Dodgeball Academia’s Matches Are Better Than We Were Expecting!

Dodgeball Academia’s protagonist is a kid named Otto, who dreams of becoming the best dodgeball player. Sadly, his parents are not so fond of the idea—they want Otto to follow the family tradition and become a referee, so they enrolled him in Refereengton High. After skipping his first day at school…or attending a totally different institution without his parents’ consent, actually, Otto is finally on track. Dodgeball Academy is the perfect place for him, and he even seems to have potential. However, there’s still one problem to solve: Otto needs to form a team, and most people already have one!

Otto’s first friend here is Balloony, a blue guy with a balloon for a head. The third team member is Mina, a tomboy girl known for sending people—mostly boys—to the infirmary. With his new inseparable friends, Otto is closer to become a dodgeball star, but how is this misfit trio going to beat the school’s legend, Boris?

All characters in Dodgeball Academia come with their own skills and playstyles. For example, Balloony is a support character who can heal the whole team, while Mina is a defensive character who, instead of grabbing balls coming at her, just deflects them with a kick. As you progress, more characters will join Otto’s team, and they all have cool special attacks (“Balltimate moves”) and different movesets.

Even though the gameplay is simple, and you only need a few buttons, having different characters with unique play styles, paired up with all the equipable items (all players come with 2 slots) encourages you to try new combos. Leaving Otto with 1HP makes him vulnerable, but if he can activate his Balltimate every few seconds and is high on strength, he becomes a killing machine. On the other hand, equipping Balloony with objects that steal HP every time you hit a rival player transforms this soft-hitting guy into an essential healing tank.