One Piece: Grand Battle! Rush!

'''One Piece: Grand Battle! Rush!' is a fighting game based on One Piece'' manga and anime, released on the Sony Playstation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube. The direct sequel to Grand Battle! 3, '''Grand Battle! Rush is the fourth and (to date) final game in the Grand Battle '''series. It loosely adapts events of the series up to the early portions of the Water 7 Arc, with particular emphasis on the Long Ring Long Land Arc. The game was developed by Ganbarion and published by Bandai and Atari. It was released on March 17, 2005 in Japan, on September 6, 2005 in the United States and on September 29, 2005 in the European Union.

This was the first of One Pieces console games to be released in English, under the name of One Piece: Grand Battle'. However, since the English anime had not even completed the Alabasta Saga at the time of release, many features were changed or outright removed during localization.

Gameplay
Combat involves arcade-style fighting with complete freedom of movement in a three-dimensional environment. Player characters can walk, run, dash, 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 19 standard techniques, in addition to four Rush (ラッシュ) techniques. Rush techniques require the Food Charge Gauge (メシチャージゲージ), which can be filled with food scattered around the battlefield; at maximum, two charges can be filled.


 * Support Rush (サポートラッシュ): Summons a pre-selected support character, who will attack for a set amount of time (usually 15 seconds) before disappearing. Costs one food charge.
 * Grand Rush (グランドラッシュ): An attack preceded by a close-up on the character's sprite, typically stronger than most (if not all) standard attacks. Costs one food charge.
 * Secret Rush (奥義ラッシュ): An attack that triggers a full cinematic, which may be one, two, or three phases long. Costs two food charges if successfully landed, nothing otherwise.
 * The first phase occurs in all cases, inflicting damage equal to one-eighth a full health bar.
 * The second phase occurs if the opponent has at least 50% more health (if between 75% and 100% more, a "misfire" cinematic will play), inflicting damage equal to one-fifth a full health bar.
 * The third phase - generally drawn from the character's strongest attack(s) in canon, and featuring character-specific music - occurs if the opponent has at least 100% more health, inflicting damage that ranges from half to nine-tenths a full health bar.

If a character with two full charges sustains what would otherwise be a finishing blow, One Piece Heat (ONEピースヒート) activates, granting increased attack power and speed but disabling the ability to block. One Piece Heat steadily drains the character's food gauge; once the gauge runs out, One Piece Heat will end, and the character's food charges will be disabled for the rest of the battle.

Besides ordinary damage, the following status effects can be inflicted by various attacks, items, and conditions in the game:
 * Burn: Inflicts steady damage, usually over a five-second period. This status can be transferred to the opponent through grapple-based attacks.
 * Poisoned: Inflicts damage whenever attacks are made.
 * Greased: Reduces control over stops and turns. Also multiplies burn damage.
 * Disoriented: Reverses directional controls.
 * Stunned: Disables movement for three seconds. Immediately ended by any kind of damage.
 * Frozen: Disables movement while inflicting steady damage. Immediately ended by any kind of (outside) damage.
 * Falling: Inflicts damage from some "ring out" area of the stage and re-spawns in a nearby location. Immediately ends all other status effects.

Overall, this game continues the use of Grand Battle! 3's arena system with many of the previous arenas and special moves being reused. Updates and graphic enhancements were given (many of them rather un-obvious at first glance) to many of the old arenas, and several new characters were introduced. The adjustments to the characters' fighting styles were minor, and most characters remain mostly as they were in Grand Battle! 3.

Characters
There are a total of 19 player characters, and 36 support characters. Each player character is assigned at least one support character, at most three; before starting any battle or mini-game, each player character must select one support character from their assigned pool. No player character may select a support character from another's pool (except when permitted by the rules of the Davy Back Fight).

Once summoned, a support character will follow one of three basic patterns: running after the opponent with ground attacks, jumping after the opponent with air attacks, or remaining stationary with projectile attacks. While support characters are not player-controllable, they also cannot be staggered or damaged (except by falls, which instantly eliminate them).

Below is a list of the player characters, and their assigned support characters. Please note that all characters are referred to by the spelling in the game, not the manga or anime.

All player characters can access an "A" and a "B" costume, usually consisting of their canon outfits and a recolor. Each of the Straw Hat Pirates can access up to four costumes with more elaborate themes:
 * A: Long Ring Long Land Arc outfits, such as Luffy's "Afro Luffy" gear and Nami's "GOLD" tank top.
 * B: Debut outfits, such as Usopp's brown overalls and Sanji's black suit.
 * C: Sports-themed outfits, based off a Shonen Jump cover (later collected in Color Walk 2) drawn to celebrate the 2000 Olympics.
 * D: Yakuza-themed outfits, based off the cover to Volume 11.

Costume choice generally does not affect gameplay. However, Luffy's "A" costume - uniquely - provides an alternate Secret Rush cinematic.

Items
Combatants may be helped or hindered by a variety of items around the battlefield. Items fall under three general categories.


 * Food: Fills portions of the Food Charge Gauge. Activated on contact.
 * Power-Up: Raises various combat abilities (usually while reducing others) for 15 seconds. Activated on contact.
 * Attack: Inflicts damage and/or varying status effects. Activated by impact of attacks or throws.

Below is a table of items and their respective effects.

Items are generally found by breaking the containers - barrels, crates, and treasure chests - positioned around each stage. Once broken, a container will always release several pieces of fruit and one other item, which will usually fade if left alone for 15 seconds. Barrels and crates can only release Attack items, while treasure chests can only release Power-Ups or meat.

Containers can also be thrown for minor damage. Dashing against a container will send it a shorter distance, but allow it to stun on impact.

Battle Stages
There are a total of nine stages, each with unique music, features, hazards, and background spectators.

Note that damage from stage hazards generally cannot be blocked.

Game Modes
Five 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 another player or 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. Stages may be preset or randomly selected.

Event Battle
Event Battle (イベントバトル) mode puts the player character through five 60-second battles, each against a different CPU-selected opponent. Each battle is begun and ended by a cutscene, generally scripted after canon events if the combatants ever interacted in canon. The stage for each battle also generally conforms to canon; for instance, while Luffy may be fought on any stage except Mariejois, Krieg will always be fought on the Baratie.

Once all five battles are won, 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.

Davy Back Fight
Davy Back Fight (デービーバックファイト) mode adapts the canon concept into a series of mini-games hosted by Foxy and his crew. The player selects three characters to compete in a three-coin game, with challenges semi-randomly drawn from the following:


 * Donut Race (ドーナツレース): The player character must prevent the Cutie Wagon from overtaking the Taru Tiger, by knocking out Foxy Pirates before they can shoot the latter. The pirates drop fruit when knocked out (unless they were close to firing, in which case they will drop bombs).


 * Groggy Ring (グロッキーリング): The player character must compete with a CPU-selected opponent in a 60-second match, scoring points by tossing the "ball" (Gaimon) into the assigned goals. Extra points will be given for knocking the opponent into their assigned goal.


 * Custom Battle (カスタムバトル): The player character must battle a CPU-selected opponent in a 60-second match with one mechanic modified (i.e. jumps have extra height, items deal increased damage, etc.).


 * Crush Rush Box (クラッシュ・ラッシュ・ボックス): The player character must destroy 300 item containers within 60 seconds. One food charge is provided.


 * Snow Cleaning (スノークリーニング): The player character must destroy a large pile of snow atop Drum Castle within 60 seconds.


 * Wootz Smash (ウーツスマッシュ): The player character must battle Don Krieg on the Baratie stage, and defeat him within 60 seconds. Krieg has an invisible (but otherwise standard) health bar, as well as an invisible and permanent Shield item; he will also make no attempt to block any attack.


 * Combat (コンバット): The player character must battle Foxy on the Sexy Foxy stage, and defeat him twice (no time limit is present). Upon his first defeat, Foxy will immediately revive with a full health bar, a permanent state of One Piece Heat, and infinite food charges.

(Note that health automatically regenerates in all challenges except Custom Battle, Wootz Smash, and Combat. Secret Rush techniques are disabled in all challenges except Custom Battle and Combat.)

The winning party in each challenge takes a support character from the loser's side; this support character may be used in one subsequent challenge. The overall Davy Back Fight follows best-two-out-of-three rules; winning will unlock the system voice for one support character.

Grand Tours
Grand Tours (グランドツアーズ) mode allows up to 16 different characters to participate in a bracketed tournament.

Training
Training (トレーニング) mode allows the player to test a character's controls and capabilities on the hazard-free Mariejois stage. Here, food charges and health regenerate automatically, and all damage output is visibly recorded.

In addition to standard difficulty settings, the player may program the opponent character to do nothing, run away, give chase (without attacking), or focus exclusively on one type of attack. The player may also time how long it takes to break all eight pillars.

Bonus Features
A number of bonus features may be unlocked by meeting various victory conditions (usually in Event Mode).

Treasure
Treasure (お宝) features:


 * Character Data (キャラデータ): Allows the player to access character sprites, voice clips, and profiles at leisure.
 * Theater (シアター): Allows the player to view Event Mode cinematics at leisure.
 * Gallery (ギャラリー): Allows the player to view Event Mode cutscene illustrations at leisure.

Cards
Cards (カード) reproduces cards from the first seven sets of the official One Piece collectible card game. Three of these cards will be unlocked with victory in any battle or mini-game.

Translation and Alterations
As with the anime at the time, this game was translated and dubbed into English by 4Kids Entertainment. While the gameplay mechanics were retained, many other aspects were changed or outright removed.


 * 4Kids naming conventions (i.e. Zolo instead of Zoro, Chaser instead of Smoker) and censorship (i.e. the cross-like guards on Mihawk's swords being shortened) are generally followed where applicable.
 * However, exceptions and inconsistencies exist. For instance, while the cigars in his mouth are removed, Smoker/Chaser retains his cigar bandoleers and Justice (正義) kanji.
 * Since the 4Kids anime had only begun the Drum Island Arc at the time, steps were taken against referencing events from Alabasta and beyond:
 * The opening cinematic is replaced with the the 4Kids anime's rap opening. Some footage from the original cinematic is included an "idle cinematic" for the Press Start Screen.
 * All of the Straw Hat Pirates' post-Alabasta outfits are removed, leaving their debut outfits the defaults (recolors of these are provided to make up the difference).
 * Since Chopper and Robin had not joined the Straw Hats (indeed, the latter was known as nothing other than Ms. Sunday) at the time, their profiles and cutscenes are rewritten to remove all indications of familiarity with the Straw Hats.
 * All of Robin's costumes are removed, except her "Ms. Sunday" outfit (and a recolor); all her cutscene illustrations are redrawn accordingly.
 * Usopp's Impact Dial technique is removed, and replaced with a sequence of exploding shots based off his Gunpowder Star Dance technique from Chapter 296.
 * Enel, Foxy, and Aokiji (and their respective support characters) are removed.
 * The Maxim and Sexy Foxy stages are removed.
 * The Mariejois stage (renamed Eden Rock) is depicted as a standard Navy training area. All background spectators are removed.
 * Davy Back Fight mode (renamed Mini-Games) is hosted by Usopp and his ragtag "pirates" as the Usopp Pirates' Challenge. However, unedited Foxy Pirates still appear in several games.
 * The Donut Race (renamed Usopp Race) replaces the crews of the Taru Tiger (Nami, Usopp, and Robin) and the Cutie Wagon (Porche and Capote) with nondescript villagers and the Usopp Pirates, respectively. Monda is retained, but recolored to look more like an ordinary shark.
 * Combat (renamed Usopp Duel) replaces Foxy with Usopp, and randomly selects its stage.
 * Event Battle mode (renamed Story Mode) depicts a short biography of the player character before starting.
 * Support characters are not dubbed, attacking in silence when summoned (though they are voiced - when included - in cutscenes).
 * The conditions for unlocking Mihawk are simplified; the player only needs to defeat him (on Very Hard difficulty) with Zoro's Secret technique, instead of needing to withstand his Secret Technique first.

Trivia

 * An American-made sequel, One Piece Grand Adventure, featuring several characters either excluded from the original game or new to any One Piece game, was released in 2006. This game is generally not considered part of the Grand Battle series.
 * Translations for both the Japanese and American versions of this game were released in some European countries (such as Spain).
 * Luffy will enter a unique "enraged" mode, with different voice clips, if battling Grand Line enemies such as Crocodile or Enel.
 * If battling Foxy, Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Cannon Secret Rush will have a slightly different victory cinematic; instead of just screaming, he will make his "Not 'til I die!" (死んでもやらん!) proclamation from Chapter 316.
 * Sanji will enter a unique "Mellorine" mode, with different voice clips and remixed Secret Rush music, if battling Nami or Robin.
 * Don Krieg's MH5 technique will be substituted by a shuriken bomb (as seen in Chapter 60) if the jump command is given while the shell is airborne.
 * Devil Fruit users - Luffy, Chopper, Robin, Buggy, Smoker, Mr. 2, Crocodile, Enel, Foxy, and Aokiji - take extra damage from falling into water, while Arlong takes none. All characters take identical damage from "dry" drops.
 * The English boxart of the game is also used for the boxart of the English-exclusive One Piece.
 * Unlike previous installments of the Grand Battle series, this game's opening cinematic references only canon events.