is a role-playing and sports

Sports game

A sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the practice of traditional sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, athletics and extreme sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport , whilst others emphasize strategy and organization...

 video game for the Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 developed and published by Level-5

Level-5

is an independent video game developer and publisher based in Fukuoka, Japan. The company, which currently employs about 200 individuals, was founded in October 1998 by Akihiro Hino after he departed from the now defunct Japanese developer Riverhillsoft...

. It was released on October 1, 2009 in Japan.

A direct sequel to the game titled Inazuma Eleven 3: Sekai e no Chousen has been announced for the Nintendo DS, as well as a console version of the game titled Inazuma Eleven Break. A manga based on the game began serialization in CoroCoro Comic

CoroCoro Comic

is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Shogakukan, starting on May 15, 1977. Its main target is elementary school aged boys, younger than the readers of shōnen manga...

on May 15, 2008, while an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 based on the Inazuma Eleven video game produced by OLM started airing on August 22, 2008.

Story mode

The main character, Endou Mamoru, is a very talented goalkeeper. He plays for his high school's Soccer team called Raimon Junior High School which has just won the Football Frontier. One day, the aliens from Aliea Academy, a mysterious school that trains its students into making soccer a tool to destroy other schools, approach and wreck Raimon Junior High, sending Raimon Eleven into a journey to stop the aliens, the soccer team named Gemini Strom, with Raimon Academy's last gift, the van called Inazuma Cabin. The heroes have to travel around Japan, recruit new players, seek the secret behind the Aliea Academy, and save Japan from being destroyed.

Match mode

The game is split into two parts: one resembles a RPG, featuring various location that Endou and his team have to explore in order to get new items, face several other players in short casual battles or to advance further in the story. Most of the goals of this part are indicated by a giant purple arrow; the second part is the actual match: using the stylus, the player moves the soccer team around against another team. The player can dodge opponent's attacks, slide tackle to take the ball away, or use a special ability available to the characters they recruited. The result of any of his players actions are determined by seven skills, the player's affinity, and the total number of players participating in an action. Special abilities can only be stopped with other abilities, meaning that they will always win against basic tactics. Super shots and Super keeps however play simultaneously, which means that unlike defending the ball they always consume the Ability bar and at the beginning are determined by the player affinity only.