Battle B-Daman

If you’ve never heard of or watched the show Battle B-Daman, you’re not alone out there. It wasn’t until recently that I became aware that it existed, but it has all the typical elements of a kid’s manga/anime that you would expect. It’s a fun series that has a lot of mechanics surrounding how B-Daman work, what ways players can tip the battle in their favor, and several devastating attacks that can upend the match as a whole.

The plot isn’t especially deep, but seeing the world of B-Daman unfold is still intriguing to watch. Inevitably, a Battle B-Daman video game was developed for the Game Boy Advance not long after the last Anime rendition aired in late 2005 that was undoubtedly true to the show, still left a lot to be desired as a game.

B-Da Best

Like all other battle-based games where your goal is to race to become the champion, the main character, Yamato Delgado, is dead set on being the best in B-Da World. The premise is incredibly similar to that of the Pokémon series, but contains first person shooter battles oddly reminiscent of Doom with Gundam mechs. Its sort of a weird combination but works well. While Yamato aspires to become the Champion of B-Da World using the legendary ‘Cobalt Blade’, he is not yet in possession of all its pieces.

After being trained by Armada, the greatest inventor of B-Da World, he sets out on this quest. There’s not a whole lot else plot-related that’s especially innovative from here. It’s a basic ‘Hero’s Quest’ sort of deal that doesn’t leave much to the imagination. The dialogue is simplistic as well, but provides a good support to the narrative in its own ways. Overall, Yamato’s journey lacks major conflict yet still comes off as polished and inspires adventure.

Grind to the Top

What I had hoped for while revieiwing this game was to find that the gameplay far outweighed the story. Though this is true because the battle system is actually cool to play and watch, it does not take long to take a toll on the player. Barreling through the tutorial, the basics of battle require you to shoot down your opponents B-Daman faster than they can shoot you. You’re given an initial number of B-DaBalls (projectiles), which can be recovered when your enemy shoots some back at you, doesn’t matter if they hit you or miss. Hitting your opponent enough fills up your B-DaSpirit gauge, allowing you to unleash a special attack upon being filled.

That wraps up the battles. Despite the wide variety of special attacks and parts to collect for your B-Daman, gameplay won’t change all that much, causing it to quickly become stale and a huge grind. Additionally, I personally didn’t care for the way you move between in within towns: the entire overworld is navigated through menus. The only time you get to control something directly is in-battle. This has worked well for other titles, but I found that this, along with grindy battles, made gameplay drag on.

Bottom Line

Battle B-Daman honestly has good gameplay and humorous dialogue, but the lack of a unique story and diversity in battles isn’t something I can recommend unless you really loved the manga or Anime.

Pros

• Battles on their own are fun ‘shooter’ games
• Lots of characters to like
• Arena/overworld designs are pleasing and true to manga/anime

Cons

• Repetitive/grindy battles
• Shallow storyline
• Overworld entirely menu-based