Play Battle X Battle : Kyodai Gyo Densetsu Online

Battle X Battle: Kyodai Gyo Densetsu is the kind of game you stumble upon and immediately think, "Wait, why didn’t anyone tell me about this sooner?" It’s a GBA game where you train giant fish—not to swim gracefully, but to absolutely wreck each other in underwater brawls. The first time I saw a neon-colored carp body-slam a shark, I knew this wasn’t your average monster battler.

You start by picking your fish (I went with the anglerfish because, well, it has a built-in flashlight), then jump into these chaotic 2D battles where timing and weird special moves matter more than stats. The pixel art is surprisingly expressive—like, you can *feel* the indignation when your tuna gets KO’d by a shrimp. And yeah, it’s ridiculous, but in that perfect early-2000s handheld game way where the absurdity is the whole point.

It never got big outside Japan, which is a shame because it’s way more fun than it has any right to be. If you’ve got a soft spot for offbeat GBA games, this one’s a blast with a side of fried calamari.