The Japanese are totally down to have a giant robot battle with the USA

We’re one step closer to finally getting a chance to see real gigantic robots fight each other to the death.

MegaBots Inc. and Suidobashi Heavy Industry are two actual companies that build the sort of huge robo-mechs that Gundam fantasies are made of. Last week, the US-based MegaBots issued a bold challenge to Suidobashi, a Japanese company that actually brought the first large combat robot to the market.

They want to get their robots together for an epic battle.

“Suidobashi: We have a giant robot, you have a giant robot,” MegaBost CEO Matt Oehrlein declared in video uploaded to YouTube. “You know what needs to happen. We challenge you to a duel. Prepare yourselves and name the battlefield. In one year, we fight.”

Suidobashi heard MegaBot’s challenge, and they’re totally down.

“It’s interesting, I’ll give them that,” Suidobashi founder Kogoro Kurata mused in a video of his own. “But my reaction? Come on, guys. Make it cooler.”

Spec-wise, both companies’ robots are pretty impressive and the brawl between them, if it ever happens, is going to be epic. The MegaBot Mark II is sort of like one of the Jaegers from Pacific Rim. It weighs in at a whopping 7.5 tons, stands at about 15 feet, requires two pilots to operate, and (surprise) is decked out with a set of absurdly large guns that shoot high-velocity paintballs.

The Kurata, Suidobashi’s flagship mech, is a lot like Ghost In The Shell’s Tachikomas. It’s a little shorter than the MegaBot, but it’s also three tons lighter and appears to be much more mobile. According to Suidobashi, the Kurata can also be outfitted with twin gatling guns capable of firing off 6,000 rounds of BB bullets per minute.

In his response to MegaBot, Kogoro Kurata insisted that the only way he’d agree to duel was if the robots actually duked it out using their metal fists.

“If we’re going to win this,” he insisted, “I want to punch them to scrap, and knock them down to do it.”

Before you get too excited, it’s important to point out that as of now there’s no solid date when these robots are supposed to fight. With all the hype, though the companies would be crazy not to make this happen.