Zootopia Arena

Zootopia Arena is a fighting game for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. This game uses 3D graphics, 2D sprites, and a 2D style of gameplay. The story of the game is basically our heroes saving the world from the Vulpai Zaibatsu, a faction made entirely of foxes bent on the extinction of all other species.

Zootopia Arena is one of those games that uses an auto save feature. However, the game doesn't use this feature during the story arcs. See further below.

Menu Controls
It's pretty simple. You move the cursor using the D-Pad. The Left Control Stick/Circle Pad works too. To select stuff, hit the A button. To go back to a previous menu, hit the B button. There's also a Back command you can use in some menus.

Battle Controls
As mentioned above, Zootopia Arena uses a 2D style of gameplay. You move the characters by pushing Left and Right on the D-Pad or by pushing the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad left and right. To make your character run toward the enemy instead of walking toward them, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad in the direction your character is facing, then quickly push it again in that same direction and this time, hold it in that position. The character will keep running until you either move the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad again, let it go, attack, or get attacked. To make your character do back-steps instead of just walking away from the opponent, do like you would if you were gonna make them run, but instead, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad in the direction opposite of the direction your character is facing. You can also dash and do back-steps using the D-Pad. Push Left or Right once, then quickly push it again. If you dash forward, then hold down the button to keep dashing.

Speaking of dashing, some characters can perform an air dash. Just do like you would if you were dashing on the ground, but while you're in the air instead. However, even if you do hold the Left Control Stick left or right or hold Left or Right on the D-Pad, you can only air dash a short distance before you land on the ground. Not uber short, but not, like, clear across the field either.

To make your character jump straight up, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad upward. To make your character jump forward, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad up and to the direction the character is facing (If they're facing right, then push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad up and to the right to make your character jump forward). To make them jump backwards, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad up and to the direction opposite of the direction the character is facing (If they're facing right, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad up and to the left to make your character jump backwards). You can also jump using the D-Pad. When you jump over your opponent or vice versa, you and your opponent will automatically turn around to face each other again. Another thing, you can attack while in the air.

To make your character crouch down, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad down. Once again, you can also crouch with the D-Pad. You can't move while crouching, but you can attack while crouching.

To make your character block attacks, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad in the direction opposite of the direction your character is facing and hold it in that position or push and hold the directional button that matches the direction opposite of the direction your character is facing. Under normal circumstances, this would just make your character move backwards. But, if you do this while the enemy is attacking, the character will automatically block the attack unless the attack is unblockable or the character is blocking in the wrong area (Low attacks can only be blocked by a low guard). To block while crouching, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad down and to the direction opposite of the direction the character is facing (If they're facing left, push the Left Control Stick/Circle Pad down and to the right). Pushing Down-Left or Down-Right on the D-Pad will also work. Again, it depends on the direction your character is facing.

Now for attacking. Attacking is mapped to the A, B, X, And Y buttons. You can press the buttons by themselves and you can press them alongside a D-Pad button or while the Left Control Stick is pushed left, right, or down. Either way works.

Throw attacks are mapped to the R button and taunting is mapped to the L button. Taunting has a benefit in this game. See further below. As for throwing, you can't block a throw, but you can escape by pressing R before the throw is executed. You'll have little time to do this, though, so be quick.

When you fall down on the ground, you have the option to attack as you get back up. Hit A, Y, or B while knocked down to launch a rising kick. Hitting A while knocked down makes your character to a middle rising kick. Hitting Y while knocked down makes your character do a high rising kick. Hitting B while knocked down makes your character do a low rising kick.

When launched by the enemy or hit while in midair, you can perform an ukemi to get right back on your feet. Push the Left Control Stick upward or push Up on the D-Pad as you're about to hit the ground. If you do it too soon or too late, then the ukemi won't happen and you'll just fall down on the floor. Good thing you can do a rising kick as mentioned above.

Pausing the game is done by hitting the Start button while a battle is going on.

Unless I'm missing something, I think that about covers it for the controls.

Stage Themes or Character Themes?
Zootopia Arena uses both of these and you have the option to switch between them. In the game's Options menu, there's a Battle Music setting in the Audio section. The two choices are Stage Themes and Character Themes and, as stated above, you can change this setting. There are some songs in this game that play regardless of your current Battle Music setting. These songs are songs that play during fights between two specific characters. Anyone who has played Blazblue and used match-ups like Ragna vs. Hazama or Noel vs. Tsubaki should know what I'm talking. Another song that plays regardless of your Battle Music settings is this song that plays when both fighters are one round victory away from winning the match and there's also one that plays during mirror matches.

Modes
Every fighting game's gotta have a multitude of modes to choose from. Here are the modes present in Zootopia Arena.

Story Mode
Here, you play through the game's story. Like the Story Mode in Blazblue Continuum Shift, there's a prologue, an individual story arc for each character, and a True Ending. First, you play through the prologue. There's not much to it. It's an animated cutscene showing the beginning of the story. Then, you start playing through each character's individual story arc. At first, only Judy Hopps' story will be available. But after you clear her story, more characters' stories will become available and even more characters' stories will become available as you clear those. Basically, you gotta clear characters' stories to unlock other characters' stories. Once you've finished every characters' story arc, you will unlock the True Ending. This is where the game's final scenes and final battles take place. Clear the True Ending and you beat all of Story Mode. If you beat all of Story Mode, you'll get a little prize.

Another thing about Story Mode is that at certain points of each story, the game will ask if you want to save the story so far. This way, if you decide to stop in the middle of a story arc, you'll be able to pick up from where you left off using the Load menu in the Story Mode menu. Just hit Yes or No, select a data slot to save to, and then let the game do the rest. Regardless of whether you use this feature or not, your overall Story Mode progress will not be affected. You're not really saving the game, just the story you're playing through. Am I making sense?

Arcade Mode
Here, you choose a character and then you fight your way through ten stages. Most stages have you fight a random character, but Stages 4, 8, 9, and 10 have you fight a specific opponent. Which characters you face in Stages 4, 8, and 9 depend on the character you pick. Basically, those characters are your character's "rivals". As for Stage 10, most, if not all characters will face the game's primary boss at Stage 10. If you manage to beat Arcade Mode, you'll see your character's Arcade Mode Ending and then you can watch it again at any time in the game's Gallery, which we'll get to later. You'll also unlock that character's corresponding Profile Card design and icon. These, we'll also get to later.

Versus Mode
Here, you pick two characters, pick a stage, and then the two characters have a battle to see who wins. Can be played by one player or two players.

Survival Mode
This is much like Arcade Mode except if you lose once, that's it. Game over. Also, instead of just ten stages, you keep on fighting enemy after enemy until you finally do lose.

Score Attack Mode
Just like in Arcade Mode, you fight your way through ten stages. However, in this mode, it's mostly just about getting a high score. Stages 1-9 all have random opponents. You could end up facing anyone. As for Stage 10, if you manage to get there, you'll be face-to-face with a secret character. Beat that secret character to unlock him as a playable character.

Training
This is pretty self-explanatory. This is where you can practice using the characters in this game. Just like in Versus Mode, you pick a character to play as and your opponent. In Training, though, the opponent is just a training dummy. Usually, they'll just stand around and do nothing, taking everything you throw at them. But, you can change this setting in the Pause Menu. Your other option is to have your opponent act like a real opponent and fight back. Another thing about Training is that in this mode, you don't have to go back to the Character Select and Stage Select screens to change your characters and stages. In Training, you can change your characters and stages from the Pause Menu.

Profile Card
This is where you can customize your Profile Card. This card is shown to other players when you battle online and also to players met through Nintendo 3DS Streetpass or Local Wireless. The name shown on your card is your system username. You can change the card design, icon, and character portrait of the card to anything you have available. The character portraits are how you pick who your favorite character is. As such, to unlock a character's portrait, you must first unlock that character as a playable character. As for the icons and card designs, many of these are available from the start and you can unlock more. Some are unlocked by purchasing them in the Gallery. Others are unlocked by clearing Arcade Mode. For example, if you clear Arcade Mode with Judy Hopps, then you'll have a perfectly good Judy Hopps character icon and Judy-themed card design all ready to go.

Local Wireless
This mode is exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS version. Here, you can battle with people close by using a Local Wireless connection. First, either open a Lobby or search for an existing Lobby. Then, let the search for other players begin. If you set up your own Lobby, then you can set the rules of the match; how many rounds, how much time on the timer, and which stage the match takes place in before the search begins. Also, if you set up your own Lobby and you're successful in finding other players, you can choose which of those players you want to face. After you and your opponent choose your characters, the match can begin. Meanwhile, the other players in the Lobby will be watching the match unfold. After the match is over, your opponent's Profile Card will be saved to the Gallery and then you can choose another opponent to fight. You can even have a rematch with the opponent you just fought if they're still there.

Online Play
Here, you can use your Wii U or Nintendo 3DS to connect to the Internet and battle players through an Internet connection. If you think chatting through those headsets is allowed here, you're dead wrong. When you battle a player through Online Play, that player's Profile Card will be saved to your collection so you can view it at any time in the Gallery.

Streetpass
This is exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS version, obviously. In Zootopia Arena, the Streetpass feature is used to collect other players' Profile Cards so you can view them at any time in the Gallery. It's also used to battle AI representations of other players met through Streetpass. First, select a player met through Streetpass, then pick your character, and then your character and the other person's favorite character battle it out on a random stage. Once again, to choose your favorite character, you must set that character's portrait on your Profile Card.

Fight Record
Self explanatory. It's where you view your records. Your records are divided into two sections. One is the Offline Records section and the other is the Online Records section.

Gallery
Here, you can look at concept art, illustrations, and other images, view characters' Arcade Mode endings after you beat Arcade Mode with those characters, watch Story Mode's animated cutscenes, and listen to the game's music and sound effects. You can also purchase unlockables such as designs and icons for your Profile Card and additional color sprites for the characters. How do you purchase these? Well, when you play Zootopia Arena, you can earn in-game cash to purchase unlockables in the Gallery. How do you get this money? By winning battles. Even winning Versus Mode matches can get you some money to purchase unlockables in the Gallery. Another thing you can view in the Gallery are other players' Profile Cards that you've picked up from playing online and through Streetpass and Local Wireless.

Options
Every video game needs this. The Options menu is divided into sections. We'll go over these one at a time.

Game Settings
Here, you can adjust the CPU player difficulty and choose how many rounds a player must win to win a match. The difficulty options consist of Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard. As for the round win count settings, there's one for both Arcade Mode and Versus Mode. Both of these settings have one round as the lowest setting and five rounds as the highest setting. Another thing you can do in this section is adjust the time limit. Once again, there's a setting for this for both Arcade Mode and Versus Mode. Your time limit options consist of 60 seconds, 99 seconds, and no time limit. If you do have a time limit and time runs out while you're playing a round, then the character with the most health remaining is the winner. The clock goes back to its starting point when the next round begins.

Brightness
Here, you can adjust the brightness of the screen. So, if you want the screen to be dark, fine. If you want it to be really bright, go for it.

Audio
Here, you can adjust the game's music volume, sound effect volume, and voice volume. As mentioned further above, there is also a Battle Music setting that allows you to switch between stage themes and character themes.

The HP Bar and the Power Meter
Now let's discuss the HP bar and the Power Meter. The HP bar is something everyone should know; it's your health bar. When your health runs out, you're KO'd. The HP bar changes color as it depletes. When the match begins, your health bar is yellow. When you go down to 30% health, your health bar will turn orange.

Now, we'll discuss the Power Meter. I don't know what else to call it for this game, but basically, this is Zootopia Arena's Heat Gauge. Filling up this meter allows you to execute Power Attacks and High Power Attacks. To fill this meter, you need to attack and hit the enemy. Getting hit also fills the meter. Taunting can fill the meter all the way up to 100, but only once during a match with a CPU opponent. Once you use this benefit, you'll have to wait until your next match against a CPU opponent to use the benefit again.

Combo Attacks, Special Attacks, Power Attacks, and High Power Attacks
Each character has a set of attacks known as combo attacks. These are executed by hitting the attack buttons in a certain order. For example, Y, Y, X, A.

Now for special moves. Each character has at least a few special moves. To execute these, move the Left Control Stick around a certain way and then quickly hit one of the attack buttons. How you need to move the control stick and which button you need to press depends on which special move you're trying to do. The D-Pad also works in this situation.

Next, we have Power Attacks. Power Attacks are this game's Distortion Drives and each character in the game has at least two of these. Just like regular special moves, Power Attacks are triggered by moving the Left Control Stick a certain way and then quickly hitting one of the attack buttons. How you need to move the control stick and which attack button you need to press depend on which Power Attack you're trying to execute. Again, the D-Pad also works. However, even if you do get the input right, you won't be able to trigger a Power Attack if your Power Meter is anywhere below 50. When you do execute a Power Attack, 50 points on your Power Meter are spent.

Finally, we have High Power Attacks. Just as Power Attacks are this game's Distortion Drives, High Power Attacks are this game's Astral Heats. Each character has one High Power Attack. Like the special moves and Power Attacks, High Power Attacks are triggered by moving the Left Control Stick a certain way and then quickly pressing one of the attack buttons. Once again, how you need to move the control stick and which button you need to press depend on which High Power Attack you're trying to execute and also, the D-Pad works too. When you successfully execute a High Power Attack, it's a one-hit KO. No questions asked, your opponent is done for. However, there are conditions to be met in order to perform these moves. You'll only be able to trigger a High Power Attack if you meet all three of these conditions. The conditions are as follows. Even if you do meet these conditions, it's still not enough. Each High Power Attack involves the character first trying to land a blow on the enemy or, in some cases, trying to grab the enemy. If they fail to land this first blow or grab the enemy, then the attack fails and you have to charge your Power Meter all over again. If they succeed, then the High Power Attack is executed in all its glory. You'll be treated to a flashy, cinematic sequence and all throughout this sequence, you'll be hearing an awesome song play in place of whatever music was already playing.
 * 1) Your character must be one round victory away from winning the match.
 * 2) Your opponent's health must be at 30% or lower.
 * 3) Your Power Meter must be charged all the way to 100. All 100 points on the Power Meter will be spent if you trigger the High Power Attack.

Size Mechanic
As anyone who's seen the movie Zootopia should know, the animals in the world of Zootopia come in many, many sizes. Some animals are really big and some are very tiny. Therefore, I feel the need to implement a sort of size mechanic. Basically, each character will have some moves that are best used against enemies of certain sizes. Also, most grab attacks won't work on enemies who are too much bigger or too much smaller than the user. Basic throws are the best example of throws that won't work on targets who are too much bigger or too much smaller than the user. Then we have low kicks. They'll inflict damage on any target, but if a smaller fighter uses one against a larger target, that target won't be tripped.

(This article is incomplete. More will be added later.)