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Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road

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This page details pre-release information and/or media for Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road.

To do:
lots...

Development time for a new mainline Inazuma Eleven game took way, way, longer than anticipated, going through two iterations before settling on a finalized direction. Much of the game's development is shrouded in mystery, but it started out as Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin, which would've been released alongside the anime series. It's developmental time is even enough to rival that of Mother 3.

But in its earliest developmental years, it suffered through a reset, lack of manpower within the company, said decision to cut ties with an outsourcing company (to resolve the lack of manpower), even deciding to outright cancel the game altogether at some point.

With the finalized theme settled on, as Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, delays still happened, this time to add lots of content ending up as one of the most ambitious jam-packed titles.

Development Timeline#

2016

  • Jun. 24 - A new Inazuma Eleven game is teased on Level-5's NicoNico livestream, showing the game's setting and some concept art.
  • Jul. 27 - Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin is announced at LEVEL-5 VISION 2016: NEW HEROES, with an undetermined release date for the game itself.
  • Dec. 9 - In Volume 2 of the Inazuma Walker, the first two screenshots are revealed.

2017

  • Jun. 30 - Inazuma Walker Vol. 6 is released, showing off the very first gameplay footage in the form of in-game models and animations.
  • Oct. 21 - Inazuma Walker Vol. 8 is released, showing off gameplay of the Matches and a planned release date of Summer 2018 for Switch, PlayStation 4, iOS, and Android.

2018

  • Mar. 10 - The first gameplay trailer is released during the Inazuma Walker Vol. 10 livestream.
  • Apr. 20 - The website is updated with details of the game's story.
  • May 15 - Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin is announced to be playable at the World Hobby Fair Summer '18.
  • Jun. 12-15 - The game is delayed to Fall 2018 for "quality improvements", along with the game's appearance being cancelled at the World Hobby Fair Summer '18. A few days later, new screenshots are released on the official website.1
  • Jun. 23 - Level-5 announces a western localized release for Spring 2019.
  • Sep. 10-15 - Level-5 announces that the game will be playable at the Tokyo Game Show 2018. A few days later, the website is updated with some new screenshots including the override mechanic.2
  • Sep. 20-23 - The game is playable at the Tokyo Game Show 2018. Feedback from players cites framerate issues, specifically when characters performed Hissatsus.
  • Oct. 10 - The game is delayed to Winter 2018 for quality improvements.
  • Oct. 23 - The PS4 version is playable at the PlayStation Matsuri 2018 event.
  • Nov. 14 - A new gameplay trailer is released.
  • Dec. 25 - The game has its third delay, this time to Summer 2019. Amidst all the delays thus far, Akihiro Hino gives reasons towards them.
  • Dec. 27 - The game is announced to be playable at the World Hobby Fair Winter '19.3

2019

  • Jan. 27 - The game is playable at the World Hobby Fair Winter '19.
  • Mar. 28 - The development blog for the game is opened.
  • Sep. 27 - During the airing of the final episode of the Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin anime, it is announced that the game project is cancelled and will be reworked into "Inazuma Eleven: Eiyuutachi no Great Road", slated for a Spring 2020 release.
  • Dec. 25 - The Eiyuutachi no Great Road website is launched.

2024

  • Mar. 28 - The Worldwide Beta Test Demo is released.
  • Sep. 24 - In the LEVEL 5 VISION TO THE WORLD'S CHILDREN livestream, it is revealed that a character creator and a town builder feature will be included in the game. The new release date was set to be June 2025.

2025

  • Apr. 11 - The game's release date was delayed to August 21, 2025. A Nintendo Switch 2 release was also confirmed.4
  • Jul. 18 - The game's release date was delayed to November 13, 2025, due to voice recording and multi-language localization.
  • Nov. 10-13 - The game is released, first via Early Access on the 10th and to the public on the 13th.

Early Development#

To do:
https://jp.ign.com/ign-japan-open/6596/interview/

Very little is about when development for a new Inazuma Eleven game started.

The developmental team initially wanted to make a direct sequel to Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy, but they were not satisfied with it so they decided to make it set in an alternate continuity after the first game.5

2016#

June#

Niconico Level-5 Stream#

On June 24, 2016, the official Level-5 NicoNico account streamed prerelease information relating to Yo-kai Watch 3 and the forthcoming Level-5 Vision 2016. Concept art of the characters and locations were shown off including an island shaped like the Japanese symbol イ, the first word of Japanese word Inazuma (イナズマ). It was confirmed then that the story won't be set in outer space and would take place in an alternate continuity after the first Inazuma Eleven game.

(Source: https://www.4gamer.net/games/347/G034785/20160624156/)

July#

LEVEL-5 VISION 2016: NEW HEROES#

Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin was officially announced at LEVEL-5 VISION 2016, as part of Level-5's crossmedia projects. The systems and date at that point were yet to be announced.

Additionally, there was a sponsors feature that would be scrapped in the final.

December#

Inazuma Walker Vol. 2#

New information of Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin was released on December 9, 2016 with two new images...but the release date and system was still unspecified.

2017#

June#

Inazuma Walker Vol. 6#

Watch on YouTubeThe very first footage of the game was shown off on June 30, 2017...in the form of in-game model and animations. The models are much more graphically advanced than Nintendo 3DS hardware, unofficially confirming that the game would not come out for that system.

October#

Inazuma Walker Vol. 8#

It was revealed in the livestream that the game would be released in Summer 2018, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, iOS and Android systems.

To the right is a gameplay video spliced from the livestream itself, showing off gameplay of the matches. Watch on YouTube

  • The graphics were overhauled; the environments appear more detailed and there is no longer an outline on characters.
  • The map of the Pitch was moved to the right side.

2018#

March#

Gameplay Trailer#

The very first gameplay trailer was shown off at the Inazuma Walker Volume 10 livestream, on March 10, 2018. Watch on YouTube

June#

First Delay#

On June 12, 2018, Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin suffers the first of the game's numerous delays, being pushed to Fall 2018 to "improve the game's quality"6. This delay also caused the game to not be playable at the event.

New images of concept art would be released a few days later though.

July#

Screenshots#

New images were released on the official website.

''Gameplay'

IEVR_Jul18Image1.png IEVR_Jul18Image2.png IEVR_Jul18Image3.png IEVR_Jul18Image4.png IEVR_Jul18Image5.png IEVR_Jul18Image6.png IEVR_Jul18Image7.png IEVR_Jul18Image8.png

Hissatsus

IEVR_Jul18Image9.png IEVR_Jul18Image10.png IEVR_Jul18Image11.png IEVR_Jul18Image12.png IEVR_Jul18Image13.png IEVR_Jul18Image14.png IEVR_Jul18Image15.png IEVR_Jul18Image16.png

August#

September#

Website Screenshots#

Tokyo Game Show 2018#

Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin was playable at the Tokyo Game Show 2018, held from September 20-23, 2018.

Watch on YouTube

October#

Second Delay#

On October 10, 2018, Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin was delayed for the second time, to Winter 2018 for further quality improvements. Despite that, the website was updated with new screenshots.

November#

Trailer#

December#

Third Delay#

Disappointingly, on December 25, 2018, the game was delayed to Summer 2019. Akihiro Hino originally wanted the game to be released in July 2018 to coincide with the 2018 World Cup, but development had started later than expected. They considered contacting a third-party studio to help with its development.

2019#

January#

World Hobby Fair Winter '19#

Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin were one of the playable games at the World Hobby Fair Spring '19 event. The footage is taken from the Inazuma Walker.

Watch on YouTube

March#

World Hobby Fair Spring '19#

Inazuma Eleven Ares no Tenbin were one of the playable games at the World Hobby Fair Spring '19 event.

Watch on YouTube

December#

Developmental Reset#

Hino decided to stop outsourcing development of the game, and leave it to Level-5 themselves to finish it. He hoped that the game would be released by next spring.

2020#

June#

2021#

April#

Resources#

References#

  1. https://www.4gamer.net/games/347/G034785/20180614115/↩︎
  2. https://www.4gamer.net/games/426/G042692/20180910050/↩︎
  3. https://www.4gamer.net/games/347/G034785/20181227132/↩︎
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCVDqLjQrjs&ab_channel=LEVEL5ch%E3%80%90%E5%85%AC%E5%BC%8F%E3%80%91↩︎
  5. https://www.4gamer.net/games/351/G035104/20160728043/↩︎
  6. https://www.4gamer.net/games/347/G034785/20180614115/↩︎