The fourth entry in the One Piece Musou games has just released! We know, we know, Animal Crossing is the new hotness, but trust us, this title is also worth your time. This genre of games is obviously most well known for the Dynasty Warriors franchise, but there are tons of others. Popular anime IP’s like Naruto, Tokyo Ghoul, and Attack on Titan have all received Musou games of varying quality.
But Pirate Warriors 4 is different from the past iterations with an all-new engine, core gameplay mechanics, and playable cast. We’re here today to talk about the most overpowered Grand Line seafarers in the absurdly large roster. So without further ado, let’s cast-off!
10 Best: All Of The New World Emperor’s
This was obviously always going to happen. Take one look at any of the trailers and see just how big Whitebeard, Big Mom, or Kaido was compared to any other character and it was clear as day they’d be the new standard for “too overpowered”. First of all, they’re seriously huge! One swing of Whitebeards Naginata can cover more ground than any of Chopper’s combo-enders! And, each of them, including Shanks, is broken in their own right. Whitebeard clears maps with his array of AOE attacks, Big Mom is twice as big with a wide range of shocking and fiery finishers, Kaido is pure strength and is fantastic at taking out Boss/Elite enemies, Blackbeard has the best counter special and tons of AOE attacks, and Shanks Haki charge adds a lot of versatility.
9 Worst: The Smallest Character, Tony Tony Chopper
Speaking of Chopper, he got the short end of the stick again just like all of the past Pirate Warriors games and even the anime. People love to underestimate this blue-nosed reindeer and we’re sick of it! Chopper’s 7-form gimmick is super fun and has tons of potential for wide-sweeping combo-enders. Yet, the developers seem to be committed to making him a Technical character who has to spam his “Scope” moves in order to do any real damage. And, past that, he basically only uses Kung-Fu and Horn Point in most of his moves.
8 Best: The Future King Of The Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy
So this, of course, surprises no one, but Luffy is probably two or three times as overpowered as he was in the last game. This is in part due to the new mechanics that allow for more of his Gomu Gomu attacks to shine both on the ground and in the air. But, mostly, it’s due to his Transformations and wide-array of Specials.
Luffy has probably twice the amount of Specials that anyone else does in the game and two separate transformations! Snakeman’s use is primarily for keeping a tough Elite Enemy in an endless combo while Boundman succeeds at AOE damage and raw power. And, while we love how much of his repertoire they included, why couldn’t Carrot or Chopper get a transformation Special yet Luffy gets two?
7 Worst: The #1 Straw Hat Fanboy, Bartolomeo The Cannibal
This one hurts us deeply. Out of all the new cast introduced in the seemingly-endless Dressrosa Arc, Bartolomeo was our favorite. He has an awesome design, a hilarious backstory, and one of the most unique Devil Fruits in the series. The Bari Bari No Mi just had so much potential for cool moves! But, in-game, they feel a bit lackluster and poorly implemented. We see what they were going for with his Annoyance/Rage Mechanic where Barto shines by pissing the enemy army off, but it ends up not working well enough to justify him being completely built around it.
6 Best: The 1-Billion Beri Pirate, Charlotte Katakuri
Did anyone expect Katakuri to be weak in this game? Seriously, the guy is one of the most beloved characters in recent memory in probably the shortest amount of time. His fight against Luffy spanned an absurd amount of episodes/chapters and he somehow manages to be seriously scary with a Devil Fruit that turns his body into Mochi. Katakuri is giant in-game, ending up just a tad smaller than Whitebeard, but his power comes from the fact that he’s a “Speed” type.
All of the other giant characters are predictably Power types while Katakuri manages to run around the map at blistering speed with equal amounts of power. Plus, he has a 7-string normal-attack combo which means he has 6 different combo-enders on the ground rather than the standard 4.
5 Worst: The Fire Tank’s Captain And Castle, Capone Bege
The Worst Generation cast of Pirates tends to be on average pretty good. Captain Kidd is a bit basic but strong with a fun scrap-collecting mechanics, Hawkins bad luck gimmick is a blast to play with and his combo strings are decent, Law is mostly the same as his PW3 incarnation if not a tad bit weaker, but Capone Bege is just awful! Bege is a Fortress Human, so his crew can hide inside his body, so we loved that they managed to implement that as a gimmick. But, the actual usage of it just feels slow and basic with no real thought for how it would feel to actually play as him. His Ultra Specials are pretty fantastic but other than that we only recommend him for people who want to put the time into mastering him.
4 Best: The Shocking Sulong Sadist, Carrot The Mink
This Rabbit Mink is a deceivingly adorable fighter who uses a technique called “Electro” to shock and incapacitate opponents. In-game, she’s another speed type an probably the fastest out of all of them. Plus, once players unlock the latter specials in her upgrade Map, they’ll really start to breeze through missions with her. Do we wish her Sulong form was better implemented? Sure. But Carrot is still an insanely fun character to play as, so we aren’t too messed up about it.
3 Worst: Vice-Admiral Smoker’s Trusted Subordinate, Captain Tashigi
Quite frankly, Tashigi wasn’t all too great in PW3 either. But, people seemed to love playing as her regardless. Yet, in this new incarnation, fans are coming out of the woodwork to say that Bandai Namco ruined what they had. In PW3, Tashigi had a Unique Attack that changed depending on the direction pressed.
It was a cool way to include more of her sword attacks and allowed plays to mix and match according to the situation. In this, she’s mostly the same just a bit worse, while tons of characters are much better than they previously were. So even if she hasn’t changed much, everyone else has, and that pretty much sums of Tashigi’s life story.
2 Best: The World’s Strongest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk
We never got the appeal of playing as any of the swordsmen in the Pirate Warriors games. Yeah, using three swords is cool, but most of your attacks are just plain old slashes that seem a lot more boring than using Soul Power or Law’s Room gimmick. Yet, Mihawk is a blast to play as in this one. They seemed to have done away with his “charging” mechanic in this one, instead, they gave it to Shanks and just made him straight up better. Mihawk is quick, deadly, and can end things with a single slash. Exactly how it should be for one of the most mysterious and macabre characters in all of One Piece.
1 Worst: The Straw Hat’s Immortal Musician, Humming Swordsman Brook
And finally, we just don’t get how they keep messing up Brook. The All-Bones Humming Swordsman Soul-King Brook has so many interesting gimmicks! For one, he’s a walking skeleton, so he could have moves playing off throwing his head around. Two, he can control his soul outside of his body, and only one of his specials seems to play with that. Three, he’s a musician! Why did they take away some of his music-based moves? And lastly, he’s an ultra-quick swordsman, yet the only representation of this is mostly seen in his Ultra Specials! Outside of all that, his normal moves are just mediocre, and he’s overall a bit of wasted potential.
