DeNA often seems to have cornered the nostalgia-driven mobile market. Many of their games don’t seem well-known here in the U.S. — though they’re quite a presence in their home country of Japan — but they’ve nonetheless managed to sign on such properties as Final Fantasy, Marvel, and Star Wars (the last two no doubt via a three-year-old partnership with Disney).
The latest co-branding effort finds popular Street Fighter characters in their title Blood Brothers 2, a turn-based strategy game. The game features weekly in-game events where you can earn limited-time prizes. And this week (along with the event starting on December 17), the prizes are M. Bison, Ryu, and Cammy from the famous fighting franchise.
For the event, the game’s story has been changed somewhat to introduce the crossover, which happens early as your squads assimilate the extra-universe characters. Get far enough along in the quests and battles by using classic Street Fighter special moves, and the characters are yours to keep (you can also purchase Ryu as DLC). For the next event, the Street Fighter characters will be available if you score well in PvP mode.
I had never played Blood Brothers 2 before visiting the company’s San Francisco studio (formerly ngmoco), but it’s not hard to see why the game is popular. DeNA has mastered crisp fantasy art and mobile-friendly mechanics, with the battles in this game being played out by quick taps and swipes. Pick three squads from your five based on an assessment of your enemy’s strengths. Try to give your troops the advantage, sit back to watch the action unfold, and then advance along a board, dodging enemy squads or not, to vanquish the castle at the end. While they let me play with a heavy-hitting account, it’s not hard to imagine tense battles between equally strong squads. And PvP is surely even more interesting.
My fighting game of choice is Soul Caliber, but Street Fighter fans might enjoy this alternate take on their favorite characters.
