HADO(KEN)

January 28, 2021 9:51 AM

HADO is an augmented reality sport in which two teams of three people use “energy balls” and shields to score points in 80-second games. With tournaments played worldwide, the game has come a long way since its founder “dreamed of throwing hadoken like in comics and on TV.”
posted by adrianhon (12 comments total)

The actual tournament footage makes a lot more sense and looks a lot more plausible and a lot less exciting than the trailer footage. I guess unsurprisingly.
posted by aubilenon at 10:27 AM on January 28, 2021 [4 favorites]

Let me know when they license pro-bending from Legend of Korra. Netflix should get right on that.
posted by rikschell at 10:32 AM on January 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

This is a pretty neat concept and already works better than I would guess without resorting to full mocap suits or the like.

The tournament footage suggests the game could benefit from some rules changes that would make being pressed up against the back wall less of a dominant strategy.

Making the court a circle or ellipse would force a balance between breadth and depth: you can be further away, or you can have more lateral movement options, but not both.

Interesting choice not to do player elimination.
posted by jedicus at 10:42 AM on January 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

Wow, that looks pretty cool! Kind of like virtual dodgeball but with multiple balls. Something like this would be fun to play at home because throwing actual balls might cause too much damage.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:44 AM on January 28, 2021

Wow. I'm a futurist!

(I once wrote a scifi series of short stories that never got published in which a popular sport involved AR "energy" balls. Except mine also took place in zero-G, required implanted cybertech to perceive the ball and to enhance reaction speed to play fast enough to compete, and resulted in eventual burnout of the players, leaving them physically impaired for the rest of their lives. So this version is probably a lot better overall.)
posted by Scattercat at 10:44 AM on January 28, 2021 [5 favorites]

I mean, sure, this looks cooler, but where is the danger? If you can't end up with a piece of your own tooth permanently embedded in your lip as a result of Karen Brooks just absolutely flattening you during a high stakes grade school dodgeball game, is it really still a sport?
posted by jacquilynne at 10:47 AM on January 28, 2021 [4 favorites]

You want risk, in another part of the building that was hosting this sport, people were throwing axes like darts, and in another room, my cousin and I were smashing bottles and expired electronics with hockey sticks...
posted by entity447b at 1:40 PM on January 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

⬇️ ↘️ ➡️ 👊
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 2:17 PM on January 28, 2021 [5 favorites]

Needs more sepak takraw.
posted by The Tensor at 4:30 PM on January 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

Discs of Tron; Bally / Midway, ca. 1983
posted by bartleby at 5:17 PM on January 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

I really like the part where you have a pool of skill points you can spend on making your balls faster, bigger, recharge more frequently, or have stronger shields.
posted by straight at 12:36 AM on January 29, 2021

Yep! Like Scattercat, I had an (in my case, never-finished) SF story about a similar game, AR in zero G. In mine, there were goals, ankle-jets, trampoline walls and obstacles, and a multi ball mode. I won't tell you the big reveal (because who knows, ai may finish it one day) but it was meant to be a comment on NFL policies.
posted by newdaddy at 9:06 AM on January 29, 2021