Interview: Cubed3 Interviews producer Aoba Miyazaki for MY HERO ONE'S JUSTICE 2

Neil Flynn: What games have you drawn the most inspiration from and what mechanics have you wanted to implement from other games?

Aoba Miyazaki : Not from a technical standpoint, but I am hoping that we can be as popular as DragonBall FighterZ. From an anime fighting game perspective we wanted to do what was right for My Hero Academia.

Neil Flynn: In terms of character balance, what barriers have you had to overcome? For example, if there is an overpowered character, how have you been able to put that balance into the game?

Aoba Miyazaki: Each of the characters have their own abilities stemming from the manga, some are slower, some are faster, some are stronger and some are weaker. This has to come across convincingly in the game as well. If a character is strong in the anime, we have to ensure that this is replicated in the game, but at the same time care and attention is needed to paid to weaker characters to ensure that they aren't at a disadvantage either. The source material needs to be honoured but it is important that it works as a battle game as well.

Neil Flynn: There is a lot of fan service in these games, how important is it to stay close to the source material but also create original content?

Aoba Miyazaki: We want the fans to enjoy My Hero Academia as a game and enjoy that world in the game format. There is always something that you can do that is unique in the game world

Neil Flynn: How long has the game been in development for and how big is the development team?

Aoba Miyazaki: About 18 months now, the development team is made up of approx. 60-100 people but even more if you include other people that are helping contribute to the games release.

Neil Flynn: Will there be the option to change the camera angles in the game?

Aoba Miyazaki: It'll be same as the previous game so the player won't be able to change the angle but it will be the best angle for the battle.

Neil Flynn: How important is it to have an easy control scheme to get newcomers to play?

Aoba Miyazaki: It was important that fans of My Hero Academia and fans of fighting games could enjoy this game. We have implemented two modes; a normal mode and a manual mode. In normal mode combos are automatic and easier to execute while manual mode is for more seasoned fighters who can put together their own combos. 

Neil Flynn: How important is it to get the game on to Nintendo Switch?

Aoba Miyazaki: There are plenty of players who love playing games on their Nintendo Switch who are fans of My Hero Academia. There are a lot of fans of the manga and we wanted to make it possible for as many people as we could to enjoy playing the game, the way they'd like to play. 

Neil Flynn: What other games are you playing?

Aoba Miyazaki: Other games?! Unfortunately, I don't get the time to really play anything else other than My Hero at the moment. At this stage I am being very thorough and make sure that nothing has been missed off or that will disappoint the fans. I am going through the game, to ensure the debugging process and I am playing it so much. I am still not fed up of playing it and it brings me to (happy) tears all of the time.

Neil Flynn: What do you imagine the next gen of consoles doing to make the games you're playing better?

Aoba Miyazaki: I think players will have a whole range of new experiences, both in terms of the story, new forms of expression, new ways of moving and I am very excited to see what the future holds.