Oh man, the journey this started me on.

The premise of the game is really unique and how it's presented is, too. Captain Tsubasa exists, obviously, but this game really is just classic Hino brain put code and it's got a lot of heart, a lot of personality, and it's a lot of fun.

As for how I feel about this game as a fan? Well first, it's rare that I'll complain about a specific language of a game unless it stands out for some glaring reason, and in this case yeah. Yeah. Essentially it tries to do what Phoenix Wright did but without any of the grace of understanding as to why that worked, so you get a main character named Mark and his friends Todd, Kevin, and Nathan. This particular game in the series is actually really funny to me because this was before they decided they wanted the names to be children's nursery rhymes, so they're mostly faithfully translated, if at all. Honestly some change would've been totally okay but the names fit the moves a lot and it's farcry from the nightmare that is the GO games' naming schemes.

As for the game itself, it's fun. The biggest problem with the game is mostly that systems that would be spruced up in later games, well, haven't, and that it has the smallest number of special moves in the entire series but. I mean it's the first game. I do think the sequel did a lot to alleviate some of the tedium that exists in this game thanks to how simple it is, but this game does kinda have that "one-off" feel, as if this game could've come out with no sequels and would just be fondly remembered as that quirky idea L5 had that one time. Wouldn't be the first time for them.

This is the best game in the series, and I don't think there's really a lot of argument about that.

Or there is, but I think generally speaking this is the game where people at the very least have the fewest complaints. Everything about this game is a step up from the original game. Girls are playable characters and they're common, Shoot Blocks, Long Shoots, and Skills were added to add depth to matches and the game as a whole, there are way more moves, and the story is like, really good. And dark. And good! And dark.

Coming from the previous game though it's really dark.

It was really shocking that this game just came out punching and fixing/building on a lot of what the first game was. This is peak Inazuma Eleven and I still think about going back to it now and again.

Also to TyRaNtM, the guy who made the undub patch for this and IE1. Thank you 💘

This game is weird.

It's not boring, but it makes changes that are very impactful. Not necessarily for the better.

Shoot Chains were added, allowing you to, with certain moves, power up a shot with another shot. But it was bugged here to almost always result in a penalty. Hissatsu Tactics were added, which were divisive because they halt the moment to moment action and also can be annoying to deal with in a way that can turn the tides but not in a way that's fun for...either player, really. The change to GP/Stamina was also honestly very sudden, making it so that your characters get tired out way faster in this one. I imagine the idea was to make it so that players switched out their characters more often, but TP already endorsed that sort of play so it was honestly just an odd change. Also the tournament mode with its RNG rewards and incredibly easy teams.

That said, it has all the teams and moves from the previous games and then some, there's a lot of content, and it has some of the best music in the trilogy. Definitely worth playing, at least.