The “jump” in Jump Festa refers to the weekly manga magazine, Shonen Jump. While a version of Shonen Jump is available on a monthly basis for North American readers, it’s a weekly institution in Japan. Many of the most popular manga characters in the world made their first appearance in the pages of Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Death Note, Prince of Tennis, Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Dragon Ball are just a few of the many famous series that were first featured in this popular magazine.
Portable systems were everywhere at the show. Kids and parents alike were killing time in line by playing games like Dragon Quest. However, it wasn’t all about DS. Lots of folks were sporting PSPs as well.
Above: Long lines faced attendees at every corner. Luckily many came prepared with handheld games to play
The best from Square-Enix
Square-Enix set up several download stations at their Kingdom Hearts booth. Lucky PSP owners could download and import the “ghosts” of famous Square-Enix designers Takeshi Arakawa (Dissidia: Final Fantasy), Hajime Tabata (FFXIII Agito), Motomu Toriyama (FFXIII), and Tetsuya Nomura (FFXIII), for their copy of Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Unfortunately, the lines were ridiculously long and many fans left empty handed.
Above: Many fans braved long lines for a chance to download special content for Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy XIII and Kingdom Hearts Christmas cards were also available. The fifteen card set featured artwork from Square-Enix games. Unfortunately, the booth was so crowded that we didn’t get a chance to check out the artwork inside the sets, but many dedicated fans waited in line twice to get two identical sets of cards with different artwork on the packaging.
Above: Square-Enix was also giving away collectible Christmas cards
Above: A detailed costume of the protagonist from Final Fantasy Verus XIII on display. No touching!
Above: This giant Chocobo was suspended above the Square-Enix booth, which was one of the most popular spots for older show-goers
Above: But the floating Slime was even bigger
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