Sentō Mecha Xabungle: The Race in Action

Sentō Mecha Xabungle: The Race in Action gets its hook from a wonderfully scrappy idea: giant robots do not duel in an arena here, they shove, shoot, and boost their way through a race. The first run teaches you quickly that finishing first is not just about holding speed. Rockets, machine-gun fire, and close-range punches can knock a Walker flat, and a short knockdown is plenty of time for the pack to stream past.

The mid-race turnaround is the game’s best twist. You blast right across Zola’s rough terrain, swing around a lone pole, then immediately race back left through the same hostile field. It is a focused PlayStation curiosity for Xabungle fans and anyone who enjoys old-school side-scrolling racers with a meaner, more combative edge.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

This is a race game that wants you to drive aggressively from the opening seconds. You are not merely threading a machine through terrain; rival Walkers are firing rockets and machine guns, throwing punches, and looking for any chance to put you on the ground. When enough hits topple your Walker, it lies immobile for a brief stretch, which turns every mistake into a painful loss of position. That gives the races a rough, crowding energy that suits giant robots far better than a clean lap-based format would.

The jet thrusters are the key to making that chaos feel active rather than purely punitive. Aerial bursts let you gain speed, evade incoming attacks, and deal with uneven ground, so you need to think about when a boost will save time and when it will leave you exposed. The terrain matters because it is another obstacle in a contest already full of armed opponents. When you are getting knocked down repeatedly, frustration can set in fast; the game is built around the fact that a single opening can rearrange the order.

Its strongest idea arrives at the midpoint. After racing rightward, you must pass a pole, turn around quickly, and make the return run to the left for the finish. That reversal gives each race a memorable shape and forces you to re-engage with the terrain and rivals instead of treating the finish as a simple straight-line payoff. Story mode puts you in Jiron Amos’s Xabungle-type Walker for a fixed run of races, while Free Play is the better choice when you want to select Walkers and stages without the narrative framing.

Sentō Mecha Xabungle: The Race in Action — screenshot 1

Graphics

The action is shown from a 2D side view, with Walkers battling across the desolate terrain of Zola. That camera keeps the important stuff in sight: uneven ground ahead, rival machines alongside you, and the moment a hit sends a Walker tumbling over.

Sentō Mecha Xabungle: The Race in Action — screenshot 2

Story

Story mode casts you as Jiron Amos and follows a set sequence of races, drawing from the 1982 Combat Mecha Xabungle anime. It is a straightforward reason to keep moving through the event list rather than a replacement for the racing itself.

That limited framing works well enough because the game’s personality comes from its source material’s machinery and hostile world. You are piloting a Xabungle-type Walker in armed contests on Zola, not navigating a complicated branching tale. If you know the anime, Jiron’s presence gives the mode some welcome context; if you do not, the races still explain their own stakes clearly.

Free Play strips the story away entirely, and that is an honest reflection of where the game’s focus lies. Pick a Walker, pick a stage, and get back to the part where a rival’s rocket can turn a good run into a recovery effort.

Overall Experience

Sentō Mecha Xabungle: The Race in Action is an appealingly odd blend of side-scrolling racing and mecha combat. Its best moments come when you use a thruster burst to clear rough ground or escape fire, only to find yourself shoulder to shoulder with another Walker a moment later. The turnaround point prevents races from feeling like a one-way dash and gives the format a distinctive rhythm.

It will not suit you if you want racing built around clean lines, orderly competition, and consistent control of your position. Here, damage and knockdowns are central to the contest, and the field can punish a strong run quickly. That hostility is also the reason to play it: every lead feels temporary, and every recovery has some bite.

Give it a chance if the thought of Xabungle-inspired robots racing through a hostile wasteland while trading fire sounds more exciting than a conventional kart or circuit racer. The game stays narrow, but it commits to its premise with enough force that its races have a character of their own. Free Play adds useful replay value once you simply want to experiment with different Walkers and stages, while Story mode offers the more directed path through its set events.