Struggle

Struggle, as the name implies, is a common sport played throughout Twilight Town. Whilst it appears to be a simple fighting competition, there are three different weapons, or as they are called, "Struggle Bats".

Story
In Kingdom Hearts II, Struggle takes a large role in Roxas's storyline, where his first battle with Seifer consists of choosing one of three different bats as stated above. Should Roxas choose the regular bat, his strength will increase by one point. Should Roxas choose the hand guard-modeled bat, his defense will increase. Finally ,should he choose the staff-modeled bat, his Magic potential will increase by one point.

Twilight Town's inhabitants seem to see the Struggle as an recreational sport. Later, one of Roxas's jobs includes posting the upcoming Struggle Match posters. In the virtual Twilight Town, Setzer is the tournament's champion while Seifer is the champion in the real Twilight Town.

The tournament later plays an important role during Roxas's time in virtual Twilight Town, where he is forced to fight Axel, a member of Organization XIII, while slowly realizing weird phenomena in the Twilight Town in which he is staying.

Later, in Sora's storyline, Struggle becomes a mini-game. The game of Struggle is last seen sometime after the defeat of Xemnas, where Hayner engages with Seifer; the outcome is unknown, however.

Struggle also appears in the manga version of Kingdom Hearts II. In the Kingdom Hearts II manga, Roxas and Hayner are seen wearing black Velcro covering with the orbs on them.

Rules
The Struggle Tournament consists of a few simple rules: each participant begins with 100 colored orbs. Every time one of the participants is hit, they'll drop colored orbs (participants each hold different colored orbs). There's also a time limit. Collecting the opponents' orbs will increase your score, but opponents can also regain their orbs by simply picking them up. In Roxas's storyline, during his participating in the tournament, the opponent cannot lose by simply depleting their HP, the result is judged by the number of obtained orbs once the time limit is over and the higher one wins. Alternatively, if all 200 orbs are collected before the time limit ends, you win.

In Sora's storyline, however, Sora must still collect more orbs than his opponent before time runs out, but his opponents have HP meters that can be depleted. Upon losing all their HP the opponent collapses for a short time and they eventually recover but are left highly vulnerable meanwhile.

Roxas's storyline
Champion: Roxas
 * 1) Setzer
 * 2) Fake Vivi
 * 3) Hayner
 * 4) Seifer
 * Should Roxas defeat Setzer in the final match, he'll receive the Champion Belt, which increases his element resistance by 20%. Alternatively, losing to Setzer will result in a different cutscene, and Roxas will receive a different item, the Medal.

Sora's storyline

 * 1) Sora
 * 2) Seifer
 * 3) Setzer
 * 4) Hayner
 * Unlike Roxas's match, Sora can only challenge the next opponent by defeating the previous one ten times. Although Sora will obtain nothing upon reaching the finals, it is crucial to complete Jiminy's Journal by finishing all the matches and adding an entry about Setzer.

Strategy
As Roxas, the main focus should simply be to have more Struggle orbs than the opponent. The main strategy would simply be to whack your opponent a few times, take their orbs, and run for the rest of the match. However, if you're aiming for certain orb thresholds, then the strategy should vary between opponents.

Hayner is the first opponent, and as such, is the easiest to deal with. His base move is a two hit combo that consists of a downward swing, then an uppercut. This attack has very short range, which makes it easy to stay away from. Secondly, if you're too close to him, he may counterattack with a wide swing that damages for a ample amount of your orbs. It's difficult to interpret and avoid, so avoid too much close contact. His last move is a powerful forward thrust, which covers a decent distance and can knock out a lot of orbs. This attack is particularly easy to jump over, so if he uses it, jump and continue assualting him.

When fighting Vivi (as Roxas only), he is a very nimble opponent who favors dodging a lot. Most of his moves involve enlarging his bat and meteing out widespread vicious attacks. His basic move is a large bat slam. It only hits in front, so it's not much. Second is a move where he jumps up and spins sideways with bat enlarged. This move covers great vertical distance, making it difficult to jump out of. If you are not standing close, however, it shouldn't hit you. If you are up close, he may use a two-hit retaliation that can take a toll on your orb count. He will usually use it if you are too close too long, so move away to collect orbs occasionally. His final attack is probably his hardest hitting, which is a three-hit combo that can hit a large distance in front of him and hit for a lot of orbs. The only method of evasion for this move is running or blocking.

Against Setzer, he plays more of a passive game, usually standing in one spot waiting for you to get close. As such, it's more effective to employ a hit-and-run tactic against him instead of comboing like the other opponents. His first move is a single low swing, which he uses when you get close enough. His distance judgement is poor, and as such usually uses it when you're not close enough. His second move causes him to guard, after which he retaliates if you hit him. He can, however, be interrupted with a quick combo, so if you're fast enough, go in for the orbs. His third move is a trio of quick thrusts, which covers more distance than Hayner's thrust, but the tactic is essentially the same. His last move is his most dangerous, where he jumps into the air and spins like a drill into your position with bat outstreched. This move covers more distance than any of Vivi's or Hayner's moves, and the only dodge method is running or a timed block.

As Sora, the tactical play should be a lot different than Roxas, since you have a variety of Support and Growth Abilites at your disposal, such as Draw, Quick Run, and Aerial Dodge. Notably, you should use Trinity Limit at the beginning of any Struggle fight, since it's the only magical attack available in a Struggle, and can knock out even Hayner in one use. It should be noted that higher ranking opponents have less HP, with Hayner having the most and Seifer having the least. Dazed opponents always drops 3 orbs on hit no matter the strength, but the opportunity should be taken regardless. However, all three of them have around the same amount of daze time, and as such, extra hits of Trinity Limit may be wasted on trying to use it on Setzer or Seifer. Since you can use any skill that you can use in combat, combo finishers can practically knock every single orb out of them, so abuse them to your will.

Seifer is not an opponent that should be talked about. Despite only being able to be fought late in the game, he's ridiculously easy, due to your immense strength at that point in time and his AI being practically the same as when Roxas fought him as a boss in the prologue. In fact, he simply recycles all the same moves. The strategy's the same, the attacks are the same, so just go in for easy orbs.