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[archnemesis]

Title: Inazuma Eleven
Developer: Level-5
Publishers: Level-5 (JP), Nintendo (EU)
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genres: RPG, Sports
Modes: Single-player, multiplayer (up to 4 players)

Release dates
JP: August 22, 2008
EU: January 28, 2011
UK: August 26, 2011
NA: -

Inazuma Eleven (イナズマイレブ&#12531 is a role-playing and sports video game for the Nintendo DS developed by Level-5. The main character is a very talented goalkeeper and the grandson of one of the strongest goalkeepers in Japan. Even though his skills are incredible the rest of his team don't appear very interested even in training. Find and recruit new players for his football team. There are nearly 1000 playable characters with varying skills that will determine the success of the team.

More screenshots.

Official trailer (in English)
Theme song (in Japanese)
TV commercial (in German)

The game is region free and playable on all DS, DSi, and 3DS consoles. All versions are single language. English versions are available in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden. The Portuguese version has a Portuguese cover, though.

In English
ASDA - International shipping.
dvd.co.uk - International shipping.
CD WOW - International shipping.
thehut.com - International shipping.
hmv.com - International shipping.
Game UK - International shipping.
Amazon.co.uk - International shipping to countries without their own Amazon site i.e. Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States.
National Console Support, Inc. - They will stock the UK version of Inazuma Eleven, but reservations are not open yet.

In non-English
Amazon.de - Only in German.
Amazon.fr - Only in French. Hey, at least French Canadians can use it!
Amazon.it - Only in Italian.

Rich Stanton at Eurogamer - 7/10
Tim Rogers at ActionButton.net - 3.5/4
Adam Riley at Cubed³ - 8/10
Random dude at 1UP - 9/10
Random dude at GameFAQs - 7/10

Soundtrack review at RPGFan

Preview by Adam Riley at Cubed³

Share your impressions of the game with other GAFers!

I WILL SOCCER KICK YOU ALL IN THE FACES IF YOU DO NOT BUY THIS. It's the greatest new property of this generation and I swear that's the last time I'll emphasize that in this topic. 2 and 3 are even better, but this will still probably be a lot of people's R.P.G./video game of the year. Don't blow it!

Games fun, it's JRPG mixed with Pokemon and football. It's charming as hell with the mix, random encounters is four on four football matches one goal wins and boss battles is full on matches. The management of your team is not that great in terms of UI and the game is absolute crap in terms of educating you on what you can do, how to do and the option you have available. Story is entertaining but nothing amazing, predictable and with very predictable characters. Visuals are very nice, but I wish there were more animated cutscenes.

[...]I'm having a fun time and I hope this game is as huge as it seems with lots of hours of playtime. I'm sure it will turn better when I get the hang of it.

Q: Are there any differences between this and the Japanese version?
A: Yes, your football club can now hold 100 players instead of only 32. It also has a few other minor improvements from Inazuma 2 & 3 such as better looking menus and character portraits. Random partners can be chosen for special techniques and there's only one save slot.

Q: How do I 'fire up' my team? I tried pressing L or R and it's not working.
A: You need to hold down either L or R for about three seconds. While they're fired up, all players' shot and duel success rates gain a large boost, and the power of their special moves increases.

Q: What does each stat do and how do they work?
A: (credits go to GameFAQs user DukeZero)

Kick - Influences shot strength and pass length.
Body - Partially influences dribble ability and blocking ability (as a defender).
Control - Partially influences dribble ability, how much a shot deviates from its course and ability to keep the ball.
Guard - Influences both blocking ability and goalkeeping ability.
Speed - Movement speed, obviously.
Stamina - Influences the rate your FP decreases.
Guts - Slightly influences shot strength, goalkeeping ability, and I /think/ it has some influence on duels when two opposing players duel it out for a pass.​

You can find a more in-depth FAQ here.

If you're missing anything from the OP, please let me know.

 

[nny]

It took a while, but I'm glad it is being localized; I'm curious to try this one.

 

[dallow_bg]

Help me Scandinavians!

 

[platypotamus]

Smart idea to have a big "where to import" section in the OP. Bet it still gets asked a million times (even after a link is in there)

 

[Oxx]

I'm tempted to import, but I reckon a UK release is a question of 'when' rather than 'if'.

But hey, if importing is easy/cheap enough I might give it a go.

 

[platypotamus]

If it's in the UK before Scandinavian import is available/affordable, then hopefully the OP will be updated with a link for Americans to import from you guys.

 

[GhaleonQ]

I'll try to check the topic often.

Also, a blanket message to everyone in any non-Japanese country: I WILL SOCCER KICK YOU ALL IN THE FACES IF YOU DO NOT BUY THIS. It's the greatest new property of this generation and I swear that's the last time I'll emphasize that in this topic. 2 and 3 are even better, but this will still probably be a lot of people's R.P.G./video game of the year. Don't blow it!

 

[Spwn]

But hey, if importing is easy/cheap enough I might give it a go.

Definitely not going to be cheap. I checked a couple of Finnish retailers and they have pre-orders listed for 40-50€.

 

[cw_sasuke]

The wait is finally over !!!

 

[king zell]

Inazuma Eleven |OT| The Official Thread of Captain Tsubasa 2.0

fixed

 

[sazabirules]

Is there any chance of a US release or will I have to import it?

 

[hipgnosis]

Cool OT! I live in Finland and could get this day one, but I am still probably gonna wait for the UK release. 50€ is a bit too much. Gonna grab it if I can find it cheap locally though, but I doubt this will happen anytime soon.

Has there been a confirmation for the UK release yet?

 

[Haunted]

Day 1.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Day -3.
As im sure it will be sold here 3 days before friday.

And why the fuck blitzballl, it would have been better with Captain tsubasa 2.0

EDIT:
OMG the OT banner, the striker is doing a twin kick with the goalie :lol I dont think even Captain Tsubasa got to those extremes. :lol

 

[Ushojax]

God I hate NoE sometimes. Why did they have to shove Inazuma in my face on the Nintendo Channel when it isn't even coming to the UK?

 

[Yazan]

I can probably help people get the Scandinavian version. The cost for the game is probably around €45-50 (+ ~10 euro for the shipping, depending on the country).

Gonna see how many copies Sweden gets first though.

 

[GhaleonQ]

And why the fuck blitzballl, it would have been better with Captain tsubasa 2.0

"Pocketsubasaballmonsters." Definitely.

 

[Vamphuntr]

Anyone know a good import store that carry EU titles? I really want to get the french/France version.

 

[cw_sasuke]

God I hate NoE sometimes. Why did they have to shove Inazuma in my face on the Nintendo Channel when it isn't even coming to the UK?

Is there a reason why you wouldnt consider importing it from another pal country ?

 

[crispyben]

Anyone know a good import store that carry EU titles? I really want to get the french/France version.

Amazon.fr? That's where I ordered it from (shipped to France, too)... Hopefully it gets delivered before I leave for Florida.

 

[Vamphuntr]

Amazon.fr? That's where I ordered it from (shipped to France, too)... Hopefully it gets delivered before I leave for Florida.

Did it work? Because according to their rules they only ship videogames in EU territories

Les logiciels et jeux vidéo peuvent être expédiés vers les pays suivants :

Allemagne, Andorre, Autriche, Belgique, Bulgarie, Chypre, Danemark, Espagne, Estonie, Finlande, France métropolitaine & DOM-TOM, Gibraltar, Grèce, Hongrie, Irlande (Eire), Islande, Italie, Lettonie, Liechtenstein, Lituanie, Luxembourg, Malte, Monaco, Norvège, Pays-Bas, Pologne, Portugal, République Tchèque, Royaume-Uni, Slovaquie, Slovénie, Suède et Suisse.

I'm in Canada

 

[archnemesis]

And why the fuck blitzballl, it would have been better with Captain tsubasa 2.0

The only Captain Tsubasa games that ever reached the west were localized as Tecmo Cup Soccer/Football Game and I had no idea that the manga/anime was popular here. Hopefully, having Blitzball in the title will draw the attention of GAF's Final Fantasy fans.

 

[Regulus Tera]

gonna have to sit out of this til march

 

[Sputnik Sweetheart]

The Scandinavian version is English only. Can anyone confirm which languages the continental versions have?

I checked all the Scandinavian sites I know of and none of them is shipping international. Help from EuroGAF is appreciated.

I have no idea if these guys will ship outside of Sweeden or not, but there is some potentially interesting info in the languages section:

http://www.pixmania.se/spel-inazuma-eleven-ds/sese8435105_jvart.html#

Available languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian. Packaging and manual in French.

Potentially good news for the continental version if this one has all five languages, right?

 

[JustAnotherOtaku]

NoE, I have money ready and waiting. Bring this to UK shores!

 

[Vamphuntr]

I have no idea if these guys will ship outside of Sweeden or not, but there is some potentially interesting info in the languages section:

Potentially good news for the continental version if this one has all five languages, right?

http://www.pixmania.se/se/se/vara-tjanster/11-univers.html?idservice=3

They ship to all the countries in their banner at the bottom (EU territories)

 

[archnemesis]

Pixmania.se only ship to Sweden, but if you want shipping to other European countries you can find it at Pixmania.com. A Multi-5 release would be nice, though.

 

[Vamphuntr]

Found a seller on ebay. Carrying the french version here


The shipping is bloody expensive to Canada (20 euros). The total price would be like 75$ that's a bit too much. Did someone try to contact NCSX yet? Sometimes they do carry EU version of titles.

 

[Takao]

OMG the OT banner, the striker is doing a twin kick with the goalie :lol I dont think even Captain Tsubasa got to those extremes. :lol

It's truly a sight to see in the anime.

 

[JustAnotherOtaku]

Pixmania.se only ship to Sweden, but if you want shipping to other European countries you can find it at Pixmania.com. A Multi-5 release would be nice, though.

Hmm, £28.60 isn't bad, but postage is £7.50 Think I'll wait for the UK release.

 

[Haunted]

OMG the OT banner, the striker is doing a twin kick with the goalie :lol I dont think even Captain Tsubasa got to those extremes. :lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSRCTIgsR8E#t=1m10s


Close enough.

 

[slaughterking]

It's really happening. :0

 

[Toma]

Can anybody confirm that its similar to Blitzball? >_> I played Blitzball for 20something hours and would love a full-fledged game. (Especially in terms of skill/character progression)

 

[archnemesis]

Can anybody confirm that its similar to Blitzball? >_> I played Blitzball for 20something hours and would love a full-fledged game. (Especially in terms of skill/character progression)

While the game is similar to Blitzball, one has much greater control over what actually happens during a match in Inazuma Eleven. There are two types of matches in the game, battles and shiai, or matches. Battles are four on four games and are the random encounters of this RPG, while matches are full on 11 on 11 games and are similar to boss battles. Each opposing school is themed and the character designs are quite clever and amusing. Gameplay can use the Dpad outside of games and battles, but the meat of the game uses the touchpad exclusively. Using the touchpad, one can maneuver any character on the screen as one likes. Setting up nice runs and give gos is a simple as drawing lines for your characters to run.​

- Review: Inazuma Eleven

I also really enjoyed Blitzball in Final Fantasy X and I'll post my impressions when I get my copy on Friday.

 

[Chesskid1]

have no idea what this game is and i hate soccer/sports in general, but it's made by the god damn level 5!! level 5 is one of the toppiest tier developers atm imo and i'm sure some will play just for that reason.

 

[Toma]

While the game is similar to Blitzball, one has much greater control over what actually happens during a match in Inazuma Eleven. There are two types of matches in the game, battles and shiai, or matches. Battles are four on four games and are the random encounters of this RPG, while matches are full on 11 on 11 games and are similar to boss battles. Each opposing school is themed and the character designs are quite clever and amusing. Gameplay can use the Dpad outside of games and battles, but the meat of the game uses the touchpad exclusively. Using the touchpad, one can maneuver any character on the screen as one likes. Setting up nice runs and give gos is a simple as drawing lines for your characters to run.​

- Review: Inazuma Eleven

I also really enjoyed Blitzball in Final Fantasy X and I'll post my impressions when I get my copy on Friday.

That is really awesome. Thanks.

 

[Dash Kappei]

EDIT:
no it's not (multi 5)
------
As far as I know the italian version is Multi5:
english, italian, french, german and spanish, source a friend of mine who works for a vg magazine (I won't take responsability tho, mind you)
Amazon.it preorder for €34
http://www.amazon.it/dp/B004K6MFOO/

 

[RurouniZel]

I reaaaaaaaaaaaally want this game in North America! I'm incredibly intrigued by the game, and Level 5 + DS = extremely good stuff.

 

[Reluctant-Hero]

I emailed NCSX on Friday to see if they'll be taking reservations for imports. Haven't heard back from them yet, but hopefully they'll tell me "yes".

Ugh... been waiting to play this in English for a long time. Now it's so close... yet so far away.

 

[Vamphuntr]

I emailed NCSX on Friday to see if they'll be taking reservations for imports. Haven't heard back from them yet, but hopefully they'll tell me "yes".

Ugh... been waiting to play this in English for a long time. Now it's so close... yet so far away.

Awesome. I was about to send them an email.

 

[Brobzoid]

so, wait, hold up. this is the first inazuma eleven game to be released outside of japan, while in japan they have four titles on the market at the moment? And the one they choose to release here is the first one? :|

I'm assuming these are iterative games, and the later ones are quantifiably better so please feel free to correct me if that's wrong.

 

[GhaleonQ]

http://www.actionbutton.net/?p=461

Yeah, yeah, Tim Rogers. He wrote my favorite review of the game by far, and I recommend putting it in the original post. Don't forget the theme song and its amazing video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBjsrSExoAc

I'm assuming these are iterative games, and the later ones are quantifiably better so please feel free to correct me if that's wrong.

Yes, they're better, but 3 is heavily story-dependent (and my favorite) and 2 is kind of as well. 2's probably the purest. It wouldn't make sense to start with 2 or 3. 4, while a terrible thing to do to fans, would make more sense, since it starts over a generation later.

 

[Disguises]

It's still bothering me about what they're going to do about the sequels. With the impending release of the 3DS - the sequels may not even get a release. Unless they decide to port it over. They could still release them as DS games, but I predict that nintendo will drastically drop DS support by the end of the year in favour of 3DS. Just worried we won't see them after getting teased by the first game!

 

[GhaleonQ]

It's still bothering me about what they're going to do about the sequels. With the impending release of the 3DS - the sequels may not even get a release. Unless they decide to port it over. They could still release them as DS games, but I predict that nintendo will drastically drop DS support by the end of the year in favour of 3DS. Just worried we won't see them after getting teased by the first game!

If there weren't so many names and so much dialogue, I wouldn't be worried.

That said, Level-5's not doing brilliantly apart from their cash cows and they've already milked this franchise (2 editions for 2, 2 editions and 1 special edition for 3). I wouldn't be surprised to see a special edition for the 3DS. I know nothing of that, though.

 

[Brobzoid]

Yes, they're better, but 3 is heavily story-dependent (and my favorite) and 2 is kind of as well. 2's probably the purest. It wouldn't make sense to start with 2 or 3. 4, while a terrible thing to do to fans, would make more sense, since it starts over a generation later.

This annoys me. It's too late in the hardware cycle to start bringing this series over wholesale, so most likely we'll get this game and then maybe something on the 3DS. I suppose something similar to Phoenix Wright could happen (with it's GBA - DS transition) , but I don't have a 3DS, nor the money to buy one any time soon. :|

I don't really care about the story here, I just want the game that is best mechanically and knowing that it is not available to me brings back SNES days memories of looking at pictures of the cool shit japan/america got in magazines. :c

 

[Suairyu]

What I don't get is why this wasn't localised sooner. Football is the closest thing we have to to Planet Earth's national sport - had they released this sooner as part of the Touch generation series they could have made a killing.

 

[Urban Scholar]

http://www.actionbutton.net/?p=461

Yeah, yeah, Tim Rogers. He wrote my favorite review of the game by far, and I recommend putting it in the original post.

Ok, guys, I'm quite impatient and I'm willing to take one for the team as far as English options are available. I live in the US, so of the choices you guys have posted whom ships the fastest?

 

[mjc]

Fuck you NoA

I might import this if I get some extra cash.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSRCTIgsR8E#t=1m10s


Close enough.

It's truly a sight to see in the anime.

Yep, I knew the twin kick existed in Captain Tsubasa, with Mark Lender and Oliver :lol

But doing it with the goalie :lol

The only Captain Tsubasa games that ever reached the west were localized as Tecmo Cup Soccer/Football Game and I had no idea that the manga/anime was popular here. Hopefully, having Blitzball in the title will draw the attention of GAF's Final Fantasy fans.

Well, I never liked blitzball. And theres a Captan Tsubasa game right know for DS in europe
Also yep, its MADLY populart here.

 

[JustAnotherOtaku]

It's still bothering me about what they're going to do about the sequels. With the impending release of the 3DS - the sequels may not even get a release. Unless they decide to port it over. They could still release them as DS games, but I predict that nintendo will drastically drop DS support by the end of the year in favour of 3DS. Just worried we won't see them after getting teased by the first game!

In fact, it's more likely to be the opposite and be more likely that they will be translated. Nintendo have already said that they plan to bring more previously Japan-only DS games to the West, and assuming this sells well, it would make sense for them to do so. After all, the games may not be in 3D, but they will work on the 3DS.