• Price: $24.99 USD
• Developer: Momo-pi
• Publisher: Shueisha Games
• Release Date: July 28, 2022

A review code was kindly provided by Shueisha Games on behalf of Momo-Pi. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

I’m sure many of you have seen those posts on social media that say that the main character in the last show you watched will come and save you from something in a hypothetical scenario. Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions allows you to fight alongside characters from multiple Shonen Jump+ series (by Shueisha) as your character faces his fears about moving away. Damien is a young boy whose family has upended their life in Lyon, France to move in with his grandmother in Japan. Damien says that everyone else is excited about moving, but he’s not very happy about it. He daydreams to cope with the scary changes in his life, and he becomes Captain Velvet Meteor in his imagination!

You’ll switch between Damien’s imagined world and his new life in Japan. I was impressed by the details in the background, which appropriately include a Spy x Family poster in his room. His grandmother’s house is pretty big (with two levels) and many of the rooms have something that frightens Damien. Defeating these “enemies” will require Captain Velvet Meteor and his new friends!

As Captain Velvet Meteor, his spaceship (plane) has crash landed on an unknown planet (Japan). Captain Velvet Meteor has a little robot friend named Jay-P, who helps him navigate to the crash site and beyond. You’ll move around the map on grids. Instead of traditional turn-based tactical movement, you handle two characters and can switch between them at will until you’re satisfied with their movement and attack plans. It did take me a while to understand that I shouldn’t press and hold A to confirm movement for one character’s actions – you have to decide on both characters’ actions before confirming them, otherwise you will waste half of your turn.

You don’t level up your characters at all, and you don’t need to constantly replay levels for stats or items. Gameplay requires skill and perseverance. I ended up losing a lot because I was a little slow in understanding what to do. My main reason for frequent losses was that both characters share a single health bar, so if one of them takes enough damage you all lose. I often had my characters attack enemies, mistakenly thinking they’d defeat them in one blow, and their survival meant I was quickly annihilated the next turn. (It may have been nice to have a projection screen that shows how much damage you’ll do.) At first, I also did not realize what was happening with area of effect attacks from the enemy, which contributed to my losses. I did like that whenever you defeat enemies, you absorb some health. The more enemies you defeat at once, the more health you’ll restore.

I came to realize the importance of more defensive tactics here, because other than defeating enemies there’s no way to restore your health. I do wish we could have had some kind of healing ability or item, but not having them does make you think more carefully about your actions. Your characters may not have healing abilities, but what they do have is a “power combo” move where Captain Velvet Meteor and his Jump+ partner attack a group of enemies together. (Check out our video compilation above for footage of the cool combos!) Captain Velvet Meteor and his Jump+ allies also have individual regular attacks as well as normal combo attacks that can solve puzzles or destroy obstacles in your way.

Each Jump+ character also has their own themed levels. For example, the levels with Chloé from Ghost Reaper Girl have evil spirits. The Spy x Family levels with Loid naturally involve stealth using an invisibility ability. Some levels will require you to defeat all enemies there, but others will simply require you to reach the exit (and some have a turn limit). Characters like Slime (Slime Life) can navigate through environmental barriers like grates to reach switches to allow Captain Velvet Meteor to advance as well. There are also optional sub-objectives for some levels that you can complete for fun, and you can also gather music notes to listen to the soundtrack.

Besides the collectibles available in Captain Velvet Meteor levels, in the real world Damien can find hidden sticker collectibles in his grandmother’s house. Collect four in a row and get bingo, which unlocks bonus levels where you battle the bosses again – but with an added challenge like explosives where there’s a turn limit. (I did think that there were perhaps too many levels with the explosives and turn limit feature. I liked the idea, but maybe they also could have done something different with the lava stages where they’d rise each turn, requiring you to flee?) My favorite boss had to be Nattox, a food-themed enemy that Captain Velvet Meteor must defeat for Damien to accept the new foods he encounters in Japan.

It was fun controlling the different Jump+ characters. But it is a shame that each level only allows Captain Velvet Meteor and a required Jump+ character. You can’t swap out the character you fight with because they’re locked into their specific levels, and there isn’t a battle where they all join forces. There’s a scene where all of the Jump+ characters come together a bit, but it’s never in battle. I think it was a missed opportunity to have them all meet and get to know one another. But overall, I really enjoyed the creative crossover of sorts as I completed the nearly 100 stages.

Switch it ON or Switch it OFF? Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions is a compelling look at a child’s experience with moving away from everything they’ve ever known. Some of the mechanics took me a while to fully understand, and I do wish there was more interaction between the Jump+ characters. However, I really liked the interactions between those characters and Damien as Captain Velvet Meteor. There were neat details in the background of the house, and it was fun earning and finding collectibles like the music tracks (which were well done). While some levels could be challenging, the game is considerate of your time and doesn’t require any grinding, and it was very satisfying when I managed to beat the harder levels. I’d love to see a sequel where Damien interacts more with people in the real world (like his family and classmates at school) and that features additional Jump+ series! 8/10