Inazuma-Eleven posts(Subscribe to this feed)

Level-5 releases first Inazuma Eleven Break screens, still refuses to reveal platform

by JC Fletcher { Sep 26th 2008 at 2:30PM }

Professor Layton/Dragon Quest IX developers Level-5 held their "Level-5 Vision 2008" event this week, revealing new games for PSP, DS, and mobile phones, as well as the previously announced Inazuma Eleven Break, a spinoff of their DS soccer-RPG series. For some reason, they didn't specify what platform Inazuma Eleven Break was to be released on.

We find this odd -- and we're continuing to write here about this unknown-platform game -- because these screens look very Wii-like. It could be a very cheap 360/PS3 game, maybe, or a really nice-looking PS2 game. Maybe it is Wii, but they don't want to go into details yet, because they want to spring a "Surprise! It's WiiWare!" on us. In any case, we shouldn't expect news on Inazuma Eleven Break's platform until 2009, according to Level-5.

Level-5 details Professor Layton, Inazuma Eleven DS sequels

by Christopher Grant { Sep 24th 2008 at 8:54PM }

As if two new PSP games and an impressive collaboration with the famed animators at Studio Ghibli wasn't enough for one day, Level-5 has also dropped some additional details on sequels to two of their biggest DS titles: Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven

The third Professor Layton offering is the only one of these five Level-5 games not being released in 2009; instead, it's set for a November 27th release in Japan. The soccer-themed Inazuma Eleven will return in 2009 with Inazuma Eleven 2, packing a new storyline, more characters, and a new team made up of space invaders! Level-5 will be "formally unveiling" all five titles later this week in Tokyo; we'll try to wrastle all of 'em up at TGS next month.

Level-5 has big plans for DS, enlists aid of Studio Ghibli

by David Hinkle { Sep 24th 2008 at 7:33PM }

Good news, fan of all things DS. The handheld is getting some more love from Level-5, in the form of more games. Level-5 pres and all around handsome dude, Akihiro Hino, has made public his company's intent to rock the DS right out of your hands. How? Well, first is a proposed partnership with Studio Ghibli, the folks behind awesome animated films like Spirited Away.

Continued →

Inazuma Eleven on TV tells you to buy, buy, buy!

by Phil Larsen { Jul 7th 2008 at 1:15PM }

It's true -- Inazuma Eleven looks great, and each piece of media has been drooled upon by RPG, anime and even general soccer fans alike. With the imminent Japanese release on August 22nd, Level-5 has begun advertising on television, and this commercial is a perfect place for gamers in the dark about Inazuma to take a first look and become ultra-interested.

Inazuma Eleven is incredibly original, featuring real-time strategy gameplay on the field, as players draw on the touch screen to direct positions of team members. Hopefully the gameplay is easy enough to understand for keen importers, because the chances of localization are not that great. Well, anything less than 100 percent won't be good enough!

Fresh Inazuma Eleven scans take to the field

by Chris Greenhough { Jun 24th 2008 at 3:30PM }

The latest issue of CoroCoro Comic has taken a long, hard look at Level-5's forthcoming soccer RPG, Inazuma Eleven. Mostly this involves displaying large quantities of the title's pretty fantastic character art (there's a definite Layton feel to it), but there are a number of screenshots dotted about the pages.

These show off several aspects of the title, from your common or garden dialog screens to shots of the matches that take place (and in which players control the movement of players by drawing on the touchscreen). Combining soccer with a real-time SRPG is fascinating to us, not to mention ridiculously original -- the closest comparison we can think of is International Superstar Soccer 2000 for the Nintendo 64, which included RPG-lite elements in its single-player mode, but nothing quite as in-depth as Inazuma Eleven.

Anyway, we digress: Jeux France was kind enough to pop CoroCoro in the scanner and show us the entire preview, so hit the "Source" link below for the full skinny.

Inazuma Eleven headed to consoles, Wii likely

by JC Fletcher { May 14th 2008 at 1:15PM }

Level-5 is sinking big money into their DS soccer RPG Inazuma Eleven, seemingly expecting a massive return. The company held a press conference in Tokyo to outline the "Cross-Media Project," which is a somewhat nicer way of describing "milking the new franchise." In addition to the planned manga and anime series, Level-5 president Akihiro Hino revealed an upcoming Inazuma Eleven card game, to be released concurrently with the DS game on August 22.

Along with all this stuff, Level-5 announced a second game, Inazuma Eleven Break, for consoles. No specific console or date was announced, but it's not hard to guess which home console Level-5 would choose for a mass-market children's game. They'd choose the one with a mass market.

Inazuma Eleven media explosion

by David Hinkle { May 14th 2008 at 12:30PM }

Level 5's Inazuma Eleven looks utterly fantastic. Combining a sports title with RPG themes, that alone was enough to sell us on the game. Of course, it also doesn't hurt that Level-5 is developing it. Looks like Japan will find out how awesome Inazuma Eleven is this August.

For those of you who're as intrigued by this title as we are, know there is some new media around the net. First up, Game Watch has some lovely screens for you to check out. After that, get some full-motion excitement from the extended trailer up at GameSpot Japan. After that, we'd suggest changing your pants. We had to.

Read - Inazuma Eleven trailer at GameSpot Japan
Read - Inazuma Eleven screens at Game Watch

Level-5's goal: release Inazuma Eleven in Japan this August

by JC Fletcher { Apr 9th 2008 at 10:30AM }

Professor Layton/Dragon Quest VIII developer Level-5 has announced a release date for their next big project, Inazuma Eleven: August 22nd. The developer has been building interest in their soccer RPG for a long time in a lot of unconventional ways: offering demos on DS cards which also feature exclusive Layton content, creating a pop group, going so far as to buy naming rights to a soccer stadium.

Will the marketing overkill pay off for Level-5? We were pretty sure Inazuma Eleven was going to be huge even before they started doing this stuff, just because of the massive amounts of cred the company has picked up in Japan since Layton and DQVIII.

Level-5 working for a 2008 release of Dragon Quest IX

by JC Fletcher { Feb 15th 2008 at 11:15AM }

Square Enix and Level-5 have both previously been reticent about Dragon Quest IX, showing little and saying even less. In fact, the last we heard anything about a possible release period was back in August when it was delayed until 2008, except for Yoichi Wada's assurance of the game's progress. A delay like that won't happen again, according to Level-5 president Akihiro Hino. Hino told Famitsu that he set a goal for 2008 of finishing not only Dragon Quest IX, but the soccer RPG Inazuma Eleven, the third Professor Layton game, and White Knight Chronicles on the Playstation 3.

Hino also mentioned that Level-5 would announce a new RPG soon, also for release this year. It's the 10th anniversary of Level-5, and they're celebrating it with work.

Level-5 is rich

by JC Fletcher { Jan 15th 2008 at 2:15PM }

We've been saying since Professor Layton first hit that Level-5 is the new Square. While Square continues remaking and spinning off their classics, Level-5 is making well-received RPGs (and Professor Layton) that happen to sell tons.

They're now competing with Square in the 'ridiculous show of wealth' department. Where Square disgraced Hironobu Sakaguchi into fleeing and almost ruined themselves with a high-budget CG movie, Level-5 is taking a more modest, but still overboard, approach to the whole 'conspicuous consumption' thing. Presumably to promote Inazuma Eleven (for which the company also manufactured a singing group), the company has purchased the naming rights to the Avispa Fukuoka J-League soccer team.

For the next three years (at $287,185 a year), Hakata no Mori Football Stadium in their native Fukuoka will be known as Level-5 Stadium, and teams across Japan will be encouraged to defeat the bosses of Levels 1 through 4 before attempting a game here. Well, maybe not. But the name thing -- that's true.

Inazuma Eleven adds three for Twe'lv

by Eric Caoili { Jan 11th 2008 at 6:00PM }

Aiming for the hearts of companionless gamers out there, Level 5 seems to have formed an idol group to both promote and appear in its Soccer RPG, Inazuma Eleven. The three girls -- left to right, Haruna Otonashi (16 years old), Natsumi Kaminarimon (18 years old), and Aki Kino (13 years old) -- make up Twe'lv, the group's name playing off the phrase "12th man," a common sports term referring to a team's fans.

In the game, each of the three girls provides a different support function for your team. Haruna covers matches and events for the school paper, following players to collect data on them. Natsumi, the top student of her class and daughter of a politician/philanthropist, is initially unimpressed with your crew, but she eventually becomes one of the team's biggest fans and benefactors. Aki, the youngest of the group, manages the team. We guess she likes to wear green skirts, too.

Twe'lv plans to perform Inazuma Eleven's ending theme, a song composed by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger), at the World Hobby Fair in Osaka this weekend. Peek past the post break for in-game art and more promotional photos of the young trio.

Continued →

Inazuma Eleven site scores a GOOOOOAL

by David Hinkle { Dec 31st 2007 at 1:30PM }

The website for Japanese super-soccer romp Inazuma Eleven has got some stuff going on for the few of you who're as excited for the game as we are. There's a complete character section, explaining all of the different participants in the title. There is also an explanation on the game's controls, plus all of the indecipherable Japanese text you can try to read.

Fresh Famitsu scans for Inazuma Eleven

by David Hinkle { Dec 26th 2007 at 4:00PM }

After getting our peepers knee-deep in some Inazuma Eleven, we knew this game was for us. Not being as obsessed with soccer (football or futbol, to some of you) as the rest of the world, we're still convinced the game will be a big success, because the gameplay looks sound and, of course, it's being made by Level-5. Hopefully menu navigation won't be a pain, because we're pretty sure we're going to have to import it.

For the full scans, head past the break.

Continued →