Inazuma Eleven Eiyuutachi no Victory Road (イナズマイレブン
It was formerly announced under the name of Inazuma Eleven Eiyuutachi no Great Road (イナズマイレブン
Info
Level-5 was originally developing the Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin game, but after numerous delays and issues during production, the game was scrapped. In September of 2019, just before the airing of Inazuma Eleven Orion no Kokuin's final episode, Hino announced they decided restarting their game project, instead making a game called Inazuma Eleven Eiyuutachi no Great Road, which would add more story of the characters outside the Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin series, and planned to release it on Spring 2020.
Eiyuutachi no Great Road
On April 1st, 2020[1], Hino announced an upcoming plan for the new game. Instead of following the Ares no Tenbin story as originally planned, the game would have a completely new storyline and would be a remake of the Football Frontier arc from the original Inazuma Eleven, and would feature characters from both the GO series and the Ares no Tenbin series as part of the same timeline. The story will focus on the new protagonist, Sasanami Unmei, a soccer-loving boy with a mental trauma which makes him unable to play soccer, who decided to join Raimon's soccer club as a manager after he met Endou Mamoru. The game was expected to release in 2021.
After a year with no update on the game, on April 2nd, 2021[2], Hino posted an update video[3] on his blog. The video contained some new in-development footage of the game with several major characters from all three series appear in the background. The building and character model were changed from the more realistic scale, seen in the early development of Ares no Tenbin and AC games, to the smaller scale and less detailed, similar to GO games. The game was now delayed to 2023.
Eiyuutachi no Victory Road
2022
On July 15th[4], Hino announced the former blog for Inazuma Eleven Eiyuutachi no Great Road would be updated on the next week, releasing a piece of artwork depicting Sasanami getting intimidated by a new character.
On July 21st[5], Hino announced Inazuma Eleven's latest work, redirecting to the new site and, releasing the logo for Victory Road and a new piece of artwork depicting Sasanami holding on to a new character.
The refurbished development blog was updated after a year of absence. Hino announced that the game would be receiving a title change from Great Road to Victory Road to fit better with the new main story of the game. The original plan for the Great Road game was to focus on Sasanami building a team of past characters but was eventually changed to an original story separate from other Inazuma Eleven series.
On August 22nd[6], Hino quote retweeted an illustration made for Inazuma Eleven's 14th anniversary, mentioning Victory Road news would be nearing. On the same day[7], Hino released a game movement screen and three storyboard roughs, assuring there would be crucial news by the end of the year.
On December 1st[8], Hino released an image of various character models wearing a new uniform to celebrate the Japanese national team advancing to the knockout stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
On December 23rd[9], Hino assured the aforementioned crucial news would arrive five days later. On December 28th, 2022[10], Hino announced the promised news, redirecting to the game's website. On the affiliated blog, Hino attached a video[11] detailing how the Match System will work. At the end of the video, more news are stated to come on February, 2023, wherein Level-5 plans to release new information about the overview of the story, game systems, characters, animations, and additional undisclosed information. Lastly, a new artwork[12] depicting Sasanami gazing at a new character was released, with Hino stating he reigns supreme as a soccer player and stated the storyline had a major change to also revolve around him.
2023
On February 4th[13], Hino released a new artwork of Sasanami, stating the news would come at the end of the month in Level-5's online event. On February 21st, 2023[14], Hino announced the postponing of Level-5's online event to March 9th, 2023.
On March 9th[15], during Level-5's online event, Hino released Victory Road's trailer, wherein it revealed its set place and the names of previously revealed characters, like Shisendou Garyuu and Endou Haru. It also revealed the game would feature 4500 characters from all Inazuma Eleven series in its Chronicle Mode, detailing how the player would be able to access the Chronicle taisen route, how the new recruitment system would work and showed an unnamed combination shoot hissatsu technique performed by Shinohara Raika and Sakurazaki Jouji. At the end of the event, Hino assured the games presented would be slated for a worldwide release, with Victory Road maintaining its release date for 2023 and more news would come sometime around summer.
On August 22nd[16], on Inazuma Eleven's 15th anniversary, Hino released a blog post in which he details the updated match system, as it didn't meet other current game's mechanics, the V Plan, wherein Level-5 intends to introduce multiple mechanisms for online play and make the game be playable for a long time, the auditions for Sasanami and Haru's respective seiyuu, and a new character said to have a deep connection with someone from the past. Hino later informed the next news would come out 9 days later and that fans can play the new match system during the September TGS.
On August 31st[17], Hino released a blog post wherein he shared a promotional video for Victory Road, showcasing the ins and outs of its new gameplay system, detailing how he and Level-5 felt about the changes implemented. At the end of the promotional video, news about Victory Road's Story Mode are slated to be released on September 16th.
On September 16th, as promised, a promotional video was released, revealing various plot points and new characters like Tsukikage Ren. On the accompanying blog post[18], Hino discerns the difficulty on writing the theme song of the game, reassuring fans on the information unveiled of previous news, and informing Victory Road might have to be delayed.
On September 20th, a video was released detailing the controls and gameplay for the demo version of the game that would be playable at TGS. It also provided new information the the Zone mechanic, where the defending team is able to move their goalkeeper and defenders to guard areas and block shoot courses. It was revealed that characters can have up to 6 hissatsu techniques, with them being in sets of 2 that can be unlocked via training or story events. The last detail was about a new mechanic, the Keeper Gauge. There was also an accompanying blog post[19], giving Hino's comments on the video.
On September 23rd, there was a live Inazuma Walker at TGS. It played the Chronicle Mode before introducing several voice actors for the main cast, with the voices of Sasanami and Haru on stage. More details about the game were also revealed, such as the ability to recruit all the players in the game in a save file. The character rarity system teased in earlier videos was officially shown and explained, with characters able to become all rarities through training. It was stated that despite being able to recruit multiple versions of a character, the game will not feature gacha mechanics. Strategies about team composition were also discussed, with characters all having skills that aid other teammates and how certain groups of player's skills synergise well with each other. On September 24th, another live presentation was held, showcasing gameplay of the Story Mode. It consisted of Sasanami walking around Nagasaki and Nagumohara's school grounds. This showed minor details like character names, tasks, icons above NPCs, and items able to be picked up off the ground as sparkles.
On November 29th, the promotional video was revealed on the Level-5 Vision 2023 presentation, confirming the game would release simultaneously worldwide. It featured gameplay of characters voicing their hissatsu techniques for the first time and the return of past features like Shoot Chains, Shoot Blocks, Long Shoots, and hissatsu tactics. The gameplay also showed off the new Attack and Defense Values for player interactions and hissatsu techniques, mechanics like the ability to gain items through Focus duels as well as updated interfaces. Voiced cutscenes were also shown, with a tease of a new "Focus Battle" mechanic.
The promotional video ended with the reveal of a worldwide beta test for the game, releasing in March 2024. This beta test will be free to play and will include single player matches, online PVP, and the first chapter of Story Mode, which will have continuous updates. The beta is planned to continue running until the full game is released. Whilst the beta runs, they will also provide Inazuma Post as a service where the player can provide feedback for the game. Alongside the promotional video, a cutscene that would appear in the game was also shown off. This cutscene showed an in-depth discussion between Sasanami and Haru about tactics for an upcoming match and goes over various strategies and mechanics used in the game.
On December 4th, the game's supported platforms was updated to provide a Steam release for the game.
2024
On January 26th, a video detailing the characters available the the game's beta was revealed. The characters present where announced as 3 teams, Inazuma All Stars, Japan Dreams, and Aliea Masters.
On March 21st, a new promotional video was released, showing new footage from the beta and its release date, being March 28th for the Nintendo Switch. Alongside the video, the game's website was updated, explaining different player passive abilities, how to increase player rarities, and the Victory Gallery feature. It also mentioned the Victory Road mode will be available from the start, while the Story Mode will be provided in a later update. Outside of Japan, it marked the first time footage used different languages and first mention of the 3 teams available in the beta.
Following its release, Hino promised to eventually release the beta on other platforms when the Nintendo Switch's eShop delisted the beta. On July 17th, a promotional video was released, informing it would be released on July 18th on Steam, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4, alongside the full content of Chapter 1.
On September 1st, during the tournament of the game's beta, new information about the game was revealed. Firstly, Inazuma Eleven The Movie 2025 was announced wherein it would be composed of Inazuma Eleven the Compilation Movie: The Legendary Kick-Off, a recapitulaion movie of the first season of the Inazuma Eleven anime, and Inazuma Eleven the Movie: The Prologue to New Heroes, a movie using the games animated cutscenes of its first chapter with some additional scenes, slated to be released on December 27th. Information on the Manager AI Mode divulged, going over the ability to designate predetermined playstyles for players as well as more precise orders during the match, acting like a coach. There would also be an option to autoplay matches, with all these features being available in every game mode. It was mentioned that more news about the game, like its release date or new gameplay systems will be revealed on September 24th during Level-5 Vision. A new demo for the game was also mentioned to be playable at the TGS through September 26th to 29th, where the AI mode will be playable in a match between Second Raimon and The Genesis. The event also announced the beta had reached over 2 million downloads across all platforms as well as the results of the popularity poll.
On September 24th, Hino announced new information regarding Victory Road, scheduling it to be released worldwide somewhere in June of 2025. The amount of players in the game would increase from 4,500 to 5,200, the Commander AI Mode would work on all game modes, and training one's players through the Abilear Board and Bond Link. Hino would also announce the Bond Town Mode, where the player can create their own Avatar and train them and gather items and players to their town by playing the various game modes.
On October 17th, a meeting with the Level-5 Creative Community Club discussed a new possible control mode for the game, Draw AI Mode. This mode would allow the player to control groups of playable characters at once using touch controls, having been revealed in the trailer of Inazuma Eleven RE. The ability to alter the camera angle in Scramble and Focus was also discussed. Neither were decided to be fully implemented and are still being considered for the game's release. Official artwork of Raimon, Hokuyou Gakuen, and Fuwa were publically released.
Features
The game's theme song is Egao ga Goal!, but during the game's demo, Sekai ni Kizame! Inazuma Mark takes its place.
The game is said to be divided into three modes: Story Mode (ストーリーモード, Sutōrī Mōdo), Chronicle Mode (クロニクルモード, Kuronikuru Mōdo), and Victory Road (ヴィクトリーロード, Vikutorī Rōdo).
Story Mode
The Story Mode is said to be focused on Sasanami's story, a boy who can't play soccer, but instead scouts other players and creates his own football team with him as their commander. He and his friends will build their own 'victory road' as the characters are stated to not be as strong as players but they face their problems, work and train hard to overcome them to find a way to win, eventually facing Raimon in the finals.
The story will be set 25 years after the Inazuma Eleven game, with no past characters appearing, in a new school called Nagumohara located in Nagasaki, Kyuushuu.
Hino mentions the process to creating a full team of players will be a lot longer than past Inazuma Eleven games and that the soccer battle events that take place before actual matches will be made more fun and strategic to liven up the mood before a full scale match.
Chronicle Mode
The Chronicle Mode is said to be where the player will collect, battle, and build teams with previous characters from the Inazuma Eleven franchise, even being able to face the worst, strongest, and most fearsome of enemy teams. It will be unlocked from the start with no additional requirements.
It will be accessible through the Inazuma V Caravan (イナズマ
Hino details how challenging the addition of 4500 characters to the game was, explaining the data from the Nintendo DS titles couldn't be used in its state, which enabled Level-5's programmers to instruct an AI program to create high-quality polygon data from character illustrations and previous data.
All teams will have varying difficulties in both the Story Mode and Chronicle Mode, having 4 levels in total and rewards being better at higher difficulties. Several of these items were also shown, called Hero Tokens, which would serve as currency to buy items like equipment.
Victory Road
Victory Road is said to be the game's designated online mode, where the player will be able to play with other players online, as well as compete in a Football Frontier with other players.
In this Football Frontier, the qualifiers are open to everyone, determined by their play evalutions (プレイ
Seasonal and Eternal Players
In this Football Frontier, a team must contain six Seasonal Players (シーズナル
Seasonal Players are players who can only be exclusively acquired in their designated season and can be used for 3 whole seasons. It is also said it will prominently feature scout characters and occasionally main characters.
Eternal Players are players who are acquired through other modes and can be used indefinitely. A Seasonal Player can become an Eternal Player once the 3 season quota has ended.
Free Soccer Interface
It was detailed the struggle of finding a good control scheme for the Victory Road game as Level-5 were trying to achieve the touch screen controls of the previous Inazuma Eleven main line games without touching the screen. There was also the attempt at using traditional football game controls, but they were too standard and not very beginner-friendly.
After a lot of trial and error, they settled on the Free Soccer Interface (フリーサッカーインタフェース, Furī Sakkā Intafēsu), a customizable gameplay style allowing the player to switch between the traditional style of drawing arrows on their characters to move or using a controller and buttons for those inputs. Hino also discussed the possibility of launching a dedicated stylus alongside the game.
The camera positions during matches can also be changed. Using a Nintendo Switch undocked allows the player to rotate their screen vertically or horizontally to view the pitch and play the game. The player can also switch the camera of the gameplay from viewing the pitch from left to right or top to bottom, alternating between a traditional handheld Inazuma Eleven game view or a Strikers style view. However, Hino also states Level-5 are considering adjustments to this customizable gameplay when playing against another player.
Hino also detailed past mechanics would be featured, but only up to Keshin, and later mechanics like Mixi Max and Keshin Armed would eventually be featured after releasing the game.
Gameplay
- Focus (フォーカス, Fōkasu): A mechanic made for players to act quickly during command battles.
- Zone (ゾーン, Zōn): A mechanic made for when the player is in front of the goal. Time slows down, letting them decide whether to shoot or pass to other players. Goalkeepers can also move and command defenders to move and create defensive walls to block shoot courses.
- Scramble (スクランブル, Sukuranburu): A mechanic made for the player to either keep the ball or make a direct heading when emerging successful from a command battle.
- Tension Gauge (テンションゲージ, Tenshon Gēji): A mechanic made to replace the old TP system which will be used by all team members, requiring the player to accumulate Focus points.
- Keeper Gauge (キーパーゲージ, Kīpā Gēji): A mechanic similar to Shibire Gauge. With each save performed by a goalkeeper, the Keeper Gauges depletes and eventually allows any player to score when they lower it enough. It recharges when the opposing player's team scores a goal.
- Shoot Chain (シュートチェーン, Shūto Chēn): A mechanic where the player can use a shoot hissatsu technique to pass the ball to another player, where they can use their own shoot technique on top of another teammate's shoot hissatsu technique, boosting the power of the shoot.
- Shoot Block (シュートブロック, Shūto Burokku): A mechanic where the player is able to stop or weaken shoots using defensive hissatsu techniques.
- Long Shoot (ロングシュート, Rongu Shūto): A mechanic where the player can shoot from their own half, which can also be activated during Zones.
- Hissatsu Tactics (
必殺 タクティクス, Hissatsu Takutikusu): A mechanic where glyphs appear on areas of the field, giving special effects for strategic advantages.
Trailers
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 『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』試合システム  【PV】『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』ティザーPV（LEVEL5 VISION 2023 Ver.）  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』進化した試合システム  【PV】『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』PV3  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』TGS 2023 体験版操作ガイド  【PV】『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』PV4  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』作戦会議「VS東風異国館」  『イナズマV』「ベータテスト体験版」参戦選手発表PV  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』PV5  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』ベータテスト体験版「ストーリーモード」配信告知PV①  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』ベータテスト体験版「ストーリーモード」配信告知PV②  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』ベータテスト体験版「ストーリーモード」配信告知PV③  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』ベータテスト体験版 パッチ＆ストーリーPV  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』PV6 - PS5-PS4-Steam  【PV】『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』PV7  『イナズマイレブン 英雄たちのヴィクトリーロード』TGS 2024 体験版操作ガイド
INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – Teaser Trailer (LEVEL5 VISION 2023 Ver.)  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – Newly Evolved Game Systems  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road –PV3  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – TGS Trial Version Guide  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – PV4  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – Strategy Meeting “VS Eastwind Peregrine”  『INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – PV5  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – Beta Test Demo "Story Mode" Update Trailer ①  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – Beta Test Demo "Story Mode" Update Trailer ②  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – Beta Test Demo "Story Mode" Update Trailer ③  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – Beta Test Demo Patch & Story Trailer  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – PV6 - PS5-PS4-Steam  INAZUMA ELEVEN- Victory Road – PV7 |
Trivia
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Key visual referenced in Downer Onee-san wa Asobitai.
- The game has a motif of clouds, being present in its logo, in the new school name and in the main character's name. Hino has stated that this is to signify the sky and clouds before lightning (Inazuma), which metaphorizes the troubled characters as 'smouldering clouds' who may turn into tempestuous lightning in the future.
- The protagonist team and the three teams they face in the Kyuushuu preliminaries are named after cardinal directions. Nagumohara represents south, Hokuyou represents north, Nishinomiya represents west, and Toufuu Ikokukan represents east.
- The game's initial key visual is referenced as the cover for Chapter 9 of Downer Onee-san wa Asobitai, which covered various parts of the Inazuma Eleven series[20].
_Initial_key_visual.jpg){kind=link}
References
- ↑ Tweet of Great Road's rebranding.
- ↑ Great Road development report.
- ↑ Video of Great Road's development report.
- ↑ Victory Road teaser.
- ↑ Tweet of Victory Road's rebranding.
- ↑ Hino Akihiro anticipating Victory Road news.
- ↑ Tweet of Victory Road news.
- ↑ Hino Akihiro pleased by Japan advancing to the knockout stage.
- ↑ Hino assuring crucial news.
- ↑ Crucial 2022 news.
- ↑ Match System video.
- ↑ Sasanami gazing at the new character.
- ↑ Hino assuring the February news.
- ↑ Hino postponing the online event.
- ↑ LEVEL5 VISION 2023 鼓.
- ↑ Hino's blog post on Inazuma Eleven's 15th anniversary.
- ↑ PV 2's blog post.
- ↑ PV 3's blog post.
- ↑ Demo guide blog post.
- ↑ Downer Onee-san wa Asobitai - Chapter 9.
_Haru_and_Unmei.jpg){kind=link}
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