EX/Challengers

"The untold future lies ahead of you"

-Tagline

EX/Challengers is a 3D crossover fighting game developed CyberConnect2 and Capcom and published by Namco Bandai. It's available for Arcade, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The game features characters from anime and manga companies; Sunrise (Gundam series, Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass), Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, Attack on Titan, Psycho-Pass) and Shonen Jump (Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece) who duke it out in a battle of epic proportions.

The game was first released on Arcade on the 3rd of May, 2017. The retail version would be later released on August of the same year.

The second entry of the Heroic 10 project, this time being the turn of the Japanese to head the spotlight.

Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm series, in which characters fight in a 3D arena. In addition, because of the partnership between Capcom and Namco in the game, there are also new gameplay mechanics added for the game, these are called Stage Knockouts, which are similar to the stage humiliations of Street Fighter V in which it shows special animations of a character defeat in a specific part of the arena, like when being knocked out of a building and landing on a taxi or crashing to a race track and get rammed by speeding cars.

The other is called Ultra Buster which is similar to the Final Smash of Super Smash Bros only this time function when activating the Awakening Mode, in which it enables the character in a super mode that gives them extra health and defense.

There's also the presence of Tekken 7's Rage Arts and Power Crush, but they're revamped with new features. For Rage Arts, the player can now execute a number of moves and a customized finishing move whose damage level depends on the character's health. The Power Crush now enables the user a chance to parry the attacker's moves when being hit, if done correctly, then you will unleash a powerful counter-attack in which fills the character's Awakening Mode, this will gave a balance in giving the player's an advantage in battle.

In addition to the main arcade mode, there's also a Beat'em up mode called "Challenger's Strike" in which you fight a long wave of enemies coming from the different franchises, like Britannian soldiers from Code Geass, Cerberus soldiers from Mass Effect and Frieza's soldiers from Dragon Ball, until going all the way to fight a gigantic boss at the end of one of the 4 chapters (A Titan from Attack of Titan, a Reaper from Mass Effect and the Nine-Tails Fox from Naruto)

Game modes

 * Arcade Mode: Fight across 8 stages, including a rival stage, a sub-boss stage and the final boss, which varies depending on the type of path you're in (Sunrise, Production I.G and Shonen Jump).
 * Challenger's Strike: Fight against different waves of enemies coming after you until you face against the last boss of on each chapter.
 * Versus: Play singles matches against CPU opponents or other players.
 * Team Battle: Form a 3-character team and fight against another team controlled by a player or CPU.
 * Time Attack: Fight in arcade with the default time limit (2 Rounds, 60 seconds) to earn the best time score.
 * Practice: Test your skills towards your CPU opponent.
 * Gallery:  View unlocked character endings/cutscenes, saved matches, concept art, game trailers,etc.
 * Options: Adjust game settings like game volume, brightness contrast, screen adjustment, language setting,etc.

Characters
There are 60 characters present in the game, with 3 boss characters that can be unlocked and 19 unlocked playable characters for each section.

Sunrise

 * Cosmo Yuki (Space Runaway Ideon) (Hideyuki Tanaka/Benjamin Diskin)
 * Ryo Sanada (Ronin Warriors) (Takeshi Kusao/Greg Ayres)
 * Chirico Cuvie (Armored Trooper VOTOMS) (Hozumi Goda/Patrick Seitz)
 * Amuro Ray (Mobile Suit Gundam) (Toru Furuya/Robbie Daymond)
 * Johnny Rico (Starship Troopers) (Yasunori Matsumoto/David Vincent)
 * Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop) (Koichi Yamadera/Steve Blum)
 * Inuyasha (Inuyasha) (Kappei Yamaguchi/Richard Ian Cox)
 * Zechs Merquise (Gundam Wing) (Takehito Koyasu/Brian Drummond)
 * Gene Starwind (Outlaw Star) (Yuichi Nakamura/Roger Craig Smith)
 * Van Slanzar de Fanel (The Vision of Escaflowne) (Tomokazu Seki/Aaron Dismuke)
 * Roger Smith (The Big O) (Mitsuru Miyamoto/Steve Blum)
 * Robin Sena (Witch Hunter Robin) (Akeno Watanabe/Kari Wahlgren)
 * Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass) (Jun Fukuyama/Johnny Yong Bosch)
 * Arika Yumemiya (My-Otome) (Risa Taneda/Christie Marie Cabanos)
 * Mai Tokiha (My-Hime) (Mai Nakahara/Carol Anne Day)
 * Kotetsu T. Kaburagi (Tiger and Bunny) (Hiroaki Hirata/Wally Wingert)
 * Barnaby Brooks Jr. (Tiger and Bunny) (Masakazu Morita/Yuri Lowenthal)
 * Alma Tandōji (Sacred Seven) (Takuma Terashima/Joel McDoland)
 * Kasumi Ishiki (King of Thorn) (Kana Hanazawa/Brina Palencia)
 * Charles zi Britannia (Boss) (Code Geass) (Norio Wakamoto/Michael McConnohie)

Production I.G

 * Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell) (Maaya Sakamoto/Elizabeth Maxwell)
 * Batou (Ghost in the Shell) (Kenichiro Matsuda/Christopher Sabat)
 * Saya Otonashi (Blood+) (Eri Kitamura/Kari Wahlgren)
 * Haji (Blood+) (Katsuyuki Konishi/Crispin Freeman)
 * Kimihiro Watanuki (xxxHolic) (Jun Fukuyama/Todd Haberkorn)
 * Yūko Ichihara (xxxHolic) (Sayaka Ohara/Colleen Clinkenbeard)
 * Takeshi Jin (IGPX) (Kozo Mito/Micah Solusod)
 * "Liz" Ricarro (IGPX) (Akeno Watanabe/Caitlin Glass)
 * Manji (Blade of the Immortal) (Tomokazu Seki/Keith Silverstein)
 * Rin Asano (Blade of the Immortal) (Rina Sato/Mela Lee)
 * Shu Ouma (Guilty Crown) (Yuki Kaji/Austin Tindle)
 * Inori Yuzuhira (Guilty Crown) (Ai Kayano/Alexis Tipton)
 * James Vega (Mass Effect: Paragon Lost) (Toru Okawa/Freddie Prinze Jr.)
 * Treeya (Mass Effect: Paragon Lost) (Rica Fukami/Monica Rial)
 * Eren Yeager (Attack on Titan) (Yuki Kaji/Bryce Papenbrook)
 * Mikasa Ackerman (Attack on Titan) (Yui Ishikawa/Trina Nishimura)
 * Akane Tsunemori (Psycho-Pass) (Kana Hanazawa/Kate Oxley)
 * Shinya Kogami (Psycho-Pass) (Tomokazu Seki/Robert McCollum)
 * Miyoshi (Joker Game) (Hiro Shimono/Clifford Chapin)
 * Shogo Makishima (Boss) (Psycho-Pass) (Takahiro Sakurai/Alex Organ)

Shonen Jump

 * Son Goku (Dragon Ball) (Masako Nozawa/Sean Schemmel)
 * Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto) (Junko Takeuchi/Maile Flanagan)
 * Monkey D.Luffy (One Piece) (Mayumi Tanaka/Colleen Clinkenbeard)
 * Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach) (Masakazu Morita/Johnny Yong Bosch)
 * Toriko (Toriko) (Ryotaro Okiayu/Ian Sinclair)
 * Kenshiro (Fist of the North Star) (Katsuyuki Konishi/Kaiji Tang)
 * Pegasus Seiya (Saint Seya) (Masakazu Morita/Eric Vale)
 * Gon Freecss (Hunter X Hunter) (Megumi Han/Erica Mendez)
 * Jonathan Joestar (JoJo Bizarre Adventure) (Kazuyuki Okitsu/Johnny Yong Bosch)
 * Rukia Kuchiki (Bleach) (Fumiko Orikasa/Michelle Ruff)
 * Dio Brando (JoJo Bizarre Adventure) (Takehito Koyasu/Patrick Seitz)
 * Nami (One Piece) (Akemi Okamura/Luci Cristian)
 * Kakashi Hatake (Naruto) (Kazuhiko Inoue/Kyle Hebert)
 * Jotaro Kujo (JoJo Bizarre Adventure) (Daisuke Ono/Matthew Mercer)
 * Piccolo (Dragon Ball) (Toshio Furukawa/Christopher Sabat)
 * Moka Akashiya (Rosario + Vampire) (Nana Mizuki/Alexis Tipton)
 * Izuku Midoriya (My Hero Academia) (Daiki Yamashita/Justin Briner)
 * Clare (Claymore) (Hoko Kuwashima/Stephanie Young)
 * Genos (One-Punch-Man) (Kaito Ishikawa/Zach Aguilar)
 * Lord Boros (Boss) (One-Punch-Man) (Toshiyuki Morikawa/Matthew Mercer)

Stages

 * Planet Namek (Dragon Ball)
 * Alabasta (One Piece)
 * Vegetable Sky (Toriko)
 * Hidden Leaf Village (Naruto)
 * Z-City (One-Punch-Man)
 * Citadel (Mass Effect)
 * New Port City (Ghost in the Shell)
 * NONA Tower (Psycho-Pass)
 * Shingashina (Attack on Titan)
 * GHQ Headquarters (Guilty Crown)
 * Side 7 Colony (Mobile Suit Gundam)
 * Heisei Forest (Inuyasha)
 * Alba City (Cowboy Bebop)
 * Ashford Academy (Code Geass)
 * Stern Bild City (Tiger and Bunny)

Trivia

 * The second game of the Heroic 10 project.
 * The reason for the CERO:C and PEGI:16 ratings is because of the presence of the "Sexy time" costumes for the girls, which gives them a very fanservice look.
 * The first game crossover that involves Japanese anime franchises to have an official English dub.