Game:

Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed (2019)

Duration: 42:33

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Ah... good ol' Zoids. You know, this franchise has been around for a LONG time now, technically over 40 years! BUT, the outlier is that the franchise's popularity struggled after the mid-2000s, especially on the video game front... when "Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed" was released, it had been MORE THAN TEN YEARS since the last Zoids game (and that game was released on the Xbox 360 of all things and published outside Japan by Atlus under the name of "Zoids Assault"). Released in Japan in 2019 as "Zoids Wild: King of Blast", it got released Internationally a year later by the small publishers at "Outright Games" who mainly tackle heavily licensed works. A "significantly better" sequel was released in Japan (Zoids Wild: Infinity Blast) but since "Blast Unleashed" sold poorly, it is unlikely that it will see a release outside Japan. What's more unfortunate is that this game is co-developed by our friends at Eighting (who are best known for their work on the "Bloody Roar" series, "Tatsunoko vs. Capcom" and "Mahou Daisakusen" with Raizing) and is one of the few exclusive Switch fighting games.

While I'm not a big fan of "Zoids Wild" as a whole (and the botched Western release of the anime on Netflix doesn't help, and many of the characters have food-based names in Japan), the series was intended as a hard reboot to a franchise that had been mostly dormant for more than a decade and is commendable as such. Another commendable aspect is that while this game has a lot of fundamental flaws, it does attempt to cram a lot of content in that covers a lot of the "Zoids Wild" timeline and it does look and sound great on the Switch with a nostalgic "Saturday Morning Cartoon" vibe for the dub. The general plot is that a spirited young boy, Arashi, pilots a legendary Zoid, the "Wild Liger", and craves adventure and becoming stronger and travels the world with his Zoid. While rough around the edges, he eventually meets a talented Zoid Commander from "Team Supreme", Quade, who mentors him briefly and tells him about a fascinating find only known as "Great Ancient Treasure Z", which gives Arashi a new purpose as he pursues this treasure and meets others along the way, eventually forming his own team (Team Freedom). This will bring him into a conflict with the "Dark Metal Empire" and tests the bond of him and his Zoid as he taps into a legendary technique, the "Wild Blast".

While the game does retread a lot of ground from the anime / manga, it does do its own thing from time to time such as go on a hunt for Zoids sub-species (basically alternate skins for your Zoids) and present a few different scenarios. The game only has three main modes: Battle (think Versus), Mission (which branches into Continous Battle / Arcade, Story and Practice / Tutorial) and Gallery (which lets you view Zoids, listen to music, hear dialogues, see various artwork, or watch the credits), but there's a good deal of unlockables. The Story Mode is QUITE long and as you start with almost nothing from characters to all the miscellaneous stuff, you'll be spending a lot of time there. Let's go over the gameplay briefly.

The gameplay is relatively simple as each Zoid has three main attacks and three special attacks that have a bit of a Rock-Paper-Scissors thing going on. Light attacks which are good at setting up combos and work well with dodges, heavy attacks which have a few invincibility frames and take good damage, and guard breaks which can reduce an opponents guard gauge and have good staggering capabilities. Players can only guard so long before becoming defenseless and there are other tricks to switch things up on your opponent, but you won't be using them much thanks to "Wild Actions". These moves expand your options with more powerful techniques that have a cooldown between uses but can be used in conjunction with combos and guard breaks. Lastly, "Wild Blasts" will send your Zoid into overdrive, improve certain parameters, and even upgrade some Wild Actions. There are three types: Regular (in a neutral stance), Defensive (while guarding) and Offensive (while attacking). Offensive and Defensive run out much faster but can stagger your opponent or set them up for a counterattack and are used for the most advanced combos.

Different Zoids have different stats and it's also worth noting that the Zoids from the Dark Metal Empire use "Dark Blasts", which differ from Wild Blasts. For one, they can be used instantly from the start, but they can only be used once a round and also drain some of your health. Some Zoids can also inflict different status ailments to turn the tide of battle and all Zoids can daze an opponent if striking them from behind with strong atacks. The game is a modest appetizer for "Zoids Wild: Infinity Blast"... it just needs an International release. As-is, it's a modest fighter aimed towards kids and diehard Zoids fans. You can get the game at:

https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/zoids-wild-blast-unleashed-switch/

Enjoy.