Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first hour of Medabots AX: Rokusho Ver. is carried by the pleasingly risky idea that robot parts are wagered in battle. You control a single Medabot in two-versus-two matches, and a win can add another component to your collection. That makes a basic fight feel like it has stakes beyond a victory screen: you are building toward a stronger, stranger machine one piece at a time.

The arenas have a platformer-like layout rather than being simple flat fighting stages, so position matters alongside your attacks. Matches can ask you to adjust instead of blindly leaning on one setup, especially as opponents and arenas change. Swapping parts and changing your approach are central to getting through the championship path and, later, taking on the Rubberobo Gang. When that experimentation clicks, AX feels less like a pure fighter and more like a compact robot-building battler.

Medals add another useful layer. Every Medabot can use Medaforce, but its effect depends on the medal equipped, and training medals can improve close attacks, ranged attacks, support, or defense. The catch is that this depth asks for patience from a game whose immediate fighting action is fairly simple. If you only want a razor-sharp one-on-one brawler, the customization may feel like work surrounding a lightweight core. If you enjoy gradually shaping a team machine around the parts you have earned, it gives the battles a reason to matter.

Rokusho’s version-specific parts and medals make the choice of edition meaningful, even with a broadly similar story to Metabee’s release. Completing the full collection requires Link Cable trading and battling with the other version, though, so the collecting game has a hard social requirement. That is a neat excuse to link up with another Medabots fan, but a frustrating wall if you are playing alone.

Graphics

This is a 2D Game Boy Advance game built around robot combat in platform-like arenas. The focus stays on the Medabots and the changing layouts of the battle spaces, with the Rokusho version’s distinct robot parts giving your assembled fighter some visual variation as you collect and swap equipment.

Story

AX gives you a clean, game-sized goal: rise through a championship, then deal with the Rubberobo Gang. It is a familiar Medabots setup, and the story mainly serves to move you from opponent to opponent and give the robot-part stakes a little context.

The Rokusho and Metabee editions tell broadly similar stories, so this is not a case where choosing Rokusho means entering an entirely different campaign. The meaningful difference is in the exclusive parts and medals, which makes your preferred Medabot—and your interest in collecting—more important than narrative curiosity.

Do not come expecting the plot to overpower the battles. Come because you like the Medabots world enough to enjoy its championship climb and villainous gang conflict as a frame for collecting, training, and rebuilding your robot.

Overall Experience

Medabots AX: Rokusho Ver. is a middling fighter with a better progression hook than its raw combat would suggest. The part-wagering system, shifting builds, medal training, and Medaforce effects give you several reasons to revisit your machine instead of treating every match as another disposable bout.

Its frustrations are equally clear. The game asks you to enjoy tinkering with parts and adapting to arenas, and it locks the complete parts-and-medals collection behind Link Cable interaction with the companion version. That can turn a fun collector’s chase into an incomplete one for a solo owner.

Give it a chance if you are a Medabots fan who wants a portable, customization-heavy detour from more conventional fighters, especially if you can trade with a Metabee owner. Everyone else may find the championship run pleasant but slight. The payoff is real when you care about assembling your ideal Medabot; without that attachment, AX has a hard time rising above its average fighting foundation.

Retro Replay Score

5.9/10