Nintendo has made a ton of announcements recently. One of them is the release date for the sequel to Inazuma Eleven. European crowds will get to enjoy the newest in football-RPG this March 16, 2012 on the good old fashioned Nintendo DS.

Inazuma Eleven 2 adapts the lucrative Pokémon formula in more ways than one and thus will release in Firestorm and Blizzard format. Both sides will include unique gameplay and characters, with over 150 different people, teams, skills and actions in each version. In all, there will be in excess of 1500 players to meet and recruit to the line-up.

Gameplay will be divided in two parts, one of them being the story-driven section of the game and the other being the soccer matches. By using the stylus, players will be able to control the pitch by manipulating their players, put pressure on the opponent and strike for goals. The story follows goalkeeper Mark Evans and his squad as they try to defeat the ominous Alius Academy and even ultimately try to save the world. Who knew that a bunch of kids playing soccer could save us all?

Multiplayer options will allow players to trade unique content and connect up to 4 players with self-created squads. It will even be able for people with the original Inazuma Eleven to participate. All this separate content and focus on connectivity is even more derived from Pokémon, but we all know that formula works like a charm for the big N.

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