Inazuma Eleven GO

Inazuma Eleven GO brought the popular Japanese series blending football with RPG elements to Nintendo 3DS, while also moving several years forward on the story timeline compared to the original trilogy. The player leads a new team of young footballers through a series of matches that are not a pure sports simulation, but rather a tactical battle full of exaggerated, visually flashy special techniques called hissatsu - they reflect the characters' personalities and trigger flashy full-screen animations when used. The new generation of heroes around the Raimon team thus builds on the legacy of the series' earlier heroes without requiring the player to know the original trilogy, gradually introducing it through its own, self-contained storyline.

The team is built up much like in an RPG - players have stats that improve through training and matches, new teammates can be recruited, and formations and tactics can be experimented with directly on the touchscreen. This combination of sports gameplay with the kind of progression typical of collectible RPGs is the main reason the series found such a strong fanbase, especially in Japan, where it was also accompanied by a successful anime. The visual style is lively and colorful, the music dramatic and building, exactly in the spirit of the anime that inspires the game, and the transitions between regular gameplay and grandly animated match sequences are among the most distinctive features of the entire series.

In its home country of Japan, it was an extraordinarily successful title that kickstarted further sequels (Chrono Stone, Galaxy) and cemented the series' position as one of the most distinctive sports-themed franchises on Nintendo handhelds. A localized version reached the West only with a noticeable delay. Even today, Inazuma Eleven GO remains interesting as a fresh genre mix that shows how football gameplay can be approached differently than through pure simulation.