Marvel vs. Capcom 3 developer Eighting is currently making a fighting game based on the Hunter x Hunter franchise, publisher Bushiroad Games announced at the manga and anime-focused Jump Festa 2024 convention in Japan over the weekend (via Gematsu).
Actual details were limited, but Bushiroad promised to provide more information on the “full-scale fighting game” during its New Year’s broadcast on Saturday, Jan. 6.
Eighting’s fighting game history over the last 30 years is vast and impressive. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and its Ultimate follow-up are the obvious cornerstones, but the studio’s largely licensed resume also counts Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Fate/unlimited codes, and Bloody Roar among its genre highlights.
More recently, Eighting worked on Dungeon Fighter Online spin-off DNF Duel alongside Guilty Gear creator Arc System Works and supported Nintendo’s development of Pikmin 4.
Hunter x Hunter began life in 1998 as a manga written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi, the iconic artist also known for graciously bestowing Yu Yu Hakusho on the world. It’s since been recognized as one of the most popular manga series of all time, recently ranking 11th in a top 100 poll conducted by Japanese television station TV Asahi.
Despite frequent hiatuses due to Togashi’s chronic health issues, Hunter x Hunter is still published to this day and even enjoyed two fantastic (albeit incomplete) anime adaptations from 1999 to 2001 and then again from 2011 to 2014.
Early reactions to the news of a Hunter x Hunter fighting game developed by a studio as proficient in the genre as Eighting have been cautiously excited. While many see the raw potential of such a collaboration, more competitive-minded folks are wary of being burned if this turns out to be yet another mediocre arena fighter based on an anime property.
A few eager fans are even building hypothetical tier lists already, which is probably a record of some kind.
“My Hisoka and Killua are going to go crazy,” six-time Evo champion Dominique “SonicFox” McLean wrote on X (formerly Twitter), planting their flag in yet another fighting game.
Other headlines out of Jump Festa 2024 include an all-new One Piece anime, a gorgeous teaser trailer for an animated Chainsaw Man movie covering the manga’s Reze Arc, and the impending conclusion of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga.
