Beyblade Evolution'3DS Promises More Swapping Than'Skylanders

Hasbro hopes to invigorate the Beyblade brand while the franchise comes to the 3DS for the first time with Beyblade Evolution. The game offers a simulation of the toy experience in addition to adding augmented reality and 3D visuals.

I've spent the final week playing, researching and discussing Beyblades. If you'll excuse a pun, my head is spinning. They are the toy tops that rose to fame before my children were of an age to take pleasure from them. Consequently, we're playing catch up and it's no mean feat piecing the annals together. This has all been triggered because there is a brand new Beyblade game coming to 3DS soon, Beyblade Evolution. It offers a simulation of the toy experience in addition to adding augmented reality and 3D visuals.

Running through this complex web of anime TV series, toy-line and video-game is a simple technological leap - customizable battling spinning tops. Not unlike Skylanders Swap Force, players can mix and match different aspects of their tops to improve behavior before "ripping" them into spinning action in a plastic stadium. The final top standing wins.

The technology behind these tops is promoting over time, much once we see Skylanders doing today. To fully understand the fascination here we really should trace a the annals of the way the franchise has evolved.

It started with the initial Beyblades series and related Basic System plastic tops. Then, Beyblade V Force introduced the Magnacore System that added, attracting or repelling magnets to the tops. The next season, Beyblade G came along side Engine Gear System tops that incorporated clutched secondary gears for added tactics.

Then after some slack, of some six years Beyblades returned with Beyblade buster blade, which as its name suggests marked the go onto the Hard Metal System. With the combinations accumulating the tops gained a naming system to spot each combination. Then came Beyblades Metal Masters with their Extreme Top System of lights, sounds and other attack features. More varied missions, Infra Red controlled boosts and even pop-out weapons feature in these tops.

The newest season, Beyblade Metal Fury then added the 4D System incorporates different materials and a hybrid wheel. This not merely introduced more ways to customize your Beyblades but also a brand new way to mention them, incorporating the higher variance in the fusion wheel. The next evolution will arrive this autumn with Beyblade Shogun Steel that incorporates battle figures sat above the tops each with various abilities and characters.

This evolution of the show and thus was equally flanked by some video-games. The initial series had Beyblade Allow it to Rip on the PlayStation 1, then V Force on GameCube, G Revolution on GBA. By the time we arrive at the relaunch the DS has gone out and offered Metal Fusion and Metal Masters releases in both normal and collectors edition with exclusive Beyblade toy.

This all brings us to the overall game in hand, Beyblade Evolution that bridges the gap between Metal Masters, Metal Fury and the new Shogun Steel series. It's the first game on the 3DS hardware and represents a lot more than an incremental advancement in several ways.

This is significant for a game title that emulates a real world physical spinning battle as it now offers fully simulated outcomes with various parts of every Beyblade getting into effect in real-time on the 3D screen and via augmented reality in your kitchen floor.

It wasn't until I saw the overall game in the hands of my kids that it dawned on me just what a game-changer this is. Not just does it, then add realism to the knowledge, but it additionally creates a one-to-one relationship involving the in-game and real-world tops.

My children, being quite a newcomer to the craze and residing in the UK where Beyblades didn't get as popular as in the States, were still building their collection. The 3DS game will enable them to test virtual versions of the Beyblades before buying the physical product. This is not just a large amount of fun, but will also make them identify the most effective Beyblades to invest their money on.

From this central top-battling mechanic, the overall game offers a story mode that takes the ball player through some tournaments with the goal of winning among the new Shogun Steel Beyblades. Alongside this are local and Wi-Fi battles where players pit their customized tops against one another. Then there is an augmented reality mode that further underlines the real life link by enabling players to play battles in and around their home with the virtual AR cards and 3DS cameras.
Even with this early look at Beyblade Evolution it seems pretty impressive. Provided Hasbro can generate enough playground curiosity about the physical product this will will be a surprise hit on the 3DS later this year.