My Hero One’s Justice is a 2018 fighting game from Byking and Bandai Namco, and it carries the whole weight of its source material on its back. The manga is Kōhei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia. The game wants to be an arena brawler where that manga’s Quirks decide fights. It gets the look right and the feel half-right.
Trailer, via Bandai Namco Entertainment America.
Izuku Midoriya and the Quirk Problem
The roster is the pitch. Players take Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, Tomura Shigaraki and others into combat, and the game lets you pick a side. Hero or villain, your path to justice is yours. That choice is the most interesting thing here, and it is mostly cosmetic. The story modes split by allegiance, but the fights underneath do not change much.
Quirks are the mechanic that matters. Each character’s power is pulled from the manga, and the game asks you to use it, not just watch it. You call on side-kicks for bigger attacks. You use the field itself. Buildings and walls are not scenery. They are part of the action, and the fight goes up as well as across.
That verticality is the best idea in the game. Ground-level arena fighters are common. One that sends you climbing and smashing through structures is not. When it works, My Hero One’s Justice feels like the manga’s big set pieces.
Where the Arena Brawler Slips
It does not always work. The camera is the problem. In a game that wants you to fight on walls and rooftops, the view fights you as often as the opponent does. Field destruction is a selling point until the field is rubble and you cannot see who is hitting you.
The combat has weight but not much depth. Quirks and side-kicks give you options, and the roster gives you variety, but the loop settles fast. Trade hits, build to a big attack, repeat. Byking built a game that looks like a brawler and plays like a simpler one.
What the Game Ships With
The package is straightforward. The source lists the basics:
- Developed by Byking Inc.
- Published by Bandai Namco Entertainment
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
- Genres: Fighting
- Themes: Action, Fantasy
- Modes: Single player, Multiplayer
- Perspective: Third person
That is a full spread of platforms, and the game runs on all of them. Single player and multiplayer are both here. Neither one is the reason to buy.
The Manga Is the Draw
My Hero One’s Justice is based on My Hero Academia, and it knows it. The characters are the reason anyone picks this up. Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo and Tomura Shigaraki are the names the box leans on, and they are the names that sell it.
Whether you want to see the destruction of humanity or believe heroes should defend those in need, fight to prove your justice in MY HERO ONE’S JUSTICE.
That is the game’s own pitch, and it is honest about what it is. It is a fighting game for people who already love these characters. It is not trying to convert anyone.
Hero and Villain, Same Fight
The hero-or-villain choice sounds bigger than it is. You pick a path to justice, and the game respects the pick in its story presentation. Then the fights start, and the pick stops mattering. The roster is the same. The Quirks are the same. The field destruction is the same.
That is a missed chance. A fighting game that lets you choose a side should make the two sides feel different. Here they feel like two menus over one game.
Fighting Up the Walls
The vertical combat is the part worth defending. Taking the fight upward, where buildings and walls become part of the action, is not a gimmick bolted on. It changes how you move and where you look. When the camera cooperates, it is the most My Hero Academia thing in the game.
It rarely cooperates for long. That is the trade. The idea is good. The execution is uneven.
A 6.9 Out of 10
My Hero One’s Justice lands at 6.9/10, and that number fits. It is a competent fighting game with one strong idea and a camera that undercuts it. The roster is right. The Quirks are right. The field destruction is right in theory and shaky in practice.
The published critical score, an IGDB critic aggregate across six outlets, puts it at 6.9/10, and that is where this review lands too. Not a bad game. Not a great one. A game carried by its license and held back by its camera.
Fans of My Hero Academia will find the characters they came for, and the vertical fights will give them a few good moments. Everyone else will find a brawler that runs out of ideas before it runs out of roster. The hero-or-villain hook is the biggest thing here, and it is the thinnest. Buy it for the manga. Stay for the walls, if the camera lets you.
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