Before tackling the big Digimon World 3, I decided to review a spin-off game of the Digimon franchise. The anime-based Digimon Rumble Arena!
I played Digimon Rumble Arena sometime after watching Digimon Tamers (which later became my favorite Digimon anime.) While I don't think it's a good game overall, I really appreciate playing with my favorite characters from all three seasons.
Ready... Rumble!
Digimon Rumble Arena is a 3D fighting game that features characters from Digimon Adventures 02 and Digimon Tamers. It features simplified fighting system with only few attacks per character and no combos. This simplicity is offset by the Digivolution mechanic. In the fight you alternate between Rookie and Mega levels of evolution.
Each character has normal attack with Square button and two special attacks. Usually one is close-distance attack and the other is fired for longer range. Digimon can jump between platforms of the stages that are ever-changing. There's a special gauge that lets you Digivolve when full and Mega level Digimon have access to powerful attacks that decreases the gauge to zero, reverting them to their Rookie stage in the process.
You start with nine characters and their partner Digimon. Tai's Agumon, Matt's Gabumon and TK's Patamon from season 1. Davis' Veemon, Ken's Wormmon and Kari's Gatomon from 02. And the three main characters of Digimon Tamers: Takato's Guilmon, Henry's Terreramon and Rika's Renamon. All of them come with their Mega levels.
Some Digivolutions like Patamon's Seraphimon and Gatomon's Magnadramon didn't appear in the anime, but in a movie instead. Makes me wonder why they didn't choose their more popular Ultimate forms. Wormmon's evolution is the only Champion level character in the game but it's treated like the other Megas.
The game also has secret/unlockable characters. Like like Omnimon who appeared in the first season's movie and Impmon the rouge of Digimon Tamers. These characters are unlocked by winning the Arcade mode with two or more related characters. My favorite character however, BlackWarGreymon is unlocked by winning by any character in all stages without losing!
As a child I tried to unlock all characters in a single day many times! I did have time those days~
Rumble Arena also features mini-games. Between some fights in the Arcade mode you're thrown in some simple game to earn score points. Winning those is hard but it's not necessary to finish the game.
Good Old Fights
Despite the limited amount of characters, I think this is a good game for the fans of Digimon anime. Even though the game might be terrible for everyone else. There isn't much in this game if your favorite Digimon isn't in the selection of characters.
I was always a casual player for Fighting games. The simplified fighting gameplay of Rumble Arena was right up my alley. But fans of the genre might find the game too lacking. Still, I think the game worth trying.
What Do You Think?
If you liked reading this Review you might be interested in Digimon World & Digimon World 2 Reviews. For another spin-off title check Digimon: Digital Card Battle. Stay tuned for my Digimon World 3 Review and for more gaming content follow me on the Steem blockchain!