Hannan Mundia 
Fans got their first look at the upcoming 2D fighting game Hunter X Hunter: Nen Impact, revealing its gameplay and partial character roster.
Despite being considered one of the best shonen anime, Hunter X Hunter is lacking in the video games department. Dragon Ball is perpetually awash with blockbuster fighting games and Naruto used to have a dedicated line of titles for each major platform. For whatever reason, Hunter X Hunter just hasn’t gotten that kind of support.
While Gon and Killua in particular have made appearances in Shonen Jump’s crossover games, the last true Hunter X Hunter game was released in 2012 for the PSP. Fortunately, that’s set to change soon.
Eighting and Bushiroad Games announced in December 2023 that the two companies are working on a Hunter X Hunter game. With expectations through the roof for the first video game Hunter X Hunter adaptations in over a decade, gameplay footage revealed how the game will look and play alongside which characters from the series are playable.
Hunter X Hunter: Nen Impact gameplay
Hunter X Hunter: Nen Impact is a 2.5D three-on-three fighter with tags and assists.
Those who have played previous Eighting-developed games will see the studio’s essence in this upcoming Hunter X Hunter game. Eighting developed a number of tag-based fighters for Capcom including Tatsunoko vs Capcom and Marvel vs Capcom 3.
Hunter X Hunter: Nen Impact has three fighters on each team, with one on the field and the others able to use assist moves or tag in. Every character has their own health bar and all three fighters on a team must be defeated for the other player to win, similar to other tag-based fighters. As one would expect, each team has a shared meter for super moves that have a cinematic style akin to modern Guilty Gear titles.
Unlike other tag fighters such as Dragon Ball FighterZ, Hunter X Hunter: Nen Impact has more grounded combat. Though it’s not exactly SoulCalibur, it doesn’t seem to emphasize extremely long aerial combos in a way that makes it reminiscent of 2000s-era King of Fighters games.
Hunter X Hunter: Nen Impact roster
The Hunter X Hunter: Nen Impact gameplay footage revealed six playable characters, with 10 additional character slots locked.
The characters confirmed to be in Hunter X Hunter: Nen Impact are listed below:
- Gon Freecss
- Killua Zoldyck
- Hisoka Morow
- Kurapika
- Leorio Paradinight
- Isaac Netero
Since there are a total of 16 characters in the roster, fans can expect other familiar faces to be in the game too. Characters likely to appear include Chrollo Lucilfer, Neferpitou, and Biscuit Krueger.
It’s unknown whether the roster is guaranteed to have 16 characters and if so, whether they will all be available on day one or if some will be gated behind DLC. Expect more characters to be confirmed as marketing efforts ramp up.
