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One Piece of Nintendo's History

by Andrew Brown - February 10, 2014, 5:45 pm EST
Total comments: 3

A retrospective look at Nintendo's One Piece treasures.

If you ask just about any anime fan out there, they'll tell you that One Piece is awesome. Luffy's merry band of memorable oddballs have sailed their way to the title of “best selling manga in history,” and with good cause. Despite a history of licensed games being poor, One Piece is a series that manages to (mostly) avoid the tradition of bad games, including some halfway-decent battle titles for the GameCube and PS2, and a quirky-yet-fun Mario Party clone. A bunch of mediocre RPGs and one particularly dull fighter on the PS2 was starting to sour the franchise, however, until the Wii came along and gave the Straw Hat Pirates some truly epic adventures to sink their teeth into.

One Piece: Romance Dawn has launched in USA, and to get us in an appropriately pirate-y mood, I'm going to take a retrospective look at some of Bandai's recent One Piece gems on Nintendo platforms.

One Piece Unlimited Adventure – Wii, 2007

It all started when Nintendo Wii was first announced, with a demo reel showcasing upcoming games for the new console. We saw Luffy running around a vast plain, using a bug net and a fishing rod in a stunning 3D landscape. It looked amazing, and that's just how the game turned out to be.

This game encompasses every element of One Piece that made the series great, and was a real treat for fans. Unlimited Adventure is a unique mix of titles, being in part a 3D platformer with RPG-style elements. While the characters themselves do not level up, landing a hit on an enemy with an attack would gain experience for that attack, and leveling attacks unlocked different attacks, allowing for fighting combinations, the discovery of hidden moves, and even team attacks that call in other crew members.

Playing as all eight (at the time) members of the Straw Hat Pirates, you could explore a vast island with the aid of a mysterious crystal orb that Luffy discovered in the opening movie, letting you manipulate the landscape to open up new paths. This orb could read the memories of its wielder, and throughout the game it pulled out an all-star cast of villains and fan favorite characters from across the One Piece storyline to serve as boss fights.

Foraging for items was a big part of the game. You could collect insects and plant matter for Chopper to make healing medicines from, or gather wood and other raw materials for Usopp to build weapons, tools, and items like a pickaxe or a fishing rod. Catching small creatures, fishing, and digging up vegetables allowed Sanji to cook up meals that increased the HP and SP to the crew member you fed them to. Franky could build bridges across gorges with the right materials. At the base camp, Nami would save your game in her journal and Robin would keep a database of insects and fish you caught.

This game wasn't released in PAL regions, and the US English version contained the voice cast from the newly-acquired Funimation dub of the show, with no Japanese voice options.

One Piece Unlimited Cruise 1 – The Treasure Beneath the Waves – 2008, Wii

Following in the success of the first game, Unlimited Cruise was a sequel that continued on from the events that took place in Unlimited Adventure, this time set after the Thriller Bark story arc from the manga and thus introduced Brook as one of nine playable characters. Rather than exploring different areas of one giant island, this game featured a series of individually-themed islands to travel between as the story progressed.

While many of the boss characters were recycled from the last game, Unlimited Cruise improved on the original in almost every way. There were new characters and bosses, new items, new attacks for each of the crew, and unlockable Boss Rush and multiplayer VS modes. Of particularly awesome note, the crew's base camp is scrapped, instead allowing you to board the crew's ship, the Thousand Sunny, and explore most of the ship's interior in full 3D platforming glory.

The story revolved around a mysterious challenge upon the Straw Hat crew and the creation of a strange creature named Gabri who joined the pirates on their quest. He helped them by eating materials to open up new paths much like the orb in the last game. This time around, the story ended in a cliffhanger and showed a trailer of the upcoming sequel which would complete the saga.

Sorry, American fans, this game didn't reach your shores! The English release was sold in PAL territories, and there were no English dub options, only Japanese voices and subtitles. Strangely, some of the voice clips from the Japanese original were missing in the Western release.

One Piece Unlimited Cruise 2 – Awakening of a Hero – 2009, Wii

A new game with a new series of islands to explore, and the closure to the story that the last game left us with! Somehow this game managed to epitomize the series and deliver with the best game yet.

First and foremost, all of your attacks and status were transferred from the first game allowing you to continue from where you left off, but that's not all. Each character also gained an entirely new move set, allowing you to mix and match your favorites and customize your crew the way you wanted to play with them. Furthermore, the HP/SP maximum and level cap for all the original attacks was raised significantly, letting you buff up your team to strengths befitting of the cast's manga origins.

The remaining rooms of the Thousand Sunny were unlocked in this game, and you could freely explore the entire ship to your heart's content. With the addition of the Soldier Dock System, you could also navigate certain areas on the islands with the help of the Mini Merry and Shark Submerger, adding new depth to the formula.

One Piece Gigant Battle – 2010, DS

In a change of pace from 3D platform adventuring, this little treasure of a DS game sneaked out of the woodwork in the form of One Piece: Gigant Battle. This game was a little bit Smash Bros., but it featured plenty of elements to make it a unique experience.

It sported a large line-up of playable characters - an even bigger line-up of support character summons, and dozens of other One Piece cameos in the backgrounds, bringing the tally up to well over one hundred featured characters from the manga.

This one was released in Europe in an English-translated version as well. You can check out my own review of the game here! The game had a sequel in Japan, but sadly it was never localized.

One Piece Unlimited Cruise SP – 2011, 3DS

This special release (Get it? SP? Special?) combined both of the Unlimited Cruise Wii games in their entirety and crammed them together onto a single 3DS card, with all new features.

On top of the new stereoscopic 3D effect, an improved menu system was employed into the game, allowing an extremely handy map along with a quick item select option on the touch screen. The controls were also improved due to the additional buttons on the 3DS, such as a separate run button and a trigger to initiate special attacks (in the originals, you had to double-tap C to start dashing, while C coupled with attack buttons would trigger a special move). Gone was the waggle control, replaced with mashing the X button – though I do miss having to shake my hand to perform Gomu Gomu no Gatling.

As if the improvements weren't enough, the game also featured an entirely new story mode retelling the Marineford pirate war saga in the manga, with multiple branching quest paths for the Whirebeard Pirates, Shichibukai, Impel Down inmates and Marine forces alike. This mode let you play as many characters from the saga, and consisted of short mission-based battles as the story unfolded.

Like the Wii games, Unlimited Cruise SP was translated with English subtitles (again, no release in USA), but the end result was a mixed bag. The missing voice clips from the Japanese version are working again in the English port and the game sports much faster loading times than the Wii version, but Bandai Europe chose to use a 512mb cartridge over the 2gb card used in the Japanese release, and thus the two chapters were split into separate releases once more. Of course, each chapter was a full-priced game, making the Japanese version a much better deal.

Nintendo 3DS LL: Luffy Red and Chopper Pink - 2013

Now we're getting to the really good stuff! Fans had been waiting for a One Piece exclusive Nintendo Handheld since the days of the Game Boy Advance, and finally Nintendo delivered.

In celebration of the launch of One Piece: Unlimited World R (more on that below), two special 3DS XL (called LL in Japan) systems were released: a red “Luffy” version showing the entire Straw Hat crew, and a pink version featuring Tony Tony Chopper. These came in special packages containing the new game and a special DLC code for an extra in-game costume for Luffy or Chopper, depending on which handheld you bought.

I'd been meaning to pick up a Japanese system for the exclusive eShop titles, and this was the way to go. I got the Luffy version, and I love it dearly.

One Piece Unlimited World R – 2013, 3DS

The third (or is that technically fourth?) title in the One Piece Unlimited series, Unlimited World R, or Red, is set after the two-year timeskip and gives us an entirely new crew of Straw Hat Pirates to play with, along with an all new cel-shaded art style.

In this game, attacks are no longer unlocked individually and are available from the start, with many combos that initiate different attacks depending on the order in which the moves are carried out. Now the characters themselves can level up, and you can bring a team of up to two other crew members along with you to each chapter of the game, so you don't have to grind each character separately. There's also a new currency system, and enemies will regularly drop Beli that the crew can collect and spend on items.

The central base hub of the game is an entire town now, but you cannot explore the Sunny and Luffy is the only one able to freely explore it. This is made possible by use of Luffy's stretchy arms, and he can grapple rooftops and objects to fling himself around the hub. 

This town, known as Trans Town, is saved from a pirate invasion by Luffy, and in return, the landlady Padoya allows him to set up base in her hotel. Throughout the game, Luffy is able to donate materials and Beli towards development of the town, adding new buildings and shops.

So far this game has only released in Japan, but here's hoping if Romance Dawn sells well enough, Bandai will choose to translate this one into English for a Western release.

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Talkback

ejamerFebruary 11, 2014

It's a shame the game is so difficult to acquire in North America. I'm interested... but finding a copy of the one game released in this region for anything less than $70+ requires a lot of luck.

CaterkillerMatthew Osborne, Contributing WriterFebruary 11, 2014

Wow  didn't know those 3DS's existed! We'll never get that over here.

CalibanFebruary 11, 2014

I came in here thinking I was being tricked into something else other than One Piece... disappointed! In a good way.

I've got Unlimited Adventure (Wii), and Pirate Warriors (PS3, digital). Kind of wished Bandai Namco would do digital releases of the 3DS titles.

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