As Anthony Bourdain would say, "An ounce of gravy can cover a multitude of sins."

You know what this means if you've ever eaten in a high school cafeteria.


And if you've ever bought an anime based fighting game, chances are you've experienced this as well; a decent to straight-out craptacular game, but covered with enough popular characters and fan service that we’ll gladly devour it and ignore the rubbery texture and gristle.


Luckily, anime based fighters are pretty good nowadays and Bleach DS: Souten ni Kakeru Unmei is a top grade prime rib, complemented by perfectly seasoned au jus with freshly grated horseradish on the side. Let's dig in.

The Meat

There's a reason Treasure is one of the most revered developers for hardcore gamers. Like Capcom and SNK in their golden age, they deliver what their fans demand. For their first DS game, they serve up a fantastically responsive and tight playing 2D fighter for up to four players, seamlessly blending the personality and storyline of the Bleach franchise into the whole experience.

The fighting system utilizes all six action buttons on your DS. The basic moves are light (Y), medium (X) and strong (A) attacks, along with flash stepping (B, spirit power permitting) button. The shoulder buttons are to shift planes (L) and block (R). You can also double jump or dash/run with quick presses of the directional pad. All characters also have at least one launcher move. All stages have two planes to fight in. You cannot attack between frames as with Fatal Fury, but plane shifting allows escape from attacks and better accommodates four player battles.

Special moves are the standard circular and forward->back moves with 3+ levels of strength. The + comes in if you have at least one stock of Spirit Power (Reiryoku, shown by the three bar gauge at the bottom of the action screen), allowing you to perform an RF Special ReinForce) with extra damage and characteristics. For example, Ichigo’s QCF + Strong makes him dash across the screen, slamming back opponents with his Zanpakuto. But if you have a bar of Spirit Power, QCF + Strong will cause him to do the same move, while glowing, and the move will end in a launcher.

Super moves can be performed with Spirit Pressure (Reiatsu), indicated by the three level gauge under your life bar. Basic supers consume one level of Reiatsu and most characters have a three level super move. Bankai!


You can also Guard Cancel using either Reiryoku (B, which will move you out of harm’s way) or Reiatsu (R, which will knock your opponent back).

The game also employs an optional card system, which utilizes the touch screen. During a match, you can select one of the two cards displayed on the bottom screen, which unleash the effect is listed on that card. For example, you can power up your defense or power down an opponent's attack strength. You start out with a stock deck of eight cards per match, which depletes as you use them. More cards can be earned by completing some of the game modes, or by purchasing them in the Urahara shop, where you can also purchase Omake, such as Character Galleries, BGM and Effects Cards.









As with any well-designed fighter, Bleach DS is fully enjoyable at any skill level. Can’t air combo? Have a blast as a ground playin' scrub. Can’t pull off specials and supers? The touch screen can be set up to do those moves for you! So the game is accessible to the newbie, but still has the depth of game play to reward the player who puts time into learning all of the fighting system’s intricacies.

The Sauce

So, the fighting system is excellent and would make any franchise proud, but does this feel like a Bleach game?
As Kon would say, “I want to lay in the Inoue-san’s bountiful valleys!”


The game is set in the Soul Society arc from Episodes 15-63 of the anime. Story Mode follows this arc fairly closely, with Ichigo facing the same obstacles as in the anime, but modified to allow branching paths. Playing through Story Mode will unlock extra characters to play in the other modes.

Treasure did a wonderful job of capturing the feel of the anime, matching moves and animations to each character’s personalities. With some notable exceptions (where’s playable Urahara and Ikkaku?!), the character roster is nicely packed, and characters that didn’t have much screen time in the anime are even more fully fleshed out in the game. We can finally see the Bankai for Kyoraku, Ukitake and Old Man Yamamoto.

Arenas are faithful interpretations of scenes in the anime, with nice details and background animations (“Nanao-chan! Stop throwing those cherry blossom petals!”). The music is also lifted straight from the show and all of the anime’s voice actors supplied the vocals for the game.

And what would a good fighting game be without joke characters? Kon and Bonnie-chan put Dan (or SF Alpha) to shame.



What about Dessert?

Bleach DS is an essential purchase for fans of the anime or good fighters. If you’re a fan of both and don’t have this game yet, then you are dead to Pinky G. With the exception of knowing some details in the Story and Challenge Modes (GameFAQS!), the game is completely playable for non-Japanese speakers. Ichigo even speaks out what the game modes are on the main menu (“Aru-kay-do Mou-Do”, “Ga-Ra-Ree Mou-Do”).

Do yourself a favor and get your copy today. Anime fighters never tasted so good.

System: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Treasure
Genre: Fighting
Release Date: January 26, 2006
# of Players: 1-4
Wi-fi Online Play: Yes


IMPORT FRIENDLY – ▲
LOAD TIME – O
ORIGINALITY – ▲
GRAPHICS – O
MUSIC – O
LONGEVITY - O
OVERALL - O
CURRENT FAV IN GENRE: Jump Superstars.

After Dinner Mint
Hardcore Treasure fans will remember another 2D fighter the company developed before Bleach DS: the hard-to-find Yu Yu Hakusho game for Mega Drive.