Video games
CHF39.90
Bandai Namco Captain Tsubasa: Rise Of New Champions
Switch Lite, Switch OLED, Switch, Multilingual
Forget "FIFA" and "PES": "Captain Tsubasa" is the true football champion
2.9.2020
Translation: machine translated
Dramatic rivalries. Emotional flashbacks. Football pitches with a curvature of the earth. And shots kicked so hard that they send the goalkeeper crashing into the net: The legendary anime series about the super footballer Captain Tsubasa is finally getting a worthy game adaptation. The kick-off for the big duel between Luca and me is at 2 pm.
"No one can slow him down. Nobody fools him. Always the right shot. Always at the right time."
This is the intro to what was probably the most successful anime series of the early 1980s: "The Great Football Stars". It was created in 1981 by Yōichi Takahashi, particularly inspired by the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. The story revolves around the talented 11-year-old Tsubasa Ozora, who dreams of a great career - and we dream with him.
The series is full of drama, on and off the pitch. There are rivalries. Hard-hitting training sessions. Deep friendships. The matches sometimes last for several episodes. They are the highlight of the series, not least because of the completely crazy special attacks that defy the laws of physics and turn the ball into an egg because it is shot so hard.
With "Captain Tsubasa: Rise of the Champion", there is now finally a PC and console conversion that is just as crazy as the series and that is precisely why it is so much fun.
Play as Tsubasa or as a newcomer
"Captain Tsubasa: Rise of the Champion" can be played alone or online against others. Developer Tamsoft has two campaigns for single players. In "Episode New Hero", you create your own character and try to lead your team to the title.
The highlight for fans of the series, however, is the episode about Tsubasa. It retells the section of the anime series that deals with the third national championship. Like the series, there are animated cut-scenes à gogo between all the football matches, all with an overdose of emotion typical of anime. Former team-mates, who now attend different schools, become rivals. And because football is not just sport, but life, the competitions are fateful.
For example: title hero Tsubasa could win the national championship and end up in the notebooks of talent scouts, who would then take him to Brazil, where he could launch a global career. Opposite him is centre-forward Kojiro Hyuga, whose exaggerated ego, bordering on arrogance, is reminiscent of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Then, in an emotional flashback - in the middle of the build-up to the game, of course - it becomes clear: Hyuga wants to win the tournament so that he can use the prize money to provide for his sick mother and three younger siblings. His father was killed in a car accident years ago - on the way to a football match for Hyuga, who was still young at the time. Since then, he has been on his own. A born fighter.
The game gradually introduces all the other well-known characters from the series. You can also look up clips on individual characters and their background story. For example, you can find out that Tsubasa was hit by a lorry as a child. However, the football he was holding in his hands stopped the impact and saved his life. Since then, Tsubasa has had a motto: The football is your friend.
Even: Drama on and off the pitch.
Arcade instead of simulation
The actual matches play like the arcade version of "FIFA". Realistic ball and player physics are less the focus than sparking tackles or dribbling, which are emphasised by mini cutscenes. And goals are not scored by playing finely. First you have to break the goalkeeper's will. You do this by wearing him down with a series of sharp shots. Only then is a goal possible. A great example of how the series' charmingly daft nature has been transferred to the game mechanics.
As mentioned, the games are regularly interrupted by story sequences. For example, when the opposing team launches the Falcons' special attack or Tsubasa talks to the other team's striker about how that was a particularly nice move.
Despite a few bugs, such as the shifted text in the menus, and the lack of a synchronised audio version - at least the text is in German - the first few hours of "Captain Tsubasa: Rise of the Champion" are surprisingly fun. The game captures the spirit of the series perfectly and even if it doesn't have the depth of a "FIFA" or "PES" game, it entertains a sports game fan like me superbly.
"Captain Tsubasa: Rise of the Champion" is available for PC, PS4 and Switch and was provided to us by Bandai Namco.
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Philipp Rüegg
Senior Editor
Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.chBeing the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.
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