The best thing My Hero Academia: All’s Justice has going for it is also the simplest to sum up: this is the sharpest this series of tag-team arena fighters has ever felt to actually play. It’s not a reinvention, and it doesn’t need to be one. Byking Inc.’s third go at adapting My Hero Academia into a 3D fighter, and a direct follow-up to My Hero One’s Justice 2, arrives on Nintendo’s Switch 2 as a story-mode adaptation of the anime’s Final War arc, and it’s a game built almost entirely for people who already know why that arc matters.

A Final War Follow-Up Built for the Faithful

All’s Justice doesn’t waste your time getting started. A quick tutorial reintroduces the mechanics, and then you’re loose in a city overworld to chase missions, jump into online battles, or dive into story mode. That efficiency is welcome, but it comes with a catch worth flagging early: this is not where a newcomer should start with My Hero Academia.

The game leans hard on context and buildup that only make sense if you’ve already followed the anime this far. Character motivations, rivalries, and the emotional weight of the Final War arc are assumed knowledge here, not things the game bothers explaining from scratch. If you’re coming in cold, you’ll be lost in ways the combat system can’t fix.

The Combat Is the Strongest Foundation the Series Has Built

Where All’s Justice earns its keep is in the fighting itself. Byking has sped everything up and sanded down the jankiness and floatiness that dogged earlier entries, and the result is a system that finally feels like it matches the source material’s escalating power fantasy. That speed does raise the skill ceiling considerably, and the wider move sets mean there’s more to learn than in previous games.

None of that makes it inaccessible, though. Basic attacks work on the ground and in the air, feeding into combos that lean on the tag-team mechanic – swap partners mid-string to keep pressure going, or let your teammate land the finishing blow. Fill the battle gauge and you can unleash Plus Ultra attacks or slip into an enhanced mode that ramps damage output further, and the finisher animations pull their particle work straight from the anime without feeling tacked on.

It just takes a beat to adjust to how aggressive these characters can now be. Newcomers to the controls specifically (as opposed to newcomers to the story) will find the on-ramp forgiving, even if mastering it takes longer than past installments demanded.

Story Mode’s Highs Are High, But They’re Rare

When All’s Justice commits to its presentation, it’s genuinely striking. Cel-shaded character models paired with fast cuts and dramatic posing occasionally rival the anime’s own iconic moments, and the voice cast and soundtrack carrying over from the show do a lot of heavy lifting in selling the drama.

The problem is how inconsistent that commitment is. Much of the story unfolds through static frames pulled from the game or the anime, some of it looking cheap enough to resemble a screenshot nudged around in old editing software rather than a deliberate cutscene.

Structurally, though, there’s real ambition. Story Mode branches depending on which character you follow – Todoroki chasing down Dabi, Endeavor squaring off against All For One, Uraraka confronting Toga – and because the Final War genuinely has multiple fights happening at once in the source material, these branches don’t feel like manufactured excuses to show off a roster. That’s a step up from fighting games that invent scenarios purely to give every character a moment.

The tradeoff is environmental variety, or the lack of it. Since the arc plays out across a handful of locations, most notably the floating Hero Academy, story mode ends up returning to the same backdrops often enough that it starts to feel visually flat, even as the character-specific paths keep the narrative itself moving.

Thin Content Outside the Core Loop

Away from Story Mode, other modes do a better job showing off the series’ range of locations, with plenty of combat environments lifted from iconic corners of the show. Side missions add wrinkles like handicaps or unusual battle conditions, and there’s a modest fun factor in chasing those specific achievements.

But it’s filler, and it plays like filler. Most of the game’s content can be cleared in a couple of hours, and beyond the basic loop of story, missions, and online matches, it’s genuinely unclear how much staying power this package has.

That’s really the crux of All’s Justice: even at its best, there’s nothing on display that separates it meaningfully from other 3D arena fighters. It’s a definitive improvement on its own predecessors without pushing the subgenre itself forward, which puts it in good company among the wave of licensed fighters and other properties finding their footing on Switch 2’s growing lineup, alongside multi-platform releases like Professor Layton and the New World of Steam.

Pros and Cons
  • Combat and pacing: the fastest, least floaty this series has ever played, and every character’s newest abilities translate cleanly into the system
  • Presentation peaks: when the game leans into dynamic cutscene shots, it genuinely rivals standout anime moments
  • Story Mode cutscenes: too often fall back on static, cheap-looking still frames rather than full animation
  • Side content: missions feel like filler stretched thin over a game that can otherwise be cleared quickly
  • Overall ambition: even at its best, it doesn’t do anything other 3D arena fighters haven’t already done
Final Verdict Category Grade Overall B Graphics B Sound/Music B+ Gameplay B Presentation B-

All’s Justice earns an overall B, and it’s the kind of B that’s easy to recommend to a specific audience rather than everyone. If you’ve stuck with the previous One’s Justice games, or you’re the sort of fan who’s been waiting for the Final War to get the arena-fighter treatment, this is a legitimate upgrade in how it feels to actually fight.

If you’re not already invested, though, there’s not much here pulling you in. The story assumes you’ve done your homework, the side content thins out fast, and the whole package reads as a game built to reward people who showed up already caring – not to convert anyone new. That’s a perfectly fine niche to occupy. Just know which side of that line you’re on before you buy in.

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