At the time, Jump was dominated by sports, gag, and fighting manga. Yasuhiko—already a celebrated animator—brought a cinematic, painterly sensibility to the page. Hounds of the Meteor was his first major serialized manga, created after leaving the anime industry (having worked on Brave Raideen and Zambot 3).
| Beast | Element | Weakness (Normal) | Weakness (Enraged) | |-------|---------|------------------|--------------------| | Cragworm | Earth | Electric | Corrosive | | Ashwing | Fire | Water/Ice | Electric | | Volticore | Electric | Corrosive | Fire | | Glacierback | Ice | Fire | Earth | Hounds of the Meteor
Special boss: Meteor Sovereign (endgame) – cycles elements every 30 seconds. Requires a Shifter to constantly adapt. At the time, Jump was dominated by sports,
1. Tactical Combat The core gameplay loop revolves around turn-based tactical combat on grid-based maps. The system draws heavy inspiration from classics like Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem, but with a slower, more deliberate pace. Battles are lethal, requiring careful positioning and resource management rather than brute force. | Beast | Element | Weakness (Normal) |
2. Survival Elements The game integrates survival mechanics into the tactical framework. Characters must manage resources like food, medicine, and morale. Injuries sustained in battle persist, affecting a character's stats in subsequent missions. This forces the player to make difficult decisions about risk versus reward—sometimes retreating is the only viable option to keep the party alive.
3. Visual Novel Elements Between battles, the game shifts to a visual novel style for storytelling. Players explore the narrative through dialogue, make choices that impact the story's direction, and manage relationships within the party. These segments are fully voiced (in updates where voice acting is implemented) and heavily detailed.