Dodgeball Academy Review – Class Head

Story-based sports role-playing games, such as the early Mario Golf and Tennis games, or more recently Golf Story, have slowly come back into fashion. Brought to life with the artistry of veteran animator Ivan Friere and Brazilian studio Pocket Trap, Dodgeball Academia is a safe combination of Shonen anime, sports games, and Saturday morning cartoons, creating a thrilling experience until the last game.

After abandoning his old school and freeing himself from his driving parents, Otto wants to prove he has what it takes to thrive at Dodgeball Academy, the sport’s premier school. The academy teachers initiate new students by unlocking their extraordinary latent power. These abilities are manifested after touching a magic ball, an artifact from the “Great Dodgeball War,” an event that illustrates just how ingrained the sport is in this world. Think of this introductory ceremony as the X-Men getting their abilities from the Sorting Hat. This fusion of some of the most popular tropes in modern media works well and allows the narrative to extend its ideas of wit where it counts most: on the court.

Dodgeball games are played in real time, but these games aren’t the one-hit elimination matches you might be used to in gym class. Your main goal is to reduce the opponent’s health by throwing balls at him, a simple goal, but things get a lot more explosive thanks to the special abilities mentioned above. Over time, you will level up characters and get stat boosts and more boosts that will change the way each character plays.

Some students, like Otto, imbue their attacks with elemental effects, others heal their team or teammates, and some make the ball boomerang or curve. I am delighted with the sense of individuality this brings to every athlete on my team and among my opponents. These differences are factors in deciding on your team of three based on your skills and playing styles. I enjoyed and found success with a balanced group of an attacker, a skilled defender, and a support player capable of replenishing HP. One of my favorite characters can’t catch the balls thrown at him and relies on a more creative defense method. Instead, you hold down the catch button and release it at the right time, and she throws the ball at the opponent with a baseball bat.

After charging a meter throughout the match, characters can unleash their Balltimate move, a super technique that can turn the tide of the game. Otto’s Balltimate is a standard Hadoken-type fireball, the support character Ballooney throws up a healing pool and Mina hits opponents with deadly bolts. Balltimates are unique to each character and are a big factor in how I build my team of three. Balltimates can be used to spam through matches, and I did this multiple times, but never felt like I was cheating. Any party can go south no matter how you try to fatten up the game.

The games at Dodgeball Academia offer a refreshing, yet subtle variety that keeps the action fresh. Rival teams have various configurations, and even the pitch and obstacles change from game to game. Some courts are larger. Some have oncoming traffic that you must dodge along with enemy attacks. Even the balls vary from battle to battle, sporting different properties and elemental shapes. I didn’t like the forest patio, which obscures the view of the action by covering everything with tall blades of grass. This type of recurring coincidence is annoying; luckily, they only take up a small percentage of the games you’ll play.

I enjoyed the day to day at the academy. Some days you go to class to train on topics like dodging or catching through timed survival minigames; other days, teachers send you on missions. Dotted in the middle are games in a school-wide tournament to decide the best team on campus. Each day brings a fun independent story, with pieces that culminate very well on the last day of the competition. Along the way, Otto and his ever-growing roster of misfit teammates have to contend with rampant training robots, scheming classmates, and a cult of students who deeply believe that dodgeballs are square-shaped. Every student in Otto’s class has their quirks and personalities that you learn throughout the eight chapters of the game, and while most are antagonistic, all are likable.

Unfortunately, the action never leaves the school, its parking lot, and a nearby forest. A brief sojourn on an icy mountain brought in some nice platforming not seen in the rest of the game and I wish it would prevail more. Running through the same three areas over and over again, searching for the next target is repetitive. While I did enjoy what’s there, the worldliness of the world compared to the absurdity of the characters and their powers was a disappointment.

Fortunately, an incredible soundtrack kept me jogging happily from one side of the school to the other. With tunes like the cheery and hopeful bedroom and play area theme or the energetic electric guitar song played on the school grounds, Dodgeball Academia has my favorite game soundtrack of the year so far. It also doesn’t hurt that the battle intro music sounds heavily inspired by the Pokémon games and features a similar alarming intro and triumphant victory fanfare. I haven’t woken up a day this week without some of this soundtrack looping through my head, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Character art and animation are the same as music. Pocket Trap did a great job giving each sprite a great personality, even in their standard idle animations. Ballooney’s deflated head, Principle’s gleaming badge movement, and Vampy’s animal movements are notable minor touches to spectacular character work. These characters look like something out of a Cartoon Network series. While I expect that quality in the cutscenes, the art and animation even shine through at dodgeball matches. Whether it’s the main characters and their attacks, or nameless standard enemies, everything has a great way to move and interact on the court.

You may have a few minor objections here and there about certain repurposed courts or environments, but at the end of the day, Dodgeball Academia is a champion in its field. It provides the best parts of sports RPGs with daring characters, eye-catching special moves, and gameplay that’s fun to master. Better yet, the package is enhanced with an amazing soundtrack. Look no further than this gem if you want to have a good time for a dozen hours.