It’s been a while for mainline Captain Tsubasa games, but that all changes this year in 2020! After a number of mobile titles, ten years later, there’s now Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions. We had the chance to interview the game’s producer, Tsuzuki Katsuaki, as we herald a return to the classic series!

As mentioned, it’s been ten years since the last console game. The mobile games could be said to have kept the flame going for a while longer, but a decade is quite a bit to wait! Tsuzuki notes that Captain Tsubasa remains a beloved series nevertheless, with fans all around the world.

There’d been internal discussions over making a new title, what with its various previous iterations on console and mobile and it was ultimately decided the game they wanted to make was one that used the latest technology to bring Captain Tsubasa to life. With the latest anime adaptation having completed in airing in 2019, they felt it was a good time to push forward with a new title.

Now, the game has been described as an “arcade football/soccer game”. Tsuzuki explains it by describing the charm of Captain Tsubasa being in the players and techniques, wanting players to experience that first hand. Plenty of trial and error was involved to make the game enjoyable for players of different skill levels. Movement and passes will remain familiar to soccer players, of course.

Under those basic actions, there is plenty of room for depth, he promises, which includes special shooting, dribbling techniques and the unique goal keeper energy system in the game. Add to that the gameplay and graphics, to provide a “new kind of soccer game experience”.

Fans and newcomers alike can expect the story mode to follow the anime, with Tsuzuki saying “it is only the beginning”. While he can’t fully disclose details of the story or the exact cast size in the game yet, he hopes you will look forward to future announcements. This goes for character customization as well, but he hints that they do have something in the works “that people are going to like”.

This is the first Captain Tsubasa game in ten years, and we’re putting all our efforts into developing it. We hope to give you updates about what to expect in the story department in the near future. Please look forward to it. We intend to make this public later, but for now I will say that it will include a lot of familiar faces from the anime. Please wait for further updates.

Not to keep harping on it, but ten years is enough time for a new generation of people who do not necessarily recognize even a classic like Captain Tsubasa. This is the reason why Rise of Champions is an action game, so that it can appeal to more players without knowing the series.

We’re aiming to make a game where players who want to try something new will start to see the appeal of the series the more they play, and hopefully love it by the time they finish.

That ties in to how the game is advertised to have simple controls, which won’t be satisfying the more hardcore players. Tsuzuki assures there will be depth of control and skill combinations that will give a lot of room to strategize. An easy to pick up, but hard to master game, that it’ll be!

Segueing into the possibility of esports at this juncture, it’s not on the pitch for now. The focus is first on game balance and making the base game enjoyable before any competitive element comes into play. As players follow the story, they will surely become more familiar with the controls. While esports may not be the “ultimate goal” per se, if enough players reach a high skill level to create an esports scene, it would be great to say the least.

Since it is a soccer game, you might expect a referee. No plans are in place for one though, as they want to work on the more important part: the players themselves! 22 characters will be on the field simultaneously, and even one more character could negatively impact the overall model quality. Speaking of visual fidelity, 2 v 2 mode will not be in split screen, to be one screen instead, so as not to lessen the visual impact of the game.

Each character will be able to perform a basic blocking move, moving around the team formation to place characters in front of shooters and keepers. A chain of blocks will be possible with this method, using multiple characters. There’s another mechanic in the spirit gauge, which you can recover with certain skills as well as making use of the “V Zone Gauge”.

Future information will be covering any updates or potential DLC, like seeing Tsubasa go overseas, as an example. Tsuzuki once again coyly teases about “an announcement planned which I think will exceed fan expectations”. If you’ve seen a build of the game floating around, it’s only a trial version, so do look forward to twice as many voice lines and variety once the full game does release!