Dodgeball Academia

I think dodgeball might be the most famous sport out there that isn’t known for having professional players or showing up at the Olympics. We’ve all played it back in school, we all know the rules by heart, yet the sport barely shows up in any kind of medium after we grow out of 6th grade, with the exception of a handful of Kunio-kun spinoffs. That injustice ends now, all thanks to São Paulo-based studio Pocket Trap and their fantastic sports RPG hybrid, Dodgeball Academia.

Story-driven sports RPGs such as the early Mario Golf and Tennis games, or most recently Golf Story, have slowly come back in vogue. Brought to life with the art of veteran animator Ivan Friere and Brazilian studio Pocket Trap, Dodgeball Academia is a confident combination of Shonen anime, sports games, and Saturday morning cartoons, creating a thrilling experience to the very last match.

Dodgeball and RPG is an odd combination that works surprisingly well in Dodgeball Academia — all thanks to its fast-paced combat and entertaining writing. You will find yourself giggling at times right before sweating your way through a chaotic match, while the games’ accessibility settings let you play it exactly the way you want to. To top things off, Dodgeball Academia offers a rare local versus mode, becoming a good candidate for those good old LAN parties.

Dodgeball Academia hits you with vibrant, fun characters, quirky one liners, and gameplay that is almost perfectly crafted around this favorite childhood pastime. It’s wild no one has thought to make this earlier, but it’s great Pocket Trap did with the artistic direction of Ivan Freire.

Ever since Super Dodge Ball for NES, I've loved dodgeball games but there aren't many of them so let's give Dodgeball Academia a go.

Dodgeball Academia provides a huge amount of fun with it's easy to learn, difficult to master gameplay, and Saturday morning cartoon vibes. Throwing together a roster of excellent characters with fourth wall-breaking writing and some great story beats, Dodgeball Academia honestly shines far brighter than we ever expected. This is the best thing to happen to dodgeball since that Ben Stiller movie, although how much of a compliment this is is up for debate.

Brazilian indie studio Pocket Trap captures the creative spirit of 90's cartoons in this odd marriage between the sport of dodgeball and traditional RPGs.

Dodgeball Academia has all the potential to be an epic, superpowered sports RPG. The dodgeball battles are lively and fun, but the story never reaches the fantastical heights it alludes to at the beginning of the game. It's enjoyable but not one for the record books.