Level-5's Inazuma Eleven series has become something of a hit in its native Japan, spawning an anime series, comic adaptation and countless other items of merchandise. The games have also been released in Europe, but thus far they have ignored North America — possibly down to soccer's relatively lowly status when compared to other sports in the region.
However, according to Nintendo's official release calendar for 2014, the game will finally be making its US debut. Nintendo has "Inazuma Eleven" listed for release in Q1 2014, but doesn't state which game is coming. Given that Inazuma Eleven 3 recently came out in Europe, the sensible money would be on that instalment making the jump.
The latest entry — Inazuma Eleven GO 3: Galaxy — hit Japanese shelves in December 2013, but seeing as previous games in the "GO" sub-series haven't been translated, it's unlikely that it will be the game mentioned on Nintendo's North American schedule.
We gave Inazuma Eleven 3 a solid 7/10 when we reviewed it back in September 2013, stating that it "lacked the spark" of previous entries, but offered hours of "charming, light-hearted, over-the-top adventure".
North American players — are you keen to get your hands on Level-5's sporting RPG series at last? Or are you simply not interested? Leave a comment to tell us.
[source nintendo.com]
Comments (30)
So excited for this news!!! Best case scenario: We get Inazuma Eleven 1・2・3
I don't like soccer but thank goodness for the World Cup as that's probably the reason for the localization!
I'm really excited about this I've been wanting to try out the series for a long time.
I'm happy for those in North America to finally (without importing of course) be able to experience the awesomeness that is Inazuma Eleven I don't even like soccer but I love Inazuma Eleven! Though admittedly I have yet to buy the latest one, lack of funds sadly. Though the DS iterations were amazing so I hope the 3DS one is too
Good news for North American gamers, it's quite a good game and I'm not even a huge football fan.
FINALLY. Been wanting these games for ages.
I'm guessing it will be eShop distribution only. I can't see this garnering a huge audience in North America... way too eclectic, even without the soccer elements. Also, some questionable design choices for the black / African characters in that anime clip that some Americans might find objectionable.
Like many people on this forum will say its about time.
what great news to wake up to really looking forward to giving this series a try
I will be buying this just to support since we never see these games ported. I hope I like it. It looks good
Not a huge soccer fan, but if its discounted in eShop I'll consider. Good they're bringing it iver though.
I'm a brazilian so I'm a huge fan of soccer (footbal eat that north americans), and as fan of japanese animation, I'm very excited about this game.
I'll buy on the pre-order
This is VERY good news! I've been wanting to try this series for a while now.
I'm honestly not sure if I am interested in trying out this series. I'll have to check out some videos and more information before I can decide. I know this is a shot in the dark, but a demo would be most helpful as well.
Great news! I've been waiting for a while for a Inazuma Eleven game to come over to North America on 3DS.
Something to consider is that any game getting a North American localization also goes down under (and I don't mean Australia). Soccer and soccer videogames are insanely popular in almost all Latin America, so maybe it will be there where the sales may come from.
Curses! A 3DS game I'm interested in that's not Bravely Default! Well, I guess if I finish Bravely Default and DanganRonpa by then, I'll pick it up.
See, this is the problem I had with 2013. Nintendo releases too many good titles for me to keep up with. We haven't even had E3 or any Nintendo Directs and I know 2014 is gonna have some amazing games. This is a good thing, though
Playing Inazuma Eleven 3 in these days and it's as great as the previous titles; only matter it has is that it's just too too similar to them with mainly changes that ruin the old experience instead than make it better >.>;
Still for people who never played the old entries that 7/10 should definitely be raised to a 9/10, impossible to feel the gameplay getting repetitive or notice the minor negative changes without having played the previous titles
However the best thing for NA would be to get the trilogy collection that came out in Japan for play the whole story and catch up at least with Europe in a blink!... even if I will get very angry and die of envy here in Italy if that will happen XP
Pretty excited about this, definitely gonna buy it day 1, hopefully Level-5 also announces plans to announce either Youkai Watch or Fantasy Life as well.
Finally!!! I'm a huge "Football" fan so this is exciting news!
Haha... Another joke at my expense...
Wait. checks date
You guys are doing your April Fools joke REALLY early.
Unless... No. They NEVER bring Inazuma Eleven to the States...
...You guys must just be REALLY early...
I'm Mexican and love playing Fútbol Mexicano since I was a kid, so this seems kind of fun for a video game.
I was quite intrigued by the review for the PAL version. I'm definitely giving this one a buy when it comes out.
i'm glad the game is finally coming to NA region. I think that if a game is localized for PAL it should come to NA and vice-versa. since localization was already done why not put in all regions. just offer a digital version only in a region where sales might not be spectacular, it's not like that would cost very much.
And here I was not too long commenting on the 3DS's list of must have titles and now the list extends further! Been wanting to check this game out for a while now (even though I'm not a soccer fan) and any localization of a niche title is one to be happy about.
I'm fully expecting it to be an eshop release but I'll be pleasantly surprised if it's retail.
May buy this if it's physical, not digital.
What's this? A football game being released in NA? it's the end of the world!
Heey Nintendo, how about you do what EA's being doing with Fifa 14/15 and focus on selling this game to south american gamers? You're welcome.
...In other words, DON'T MAKE IT AN ESHOP EXCLUSIVE.
YES! Definitely getting this!!
this looks very interesting. I'm always interested in a new cool 3ds game. I love anime about sports and I love jrpgs and level 5 so this could be amazing
i sure hope that it comes with original japanese voices and subbing. That dub sounded like nails on a chalkboard
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