One Punch Man A Hero Nobody Knows Release Date

This month, Japan gets the first cut of the cake that is One Punch Man A Hero Nobody Knows. They’re allowed: they created him. However, us lucky adopters of the English language get to see the game sooner, rather than later as One Punch Man A Hero Nobody Knows release date is set for the 28th February 2020. What do we (that means ‘me’) know so far?

A Brief History of Saitama

Saitama is a prefecture in the country of Japan. I never went there myself, but their home team, the Urawa Reds, is arguably one of the best and biggest clubs in the J-League. Sure, they’ve got the money and big names, but they’re no match for the Kashima Antlers, my team.

Coincidently, Saitama also shares a name with the protagonist in One Punch Man. Saitama is a typical salaryman; very generic and very forgettable. One day he encounters a monster and gets involved in protecting an unfortunate arse-faced kid. He manages to succeed in battle and on that day vows to become the best and greatest superhero.

Following a particularly bland exercise regime, he does indeed become the greatest superhero, losing all his hair in the process (and his apparent features too) and effectively becomes One Punch Man as he can defeat any foe with…one punch.

You’d think that the series would be short-lived as he can literally finish it with one move, but it’s his indifference, forgetting names of people and general monotonous approach to life that is appealing. He doesn’t have time for monologues and will often abruptly end a fight if he wants to get back to his local supermarket for a sale. It shouldn’t work as a series, but it does. It will be interesting to see how the game will work if you’re that powerful.

What I Know About One Punch Man A Hero Nobody Knows

It’s an unfair advantage of being able to finish anyone off with a punch, so in the game, we can play multiple characters. I got relatively far in the manga – I’m not one to read the new stuff, but I’m familiar with most of the characters and already have my favourites. Here is a list of my favourite playable characters thus far (excluding Saitama), in this 3vs3 beat ’em up.

Silver Fang (a.k.a. Bang)

Seemingly the only hero who can see how powerful One Punch Man truly is, Silver Fang originally attempted to punch an asteroid out of the sky. Genos got the credit, but Silver Fang saw that it was One Punch Man who completed the deed. Silver Fang is the ultimate martial arts expert.

Genos

Saitama’s loyal disciple is a cyborg with devastating powers. Forever attached to the hip of Saitama, eager to learn his (non-existing) secrets, he often gets more recognition in the superhero standings in comparison to Saitama. Has some devastating moves, but often overdoes it and burns out.

Atomic Samurai

Arguably one of the best-named heroes and most suited to a gaming title, Atomic Samurai is one of the top-ranked S-class heroes who sports a samurai sword and can kill 100 enemies in one swoop. Seemingly the go-to character for most when starting out, one would assume.

Deep Sea King

Deep Sea King was one of the main bad guys early on in the One Punch Man saga. The self-proclaimed king of the sea, his brute strength rivalled that of an S-class hero – the top-ranked heroes. As he rehydrates, he becomes humongous and almost unrivalled speed.

Mumen Rider

My favourite character, second to One Punch Man, Mumen Rider is a C-class hero with a heart of gold, focused on serving justice and never running from a fight. At this time (14:48) I’m unsure what his powers are other than tenacity as he’s often taken out of a fight early on and pretty useless, but buys enough time for the other heroes to arrive.

Other characters announced on the official site include: Terrible Tornado, Hellish Blizzard, Speed-O’Sound-Sonic, Carnage Kabuto, Mosquito Girl and Vaccine Man. Previously announced characters also include Metal Knight, Stinger and Melzargard.

I suppose what pleases me most about the game is that it has both the original Japanese and English soundtracks. If you’re anything like me, you’ll like to play the original (with subtitles, of course) as I’m not the biggest fan of anime dubs or recent titles such as Shenmue 3 when there’s the option to play it in Japanese.

Perhaps I’ll snoop about the Japanese sites to get an early indication of what the game is like, but I’m happy to wait until the release date. You can find official news from Bandai Namco Entertainment.

One Punch Man A Hero Nobody Knows release date is currently set for 28th February 2020.