There's a Beyblade Fighting Game?!

Before you ask, yes, it is a slow news day. That's why today we're learning about an announcement that happened all the way back in May, and got a trailer in August, but went entirely under the radar.

The game in question is Beyblade X Evobattle, a beyblade based fighting game* that's due to release on November 13th on Steam and Switch 2.

As eagle-eyed viewers might notice, it's not exactly a traditional fighting game, it seems closer to the arena fighters, and games like Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS., or Zoids Infinity games, with the obvious caveat that the means of moving and attacking are very different between mechs and spinning tops unleashed in a concave bowl arena.

You might be surprised to hear that it's not the first Beyblade fighting game either. If you want to get somewhat fast and loose (more than we already are) with the definitions, it goes all the way back to 1999 with Next Generation Beigoma Battle: Beyblade for Game Boy Color. Even though it was sort of structured like Pokemon games, you actually had direct control over your Beyblades, and had to battle it out until the other Beyblade explodes.

Something that more closely resembles arena fighters emerged only a short while later with Beyblade: Let It Rip for PS1. The general foundation of that game would carry on in future titles, like Bakuten Shoot Beyblade 2002 - Beybattle Tournament 2, Beyblade: V-Force - Super Tournament Battle, Beyblade: Evolution, and many others.

The latest company to iterate on the idea has been Groove Box Japan, who released Beyblade X: Xone in November of last year and seems to go for a more hands off approach, limiting the Beyblade control to key actions like attack, counter-attack, and various special skills tied to characters. It might almost sound like an auto-battler, but there is a certain skill component to the timing of attacks and using the other abilities, which should make the game more engaging than simply watching Beyblades spin.