US vs JP giant robot fight fantasy might be reality soon

If you pit a Gundam against a Jaeger, which one would win? While we are still probably decades away from seeing such a battle ensue, presuming there would ever be a justification for one, we can, perhaps settle for the next best thing. Or the next smaller thing. The gloves are off as US-based MegaBots Inc. has just issued a challenge to Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industries for the robot battle of the decade. This is no almost comic Robot Wars. This is full scale, head-on Giant Robot Fight!

Those old enough might see similarities to 1989's Robot Jox, except on a considerably smaller scale, with more entertainment value, and with less at stake other than national pride. MegaBots Inc. has just finished putting the last touched on its Mark II, which it claims to be America's first fully functional, giant, human-piloted robot. Weighing 12,000 lbs, and piloted by two humans, the Mark II can fire 3 lbs paint cannonballs at over 100 miles per hour.

The newly born Mark II, however, might be dwarfed by the hi-tech features of Suidobashi's Kuratas. Built in 2012, it lays claim over the title of the world's first human-piloted giant robot. But more than calling dibs on that, the 9,000 lbs robot, which only needs one pilot, is outfitted with twin Gatling guns, an advanced targeting system, and a heads-up display. features that would make robot lovers probably drool.

Feeling the need to prove that their guns are bigger, MegaBots, in the name of the United States of America, has sounded the call for a face off between its Mark II and Suidobashi Heavy Industries' Kuratas. It won't happen until after a year though, should the battle take place at all, as they still need to make the robots combat ready. Hopefully, they also mean make it safer for the human riders, considering the destructive powers of those guns.

Suidobashi has yet to accept, or refuse, the challenge.