I feel like Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions should have received a lot more attention when it was released back in 2020. For those of us who grew up with the Captain Tsubasa anime, which basically means the entirety of South America, Europe, and a sizable chunk of Asia, I barely heard any buzz surrounding the game after its launch. That’s especially unfortunate considering it was actually pretty good, offering a much needed breath of fresh air in a console football landscape dominated by the usual simulation-heavy suspects, as well as underwhelming Mario spinoffs.

With its brand new sequel, Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters, finally out and available on more platforms this time around, perhaps the series will finally grab the attention from the gaming public it deserves. It might not be a massive game changer in terms of innovation, but it’s still a noticeable improvement over its predecessor which is well worth your time.

You only have access to two national teams at first. Play the story mode to unlock dozens more.

Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters features an array of gameplay improvements which are noticeable right from the first match. Its predecessor’s gameplay, which revolved around absurdist dribbling and overpowered shots that literally shoved the goalkeeper into the net, is mostly the same, but it has been tinkered with new elements to make it less samey and repetitive. In the first game, Max Actions, the flashy over-the-top ultimate moves which triggered cutscenes and the aforementioned overpowered shot, were limited to either kicks or tackles. In World Fighters, Max Actions can now be dribbles, special passes, and so on. It basically makes each player, and each player position, a bit more unique.

This still feels like an absurdist take on older arcade football games, such as SNK’s Super Sidekicks, but there is a bit more movement, and a bit more strategy. It doesn’t feel as superficial. You can chain dribbles and special dashes in a combo meter, which drastically improves your Max Action gauge. Think of how FIFA Street used to work: you’d perform tricks and dribbles in sequence, in order to ramp up the meter that allowed you to perform a special shot. Same premise, just with vastly flashier animations, and a lot more anime flair.

The great Carlos Santana. I loved his duet with Rob Thomas in 1998.

As for the presentation, there isn’t a lot to say about it that wasn’t already true of its predecessor. It’s a bit more detailed and noticeably flashier than before, but for the most part, it retains the same general animations, character models, and visual style. For an anime game, that’s hardly a problem. There’s no need to fix what isn’t broken, and the previous Captain Tsubasa was already a good looking game to begin with. Performance is similarly solid. No matter how much spectacular nonsense is happening onscreen, the framerate remains remarkably consistent. The main difference this time around is that the PlayStation 5 version targets 60fps.

Another thing you have to take into account is that Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters isn’t just a mere “update with more teams”, as you would expect from your usual sports game sequel. When it comes to its story mode, it actually picks up right where the previous game ended, now focusing on Tsubasa’s journey as a youth player quickly rising through the professional ranks in Brazil…

First time an Argentinean player ever accepted a loss gracefully.

However, you never actually play a career path starring him. The entire story mode is focused on your original creation, even if more famous players from the anime and manga are actually the cutscene protagonists. You are usually there in the side, interacting with famous people and being praised for your footballing skills, rarely interfering in the grand scheme of things. The core “canonical” focus of this career mode, this time around, is centered on a U-20 World Cup, with famous players from all over the world making a showcase.

That being said, you are not able to play as these national teams upon booting the game up for the first time. At first, you can play as a few Brazilian clubs, a few Japanese high school teams from the previous game, and two national teams: Japan and Brazil. You can unlock a few dozen extra national teams, from Germany to freaking Uzbekistan, by progressing through the story mode. Just a heads-up, in case you feel like Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters feels barren in terms of content when you boot it up for the first time; you have to progress through a sizeable chunk of its story in order to unlock everything the game has to offer.

You can chain tricks and dribbles in order to fill up your Max Action gauge with ease.

Improvements might not seem immediately apparent, but Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters is undoubtedly an upgrade over its predecessor. Whether it’s the larger selection of teams (even if a good chunk of them need to be unlocked through the story mode) or the noticeably more fluid gameplay, I can’t think of anything its already excellent predecessor did better. This is pure, absurdist arcade football, a truly unique take on the sport that no other game currently manages to replicate at this level of quality. A must for fans, a must for anyone who thought the previous Mario Strikers was a disappointment, and simply a game that deserves its moment in the spotlight. Its predecessor somehow failed to get the attention it deserved, so hopefully World Fighters won’t suffer the same fate.

Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters was provided by the publisher.