For a generation of gamers, the sound of the Nintendo DS stylus tapping furiously on the screen, followed by the commanding presence of a God Hand, is something of a core memory. Inazuma Eleven has always been more than just a football RPG. It’s a series that excels at blending over-the-top anime action with genuine emotional storylines, giving us characters we love and gameplay that dares to be different.
Since launch, we’ve enjoyed playing and writing about the newest entry, Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road. Fan reception seems to be positive, and people are enjoying all the new modes the game has to offer. It’s certainly one of the best entries to the series, but is it the definitive best? To answer that question, and as an excuse for a nostalgia trip, we’re revisiting all the mainline Inazuma Eleven games and ranking them.
All Inazuma Eleven Games Ranked
For brevity’s sake, we’ll only be reviewing the mainline games (including the GO games). Spin-offs like Inazuma Eleven Dash won’t be on this list, nor will limited-time exclusives Inazuma Eleven Everyday. The franchise gets weird as it is without those entries, so let’s just focus on the core Inazuma Eleven experience.
Inazuma Eleven 3
This is a special one. Inazuma Eleven 3 was released on July 1, 2010 on the Nintendo DS, and it took the world by storm. The third entry to the series includesa story that takes Endou Mamoru and his team, Inazuma Japan, to the global tournament. This greatly increased the player recruitment options, along with challenge variety. Another fun thing added was the ability to do Co-op Hissatsu. This time around, two or three players could now combine their Hissatsu to create a dramatically more powerful move.
Inazuma Eleven 3 featured quick, objective-based matches apart from the full matches. These existed solely for the rewarding grinding experience to earn Prestige and Friendship points. Hissatsu clashes were common, as when two players would meet, you would have to select whether to tackle, dribble, or do a Hissatsu technique. Inazuma Eleven 3 is often celebrated for taking the best elements of the two previous games and placing them on the most spectacular stage of the original trilogy.
Inazuma Eleven Go 2: Chrono Stone
This game was released back in December 2012 on the Nintendo 3DS. Chrono Stone completely redefined the franchise’s power system by adding two new major, stacked mechanics. Mixi Max is one of these mechanics, allowing you to absorb the aura of another person or historical figures (apparently, that includes a T-Rex?)
Keshin armed was another new mechanic, an extension of the Keshin fighting spirit system. This allows you to absorb the Keshin’s power into your character’s body, causing them to wear it like a highly stylized armour. The game also integrated time travel into gameplay as the Raimon team travelled through various historical periods to assemble a Chrono Storm team.
Chrono Stone has typical matches that last longer and are more cinematic due to multiple layers of power activation. This game had a lot of new stuff going on, and it’s a rare entry that delivers on all of the new ideas.
Inazuma Eleven 2
This game drastically expanded the setting, tone, and recruitment options, moving beyond the basic tournament-style game. The game’s central premise was for Raimon’s school to travel in a specially converted bus to recruit players from all over Japan. This takes place after Raimon’s school was destroyed by aliens… sure.
To earn experience points, you could play 4v4 encounters, which were triggered by walking a certain distance on the map. Another revolution was the dedicated defensive Hissatsu moves becoming more defined and crucial, providing a real purpose to defenders. The core gameplay loop successfully fused the exploration and progression of a JRPG with real-time football tactics.
The 11v11 matches played in real time had their tactics managed by drawing paths with the stylus. A great game with a bonkers storyline and unique mechanics.
Inazuma Eleven Victory Road
Victory Road offers a massive character roster of over 5,400 characters and a dedicated Chronicle Mode. This mode is likely the most compelling reason to buy the game if you’re a longtime fan of the series. You travel through history, replaying every campaign in the Inazuma Eleven series, now with better graphics and technical polish.
This time around, all Hissatsu moves now draw Tension from a single shared Tension Gauge, forcing real-time strategic decisions. The Zone is a new time-slowdown mechanic that activates in front of the goal, allowing the attacking and defending teams to make crucial tactical choices. Victory Road’s main story mode has a new protoganist, Destin Billows. He’s a fantastic protagonist trying to revive his struggling football club, and his hair is on point.
The JRPG mechanics, high-school drama, Hissatsu, and the phenomenal animation done by MAPPA makes this an umisseable entry in the franchise.
Inazuma Eleven GO
Inazuma Eleven GO was released on December 15th, 2011, on the Nintendo 3DS. It served as a soft reboot for the series, offering features such as the new mechanic, the Keshin System. Keshin are giant, ethereal manifestations of a player’s fighting spirit, akin to a spiritual avatar. This also leads to the Keshin Clash, where two players who have summoned their Keshin have a battle of wills that determines which spirit remains active. The story takes place 10 years after Inazuma Eleven 3, featuring a new protagonist, Matsukaze Tenma.
While the Keshins may be impressive, they drain your TP rapidly and have a time limit, so you must carefully manage when to deploy them. It’s a decent entry with neat new ideas, but the sequel executed them in a better way. You should still check it out to see how they started deviating from the original, while still keeping the creative energy intact.
Inazuma Eleven
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the first entry in the series is also one of the weaker ones. Released way back in 2008 on the Nintendo DS, Inazuma Eleven established the core identity of the series. The original had a pure underdog storyline focusing on Endou Mamoru trying to save his severely understaffed and neglected Raimon Jr. High football club.
The game features the iconic, defining Hissatsu moves of the series in their original forms. In the original, the primary method of recruiting players outside of the main story was through the connection map. It’s a decent enough game, but one that hasn’t aged well in terms of graphics and gameplay. Unless you really want to experience the series in its infancy, Inazuma Eleven 2 and 3 are significantly better games.
Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy
Go Galaxy is the final entry in the Go trilogy, released on December 5th, 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS. This one is widely considered the weakest mainline game, and for good reason. Galaxy introduced the Souls system, where players transform into animalistic forms for a temporary stat boost and exclusive Hissatsu. On paper it sounds exciting, but in practice it added yet another layer of power creep to an already bloated combat system, making battles feel less tactical and more like chaotic stat spam.
Galaxy’s biggest issue is its new Inazuma Japan lineup. Instead of building on established characters, the game forces you to start with a team of newcomers who are comically awful at football, yet somehow possess overpowered Soul transformations. It’s a tonal contradiction. Go Galaxy not only has more confusing mechanics, but it’s also the hardest game to trigger Hissatsu effectively in. It’s a game that drowns under the weight of its own systems.
