I was at a used game shop a few years ago while looking for whatever good DS or 3ds games I could find when I came across One Piece: Gear Spirit. Ever since I started watching and reading One Piece I've been a huge fan of the series and I had prior knowledge that this was the only game where Kaku was playable, so when I saw this, I just knew I had to buy it. Overall, it was a good purchase as One Piece Gear Spirit is a surprisingly competent Smash clone.
In terms of gameplay, its pretty much identical to Smash Bros and the characters' special movesets function almost exactly as they would in Smash. There are cards that grant you a variety of different things including stat boosts and the ability to use super moves. You can customize your card deck however you want and the animations for the three supers each character can use look impressive for a DS game. Its got an arcade/story mode for each character with attention to detail to the source material in the form of event fights where you go up against a character as they did in the series (Such as Luffy vs Lucci, Zoro vs Kaku, or Ace vs Blackbeard). Each character's story is short and simple which is a good thing since you will need to clear all of them if you want every single character. The roster is also impressive. With the exception of some of the classic villains and Buggy for some odd reason, this game has pretty much every fan favorite One Piece character you could ask for including Lucci, Shanks, and Vivi to name a few. Kaku was a slightly odd, but great choice in my opinion since he was my favorite out of the CP9 gang and it's a shame he doesn't get included in more games.
Similar to DreamMix TV, this game has the same problem with the lack of variety. From what I can tell there aren't any other modes outside of the arcade/story mode and just playing the game regularly. There are also only 8 stages in the entire game which doesn't help with that. This game is definitely more fun than DreamMix TV, hence the slightly higher score but with the lack of content, players will eventually get bored of it. Outside of the impressive-looking super moves, the graphics for the most part look generic and boring in contrast to similar games like Jump Ultimate Stars & One Piece Gigant battle which have a more stylized look. The standard punches are also a bit too OP which lowers your incentive to use your special moves.
If you're a fan of One Piece, there is some enjoyment to be had from Gear Spirit as it is fun to mess around with, has a lot of cool fanservice, and a solid roster of characters to choose from. It isn't perfect but its a decent Smash clone and One Piece game.
In terms of gameplay, its pretty much identical to Smash Bros and the characters' special movesets function almost exactly as they would in Smash. There are cards that grant you a variety of different things including stat boosts and the ability to use super moves. You can customize your card deck however you want and the animations for the three supers each character can use look impressive for a DS game. Its got an arcade/story mode for each character with attention to detail to the source material in the form of event fights where you go up against a character as they did in the series (Such as Luffy vs Lucci, Zoro vs Kaku, or Ace vs Blackbeard). Each character's story is short and simple which is a good thing since you will need to clear all of them if you want every single character. The roster is also impressive. With the exception of some of the classic villains and Buggy for some odd reason, this game has pretty much every fan favorite One Piece character you could ask for including Lucci, Shanks, and Vivi to name a few. Kaku was a slightly odd, but great choice in my opinion since he was my favorite out of the CP9 gang and it's a shame he doesn't get included in more games.
Similar to DreamMix TV, this game has the same problem with the lack of variety. From what I can tell there aren't any other modes outside of the arcade/story mode and just playing the game regularly. There are also only 8 stages in the entire game which doesn't help with that. This game is definitely more fun than DreamMix TV, hence the slightly higher score but with the lack of content, players will eventually get bored of it. Outside of the impressive-looking super moves, the graphics for the most part look generic and boring in contrast to similar games like Jump Ultimate Stars & One Piece Gigant battle which have a more stylized look. The standard punches are also a bit too OP which lowers your incentive to use your special moves.
If you're a fan of One Piece, there is some enjoyment to be had from Gear Spirit as it is fun to mess around with, has a lot of cool fanservice, and a solid roster of characters to choose from. It isn't perfect but its a decent Smash clone and One Piece game.