Despite taking the world by storm with its big E3 reveal,Jump Forcedidn’t exactly hit the mark in the way that many anime fans hoped it would. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean that an improved sequel is out of the realm of possibility.
Having been developed in commemoration of the 50th anniversary ofWeekly Shōnen Jump,the expectations forJump Forcewere extremely high from the beginning. It didn’t live up to the hype that surrounded it in a lot of ways, but the crossover anime fighter did still manage to garner a loyal following. For many of those fans, a burning question is whether or not aJump Forcesequel will happen in the foreseeable future. Nothing has been announced, but there are some pretty strong arguments for whyJump Force 2could happen and how it could end up being even bigger than the first.
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Expanding Roster Potential
To this day,Jump Forcecontinues to fill out its rosterwith fan favorite characters from the many series featured in the game. One of the main purposes behind most anime games is to promote its source material, andJump Forcehas the rare opportunity to do this easily with some of the most recognizable faces in anime at its disposal. This frees the game up to include characters like Dai, the protagonist ofDragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai,giving the series exposure on a grand scale before new material for the series surfaces elsewhere.
AJump Forcesequel could continue to promote upcoming anime while honoring the classics. There were a number of hugeWeeklyShonen Jumptitles that didn’t get a spot inJump Forcethat many fans would’ve loved to see. Series likeGintamawere huge icons for the publicationbefore ending and it would be a shame for them to never get the same kind of treatment given toNarutoand One Piece. Similarly, a sequel toJump Forcewould be a great time to promote a series likeShaman King, which currently has an anime reboot being streamed on Netflix. If planned correctly,Jump Forcesequels could become very lucrative promotional tools.
Jump Force’s Achievements and Lessons Learned
Despite its mixed reviews,Jump Forcedid manage to make an impact on the market for most of the platforms it was released on. It was among the top selling games in North America in 2019, also making it one of Bandai Namco’s strongest launches in the west to date. The Nintendo Switch port of the game (which only released last year), was one ofthe top selling Switch titlesin Japan during its first week of release. If Bandai Namco could reach such heights with a title that was met with mixed review scores, an improved game could perform even better.
Now thatJump Forcehas been around long enough, the majority of its strengths and weaknesses have been discussed at length by its player base. This gives Bandai Namco and Spike Chunsoft a better outline of what players would be looking for in a sequel. Most successful fighting game franchises don’t end up knocking it out of the park with their first entry. If theJump Forceseries were to steadily improve with each entry in a similar way totheNaruto: Ultimate Ninja Stormseries, fans could be in for a real treat.
The firstJump Forcelaid out a mostly solid groundworkfor future games to build on. The biggest criticisms toward the game are often related to its presentation and optimization. Cutting down on load times and using a visual style that lends itself better to an anime art style could be the key toJump Force 2’s success. A sequel toJump Forcecould be a game changer for anime fighting games. With a few tweaks and changes,Jump Force 2could very well end up going above and beyond the expectations that were set for the first game.
Jump Forceis out now for PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.
