HUNTER×HUNTER NEN×IMPACT’s Tomoyasu Miyazaki Talks Bringing Fan-Favorite Series into Gaming Arena

ANN’s coverage of Anime Expo 2024 sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!

Hunter × Hunter is a massively popular series, with passionate – and patient – fans. The series has continued in fits and starts, as its creator Yoshihiro Togashi has been plagued with health issues. But the quality has proven to be worth the wait for millions in Japan and internationally. When Bushiroad announced at the end of 2023 that they were developing a 3-on-3 tag-based fighting game for Hunter × Hunter, and with well-known and widely respected developer Eighting, it was welcome news.

Eighting has a long history, but for fighting game fans, they’re responsible for two important entries into CAPCOM‘s “versus” series: Tatsunoko vs. CAPCOM and Marvel vs. CAPCOM 3. The former was an unexpected blend of characters for Western audiences and the first entry in the series to utilize “2.5D” gameplay, where 3D model characters battled it out in a fixed 2D perspective. Marvel vs. CAPCOM 3, or “Marvel 3” as it’s often called, is still actively played competitively today, and had over 1,300 entrants at the world’s biggest fighting game tournament Evo just last year. Having a new tag-based fighting game from a developer with a track record like Eighting’s, and using one of the most popular franchises in the anime world feels like a recipe for success.

Arc System Works handles publishing duties for the game everywhere except for Japan, and I should note that they aren’t involved in the actual design or development of Nen × Impact. Unlike the recent DNF Duel, which seems to have been a collaborative effort between Eighting and Arc, Nen × Impact is 100% Eighting’s project. With a public commitment to release HUNTER×HUNTER NEN×IMPACT here in 2024, they had devoted a big portion of their booth at the Exhibit Hall at AX 2024 to demo stations running the game’s latest build. Machi and Uvogin were the most recently announced characters available to play in the demo version on the show floor. At a later panel, put on by Arc and Bushiroad, they revealed Chrollo would be on the roster at launch and announced Feitan in the few days since.

I was fortunate to get some hands-on time with the game, and the opportunity to pepper Bushiroad Games’ Operating Officer Tomoyasu Miyazaki with some questions. My first thought was whether NEN×IMPACT would advance the canon story. Would fans anxiously awaiting story developments find any in the game or explore characters more deeply? Alas, it sounds like NEN×IMPACT will only cover what’s already been shown. Speaking about the game’s story mode, Miyazaki said it will recreate scenes from the anime, and “players will be able to experience pivotal moments from the series.” That’s still exciting! Hunter × Hunter‘s story can get deathly serious, so it will be cool to see those moments unfold with the enhanced experience as a player controlling the characters yourself. “Less than a new story experience, the focus will be on being able to experience the story that exists in the anime, but in a new form.”

Some creators can be strict about how their characters are depicted outside the main work, but it sounds like series creator Yoshihiro Togashi gave them carte blanche to make the game they wanted. “There wasn’t anything we were told not to do,” Miyazaki said reassuringly. “Of course, we have to submit our work to be checked to ensure it falls in line with the original vision, but essentially we were given total freedom.”

Asked what new things NEN×IMPACT brings to the fighting game genre, Miyazaki expressed excitement for the Greed Island Card system. He didn’t share any specifics, but it sounds like the Greed Island Cards from the show will be adapted to in-game collection features. “Even though collection systems like that exist in other fighting games, we think NEN×IMPACT puts a fun spin on it.”

It can be challenging to adapt a character’s fantastical abilities in an anime into actual gameplay. “Among the characters that have been revealed so far, Killua’s Nen Ability was probably the most difficult to recreate in the game,” Miyazaki shared. For those unfamiliar, Killua Zoldyck’s Nen skills are two Nen abilities collectively referred to as Godspeed. You can imagine how hard it would be to balance a character with god-like speed in a fighting game! “We’re focused on making sure anyone can play it and have a good time, whether you’re an experienced fighting game player, or you just like Hunter × Hunter,” Miyazaki emphasized. So how does it play? It’s hard to say much beyond first impressions. I queued up to play more than a few times, and then just before speaking with Miyazaki, I had a demo station all to myself for 30 minutes. I wasn’t exactly pulling off sweet setups and combos with tag-ins and well-timed assist calls.

It felt robust! Just about everything you would expect from a typical entry in the “Versus” series was there: assist calls, switching to teammates via successive meter-burning attacks, snapping out the opponent’s point character to force a teammate into the ring, recoverable health that would regenerate when characters are on the bench… It was all there! I should point out that the fighting system doesn’t seem to include throws, which is usually a crucial element of a given fighting game’s situational “rock-paper-scissors” interactions. It’s possible I missed something big in my limited time with it, but I’m curious how it compensates. It’ll be interesting to see how the competitive scene receives the game!

The game is very obviously built on the framework of Marvel vs. CAPCOM 3, and I confess that at times it felt like I was playing a basic Versus series game with a coat of Hunter X Hunter paint. The control scheme took some getting used to, but system-wise, it didn’t feel like the game was breaking new and exciting ground. Granted, I tried too many characters to get a feel for any in particular, and beating up the CPU was maybe not the best way to judge that.

The Versus series has inspired various 3-on-3 tag-based games over the years and given that NEN×IMPACT is directly related to a well-known anime property, it’s hard to resist comparing it to Dragon Ball FighterZ, which came out in early 2018. The biggest difference I would cite between the two is the visuals. In Dragon Ball FighterZ, the screen can quickly be filled with blasts of energy, fiery explosions, and so much dust and debris it’s hard to even parse what’s going on. After some time with the game, you learn to filter out the visual clutter, but it’s an absolute spectacle to watch. Guilty Gear Strive is the same way, though not a tag-based fighter.

And that’s where NEN×IMPACT feels a bit lacking. At times the screen could feel empty and lacked impact. It’s hard to knock the game for this considering it’s still in development. They may have yet to add another layer of polish to it. But I hope they take a look at other titles like the aforementioned Dragon Ball FighterZ, DNF Duel, and Guilty Gear Strive for some examples of ways to dial it up and make things more EXTRA. Fighting game champion Justin Wong has a video of himself going toe-to-toe with a NEN×IMPACTdeveloper. They’re both having a blast AND making the game look much more active and flashy than I ever did, both visually and in terms of depth. So it CAN impress when in the right hands.

But first impressions are everything, and I worry that NEN×IMPACT needs to dial things up a notch or two to catch more attention. The bar has been set high for visuals. I’m not saying the game won’t be well received if it doesn’t meet or exceed that bar, but it does leave me wanting. From the standpoint of wanting to hop in and hit some buttons to make your favorite Hunter × Hunter characters do cool stuff, it does the job, and does it great. It’s fun! How can you not smile watching these characters pull off flashy moves and team up with unlikely allies?

For serious fighting game players, is this going to have the depth that will make players keep coming back, and even want to compete alongside other popular established (and highly competitive) titles like Street Fighter or Tekken? That’s a little unclear at this stage. And even if it’s not, maybe that’s fine! It’s OK for a fighting game to just be a fun experience where you can mash buttons and make cool stuff happen on screen. Not every fighting game needs to “make it” as a competitive title. It’s entirely possible that I need more time with the game to reach that magical higher plane where you and your opponent are anticipating each other’s next moves. I only played against CPU opponents, after all. We know the developer’s pedigree is top-notch, so I remain optimistic that the game will have its time to shine and find a fervent and devoted community. At the very least, fans of Hunter × Hunter will have a genuinely fun way to pass the time while patiently waiting for the next story crumbs to drop.