Let's be real for a second. If you’re a fan of Deku’s journey from a quirkless nobody to the world’s greatest hero, you’ve probably spent a significant amount of money—and even more time—trying to find a way to live out that fantasy on your console. We all want to feel that "United States of Smash" impact. But the history of My Hero Academia video games is, honestly, a bit of a mixed bag. It’s a journey of flashes of brilliance buried under the weight of arena fighter tropes and the occasional mobile cash grab.
Ever since the manga started blowing up in 2014, Bandai Namco has been trying to figure out how to bottle Kohei Horikoshi’s lightning.
It hasn’t been easy.
Most people started their journey with My Hero One’s Justice. It was fine. Just fine. By the time the sequel rolled around, we were starting to see the cracks in the "3D arena fighter" formula that seems to plague almost every anime adaptation these days. You know the one. Two characters stand in a circle, you mash the attack button, and occasionally a cutscene triggers. It’s fun for twenty minutes. Then, you realize the depth just isn't there.
The Arena Fighter Trap and My Hero One’s Justice 2
The biggest hurdle for My Hero Academia video games has always been the genre. When My Hero One's Justice dropped in 2018, it felt like a decent proof of concept. Developed by Byking—the same folks behind Gundam Extreme Vs.—it had the verticality right. You could run up walls! That was cool.
But the gameplay felt floaty.
Then came My Hero One’s Justice 2 in 2020. It fixed a lot. It added more characters like Sir Nighteye and Overhaul, and it polished the "Plus Ultra" moves to look exactly like the Studio Bones animation. If you're a die-hard fan, seeing Shoot Style Deku pull off a combo is pure dopamine. Yet, if you strip away the MHA coat of paint, it's a standard brawler. It lacks the technical precision of a Dragon Ball FighterZ or the sheer chaos of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm.
The problem is the balance. In a world where quirks range from "I can create anything from my lipids" to "I have a tail," making a fair fighting game is a nightmare. Byking tried to solve this with a "sidekick" system. It works, kinda. You call in Bakugo to blast someone away while you’re mid-combo. It's flashy, but it feels like we've seen it all before.
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Battle Royale Chaos: My Hero Ultra Rumble
Then things got weird. In 2023, we got My Hero Ultra Rumble.
Honestly? This might be the most interesting thing to happen to the franchise. Instead of a 1v1 fighter, it’s an 8-team, 24-player battle royale. It’s free-to-play, which usually sends up red flags, but it actually captures the spirit of the series better than the fighting games do.
Why? Because it’s about teamwork.
In Ultra Rumble, you aren't just mashing buttons. You have to level up your quirks during the match by finding skill cards. If you’re playing as Tsuyu (Froppy), you aren't meant to be a tank. You're a medic-assassin. You jump in, revive a downed teammate with your tongue, and vanish. It feels like the Provisional License Exam. It’s chaotic, sometimes buggy, and the gacha system for unlocking characters is—let’s be blunt—pretty predatory. But the core gameplay loop? It’s addictive.
The game relies on a "Quirk Skill" system. You start weak. You end strong. That's the whole theme of the show, right? It's one of the few My Hero Academia video games that actually understands the power scaling of the universe. All Might feels like a boss raid, but a clever Shigaraki player can still decay him into dust if they play their cards right.
The Mobile Side of UA High
We have to talk about the mobile games, even if we don't want to. My Hero Academia: The Strongest Hero is the big one here. It’s an Action RPG. It actually has an open-world Honei City you can run around in.
There's a lot to do. You do daily quests, you fight in real-time combat, and you collect characters. The combat is actually surprisingly deep for a phone game. It’s snappy. The problem is the "stamina" system and the heavy push toward microtransactions. It’s a game designed to be played for 15 minutes a day unless you’re willing to drop a paycheck.
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There was also Ultra Impact, which is more of a turn-based strategy game using 2D art. It’s cute. It’s great for people who want to see "what if" scenarios and collect cool cards of their favorite students in alternate outfits. But is it a "great game"? It’s a great gacha. There’s a difference.
What’s Missing from the MHA Gaming Experience?
Think about what makes the anime special. It’s not just the fights. It’s the school. It’s the training. It’s the feeling of being a student at UA.
So far, My Hero Academia video games have almost entirely ignored the "Academy" part of the title. We haven't had a proper RPG where you create your own student. Think Hogwarts Legacy, but for UA High. Imagine choosing your own quirk, attending classes with Aizawa, and slowly building your hero rank.
Instead, we keep getting retellings of the story we’ve already watched. We play through the All Might vs. All For One fight for the fifth time. We get it. It’s a great moment. But as gamers, we want to inhabit the world, not just replay the greatest hits.
This is where the franchise usually falls short. The "Story Mode" in most of these games consists of static images from the anime with some voice acting laid over it. It feels cheap. It feels like it was rushed to meet a season premiere deadline.
The Technical Reality of Anime Games
Developing these titles is a weird business. Bandai Namco usually holds the reigns, and they often outsource to studios like Byking or Dimps. These studios have limited budgets and even tighter schedules. They have to strike while the iron is hot.
If a new season of the anime is coming out, the game must be out. This leads to:
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- Recycled animations from previous titles.
- Lackluster environments that feel like empty boxes.
- Netcode that makes playing online a laggy nightmare.
Take Jump Force as a cautionary tale. It included MHA characters like Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki. It looked "realistic," but it felt soul-less. The characters looked like action figures made of greasy plastic. It proves that more "graphics" don't make a better My Hero Academia video game. Style matters. Cel-shading matters.
The Future: Where Do We Go From Here?
As the manga reaches its final stages, the window for massive new projects might be closing, or it might be opening for a "definitive" experience. We need something that breaks the mold.
The success of My Hero Ultra Rumble shows that fans are hungry for different genres. Maybe a tactical RPG? A XCOM-style game where you manage a team of pro-heroes? Or a high-budget, single-player action-adventure game from a studio like CyberConnect2—the people who actually made the Naruto games cinematic and soulful.
If you’re looking to get into these games right now, here is the move. Don't buy everything. Be picky.
Action Steps for the Aspiring Pro-Hero Gamer:
- Check out My Hero Ultra Rumble first. It’s free. You lose nothing but some hard drive space. It gives you the best sense of how quirks interact in a "real" environment.
- Skip One’s Justice 1. Just go straight to the second one. It has more characters, better mechanics, and you can usually find it on sale for under twenty bucks.
- Avoid the mobile gacha traps unless you have incredible impulse control. The "Strongest Hero" has great combat, but it will ask for your credit card every five minutes.
- Look into the fan community mods. For the PC versions of One's Justice 2, there are some decent community patches and character swaps that freshen up the experience.
The dream of a perfect MHA game isn't dead, it's just quirkless for now. We're waiting for that "One For All" moment where a developer finally takes a risk and builds a world worthy of the characters. Until then, we’ll keep mashing buttons and hoping for a Plus Ultra future.