Bleach: Heat the Soul is the first installment in the
Heat the Soul fighting game series, released on March 24, 2005. The theme song for the game is
*: Asterisk by
Orange Range, which also happens to be the original opening theme for the anime. The game has a total of six characters, all of which derived from the
Agent of the Shinigami arc. One thing critics seemed to like were the authentic voice-overs during both gameplay and conversation sequences. The voice actors themselves also appeared at the Jump Festa event for a live talk show appearance on a mock radio station just months before the game's release. The theme song for this game is
Chance! by
Uverworld, and the music was composed by Kazuo Hanzawa, under the alias "NON", and Hitoshi Sakimoto. Continuing where
Heat the Soul left off, the story mode of
Heat the Soul 2 ranges from the
Soul Society: The Sneak Entry arc to the end of the
Soul Society: The Rescue arc The game features 34 characters, covering events from the
Soul Society: The Sneak Entry arc to
Ulquiorra Schiffer's introduction at the beginning of
The Arrancar arc. Unique to
Heat the Soul 3 are "Soul Road" and "Karakura Heroes". In Soul Road, the player is to select the desired character and partner character. Afterwards, the player is set on a board game-like map where the goal is to pass through markers in order to fight enemies. After each match, the player is given an amount of "Trust points" (how many received depends on the mode's difficulty) which go towards leveling up partner characters and unlocking bonuses, such as alternate costumes and new partners. To unlock these bonuses, the player must find a blue marker to turn in their points; however, before doing so, the players must answer a multiple choice question. In Karakura Heroes, the player is put into a humorous side-story, with some extra anime scenes added.
Don Kanonji leads a group of
shinigami, initially
Byakuya Kuchiki and
Tōshirō Hitsugaya, on some sort of wacky adventure which involves battling several other characters. At the mode's completion, a scene shows the gang relaxing at an expensive hotel, doing activities that in some way fit their personalities and/or abilities (for example, Hitsugaya snowboarding).
Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 is the fourth installment in the
Heat the Soul series, released on May 24, 2007. The game features 51 characters, covering events from
The Arrancar arc to the entrance into Hueco Mundo. Unlike its predecessors,
Heat the Soul 4 features a "Character Master" mode. In it, the player chooses a character and goes through a series of five battles and is usually faced with certain conditions, such as using only grab to inflict damage, in order to finish the battle. After the third and final battles, a multiple answer question posed by the character must be answered. Depending on the answer, the player is either rewarded 200 points, 50 points, or nothing. For each battle won, a random number of experience points will be added to the character's total. As the level grows higher, bonuses such as voice tests and alternate costumes can be unlocked. The game features battles against giant characters. New characters include Allon (Ayon), Coyote Starrk (Los Lobos), Baraggan Luisenbarn (Arrogante), Tier Harribel (Tiburon), Yammy Liargo (Ira), Ulquiorra Cifer (Segunda Etapa), Ichigo Kurosaki (Full Hollow), Muramasa, Hachigen Ushoda, Love Aikawa and Shuren (
downloadable content); in all, 84 characters are playable. ==Playable characters==