Kabuto Park from Seaven Studio and Doot Tiny Games brings us a cozy game in which you’ll have to catch bugs, train them, and aim to win the Summer Beetle Battles Championship… all in a handful of hours! Learn more in our Kabuto Park review!
Kabuto Park from Seaven Studio and Doot Tiny Games brings us a cozy game in which you’ll have to catch bugs, train them, and aim to win the Summer Beetle Battles Championship… all in a handful of hours! You’ll be placed in the role of Hana, a young girl enjoying a chill summer vacation, with a side hustle of bug catching. You’ll have to collect as many bugs as possible so that you can duke it out against the teams of other kids, so that you can prepare for the big battle up ahead. The game includes 40+ bug species for you to catch as you explore the titular Kabuto Park.
As soon as you arrive there, Midori will show you around and teach you the basics. You’ll be using the map to move around Kabuto Park as needed, moving between the available areas by using the left analog stick or the D-Pad. You can also play by using the console’s touchscreen when in Portable or Tabletop Mode, or if you’re using a Nintendo Switch Lite Console. Your first option will be to visit Sunny Farm, and you’ll later be able to check out Calm Lake, Pine Forest, and Crawler Swamp.
Your main objective in combat is simple and to the point: use your cards to command your bug team to push the other bug team off the edge to win the sumo fight. Your team of three bugs will go up against your opponent’s team of three bugs, as you pick from the cards in your hand and play them by spending the right amount of energy to either try to PUSH your opponnent’s bugs, or hold to try and HOLD your ground and keep your opponent from pushing your team off the platform. Energy will fill up over time, or you can speed up the process by playing specific cards.
The bug catching is taken care of with a short mini-game. Just pay attention to the bar to stop the marker on the green part, and you’ll be good to go! You’ll have the option of using the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con to catch bugs by swinging it around as if you were wielding a bug-catching net. Bugs can be of the common, uncommon, or rare variety. Just pick a spot to search and hope for the best! With every bug that you collect for your team, you’ll also be adding cards to your deck, which you’ll then be able to use during each battle.
What are some of the cards that you’ll be using during combat? These include Kick, which deals medium knockback, Hold, which provides a small defense boost for 8 seconds, Wind, a knockback with random power, OK?, which grants one energy point, Bzz… which does nothing, Harden, which grants a small permanent defense boost, Big Buff, which grants a small permanent boost to strenght and defense, and Beetle Army, a mighty ability that provides a big boost to strength for each beetle in the team for 10 seconds, to name some examples.
Fights will be set from the battle menu on the left side of the screen. You’ll get one new opponent to fight against each day, and will be able to carry on until the end of the month, when you’ll hopefully aim to become the champion. Just be sure to check the stat values and abilities of your bugs so that you can be ready to take on the groups of bugs of your opponents. Strength will allow your team to push faster. Defense makes your team harder to push. As for NRG, it makes your energy fill up at a faster pace.
As you defeat other teams, you’ll earn some money. You can then use this money to purchase better boots and a better net so that you can subsequently catch bugs more easily. There’s also the option of buying other items, so that you can become the best bug catcher ever! You can get a magnifying glass to be able to search 3 spots when you go out for bugs, or some honey so that you can make the capture bar move much slower.
Kabuto Park brings us a cozy game in which you’ll have to catch bugs, train them, and aim to win the Summer Beetle Battles Championship… all in a handful of hours! You’ll be placed in the role of Hana, a young girl enjoying a chill summer vacation, with a side hustle of bug catching. You’ll have to collect as many bugs as possible so that you can duke it out against the teams of other kids, so that you can prepare for the big battle up ahead. The game includes 40+ bug species for you to catch as you explore the titular Kabuto Park.
If your bugs are not strong enough, you can obtain candies to feed them in order to level them up, so that this boost is hopefully enough for them to take on the battle and do a better job. Candy can be obtained by winning battles, by buying it at the shop, or by selling some of your bugs in exchange for some extra sweets.
The game is a distilled, bite-sized experience that you should be able to complete in around 2-4 hours at most, based on your experience with monster-taming games and deckbuilders. Kabuto Park is out on Nintendo Switch with a budget price of only $5.99.
Discalimer
This Kabuto Park review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Seaven Studio.
