My Hero Academia has taken the world by storm, as one of the leading Shonen anime and manga of the last decade. Even with that popularity, we've barely seen the franchise represented in video games, with only My Hero One's Justice to speak of. It's a disappointing fact that should be remedied, especially considering how perfectly My Hero Academia would be perfect for the mold of an open-world game.
If you're unfamiliar, My Hero Academia takes place in a world where 90 percent of the population has a "Quirk," or some kind of superpower. With that change in society comes the new job of professional superhero, and a school system to teach up-and-coming heroes everything they need to know. It's a fresh take on the superhero genre, which is partly why the series has seen so much success. At this point My Hero Academia has expanded into a spinoff series, Vigilantes, and two feature films, The Two Heroes and Heroes Rising. There's even a live-action movie in development at Legendary.
Yet, there's so much room for the franchise to grow and expand into various other mediums, especially video games. My Hero One's Justice is a standard anime brawler, but with how inventive the series is, it deserves an equally inventive video game. One Piece: World Seeker and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot have both made steps in making anime games more ambitious, but out of all the anime series out there My Hero Academia would best fit the modern idea of what an open-world game is.
Creating Your Own Hero
If there's one thing My Hero One's Justice got right, it's character customization. Getting to deck out your heroes in crazy outfits is great fun, and that idea can be taken even further in an open-world title that lets you create your very own hero.
The Quirks of My Hero Academia can be utterly ridiculous, like the Naval Laser of Yuga Aoyama, that makes him sick when he uses it. Or the aptly named Bubble Girl, who can shoot bubbles filled with any scent she's smelled before. These atypical powers could provide a wealth of gameplay opportunities, or even just letting players choose between a list of the most powerful Quirks would provide sufficient options.
There are a few superhero games out there that let you create your own characters, like X-Men Destiny or DCU Online, but most experiences have you playing as pre-established characters. The whole theme of My Hero Academia would fit the idea of an open-world game; working your way up the ranks of U.A. High School and eventually hero society.
Exploring The World of My Hero Academia
Imagine exploring a colorful anime city filled with hero agencies and dangerous villains to take down. Whether you can create your own character or not, My Hero Academia practically creates that checklist of open-world games without even trying; taking on hero contracts, participating in rescue training, soaring through the air with your explosive napalm, etc.
The anime and manga have introduced countless unique heroes and sidekicks, but there simply isn't enough time to give everyone the spotlight. An open-world game would be a great way to help flesh out the universe and tell fans a bit more about characters that have been breezed over, like the firefighter hero Backdraft, or the sand hero Snatch who met his unfortunate end at the hands of the League of Villains.
One Piece: World Seeker is the best example for a My Hero Academia game to look to right now, as there aren't many stellar examples of open-world anime games. Developed by Ganbarion, World Seeker told an original story and themed its gameplay and exploration around Luffy's Gum-Gum powers. It has its problems, like repetitive missions and floaty controls, but World Seeker managed to be something original, rather than just a retread of the content we've seen in the anime, like Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
Anime adaptions have a distinct lack of ambition in video games, generally sticking to brawlers or fighting games. A few titles have started to move past that, but what series would be better for updating anime games than the most popular superhero anime out there?