Dodgeball Academia

Dodgeball Academia is a silly RPG where all conflicts are solved with dodgeball battles. I found the campaign of Dodgeball Academia to be pretty decent, with new transfer student Otto having to battle his way through a colorful cast characters to win the school's dodgeball tournament. Matches can devolve into hectic but fun chaos with all sorts of special moves and status effects, so I think I can recommend Dodgeball Academia for people looking for a nice action RPG.

Rating 8/10
Pro:
1. Achievements are very do-able
2. Very Diverse cast of characters
3. Visually/Designs are very nice
4. Getting it on summer sale $10 is very worth it.
5. Fun battle system
6. Mix of Paper Mario & Poke'mon vibe.
Con:
1. Can get a bit repetitive later on
2. Consumable (heals & revives) are practically useless. You get a healing station in the school and one in the forest.
3. Not too much of a challenge (Might be good depending on you)
Overall it's a very neat game with cute dialogues. But the biggest con is the combat system does get a bit stale after more than half way through the game or if they made it harder I probably enjoy it more. Still recommend it!

Hope there will be a sequel to the Inter-School Tournament with Otto and the Gang. Dodgeball-tastic fun indeed! ૮ ˶´ ᵕˋ ˶ა ૮ ˶´ ᵕˋ ˶ა

my all-time favourite game. indie games are carrying the industry so hard, and pocket trap put out nothing but bangers

A fun mix of Paper Mario, Pokemon, and, well, dodgeball! It doesn't do anything revolutionary but it's a great indie game that I would love to see get a sequel

A game that you should not dodge!
Dodgeball Academia is a solid little game that follows Otto as he attends a school for dodgeball where students are granted special dodgeball powers and attend dodgeball lessons as well as competing with one another in a tournament. The game breaks up into eight days with the days playing out as their own individual episodes where some issue occurs and the characters need to resolve it. As you progress you play tournament matches, explore the school and its grounds, level up and gather numerous interchangeable team members.
First and foremost the game is an RPG. It plays like a mix of Pokemon in regards to team management, RPG elements and overworld with the dodgeball battles feeling akin to that of the Mario RPG series with timed inputs and special moves and such. Both of these work well within the game with the controls feeling generally satisfying across the board. Each of the characters play differently in regards to their charges, throws and special moves. Some characters catch balls whereas others counter. This allows you to figure out how you prefer to play and what works for your three player team.
In terms of story, as stated earlier each day is an episode with these generally lasting an hour each. Each day feels unique and stands out overall with some days introducing new areas of the school to explore. The writing is generally cheesy but is fun overall. with tonnes of dodgepall puns and wordplay. Most of the characters are engaging though rather one note overall.
One striking thing about the game that is impossible to miss is the style. Everything just pops. All of the characters are charming and identifiable. All of the animations and effects are all polished and solid. The visual detail that went into this game is amazing. Additionally the sfx bolster the visuals perfectly for every ball thrown, for every effect that triggers and for every action made. It's solid across the board. The soundtrack, whilst repetitive, is quite energetic and engaging with all of the tracks fitting the areas and themes well. It's definitely something that sticks out the second you boot up the game.
One of the main gripes the game has is that overall it is repetitive in nature as you generally go from area to area battling folks and progressing the story or side quests and whilst that is true overall there is a decent variety of content overall. As you progress different effects, balls and characters are brought into the mix which mix up parts of the battles as well as arena hazards such as dodging cars in the middle of battles. You can also mix up your play style and team if you want to engage with combat in different ways. One flaw for me personally is that whilst there are a variety of areas, I would have liked to have explored the same areas a little less and instead had more varied areas as you do typically explore the same areas numerous times throughout the different episodes.
Overall the game is great. Aside from being a tad repetitive the gameplay is fun, the character and world is charming and everything is well polished. A solid game through and through!

I recommended, but it's a HEAVILY mixed recommended.
A vibrant, upbeat and colourful presentation. Gives a combination of Cartoon Network and Cliche Shonen Anime vibes, specifically, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, which I certainly don't mind. Love that colour scheme.
Very varied cast of characters, of all shades, shapes and such (oh species too how about that), but don't get your hopes up thinking your favourite may be playable.
Humour can be hit or miss, as mentioned up top, has a rather cliche and corny plot to it, it is very un-serious with it's plot so if you want a funny little game then it certainly gets the job done, definitely drags since it's not serious and is surely an RPG to it's core, gotta get your moneys worth in slight variations of the same fight.
Matches most of the time are pretty high action whether you try to avoid getting it, stall for that special, or even psyche out the opponent.
CPU's are at least quite varied both in technique and colour scheme.
However the game play is EXTREMELY repetitive (1% Pokemon inspired, some may understand this), with plenty of attempts to have different courts, status ailments and dodge ball types to keep it a little interesting with some maybe relying on half focus half luck that you aren't beaten into a corner or met with the very often dog piles that overpower the catch mechanics most of the time. Pray you aren't stuck with dodge or counter when you REALLY don't want it.
Versatile options to make the match go in your favour, but some mechanics work better than others, some not all that well.
The battles can be a little cluttered since you may need to command a group of three that try to move glued together most of the game, which can often betray the whole idea of dodging with 2 big targets stuck to you.
Music is upbeat, powerful and has that Shonen college rock n' roll vibe to it for sure, very fitting. Eventually you run out of tracks to hear in actual fights regardless of how important the match is, some extra would've been nice.
Probably way more fun with a friend (No online sadly, local play only, strange), you'll have to work to get all the characters available first, but if you want to give it a shot, maybe just wish list it and wait for a big discount or if you have nothing left to play, good for 3-4 on and off days of not doing anything else.
Shonen