and 100,000 units worldwide on the

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

platform, as of 23 March 2019. And between 200,000 and 500,000 units as of 22 December 2020.

Awards

References

External links

Jump Force Japanese official website

Jump Force North American official website

Jump Force European official website
{{Navboxes , title=Series featured in ''Jump Force'' , list1= {{Black Clover {{Bleach {{City Hunter {{Death Note {{Dragon Ball games, state=collapsed {{Dragon Quest series {{Fist of the North Star {{Hunter × Hunter {{JoJo's Bizarre Adventure {{My Hero Academia {{Naruto {{One Piece {{Rurouni Kenshin {{Saint Seiya {{Yu-Gi-Oh! {{YuYu Hakusho 2019 video games Bandai Namco games Crossover fighting games Bleach (manga) video games Dragon Ball games Fighting games Inactive multiplayer online games JoJo's Bizarre Adventure games Multiplayer and single-player video games Naruto video games Nintendo Switch games One Piece games PlayStation 4 games Saint Seiya video games Spike Chunsoft video games Science fiction video games Superhero video games Unreal Engine games Video games developed in Japan Video games about parallel universes Video games with AI-versus-AI modes Video games with downloadable content Weekly Shōnen Jump (video game series) Windows games Works based on Square Enix video games Products and services discontinued in 2022 Xbox One games Yu-Gi-Oh! video games YuYu Hakusho games Video games with customizable avatars