Medarot Brave

From Medapedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Medarot
メダロットBRAVE
Genre Action
Platform Nintendo Gamecube
Developer Natsume
Publisher Natsume
Ubisoft (Europe)
Release Date November 28, 2003 (JP)
December 14, 2003 (NA)
September 24, 2004 (PAL)


Medarot Brave (Medabots Infinity in western markets) is an action game released in 2003 for the Nintendo GameCube. The game keeps most of the systems from the mainline installments but switches the gameplay to an overhead 3D shooter alternating maze gameplay and one-on-one Robattles. The story has Ikki and Metabee investigating mysteries in the newly-opened amusement park of Tortoland.

The game features the cast of Medarot 2 and incorporate elements of the first anime series into its setting and character portrayals. It was the last Medarot title to be released outside Japan, and also the final installment to be developed by Natsume.

Story[edit]

This page is a stub. You can help Medapedia by expanding it.


An amusement park called Tortoland has recently opened. Ikki and Metabee as well as Arika and Brass have headed there to participate in the Annual Robattle Race, a contest which promises the winner an annual pass for the park and rare parts. While they participate in the rate, they acquaint themselves with the park's creator Director Tune, and the researcher Dr. Haru who claims to be looking for a suspicious Medarot. They also meet Koji, The Screws, and Karin, who has befriended a stray Medarot named Spring that seemingly had a traumatic experience with her previous master.

Ikki learns from Arika that there have been reports of Medarots being lost at the park, with the few that returned speaking of dark place where they are kept prisonner.

Gameplay[edit]

Medarot Brave's gameplay is divided into two phases: Overworld and Stages. In the Overworld, the player controls Ikki and Metabee. In this phase, the player can talk to NPCs, consult their Medarotch and interact with terminals tied to the attraction, which allow for saving progress and enter the attractions where the Stage segments occur. Each zones of Tortoland is themed after a dome and players must clear the attractions in a specific order to progress.

Prior to entering a stage, the player must select one of their assembled Medarot. Once in a stage, players control their Medarot using the analog stick. Medarots can execute a Special movement tied to their Leg part and attack using the currently-selected weapon. Stages involve reaching a gate or teleporter while avoiding traps and enemies. Completing a stage may involve puzzle solving by way of stepping on switches or using objects to activate them. A stage is over when the player's Medarot reaches the exit teleporter or defeat the enemy Medarot found at the end. While exploring a stage, the game may trigger Missions, which involve objectives such as defeating another Medarot within a time limit.

Medarot selection[edit]

See Medarots in Medarot Brave

The game features 44 Medarots returning from previous titles and one brand-new medarot, for a total of 45.

Not all Medarots featured have equal opportunies to assemble their parts set and some will require trading to be fully assembled. Hippopojamas is also impossible to fully assemble without use of external modification as its Right Arm part does not spawn through any means.

Further more, due to a glitch preventing players from obtaining Koji's pass, it takes two saves to get Aimflash as the player fights him twice, and it take two to get Blackbeetle's parts as the player gets to fight her thrice. This bug is fixed in the v1.1 of the game, where players can rematch Aimflash and Blackbeetle as many times as they want.

GBA Connectivity and issues[edit]

The game takes advantage of the Nintendo GameCube's ability connect to the GameBoy Advance for extra content. If players link their GameCube to a GameBoy Advance with a copy of Medarot 2 Core inserted, they will be able to unlock a bonus Medarot (Arcbeetle for Kabuto/Metabee version and God Emperor for Kuwagata/Rokusho)

However, the feature suffers from issues in most releases of the game. In the Japanese version and first-run prints of the North American release, the trigger for completing Kouji's quest in the postgame is bugged and as such, players cannot acquire the pass necessary to collect the unlockable Medarots in Story Mode. This issue is fixed in the v1.1 printings of the North American release.

The European release fixes the Kouji pass issue but removes the link option entirely without giving players an alternate way to collect Arcbeetle and God Emperor. However, by using external programs to convert a save file of the American version into an European-format file, it is possible to reintroduce the Link feature, though this only works when the game language is set to English.

Reception[edit]

On her personal webpage, Hirano Kana expressed that she was dissapointed when she heard Medarot Brave returned to the cast of Medarot 2 as she felt that if the Medarot series continued to be successful, it would not need to tread back to Ikki and friends.

Notes[edit]

  • In Japan, pre-orders would additionally receive a Gamecube face plate when ordering the game from participating stores.
  • Stock artwork of Metabee's KBT-1 body is used on the North American disc and back cover despite these parts not being featured in the game.