- Joined
- Jan 31, 2013
Remember Medabots?
A little-known fact is that the Anime was actually(loosely) based on the 2nd pair of games for a videogame series that debuted on the original GameBoy that were made by Natsume(Most famously known in the west for their Harvest Moon and Rune Factory franchises).
Every game has two versions, Kabuto Version(with Metabee as the starter), and Kuwagata Version(with Rokusho as the starter). Luckily for us, around the time the Anime was still relevant in the US, the 2nd pair of games were remade for the GBA. So we got them localized, and they are the only mainline Mebabots titles we ever got outside of Japan. Additionally we got 1 Gamecube Spin-off heavily based on the very terrible 2nd season of the anime(which isn't based on the plots of any of the games), and Additionally another pair of spin-offs for the GBA that were heavily edited to feature robots seen on the show instead of the current gen models, since unlike most creature collecting games the large majority of bots are scraped or completely redesigned in each new game, including the 2 starter bots.
Even though the series is dead in the US and mostly remembered from the anime, often seen as a pokemon rip-off, the games still have continued in Japan to this day, always being released in Kabuto and Kuwagata versions, and outside of some spin-offs(including one for the PS1), are mostly found on whatever the latest Nintendo handheld is.
I actually own not only the localized remake of the 2nd game for the GBA, but also the Wonderswan remake of the first games. Battles are all 3-on-3 using bots that are made up of 6 parts: a base skeleton, which come in male and female varieties, and said skeletons have 4 parts on them, a Head+Torso, 2 Arms, and a pair of Legs. The last part is the Medal, which determines stat balancing, and is heavily raised/lowered depending on how compatible the medal is with the parts on the bot. Each of these parts can be mixed and matched and have their own unique abilities. You attack the arms and legs of the opponent, and then go for the torso which will take the bot out of the fight. The hard part is finding the right combination to make things right, and there is no margin for error because the 2nd unique component of the fights: Every fight is a literal Gamble. If you win a fight, you get a random part from one of your opponents bots, but on the reverse side if you lose, you permanently lose a part from one of yours. This includes one-of-a-kind parts that you lose forever, so unless you figure things out quickly(there is a lot more the the system I mentioned, like it having a turn-based mechanic similar to what is found in Final Fantasy 4-10, with turn speed being based on your leg parts, balancing between HP and Movement speed depending on what you pick), you'll end up irreversibly damaging your collection.
If you want a Japanese monster game a bit more complex and marginally harder than others, I would recommend at least checking out the 2 GBA games, Medabots: Metabee Version, and Medabots: Rokusho version, as they are known in the west. Do not confuse them with the spinoffs Medabots AX, which are entirely different games.
Interestingly the remakes of the 2nd game were re-released in the West on the Wii U virtual console, which is very surprising considering how the series has been treated.
A little-known fact is that the Anime was actually(loosely) based on the 2nd pair of games for a videogame series that debuted on the original GameBoy that were made by Natsume(Most famously known in the west for their Harvest Moon and Rune Factory franchises).
Every game has two versions, Kabuto Version(with Metabee as the starter), and Kuwagata Version(with Rokusho as the starter). Luckily for us, around the time the Anime was still relevant in the US, the 2nd pair of games were remade for the GBA. So we got them localized, and they are the only mainline Mebabots titles we ever got outside of Japan. Additionally we got 1 Gamecube Spin-off heavily based on the very terrible 2nd season of the anime(which isn't based on the plots of any of the games), and Additionally another pair of spin-offs for the GBA that were heavily edited to feature robots seen on the show instead of the current gen models, since unlike most creature collecting games the large majority of bots are scraped or completely redesigned in each new game, including the 2 starter bots.
Even though the series is dead in the US and mostly remembered from the anime, often seen as a pokemon rip-off, the games still have continued in Japan to this day, always being released in Kabuto and Kuwagata versions, and outside of some spin-offs(including one for the PS1), are mostly found on whatever the latest Nintendo handheld is.
I actually own not only the localized remake of the 2nd game for the GBA, but also the Wonderswan remake of the first games. Battles are all 3-on-3 using bots that are made up of 6 parts: a base skeleton, which come in male and female varieties, and said skeletons have 4 parts on them, a Head+Torso, 2 Arms, and a pair of Legs. The last part is the Medal, which determines stat balancing, and is heavily raised/lowered depending on how compatible the medal is with the parts on the bot. Each of these parts can be mixed and matched and have their own unique abilities. You attack the arms and legs of the opponent, and then go for the torso which will take the bot out of the fight. The hard part is finding the right combination to make things right, and there is no margin for error because the 2nd unique component of the fights: Every fight is a literal Gamble. If you win a fight, you get a random part from one of your opponents bots, but on the reverse side if you lose, you permanently lose a part from one of yours. This includes one-of-a-kind parts that you lose forever, so unless you figure things out quickly(there is a lot more the the system I mentioned, like it having a turn-based mechanic similar to what is found in Final Fantasy 4-10, with turn speed being based on your leg parts, balancing between HP and Movement speed depending on what you pick), you'll end up irreversibly damaging your collection.
If you want a Japanese monster game a bit more complex and marginally harder than others, I would recommend at least checking out the 2 GBA games, Medabots: Metabee Version, and Medabots: Rokusho version, as they are known in the west. Do not confuse them with the spinoffs Medabots AX, which are entirely different games.
Interestingly the remakes of the 2nd game were re-released in the West on the Wii U virtual console, which is very surprising considering how the series has been treated.
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