Medabots appeared as a game in Japan in 1997. The game adapted into anime 2 years later and aired until 2000. A sequel was also produced and aired from 2000 to 2001. This anime was one of highest rated new series for the channel FOX KIDS, which english dubbed the episodes and aired them in 2001 to 2002 and 2003 to 2004 respectively.

Season 1, Medarot.
Episodes: 52
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Science-Fiction, Mecha

Season 2, Medarot Damashii
Episodes: 39
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Science-Fiction, Mecha

Also, a manga series was written and several video games have been released for multiple platforms, including Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, andNintendo DS.

Plot

The protagonist of Medabots is a 10 years old boy named Ikki Tenryo and his medabot Metabee. At the beginning Ikki’s parents refused to buy him a Medabot and he was unable to afford one. Medabots were artificially intelligent robots whose purpose is to serve humans. Ikki’s dream was to become a champion of the World Robattle Tournament (WRT). Finally Ikki managed to get enough money to buy an outdated model and found a medal in a river. Medals were the AI chips that needed a Robot model to work. Ikki used his medal on the Medabot (name: Metabee, Metal Beetle) but it seemed as the medal gived Metabee a severe attitude problem (rarely seen in a Medabot) and Ikki thought it was defective. However, it was revealed that Metabee actually had a ”rare” medal.

The rare medals, were kept secret by the Medabot Corporation, as very little was known about them. However, a Medabot with a rare medal would be able to call upon an attack called the “Medaforce”

The story goes on while Ikki is making friends, fights for the good against evil minds, and trying to become number one along with Metabee.

Also, later in the series, Medabots are found to be actually thousands of years old: remnants of an ancient civilization who called themselves Medalorians. The Medalorians were obsessed with war, and to become more effective warriors they fastened metal armor to themselves. However, their wars decimated the civilization, and the survivors coded their memories onto hexagonal pieces of metal. These, “Medals” , cloned and mass produced by the Medabot Corporation, are the Medabot equivalent of a brain and soul. The original medals, referred to as “rare” medals, are kept in storage because of the extreme power they have.

 Medarot Damashii, a sequel to the original series, follows Kam Kamazaki, a twelve year old boy who has designed one of the most dangerous medabots in the entire story, called Kilobots (or Death Medarot, in the Japanese version). These medabots have no feelings, since the emotion part of the Medabot medal has been removed. More strength parts have been replaced they break the rules in order to win a fight. In the first episode, Ikki loses a Robattle against one when it cheats and reloads. But he soon meets Nae, a Medabot mechanic who gives Ikki new medaparts in order to defeat the kilobot. The serie goes on with Ikki fighting against the Kilobots.

Statistics of Medabots and Kilobots, see the video below:

The Robotic Combat Elemenents of Medabots were inspired by  Plawres Sanshiro.