Inazuma Eleven Ares confirmed for Nintendo Switch

Back in July 2016, during the Level 5 Vision Event 2016, Level-5 announced Inazuma Eleven Ares: the next chapter in the Inazuma Eleven franchise. It takes place in an alternate timeline, where Earth hasn’t been invaded. Lots of familiar characters are back (but with minor and major differences!), and are joined by a brand new cast.

As a typical Level-5 cross-media project, Inazuma Eleven Ares is getting an anime series, alongside the video game. When the project was announced, no platform was mentioned, but in the months that followed, Akihiro Hino all but confirmed that it would be released at the very least on the Nintendo Switch.

And today, during the Inazuma Walker Vol.8 livestream, Level-5 confirmed that Inazuma Eleven Ares was indeed headed to the Nintendo Switch (alongside PlayStation 4, Android, and iOS)! It will be released this Summer, in Japan at the very least (no words on other regions yet).

While Level-5 wasn’t quite ready to fully show the game (still at too early a stage in development for a full reveal), some gameplay footage was shown during the livestream (NB: this was recorded using Test Mode, and does not represent final gameplay):

One thing Akihiro Hino did mention during the presentation is that the game would feature “anime-like graphics”, as in, no more chibi characters on the field anymore. And the footage above, while from a really early build, shows some much improved graphics and character models (though nothing really mindblowing even for the Nintendo Switch, let alone the PlayStation 4).

The press release reveals that the game offers a new gameplay system (no surprise: there’s no longer touch controls), and that it’s been designed so that even players who aren’t particularly good at action games can enjoy it. Level-5 also promises “anime-like high quality graphics”.

Of course, we have our usual recap of the full presentation later today: check out this post!

Inazuma Eleven Ares (Switch) will be released this Summer in Japan. The Upcoming Games has been updated!