One Piece: Grand Battle! 3 is a fighting game based on the One Piece manga and anime, released on the Sony Playstation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube. The direct sequel to Grand Battle! 2, it primarily adapts the events of the Sky Island Saga. The game was developed by Ganbarion and published by Bandai. It was released on December 11, 2003 in Japan.
A sequel, One Piece: Grand Battle! Rush!, was released on March 17, 2005.
Gameplay
This game includes sixteen playable characters and seven stages all based on the One Piece story up to the Skypiea arc. Each character contains over two special attacks, and can use the environment as a weapon.
The special moves are now closer to the actual characters moves throughout the series. In Grand Battle! 2, they appeared more loosely based on the characters and only noted a few important moves to each character. Overall the fighting styles of each character are more developed then previous games. Some of the arenas reappear in One Piece Grand Battle! Rush! as well as many of the special/secret moves. The gameplay plays similar to the Power Stone series.
Graphics
The stages are now in full 3D, as oppose to them being a platform type style of fighting game like in One Piece Grand Battle! 2. All support characters are now in 3D and have a specific style of fighting. Overall, there is a sharp improvement in graphics over Grand Battle! 2 with the change over to a new console.
All the Straw Hat pirates are given their Skypiea outfits. Alternative outfits included Luffy's "anchor" shirt from Chapter 1 he wore as a child. Interestingly, only the Straw Hats receive outfit updates. Shanks is shown as he appeared 10 years ago in Luffy's village, despite being given a new set of trousers during the Skypiea arc. The rest of his crew appear as they did in Grand Battle! 2, even though they too have been updated in the Skypiea arc (Benn Beckman in particular now has short hair). All other characters appear as they did before Skypiea.
Characters
There are a total of sixteen player characters - a marked decrease from Grand Battle! 2, accompanied by an even sharper decrease in support characters. Each "set" of support characters is now treated as a single unit tied to a single attack, rather than individuals that must be chosen before battle.
| Character | Support Character(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Monkey D. Luffy | |||
| Roronoa Zoro | |||
| Nami | |||
| Usopp | |||
| Sanji | |||
| Tony Tony Chopper | Gan Fall (and Pierre) | ||
| Nico Robin | |||
| Smoker | Tashigi | ||
| Sir Crocodile | |||
| Wiper | |||
| Ohm | Gedatsu, Shura, and Satori | ||
| Portgas D. Ace | |||
| Enel | |||
| Hina | Jango and Fullbody | ||
| Mr. 2 Bon Clay | |||
| Shanks | Lucky Roo, Benn Beckman, Yasopp, and Rockstar | ||
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.
| Item | Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit | Food | Fills a fraction of one Food Charge. |
| Drumstick | Food | Fills one Food Charge and restores a small amount of health. |
| Sword | Power-Up | Raises attack power, but disables blocking. |
| Shield | Power-Up | Raises defense power - enough to negate most knockback effects - but reduces speed. |
| Shoes | Power-Up | Raises speed - enough to give dashing a knockback effect - but reduces defense. |
| Eternal Pose | Attack | Depending on its needle direction, either fills (needle up) or empties (needle down) food charges. |
| Bomb | Attack | Explodes to inflict damage. If left alone, usually explodes after five seconds. |
| Buggy Ball | Attack | Explodes to inflict higher damage than regular bombs. If left alone, usually explodes after five seconds. |
| Lamp | Attack | Releases a flame that inflicts burn damage. |
| Poison Mushroom | Attack | Releases spores that inflict poison damage for approximately ten seconds. |
| Beehive | Attack | Releases bees that disorient while inflicting minor damage; these can be transferred to the opponent through close-quarters attacks. |
| Apples | Attack | May explode (inflicting damage equal to a regular bomb) or do nothing. Exclusive to Jaya stage. |
| Impact Dial | Attack | Absorbs attacks for five seconds, then explodes to inflict proportional damage. Exclusive to Jaya and Skypiea stages. |
| Conache | Attack | Releases several pieces of fruit. Exclusive to Skypiea stage. |
| Surprise Ball | Attack | Deploys one of the following:
|
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 drumsticks.
Containers can also be thrown for 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 seven stages, each with unique music, features, hazards, and background spectators.
| List of Stages | ||
|---|---|---|
Drum Castle: Consists of a snow-covered roof occupied by Wapol, bounded on all sides by sheer drops; Chess and Kuromarimo dominate the battlements. Spectators include Lapahn, Snow Birds, Tony Tony Chopper, Dr. Kureha, and Dalton.[1][2]
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Alabasta: Consists of the half-withered gardens atop the royal palace, bounded on three sides by sheer drops; Cobra stands on the remaining side, while Pell will periodically fly overhead. Spectators include Igaram, Chaka, the Tsumegeri Guard, Koza, Mr. 7, and Miss Father's Day.[3]
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Jaya: Consists of the road directly outside the Tropical Hotel, leading towards a half-broken pier where Mont Blanc Noland, Masira, and Shoujou are salvaging treasure. Spectators include various Bellamy Pirates, Spector, and Blackbeard.[4]
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Skypiea: Consists of a section of Shandora just beyond Giant Jack, enclosed on all sides by either ruins or Ohm's barbed wire. Spectators include Conis, Pagaya, Braham, Raki, Kamakiri, Satori, and various Divine Soldiers.[5]
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Maxim: Consists of the ark's foredeck and various mechanisms, bounded on three sides by sheer drops. Spectators include Gan Fall, Pierre, various Southbirds, and nearly all of the Straw Hat Pirates.[6]
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Mary Geoise: Consists of a two-level courtyard covered in miniature waterfalls, enclosed on two sides by stone pillars, on one side by soldiers, and on the remaining side by Mihawk, Kuma, and Doflamingo. Spectators include the Five Elders, Sengoku, Tsuru, and Laffitte.[7]
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Foosha Village: Consists of grassland and a stone bridge, enclosed on one end by a cow and the other by a creek leading to the sea. Spectators include Makino, Woop Slap, Higuma's gang, and the Red Hair Pirates.[8]
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Note that damage from stage hazards generally cannot be blocked.
Game Modes
Four modes may be accessed from the Top Menu.
Grand Battle
Grand Battle (グランドバトル, Gurando batoru?) 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, Ibento batoru?) 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 possible. The stage for each battle also generally follows canon; for instance, while Luffy may be fought on any stage except Mary Geoise, Wyper will always be fought on Skypiea.
Once all five 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.
Grand Tours
Grand Tours (グランドツアーズ, Gurando tsuāzu?) mode allows up to 16 different characters to participate in a bracketed tournament.
Training
Training (トレーニング, Torēningu?) mode allows the player to test a character's controls and capabilities on the hazard-free Mary Geoise 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.
Cast
Despite its smaller roster, Grand Battle! 3 possesses an even larger cast than its predecessor, as it casts most of its background spectators in addition to the player and support characters. While it generally remains faithful to the TV anime's castings, a few minor characters (such as Higuma) are completely recast.
The game is also notable for casting Yasunori Masutani (who also stands in for all of the Five Elders) as Attach, nearly four years before the character's "official" casting in Episode 321.
Trivia
- Unlike its predecessor, and like the original Grand Battle!, this game's opening cinematic features the original version of We Are!
- While Pandaman is not playable in this game unlike previous Grand Battle games, Mr. 2 Bon Kurei changes into him for one of his attacks. He is also hidden in all stages and in the game ending.
- This is the only game in the Grand Battle! series to not include Mihawk as a playable character (though he appears as a background spectator in the Mary Geoise stage, and as a vision in Zoro's Secret Technique cinematic).
- If Robin wins a fight by throwing her hat, she will do her victory pose without it.
- The Gamecube version of this game featured a demo file of One Piece: Going Baseball, which could be loaded onto a Game Boy Advance. Only Luffy and Enel were playable.
- This was the first One Piece game to exclude the traditional From TV Animation... prefix from its title; every subsequent game would follow suit.
- Though this game was never translated into English, several of its elements were (after being excluded from its direct sequel) adopted by the American-produced One Piece: Grand Adventure.
References
- ↑ If Chopper is one of the combatants, either Negikuma Maria or the Hiking Bear will take his (and Dr. Kureha's) place in the background.
- ↑ Pandaman will occasionally appear in one of the smaller windows behind the gate.
- ↑ Pandaman will occasionally appear behind the shrine.
- ↑ Pandaman will occasionally appear behind the Tropical Hotel's arch.
- ↑ Pandaman will occasionally appear behind the ruins.
- ↑ Pandaman will occasionally appear behind the hourglass turbine.
- ↑ Pandaman will occasionally appear in one of the hedges between the pillars.
- ↑ Pandaman will occasionally appear in the well behind Makino and Woop Slap.
External Links
- One Piece Grand Battle 3 (Japanese)
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