Pocket Bravery | Xbox Review

Pocket Bravery is a fun little fighting game. It has tons of single player modes and some really good training options. Of course, it also has multiplayer so you can beat up on your friends (or get pummeled yourself depending on how good your friends are).

Story Mode: A Familiar but Peculiar Journey

Story mode is told through cutscenes and covers your character Nuno and his journey. Not going to give away any spoilers, but suffice to say that this is the standard story mode you will be used to playing in fighting games. It does what it needs to do well enough, although to say I found the story odd is an understatement. This is completely dependent on the person as the story reminds me of anime and manga, neither of which is a favorite for me. For you, this may be exactly what you are looking for.

One thing that did frustrate me was when you have to take on multiple opponents at once. This is a 2D fighting game so this becomes especially difficult without being able to sidestep. Some fights just seem to take a random turn for the worse, and you get ganged up on, unable to escape or break free. This leads to you getting KOed without being able to do anything.

Arcade: Classic Fighting Fun

Arcade in Pocket Bravery is exactly what you would expect: a copy of Street Fighter II’s arcade mode. You choose a character, and they fly around taking on several opponents before you end up taking on the big bad guy at the end. Nothing else to really say; it’s effective and is as fun as it ever was back in the day.

Survival: Test Your Endurance

Survival is like Arcade, except that all your damage you take carries over between fights. Unless you are really good, you will not be going far as you are bound to take some hits.

Training Mode: Mastering the Fundamentals

Training mode is where you spend a lot of time if you plan to take the game seriously and really level up your skills. This has all the standard options including showing command inputs, attack data, collision boxes, and recording functions. This is a very well put together mode even when compared with something like Street Fighter 6. Everything you will need is here.

Combo Factory: The Art of Stringing Attacks

Pocket Bravery’s Combo Factory is rather unique. Being its own game mode and not part of Training feels odd to me, but once you are in, it works well. It teaches you how to link moves and form combos in a freestyle setting. You have a meter that shows you the timing of the moves to help you get the rhythm down when learning how to input combo strings. There are some pre-made trials that you can use or you can build your own using an on screen guide.

After selecting moves that you want to try in a string, it will display on the HUD in game. If you hit it perfectly, it will turn green letting you know that it is a true combo. Another unique feature is the ability to slow down the speed of the game all the way down to 20% of normal. This really helps so you can visualize the tight timing of some of the combos.

Multiplayer: A Challenge to Connect

Multiplayer was a bit of a struggle to find anyone to play; I was not able to get a single match. There are, of course, Discord groups you can join to find opponents if you would like to go that route.

Pocket Bravery Final Verdict

Pocket Bravery feels like it was created by people who play fighting games and love the genre. It’s got a cool retro feel to the in game graphics, the move inputs feel smooth and the sound track rocks. There are plenty of single player and training modes to help you learn at your own pace. If you can get some friends to buy it as well then you can really open up the online modes, or you can find some Discord groups to get some matches going. Overall this is a really fun fighter that is worth your time to check out.

To hear me talk more about Pocket Bravery, be sure to listen to the April 10, 2025 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 37:55 time stamp.

This review is based on an Xbox copy of Pocket Bravery provided by PQube for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.