Among Shueisha’s mainstays and especially within the weekly serializations of Shonen Jump, Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi remains one of the most beloved battle shonen of the past three decades. Despite this, due to its rocky publication history and the challenges of keeping a broader audience engaged through anime adaptations, the adventures of Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika have never really enjoyed standout video game adaptations, particularly in Europe and America, where their presence has mostly been limited to cameo appearances in crossover titles alongside other manga or anime series. In this sense, Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact continues the franchise’s “underground” tradition in gaming, arriving on modern platforms with a title that wouldn’t have felt out of place on PlayStation 2 or Nintendo GameCube—but which, when held against the expectations of today’s players and the current tag-battle fighting game landscape, feels immediately constrained.
Developed by Bushiroad in collaboration with Eighting, best known for the Naruto: Clash of Ninja series and Bloody Roar: Primal Fury, this new fighter falls squarely into the 3v3 tag-battle genre, embracing all the mechanical conventions that come with it. Right from the outset, it’s clear that Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact is modeled after games like Marvel vs. Capcom or the more recent Dragon Ball FighterZ. That said, the game draws from the source material up through the Chimera Ant arc, but its base roster, excluding the four additional fighters included in the first Season Pass, features only 16 characters. Given the game’s old-school fighter sensibilities, reminiscent of classic titles such as Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the playable character pool feels extremely limited, especially considering that the manga is well known for its rich cast of memorable combatants.
