I first want to say that the review is a bit long, but there is so much things to cover in this game that I feel must be written, so read if you have the time. On that note, onto the review!

Jump Ultimate Stars, like its predecessor, is a 2D fighting game for the Nintendo DS based on the characters from the Shonen Jump comics. The game uses the familiar 4 player free for all fighting that was presented in the first game but provides a variety of improvements as well as changes made from the first game.

To start off the gameplay didn’t change much, but was improved a whole lot. Just like the original game, you would use the very unique Koma System that the game has. If you don’t know what the Koma System is, the Koma System is what the game is mainly based on. On the top screen of the DS you will see the action unfold as well as your health and special meter. On the bottom is where your Koma is on a 4X4 grid. The Koma displays your battle characters, your support character and helper character in the game. Koma’s are basically well constructed decks that you use to fight with. Battle characters are the actual characters you fight with which consist of 4-8 blocks of space on the grid. The support characters are 2 or 3 block characters that come out and attack, defend, boost your character’s attributes, or whatever else you may find helpful. And lastly Helper Koma’s are 1 block Koma that add certain abilities to your characters such as a triple jump or a air dash.

The Koma system has been tweaked a little bit so it wasn’t as restrictive as the old game. For example, helper Koma don’t just apply to the friends character in the anime like in the old game. Now you can add that special ability to whoever you want, but naturally only certain characters get a certain boost. An example of that are Goku and Gohan. They will give each other a boost, but this doesn’t apply to just those in that show that they are from. Some characters add a boost to characters outside of the series. Also, many complain as to how you had to press on the touch pad to pick a battle character or support character. Once you glance down you might not be aware of that one attack that could knock you out. So now the L and R buttons on the DS can be used as “hot keys” for instant access to your battle or support. You also know have a “leader” in your deck. Your leader will be the one coming out first into battle as well as the one who gets a boost of health and the one who will gain 2 points per knock out.

The actual fighting, while familiar, did receive some changes. Some characters have a different attack than in the old game, or in order to avoid cheapness in the game, some characters were more balanced out such as Jotaro from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. In the original he was able to stop time and attack, causing a lot of damage. In this game, the setup is the same, however, when time is stopped, attacks are much, much weaker.

The graphics also receive a slight bump from the original games. Although the game still looks as if it was an incredible GBA game, you can tell that there is more detail in characters, such as clothing. It also looks as if you get a closer look at your character as well. Sounds are similar to the original game, but again, it sounds clearer and there is a nice variation between attacks as well. Music is also catchier, in the first game there were some nice tunes, but now the music in this games are the tones you would want as a polyphonic ringtone on your phone.

Another improvement over the original games are the stages. In the original game, many of the stages felt uninspired and similar to all of the stages. The stages in this game now have obstacles, animated backgrounds, and music that sounds like it fits the stages and the show. The One Piece stage has a bunch of moving platforms, a nice pirate theme, a cannon that shoots cannon balls at you, and a background with a moving ocean. Although the moving ocean doesn’t look that good, it is certainly a nice little addition.

The story isn’t something that I could actually talk about as I don’t understand Japanese. However, from my own hands on experiences it seems similar to the original game. Mashirito, the mad scientist from the anime Dr. Slump is the main antagonist just like the original game. And it is up to you to beat him. In this story mode you travel through the Jump Galaxy, an evolved form of the Jump World from the main game. Rightfully titled, you visit planets that belong to a certain anime. It is here where you are presented with certain objectives to beat the mission, such as Get the Most Points, Collect the Stars in 20 seconds, Knock out All Opponents in 40 Seconds, etc. When you beat these missions you unlock helper characters who you can evolve.
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Now, one of my biggest complaint that kept the original game was how you unlocked your characters. In the original you would pick random Koma panels and try to fit your helper Koma to the corresponding character. And for those who didn’t know ANY Japanese, it was hard as hell to figure out which Koma goes with which. So a trial and error method was implemented in order to see who they were. In this game, you can “evolve” your characters. Evolving your characters won’t make you lose your helper Koma, instead, you unlock various versions of different Koma. Some characters can be evolved from 2-8 Koma, while others can only be evolved to support characters. Some characters don’t evolve at all; instead, you need to evolve them to a special "branch" option to be able to evolve other characters. For instance, in order for you to get Monkey D Luffy’s 7 and 8 Koma, you need to evolve a non battle and support character. How it works is that you will acquire J Gems from the main game or VS battle. With those gems you evolve your characters. It is similar to how you unlock new species in the puzzle game Meteos where you need certain color and amount and what not.

Other modes of play are your basic multiplayer options as well as a J Arena mode. The J Arena mode is the mode that I like to call the “time consuming mode” There is the basic Battle and Training mode in the J Arena where you fight against CPUs or train, but then there are the Ranking and Mission Try modes. Ranking mode, rightfully titled, is where you fight through the ranks to get to the top. Once you beat 20 fights, you are then aware a nice handful of J Gems. Mission Try is just a time trial mode of the missions you played in the Jump Galaxy.

One incredibly nice addition is Wi-Fi play. This alone was the reason as to why I even bought the game and it was better than I thought. The Wi-Fi is simple and familiar in which you search and play against random opponents. Once you are done playing you get Gems and the option of downloading your opponent’s decks. So if you like the deck they are using, you download it. The only catch is that you yourself are unable to use those decks online, but you can make an exact copy of it yourself. The Friend Code multiplayer is similar, but with one nice addition: voice chat. That’s right, voice chat. The voice chat is similar to Metroid Prime Hunters where you press and hold the X button and talk then let it go. Other than that, it is basically the same but it adds a big impact to the overall internet play. One annoyance that I encountered however was that you can’t download more than 1 deck from your opponent. So, if you have a deck that your friend was using, but you like the another he used and you download that one, then say bye bye to the other one because it will be gone. There is also the problem with exploiting the games cheapness and that is found with all Wi-Fi games. So naturally a lot of people abuse certain attacks which do piss me off, but then you can turn the tables on them and do the same. There is also little lag, and this was when playing against those in Japan , but there is lag.

What is a game without its special features and unlockables? Well the game can be fun without it, but again this game has special features and nice goodies….if you can understand the language. All of the manga shown has bios and information about it, such as who was the author, when was it first published, as well as a picture of the first volume of the manga. Also, in the game there are small cinematics showing the various comic panels of the world you selected. You can go and see them again as well as hearing music from the many stages you fight in.

How do you make a game even better when the first one was great? Well fix all of the annoyances as well as adding a bunch of content, put in some more balance game play and add Wi-Fi play. That is a pretty damn good deal. Of course there are problems with the game. Although the game was made to be more balanced, it would seem that support characters turn out a bit cheap. Also, many people still abuse ring outs as it is the easiest way to kill, not to mention that everybody uses their specials to damn much. Other than that, I can’t find fault in this game. This is the kind of game that the US will never see, but players must experience. $49.99 might seem a bit high for a DS game, but believe me, this is something you will keep playing again and again.