Over in Japan, there are about a million video games based on the anime/manga series One Piece. Of these, One Piece: Grand Battle! was the first GameCube game to be released in the U.S. Much to everyone's surprise, it was actually pretty darn good. It was an arena-based fighting game that seemed to be heavily inspired by Capcom's Power Stone series. One Piece: Grand Adventure is the highly anticipated sequel, and although the core gameplay hasn't changed much, there are enough new features to entice fans of the original to give this one a go.

If you've never played Grand Battle (or Power Stone), the gameplay is relatively simple. You take control of one of the One Piece crew and duke it out in a gimmicky arena. These arenas are in full 3D, and you can run around them at will. Oftentimes they will have unique hazards that you'll need to avoid while you attempt to lure your opponent into them. One stage, for instance, takes place on the shattered deck of a destroyed ship (well, technically it's a floating restaurant, but you know, details). On either side of the arena, the deck is still stable, but the area in the middle is comprised of small planks of wood floating on the water. This section is obviously unstable, and it's possible to destroy the planks, making it easy for a fighter to fall into the inky depths and suffer massive damage. To further complicate things, a giant shark is patrolling the water, so spending too much time in the center of the battlefield puts you at risk of suffering an attack of Shark Week proportions.


In addition to environmental hazards, you'll also need to take advantage of the many crates, treasure chests and barrels that appear in the arena. These can be smashed open to reveal coins (that fill up your special move meter) and weapons or you can pick up the boxes and throw them at your foes. The weapons that you collect range from bombs and giant bats to more unconventional tools like a beehive and a bonfire.