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3DS

North America

Beyblade: Evolution

by Carmine Red - October 17, 2013, 11:19 am EDT
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Evolutions utilizes a slew of 3DS features, but its Collector's Edition features the real-world NA exclusive Wing Pegasus 90WF.

I have to admit that my knowledge of the Beyblade toy, comics, television, and game franchise is not extensive. Perhaps most generally described as a game of spinning tops, players take aim and energetically launch the whirling Beyblades into arenas with the aim of knocking their opponents Beyblades out of the arena, or at least outlasting them as the competitors spin and strike each other. Is their strategy to outlast an opponent or to knock them right out of the stage? Will the chosen arena affect their strategy? And where's the ideal place in said arena to launch their spinning Beyblade against the enemy?

Beyblade Evolution is the first time that the basic premise, and all of its surrounding comics and anime-driven mythos, will land on the Nintendo 3DS. It seemed to me a way to immerse players in a simulation of the real-world game. I was told that when players built their own in-game Beyblades from scratch, the pieces they would be collecting and using would be based on real Beyblades that you could walk into a store and purchase. They were customized for speed, strength, or stamina and players could then arrange their own in-game sets of custom Beyblades, and spin them in virtual three-dimensional arenas. Indeed, given an AR card, players could take aim with their 3DS camera and see a virtual 3D arena appear against the real world in their game screen.

However, when using an AR card, keeping the 3DS centered on the arena proved to tricky given the optional 3DS motion controls that had you move the system to aim your launch within the game's virtual arena and then energetically jerk it back to simulate the rip-and-launch motion from real life. In the excitement, it also risks snapping back slightly the hinged screen of the 3DS, a problem that won't exist for owners of the recently released 2DS. However, the developers weren't blind in their zeal to take advantage of the features of the 3DS. I was informed that button-controlled launching controls were also available for more stationary, if less realistic, play.

Another feature of Nintendo's hardware that the game was primed to take advantage of was Streetpass. Just as players would construct and arrange their own personal set of Beyblades, passing another player with their game set up in a similar way would trigger automatic battles. I was told that players would be able to come back to their games and see the results of the battle based on their chosen Beyblades, arenas, and chosen starting strategies.

My hands-on demo wasn't just with the game though; I also had access to the actual physical Wing Pegasus 90WF Beyblade toy that would be included in every Collector's Edition of the title. Informed that this would be the first time this particular Beyblade would be available in the United States, I even got to take apart the 6-piece Wing Pegasus into its constituent parts. Some of the 90WF's components were actually metal, adding real world weight that reflected the Bey's dominant performance in the virtual game. In truth, I could envisage die-hard players purchasing the Collector's Edition just for this pack-in bonus.

The real world qualities of the Beyblade toys, especially the heavier Wing Pegasus 90WF Collector’s bonus, bring to mind the physicality of metal Pogs slammers (remember those?). But there's also another real-world-game-to-videogame-simulation parallel that comes to mind: the Pokemon Trading Card Game and its Game Boy Color videogame version. Indeed, as an outsider looking in at Beyblade's world of deadly serious spinning tops, and the game's story mode channeling the drama and mythos of its TV and comics-based incarnations, I wonder if this is how Pokémon looked to parents back in the day.

Beyblade Evolution will come in two packages when it releases October 29: the regular "Solus" edition and the "Collector's Edition" which includes the Wing Pegasus 90WF exclusive pack-in toy.

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Beyblade: Evolution Box Art

Genre
Developer Intergrow Inc.
Players1 - 2

Worldwide Releases

na: Beyblade: Evolution
Release Oct 29, 2013
PublisherRising Star Games Limited
RatingEveryone
eu: Beyblade: Evolution
Release Oct 25, 2013
PublisherRising Star Games Limited

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