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 call it, "Struggle bats".

The Struggle bat is also Twilight Town's most basic self-defense weapon, as seen in Seifer utilizing it. 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. Same with the other two; 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 entertainment 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 sidequest.

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) 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 10 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
The simple rules are obvious as to get more orbs than your opponent but certain ablities can be used to gain leverage over the toughest opponents and to finish all the journal missions. The best ability to gain is the growth ability learned from Wisdom Form, Quick Run, as it will allow you to collect the orbs easier before your opponent can strike you for yours.

Trivia

 * A Struggle Tournament is last seen in the credits, where Hayner engages with Seifer; the outcome is unknown, however.
 * In the Kingdom Hearts II manga, Roxas and Hayner are seen wearing black velcro covering with the orbs on them.