Medarot Brave

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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

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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 as well as rare parts.

Gameplay

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.

Medarot selection

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

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

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

  • 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.