The Medarot (or Medabots ) franchise was at its peak popularity in the West during the Game Boy Advance and GameCube era. Although an English-dubbed version of the Medabots anime aired on Fox Kids in 2001, the series' popularity declined in the following years. As the franchise continued in Japan with entries like Medarot DS , 7 , 8 , and 9 , publishers in the West showed little interest in localizing them. Thus, Medarot 8 was left as a Japanese-exclusive release, a common fate for many niche Japanese RPG series on the Nintendo 3DS.
The game features a new cast of characters and over 200 different Medarots to collect, customize, and battle. A fan contest was even held before the game's release, with the winning fan-made Medarot designs being added to the game. medarot 8 english patch