Robattle

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A Robattle (ロボトル), romanized as a Robottle before the series hiatus in 2005, is a competition between two or more Medarots and their Medarotters. Single Medarots or teams of them are pitted against each other, with the winning party claiming parts from the loser.

In the games

A Robattle is a match between two Medarot teams, each consisting of one to three Medarots, with one member designated as the leader.

Victory is achieved by either defeating all opposing Medarots or by taking down the opposing team's leader. A Medarot is considered defeated when its head is destroyed. In Medarot 1 through 7, the leader's identity is revealed in advance. From Medarot 8 onwards, the leader remains undisclosed until their head part is damaged.

To prevent endless battles, each Robattle is timed. If no leader is defeated by the end of the time limit, the winner is determined based on the total damage inflicted. The team causing the most proportional damage is declared the winner. Note that a team with three Medarots may have an advantage, as it takes more damage to achieve the same proportional impact as a team with only one Medarot.

The Medarotter's role is to use their Medarotch to command their Medarots. They decide which parts to use, whether to charge or utilize Medaforce, and whether the Medarots should fight individually based on pre-set strategies. Once a command is issued, it cannot be canceled; the Medarot must return to the Medarotter's side of the field before a new command can be given.

Medarots with melee parts attack the nearest opposing Medarot. Those with long-range attacks target a specific part of the enemy Medarot at random (though the intended target can be seen when issuing commands, there is a high chance of hitting other parts instead). Medarots with restoration abilities prioritize repairing the most damaged parts of their allies, while other support abilities can affect the entire ally or enemy field. Starting with Medarot 8, the Medarotter gains full control over which targets their Medarots focus on for both attack and support abilities. Beginning with Medarot 9, the Medarotter is allowed to change the leader’s part mid-battle, though this can only be done once per battle.

Once a winner is declared, the loser must provide a part of their participating Medarot to the winner. In Medarot 1, online battles also allowed the loser to award a medal to the winner, but this rule was removed in later games. Starting with Medarot 9, the winner now selects which part they want, rather than having the loser decide.

In the anime

As a narrative-focused medium, the technical aspects of a Robattle are often simpler and more direct in the anime.

In the anime, a Medarotter typically commands only one Medarot. While it is possible to command more, this would require an additional Medarotch. Consequently, one-on-one battles are more common. Battles involving more than two Medarots generally feature more than two Medarotters as well.

Not constrained by the gameplay limitations of the games, anime Medarotters have greater freedom in issuing commands. They can devise complex strategies or improvise on the fly. Additionally, the anime sometimes allows Medarotters to change parts mid-battle, a feature introduced in the games only years later.

Unlike in the games and manga, where damaged parts are destroyed and Tinpet becomes exposed, the anime depicts malfunctioning parts by fading their color, rendering the Medarot limb immobile but intact.

When a Medarot sustains enough damage, its medal is ejected, signifying its defeat. As in the games, the winner receives a part of the loser's Medarot.

In the first anime series, all Robattles were personally monitored by Mr. Uruchi, who had near-omniscient awareness of upcoming matches. This, however, doesn't occur in the sequel.