GENRE
	Fighter
	DEVELOPER
	Ganbarion
	PUBLISHER
	Bandai
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-2
	CONNECTIVITY
	no
	BUY NOW AT

On the party-friendly GameCube, there’s always room for another fighter, especially one that takes after Capcom’s classic Power Stone series. One Piece: Grand Battle is just that, as it provides an over-the-top, energized throw-down that fans of the show and casual gamers alike can enjoy. Familiarity with the series, in which naval-pursued, super-powered pirate teams race each other in a search for a dead pirate king’s treasure, is not needed, although the game may encourage you to seek out the television show or find the Shonen Jump manga that serves as the original source material.

visuals

Ganbarion, developers of Grand Battle, decided to create a subtly super-deformed look for the game’s characters, who feature slightly larger heads, hands, and feet than their print and television counterparts. While these polygonal characters contrast with what’s shown in the anime intro and ending movies, their deformed style is a perfect match to the frantic, cartoony mayhem of the game’s battles. Costumes and facial expressions are clean and well-defined, and they nicely stretch, morph, and distort with each fantastic fighting move. Since Plain-Jane fisticuffs are seldom used, it’s a treat to see the fighters engage in bizarre animations and whirls of special effects.

The fighting arenas, while not as numerous as the total number of fighters, are equally colorful, animated, and complementary to both the video game and source material. Fans will likely recognize various settings from the show, each populated by an audience of non-playable characters who ring the arenas.

Fans of the TV show and manga will also be pleased that Ganbarion has included loads of unlockable character art, crisp snippets from the cartoon at the end of each character’s journey in the story mode, and large character portraits to accompany dialogue sequences during the story mode.

audio

The Aussie-tinged television theme song bombastically welcomes you to the world of One Piece at the outset, but the game’s soundtrack is largely non-intrusive background music that fulfills a requirement of being bouncy yet complementary. Vocally, however, Ganbarion excels at including loads of vocal exclamations during battle--nearly one for every move for every character--as well as full voice acting for dialogue sequences that introduce game modes or segue the story mode along. The setups for many battles are largely non-sensical (“I want those eggs,” “You have issues with females in the military,” “Why haven’t you fed me?”), so listening to the voice actors go through such lines can be a little cringe-worthy, but again, it all complements the entire package and adds to the zany nature of the series.

gameplay

Gameplay is pick-up-and-play simple, ensuring that little kids and adults alike can have fun in one or two player battles and mini-games. Every fighting move is based on tapping a few buttons in one particular order or another, sometimes while holding down a shoulder trigger, and the rewards for mindless or thought-through sequences are usually over the top and amusing. This is largely thanks to many characters having magical fruit-imbued super powers, a conceit carried over from the manga and anime. For instance, series protagonist and captain of the Straw Hat Pirates Monkey D. Luffy has the ability to stretch and twist his body like Mr. Fantastic. His crewmates, which account for three additional fighters, use more traditional fighting moves or weapons such as swords and bombs, but rival pirate captains and the navy have outlandish abilities that rival Luffy’s, such as separating a body into projectiles that then snap back into place, turning into smoke-based yet tactile bludgeons, or “blossoming” an arm into eight arms in order to perform an eight-handed slap.

All characters also have a super attack that will allow a nearly defeated character to defeat an opponent with 80% of his life bar in one move. The strength, length, and duration of cutscene that shows this super attack is all dependent upon how low a fighter’s stamina (life bar) is and how big a difference in stamina there is between the fighters. Some fighting purists would probably scoff at such a move, as it is sometimes difficult to dodge and will completely flip a battle without warning.

In spite of the easy ways to carry out an attack, simple or super, there’s a sizable number of moves for each brawler, and this is enhanced by the selection of a sidekick to accompany a fighter in battle. Each character in the game has one to three possible choices of a sidekick in a battle, and the chosen sidekick will provide aggressive hand-to-hand attacks, distance attacks, or defensive assaults that push an antagonist outside a perimeter. To prevent abuse of this feature and keep things moving, a sidekick only shows up for a little while and, just like a super attack, requires a “food charge” that is easily filled by another gameplay mechanic, the Smash Brothers-esque item crates that pop up during a battle.

As if things weren’t chaotic enough with primary fighters and their sidekicks performing over the top moves in animated 3D worlds, Ganbarion upped the ante by including item containers that materialize throughout battle. These boxes can be thrown as weapons at opponents or smashed open to release fruit and a gameplay-enhancing item such as an attack or defense boost, a time-limited increase in running speed, or an accessory weapon such as a bee’s nest or Molotov cocktail. Fruit is plentiful in each crate yet only fills a fighter’s food charge and not his stamina bar. Taken altogether, One Piece: Grand Battle’s gameplay conjures fond memories of Power Stone and Smash Brothers alike.

Yet perhaps in comparison to those entries in the fighting genre, Grand Battle does pale in three areas: camera, arena size, and item variety. The game’s camera is usually not an issue, but it has a tendency to swoop in during dramatic attacks or character grabs, sometimes getting stuck underground or in a building, totally disorienting both players and removing any evidence of who’s getting harmed and by what. Fortunately, the camera does swoop back up to an above-ground view after a move is completed, but it still spins around the levels a lot, making it sometimes difficult to know which direction is which and where an opponent is at.

The arenas themselves, while lively and featuring great environmental gimmicks such as a rampaging cow, are tight and a little too small for as many characters and items going around the screen at once. Often you can see other areas that go on beyond the arena’s boundaries, but fighters are always forcibly shoved back into the constricted confines of the actual arena by onlookers, which is perturbing. Comparatively, Power Stone and Smash Brothers’ arenas were either more open or moved you along from area to area. This could have been made up for with a broader selection of arenas, but there are only seven, two of which must be unlocked.

Last, for an item-enhanced fighter, gamers who’ve experienced the multitude of items featured in other titles will definitely want more after repeatedly using Grand Battle’s sparse selection of a dozen. There are things to make up for these small complaints, however, such as unlockable characters and levels, and a separate mini-game mode that unlocks its own set of goodies and includes simple, Mario Party-styled challenges.

multiplayer

Two players can engage in a versus battle with any of the unlocked characters in any of the unlocked arenas. Alternately, they can compete in the previously mentioned mini-game mode. Thanks to the simple controls, gamers young and old, and their family members, can easily get into this game.

overall

The world of One Piece is colorful and lively, and Ganbarion has done a great job bringing it to life in this fighter. Evidence of their care is throughout the game in little details, such as one fighter’s totally different presentation when he fights a female character he has a crush on. For the duration of the battle his eyes are replaced with pink hearts and he begs for abuse while crying out in guilt for inflicting damage upon her. Goofy touches like this and the crazy fighting moves alone ensure gamers are sure to have a ball with Grand Battle. Many years have passed since a worthy entry of this flavor has been released in the fighter genre, and One Piece: Grand Battle does a fine job continuing that legacy. Fans of the show and gamers just looking for a personality-filled, arcade-styled game will be pleased.

8.0/10