Grand Battle!

One Piece: Grand Battle! is a fighting game based on the One Piece manga and anime, released for the Sony PlayStation. It adapts elements of the series up to the Whisky Peak Arc.

Developed by Ganbarion and published by Bandai, Grand Battle! was released in Japan on March 3, 2001, becoming the series' second-ever licensed game (preceded only by Become the Pirate King!), and the first for a home console. It met with resounding success, ultimately selling over 600,000 units and launching an entire series of games under the Grand Battle title.

In 2003, the game was given a PAL release, featuring text options (with unaltered Japanese audio) in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German. This made it the first One Piece game to be released outside Japan, though it remains unavailable in North America.

Gameplay


Combat involves typical 2.5D mechanics, with three-dimensional character sprites interacting on a two-dimensional axis. Player characters can walk, run, jump, double-jump, block, and pick up (as well as throw and catch) items around the battlefield.

Fighting consists of standard button combinations. Each player character can access 10 standard techniques, along with several Finisher (必殺) techniques that incorporate full cinematics. Finisher techniques can only be used when character health falls below a set level (marked by notches on the health bar), and come in five classes:
 * Strike (打撃)
 * Boost (タメ)
 * Grapple (投げ)
 * Counter (カウンター)
 * Support (手下召喚)

Every character may perform at least two different finisher techniques; some may perform as many as three.

Characters
There are a total of sixteen player characters, seven of which may call upon support characters.

Battle Stages

 * Syrup Village
 * Baratie
 * Arlong Park
 * Loguetown
 * Laboon
 * Foosha Village

Game Modes
Two modes may be accessed from the Top Menu.

Grand Battle
Grand Battle (グランドバトル) mode allows players to participate in classic arcade-style battles against each other or against the CPU. CPU opponents may be set at four different difficulties. Time limits may be set at 60 seconds, at 99 seconds, or completely disabled. Victory conditions may be set at one, two, or three victories out of one, two, or three rounds. Stages may be preset or randomly selected.

Event Battle
Event Battle (イベントバトル) mode puts the player character through six 99-second battles against six CPU opponents.

Each battle begins and ends with a short cutscene, generally scripted after canon interactions if possible. The stage for each battle also generally follows canon; Usopp will always be fought on Syrup Village, Arlong will always be fought on Arlong Park, and so on.

Once all six battles are cleared, a character-specific cinematic is played, followed by the game's development credits. If any battle is lost, the player will be presented with a continue option. Five continues - in total - are allowed before Event Battle automatically ends.

Trivia

 * Despite never actually doing any form of attack in the series, Shanks is playable as a fighter. Pandaman is also featured, despite not actually being a storyplot character.
 * At the time of setting for this game, Miss Wednesday had not been introduced yet as Princess Vivi.
 * This is the first of 4 games carrying the "Grand Battle" title. The sequel to this game is Grand Battle! 2.
 * Grand Battle! at the Playstation Awards 2002, the game picked up a Gold prize alongside its sequel Grand Battle! 2. The game was a long-time seller and over 600,000 copies were sold after its first year.
 * The game's box-art, opening cinematic, and Press Start screen all deliberately recreate the cover to Volume 12.

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