During today’s Nintendo Treehouse livestream focusing onPaper Mario: The Origami Kingcombat gameplay, a special announcement was made. At the back end of the live stream, a new game was announced for a franchise seeing a resurgence in recent years. IntroducingBakugan: Champions of Vestroia, a Nintendo Switch exclusive battling game based on theBakuganreboot that kicked off in 2018.
Bakugan got its start all the way back in 2006 as a combo animated series and toy competition game. It blended elements ofYugioh,Pokemon,andDigimon, as well as future products likeBeyblades. It mixes cards, as well as toys that can be rolled like a ball, to create a surprisingly complicated but still fun gaming experience. The game ultimately struggled, however, and ended up being rebooted in 2018 asBakugan: Battle Planet.
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Bakugan: Champions of Vestroiais an original game that builds off of theBakugan: Battle Planetanimated TV show. So whileBakuganfans will be able to appreciate the expanded world and story, it’s also perfect for new players, too.
As for what kind of gameBakugan: Champions of Vestroiais, it’s anaction-RPGat its heart. It features an open-world-like design allowing players to explore and battle at their own pace. And it features huge battles with giantBakugansummons, too.
Bakugan: Champions of Vestroiais being developed by WayForward Technologies, which is best known for its recent work on theShantaegames. It’s also known for dozens of different licensed game releases, however, making it the perfect fit forBakugan.Bakuganis working with the creators of theBakugangame, Spin Master, which coincidentally has Reggie Fils Amie on its board. The game is being published by Warner Bros., of all publishers. It’s an interesting group of involved parties, to say the least.
WhileBakuganis likely to be well received by its intensely loyal fanbase, there is some controversy related to its launch. An announcement had been teased for this Nintendo Direct and, as Nintendo fans are wont to do, there was a lot of unfair hype for the announcement. That the game being announced wasBakuganhasn’t gone over well with these die-hard Nintendo fans. The dry spell of bigNintendo Direct eventsmay be contributing to the problem.Bakugan, unfortunately, just got caught in the crossfire.
