Bleach: The 3rd Phantom Play Online 🪙 Nintendo DS Games

Summary

Bleach: The 3rd Phantom swaps the series' usual fighting‑game feel for a turn‑based tactical RPG, letting you command an eight‑member squad of Soul Reapers on isometric battlefields that echo Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem. When a unit attacks, the view flips to a side‑scroll showdown where you can unleash kido, Getsuga Tensho, or even a tag‑team strike if two allies flank the same foe. Character growth is driven by experience points earned after each clash, letting you boost stats and unlock new abilities before you decide where to position your team on the campaign map. The free‑time segments break up the combat, turning the board into a Kon‑guided game of chance where you spend Action Points to land on event panels, collect bonuses, and recruit hidden allies like Kira or Hisagi. Special icons grant items, stat bumps, or even hot‑spring fan‑service scenes, while a "Discount" icon reduces the AP cost of the next move. The roster swells to roughly 60 playable faces, mixing familiar Dark Souls veterans with newcomers such as Retsu Unohana, the Visoreds Shinji Hirako and Hiyori Sarugaki, and Arrancars like Ulquiorra. Original twins Matsuri and Fujimaru Kudo lead the charge, supported by their mentor Seigen Suzunami, his sister Konoka, and a mysterious girl named Shiyo. Ikimono‑gakari’s "Remaining Wind" serves as the game’s theme, a nod to the band’s work on the anime’s seventh ending. Critics were split: Metacritic settled on a middling 59/100, while Famitsu handed it a 28/40, reflecting a mixed reception that still managed to please die‑hard Bleach fans.

Storyline

Bleach: The 3rd Phantom presents an original spin‑off plot written by Tite Kubo. Players choose either Matsuri Kudo or her twin brother Fujimaru, both newly appointed to the 5th Division under their adoptive father Seigen Suzunami. After defeating the Arrancar Arturo Plateado, the twins become suspended in time and awaken in the present, where they encounter Ichigo Kurosaki, a mysterious girl named Shiyo, and many familiar faces such as Rukia, Renji, Hitsugaya and Soifon, now senior officers. They soon learn that Seigen and the other twin have allied with Aizen, blaming Soul Society for the death of Konoka Suzunami and the ruin of the Suzunami House. The climax sees the siblings battling Seigen, who has transformed into a massive Hollow‑like monster, before being drawn into an otherworldly realm where he, Konoka and Shiyo fade away. In the ending, Matsuri and Fujimaru decline offers to rejoin the Gotei 13 as high‑ranking officers, opting instead to remain in the living world and protect reincarnated souls.

Edited by Maya Carter