Inazuma Eleven GO (video game)

Inazuma Eleven GO
Inazuma Eleven GO
	European cover art for the Light version
Developer(s)	Level-5
Publisher(s)	JP: Level-5; PAL: Nintendo;
Composer(s)	Shiho Terada
Series	Inazuma Eleven
Platform(s)	Nintendo 3DS
Release	JP: December 15, 2011; EU: June 13, 2014; AU: July 18, 2015;
Genre(s)	Role-playing, sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Inazuma Eleven GO (イナズマイレブン GO, Inazuma Irebun GO) is a role-playing video game and sports video game for the Nintendo 3DS developed and published by Level-5. It was released on December 15, 2011 in Japan and Europe on June 13, 2014 and released on July 18, 2015 in Australia and New Zealand.^[1] There are two versions of the game, Shine and Dark, which was released in Europe as Light and Shadow. An Inazuma Eleven GO manga based on the game began serialization in CoroCoro Comic, while an anime TV season based on the game produced by OLM started airing on May 4, 2011.

The game takes place in a world where an organization called Fifth Sector rules over the world of soccer and manipulates matches as an authoritarian dictatorship based on broad-communistic values of distributing soccer and the joy of victory equally among everyone. Arion Sherwind (Tenma Matsukaze in Japan), and his soccer club, Raimon Jr. High, attempt to lead a revolution against Fifth Sector, by going against Fifth Sector's laws and winning the Holy Road soccer tournament.

Level-5 later announced a sequel to this game entitled Inazuma Eleven GO 2: Chrono Stone (イナズマイレブンGO2 クロノストーン, Inazuma Irebun GO 2 Kurono sutōn). The sequel stars Tenma, the protagonist of GO, and revolves around time travel.^[2]

Gameplay

The gameplay is the same previous entries. The core gameplay involves a role-playing adventure in which the player controls Arion Sherwind to explore the map, recruit new players, advance the story, and engage in soccer battles. Likewise, soccer Matches and soccer battles are controlled using the touch screen, and play in the same way as all prior games. New to GO are "Fighting Spirits". Fighting Spirits are mythical beings which players can summon during soccer matches/battles. A player's Fighting Spirit gives them an offensive and defensive advantage, and often allow the summoner to perform unique hissatsu techniques which involve their Fighting Spirit.

Plot

10 years after the FFI, an unnoticed darkness lurks behind the country; Japan and what used to be soccer has changed over the decade. Because of the victory of Inazuma National, soccer has become greatly popular and influential in the country, to the point that a school's worth is directly proportional to the skill of their soccer team. The weak schools are forgotten and forced to close down due to lack of public interest and applicants. Soccer in Japan is now controlled by an organization called Fifth Sector and is led by the one known as the "Holy Emperor" Alex Zabel. Soccer in its current state is controlled and relies on the commands of the Holy Emperor on whether a team wins or loses based on set scores. This saved schools all over the nation from closing down by balancing tournaments—but a price had to be paid: "real soccer" didn't exist.

The protagonist, Arion Sherwind, tries out for the Raimon soccer team and passes. But he soon realizes that soccer is not how he imagined it to be. Arion stirs a revolutionary wind among with the members of the Raimon team, and they soon aim to free soccer from Fifth Sector so that middle school students all over Japan can finally play without Fifth Sector's orders. And the Raimon team is not alone; they discover the Resistance that aims to replace the Holy Emperor, and are also assisted by the previous main characters of the series. With every match they win in the Holy Road, Raimon wins over more schools to their cause.