2024 has marked a bold year for One Piece as a franchise. Just over the course of this year, the anime celebrated its 25th anniversary, the Netflix live action adaptation entered production for its second season, a new anniversary special called One Piece Fan Letter was released, the One Piece anime entered the Egghead Island arc, and the manga finally headed to Elbaf Island. These endeavors not only prove that One Piece is headed into its most ambitious era yet, but that One Piece’s Final Saga could lead to even bolder entries into the franchise.
One of these new daring entries should undoubtedly be a video game. Though it’s unlikely that Elbaf will be the last arc of the franchise, it does bring One Piece closer to the finish line. As soon as that line is crossed, it would be unsurprising to see new media that encompasses the franchise’s entire story. While this may seem like a daring endeavor considering One Piece’s length, it’s an undertaking that will likely be attempted at least once.
Related
Major One Piece Devil Fruit Powers Yet to Be Featured in Video Games
Despite their early introduction in the franchise, not every Devil Fruit power has made it into One Piece’s video game adaptations
The Next One Piece Game Could Tell the Franchise’s Entire Story if it’s an RPG
Since One Piece hasn’t concluded yet, a game that tells the franchise’s entire story obviously has not been released yet. However, previous One Piece games have attempted to tell as much of the story as they can. Looking at these games, a handful have been successful at their attempts to cover as much ground as possible.
The most notable game to explore One Piece’s entire story is One Piece Odyssey. While other One Piece games may flirt with multiple arcs, Odyssey makes sure to hit important story beats rather than simply reference. Odyssey achieves this through its story, as the Straw Hat pirates are forced to relive their memories, including the Alabasta, Water 7, Enies Lobby, Marineford, and Dressrosa arcs.
Though the next One Piece game title probably won’t use the same method as Odyssey when exploring the franchise’s various arcs, this next completionist title should stick with Odyssey’s genre and be an RPG. A role-playing game that allows gamers to play as the Straw Hats would essentially allow players to experience past arcs from the perspective of their favorite characters. Reliving these arcs from different perspectives could be an interesting selling point for the hypothetical game.
A One Piece Fighting Game that Includes the Final Saga Could Change the Franchise Despite Challenges
It would also make sense for the next One Piece game title to fall under another one of the genres the franchise tends to favor – fighting games. However, there are a few pitfalls a One Piece fighting game that attempts to encapsulate the franchise’s entire story could fall into.
The constant combat of a fighting game could be difficult to balance with the amount of storytelling the hypothetical installment would have to undergo if it wanted to truly encompass the entirety of One Piece. As a franchise lasting over twenty-five years, the game would have a lot of story beats it would have to hit while simultaneously making its fighting gameplay engaging and fresh.
Additionally, there are other games under the One Piece umbrella that have the benefit of consistently updating alongside the franchise. Mobile games One Piece: Treasure Cruise and One Piece: Bounty Rush have remained relevant despite the series’ ever-changing story, while still engaging players. Treasure Cruise is an RPG, whereas Bounty Rush is a solid multiplayer fighting game. This new hypothetical installment has to distinguish itself from these two titles in order to be successful.
There’s One Game This Hypothetical Installment Could Take Inspiration From
However, developers still have a successful model to base this type of One Piece fighting game off of.Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero would be a great model for this hypothetical title, as the game has not only received praise for its mechanics, but its balance between combat, story, and fan service. If a One Piece game focusing on the series’ entirety manages to deliver on its story elements while balancing similar fighting mechanics and character additions as Sparking! Zero, it could cement the hypothetical title as one of the best in the franchise’s history.
There are many routes the next One Piece game could take to solidify its place as the boldest title in the franchise, but it has a big challenge ahead of it if it aims to cover the entire scope of the series and its grand Final Saga.
