There are some series I will always defend. Some call them "acquired tastes", while others mock them and whoever plays them to get some kicks. Dynasty Warriors is a good example: the usual "mindless 1 vs 1000 mashing gameplay" mocking completely ignores everything that actually happens during the gameplay and makes the series truly memorable for its fans. But even in those cases you can find games that are "harder" to mock, like the recent Dynasty Warriors Origins which is, without a doubt, a good game (
8/10 on Opencritic, in no way you can call it a bad game), and which I really enjoyed and reviewed in this thread months ago
Now, why am I even talking about a completely unrelated game? Because today's game is just like DWO, it's a certified
good game that doesn't need to be defended by its fanboys (like me) and which is harder to "mock" like the usual "acquired taste" the series usually is:
Super Robot Wars Y
The Super Robot Wars series has a long history (this is the 34th year since the first game), but only in the recent years the series appeared on pc, and only with the previous title (Super Robot Wars 30) the series finally started to be exported worldwide without issues. Since for most Steam users the series "started" 3 years ago comparisons with the whole series will be kept to a minimum, but there will be comparisons with 30 since Y iterates on its structure and ideas
The fastest way to describe SRW is: it's like a futuristic Fire Emblem. Almost all FE staples are here, but reinterpreted in a modern/near future setting. SRWY is a SRPG: the player controls and moves "blue" units on a square chess-like board against enemy "red" units, with some stages also having neutral "green" units (which may attack both blue and red units, or may be uncontrollable npc allies). Like FE there is no concept of "height" or "direction" unlike FFT or TO, but the map tiles do influence movement or defense/evasion ("plain" tiles can be moved freely but offer no protection, while "forest/city" or "water" tiles impede movement but also provide evasion buffs), with flying units that can move freely over every tile type but gain no defensive benefit from them. Like FE not all missions require to simply exterminate the enemy (some require defending a specific "line" from enemy units, others require to simply defeat one or more bosses, or there are gimmick stages with special objectives like "defeat this specific enemy with a single attack" or "reach this specific point in this amount of turns while the enemy defend it"). Like FE all playable units are "unique": there are no generics, each playable unit has a unique name, a unique voice, an unique appearance, and all are obtained through progression (outside of secret units which require extra steps). Like FE the game story and stages progress linearly, with optional stages (including secret ones) mixed between the main story ones that progress the plot from the beginning to the end. Like FE when a unit attacks another the other will counterattack (as long as the attack range allows it) Really, Fire Emblem fans will quickly understand how the game works
But that's where the similarities end. First, unlike FE, units do not have defined classes. A "unit" in SRW is made of 2 "components": the pilot and the robot. Pilots are the "face" of the unit, they decide the voice, the skills, the main stats like damage (separated in short and long ranges), accuracy, evasion, and the most important element which is used to define a pilot's role: Spirit Commands. Spirits are cast from a pilot's own SP pool, they are mostly buffs and each pilot can obtain a maximum of 6 of them (usually starting at 1 at early levels and unlocking the rest as they level up over the game). Some spirits can increase the damage dealt by the next attack, some make it so the next attack will hit at 100% accuracy, others are more defensive like one that decreases all damage received from the next attack, or may increase evasion. Some spirits allow a pilot to heal himself or another from damage, or to move again, or my lower an enemy stat. Basically, instead of classes it's the psirit set which decides a pilot "role": pilots with more offensive spirit sets are better used to damage the enemy, while the ones more support oriented are better used as healers, and the ones with defensive spirits can be used to tank and exhaust a dangerous enemy. Depending on the difficulty chosen SPs start at 25% or 50% of the total, with some SPs recovered each turn, so the player needs to carefully use spirits when it's really needed. Pilots improve by levelling up n the old fashioned way (attack eemies, beat enemies, gain exp, level up), but the player can also invest money in them to teach them new passive skills. Pilots also learn an "Ace Bonus" when they beat 70 enemies in a playthrough which provides a unique passive buff to the pilot. The second component is the "robot": these mechs instead decide a unit HP, EN, armor and mobility, and most importantly the weapons. Unlike FE the player doesn't need to buy weapons: every mech has it's own weapon set, some weapons usually the weaker close range ones can always be used, while others require the unit to not move before attacking, or may require a specific "morale" which is gained by fighting and surviving while on the map (so the player can't spam the strongest attacks as soon as the battle starts). Instead of having a limited amount of uses weapons in SRW are 1) ammo based (they have a set number of uses, but ammo is restored to max at every new stage) or 2) energy based (they don't have ammo, but use the universal EN stat which is shared between all of them, and is also used for special skills or movements), which once again forces the player to not use a single unit to clear the entire map. Mechs also have their own special skills, often depending on their lore of features (like how Heavy Metals are covered in Zimmerit Coating which reduces damage from beam type weapons). While most series have set pilots use set mechs, the reason why these 2 "components" are separate is because some series allow the player to swap a pilot between other mechs from the same series (like how Gundam UC pilots can use any UC mobile suit). Also some mechs are "multi seaters", meaning they have 2 or more pilots which gameplay wise means that unit has 2 or more spirit pools to chose from (and each pilot has it's own tye of spirit pool, although only the main pilot influences a unit stats). The final mech stat is the "size", with smaller mechs having higher evasion, especially against bigger ones, at the cost of lower damage (and viceversa). The same is also true for the enemy which means the player can use a unit size to its advantage, by making larger enemies miss their shots against smaller ones, or having larger units tank the smaller enemies. Mechs can't gain "experience", but they can be upgraded using the money you obtain by defeating enemies. The player can upgrade each of the mech stats separately (HP, EN, Armor, Mobility, Sight) with specific bonuses unlocked when each stat reaches a certain value, or upgrade the mech weapons so the ycause more damage. The total amount of units is also very high (in Y by the endgame a player can field up to 30 units in a map, and can pick from a rooster of 80+ units total). A special type of unit is a "battleship". Battleships are large, bulky units with lots of HPs but usually weak attacks. Battleships use a different "slot" compared to normal mechs (usually the player can deploy 1 to 3 battleships in a map), and like FE battleships work like a "Lord": if a battleship is "sunk" it's instant game over. Battleships usually have more than one pilot (representing the crew) and have some sort of special buff (like a "commander aura" that strenghtens units in a certain radious, or may have morale raising commands). It's up to the player to chose how to make robots and battleships work together. One last gameplay difference from FE is how terrain works with weapons: weapons and mechs have 4 terrain ranks: ground (normal walkable terrain), water (underwater tiles), air (used by flying units, flying requires 1 EN for each tile moved) and space (a special type of terrain for space battles representing lack of gravity, where each unit is "flying" so consumes EN to move). A units rank can go from - (empty) to S: a unit lacking a rank can't move or be deployed in that terrain (unit with empty Air rank can't fly for example), units with C or B can move in that terrain but are greatly impaired (movement on those tiles require extra "moves", with C also debuffing a unit stats), units with A ranks can move freely and units with the rare S rank gain bonuses if deployed on that terrain. Same for weapons, with some weapons being unusable underwater (like beam weapons) or causing extra damage if they hit an enemy in a specific terrain
This gameplay discussion was quite long (and if more games in the series release on steam and end up being reviewed by me I will most likely skip it or I may link this post instead), so let's move to the main event: Of course, the real thing that makes SRW truly unique is it's crossover aspect. SRW is a massive crossover between japanese mecha series, from old classics like Mazinger to more modern ones like Code Geass. SRW is unlike most crossovers in the videogame (and even outside of games) space. This series does not feature a "party" that travels between different worlds interacting with the "natives" while progressing the main plot (like KH). This series does not "move" characters or places from different series into a "generic" setting to have them fight or experience something (like Smash). SRW embraces the crossover fully: the world of Super Robot World is a world of "fanservice" where all those series exist at the same time, on the same planet, with a unified setting. Fanservice is a word that will be used often in this review. In the world of SRW series like Gundam and Getter Robo exist at the same time. There is great care into making the setting feel "lived" both by creating unique lore or history for that setting, but most of all by having as many characters appear (from heroes, to villains, and even having minor npcs). The different cast members "live" in this setting, they know each other, they heard of their exploits, maybe they fought togeter or against each other, different technologies end up influencing each other, all in a coesive manner. Playing SRW is like seeing an original anime but with familiar faces, and familiar elements. Story and interactions are the most important element in a "popular" SRW specifically because it highlights how well "integrated" the setting ends up being (since almost every SRW, including Y, is it's own "world" with it's unique cast list, so some series may never interact again if they never appear together in future titles). And Y is without a doubt, the best "setting" in the last 10 years (and at least the best setting since the series started getting official english translations). Let me give an example by talking about Y's prologue
The prologue starts during the Revolutionary War, a period where the people living on Earth were at war against the people who moved to space. Earth was left ravaged after the war against the Zentradi, the first extra solar species earthlings met while trying to explore beyond the solar system, and as many humans decided to emigrate to other systems the ones who remained were forced to fight for the resources needed to rebuild the earth cities. This eventually started the series of events that brough never ending conflicts, between wars against fellow humans and attacks caused by would be conquerors like the Dinosaur Empire. Earth's super robots fought against these conquerors, while the newly developed Gundams ended up being the central figures in changing how warfare was fought in space, but even when a war ended another crisis started. Eventually, with each leader dying one after the other in this Revolutionary War the earth sphere splits into 2: the planet earth conquered by the "evil emperor" Lelouch vi Britannia and the colonies unified under Char Aznable. But just before the final battle against these 2 armies the masked Zero assassinates the evil emperor, and the people of earth decides it's time to put this bloodshed behind. Char signs a truce between the colonies and the new Earth government and the war ends for good. A year later the chosen protagonist (by the player, picking the male or the female with the chosen one being the main character an the other having a smaller secondary role) meets with the young Echika, a girls who inherits from her scientist father the mobile city A. Advent, and which becomes the central element in trying to find out who is behind the terrorist attacks trying to reignite the flames of war in this now peaceful world. And to do that the protagonist, Echika and the A. Advent crew start to travel the world, and even space, while meeting and recruiting old veterans and the new younger pilots
The story is told in a visual novel style, with the character busts and the occasional picture used for more important moments. The presentation is simple but gets the job done. Unlike it's predecessor the dialogues try to explain new things and concept in a better way, reducing the amount of time the player needs to read new info in the in-game Library. This, combined with the story being mostly original (even if obviously based on their respective anime) helps greatly with the onboarding experience. While obviously having watched some of the partecipating series helps a lot, Y's story can also be appreciated by people that know nothing about them. Although obviously if you hate mecha you will most likely hate SRW. The graphics presentation is also a source of fanservice: the characters look straight out of their series and they're very expressive although still limited by static poses. During battles the scene moves to a 45 degree view of the battlefield. This look makes the battlefield look like a playground, with the player and enemy units looking like small toys being moved on a table. When a battle starts however the screen changes to an actual animation of the attack being used against the enemy. These attack animations have long been the cream of the SRW experience: every mech has it's own attacks (including enemies), the high resolution 2D sprites are some of the best in the industry and the animation look straight out of a real anime. Camera works are used to enhance the experience (like how it makes bigger units like Raideen and Combattler feel more menacing, or how quick movements are used to show how fast smaller units move). Thanks to the high amount of playable and enemy units almost every stage introduces a new units, and so new animations to see for the player. Many details are also hidden in each attacks, like how enemies defeated by Combattler's Super EM spin explode in an HD recreation of the "stock explosion" from the original anime, same for enemies defeated by Dynazenon's Rex Roar and many other. These "dynamic kills" (called like this by the fanbase) adds an extra fanservice layer on top of the already well made graphic work
Fanservice also fills the sound compartment. Outside of the (very good, if I say) original songs that are used in the main menu, for the orignal characters and during story events, the soundtrack also includes many remixed or readapted songs from the original anime series. Attack animations are usually accompanied by those familiar theme songs, often replicating how older mecha anime used those songs during the attack that defeated the monster of the week. This is the one moment where I must talk about the "Premium Sound and Data Pack" dlc. This dlc (costing 30 bucks on its own, or part of the Ultimate Edition) expands on the game soundtrack by adding additional songs straight from the anime. The original version of the songs have the original lyrics (obviously) and can be used in place of the game version of the songs. Unlike similar "anime song packs" Bamco usually sells, where the songs are simply added to the in-game sound test or have the player specify which game song should be changed with the one from the pack, SRW's premium sounds do this automatically, and also adds new songs that don't have an in-game version. Examples are how in the base game Mazinger units use the game version of
Mazin Kenzan, while with the premium sound Mazinkaiser defaults to the lyric
version of the song, while Great Mazinger defaults to
Fire Wars, the opening from the Mazinkaiser OVA (which does not have a game version). Among all series Macross Delta benefits the most from the premium sound pack since it adds many event only songs which in the base game use generic ones. Obviously this is the most obvious case of "your mileage may vary". Maybe not everyone wants to hear
Ikenai Borderline every Macross focused stage
For the sound effects and character voices everything tries to stay as close as possible to the original source. Every Gundam beam attack has the proper sound, same for other effects like the "newtype flash", the SeeD activation, the explosion sounds. The character voices are where most of the main course is however: outside of cases where things are outside of their control (the original voice actor is long retired, or passed away) every character is voiced by their original VA. The battle animations are accompanied by the pilot voice lines and this enhances the "it's like i'm watching the original anime" feel exponentially. Without a doubt another great source of fanservice, but unfortunately this is a case where not all characters are equal. Y's debuts like Getter Arc, Macross Delta, Godzilla SP, Dynazenon, Gundam G-Witch all feature a vast amount of unique voice lines said by the characters against their opponent. Voicelines against specific Y enemy factions, against specific enemy bosses, multiple lines if getting hit (including variations if the damage is small, high or depending on how many hp the unit has) or evading an attack, and also many generic lines against specific enemy types (AIs, strenght type enemies, fast type enemy, battleship commanders etc). Then you have all the others. The returners from recent game still feature many voicelines, and obviously have lines against their own villains and enemies that were in previous games (like how the Majestic Prince cast has lines against Heavy Metals since both were in 30) but they are very obviously lacking Y specific lines. The few exceptions are character voiced by VA that also voice characters from Y's debuts, like Shinn Asuka from Seed Destiny (shares a voice with Gridknight from Dynazenon) or Suzaku and Kallen from Code Geass (both share a voice with another character, although CG is a rare case where Lelouch also got new Y specific voicelines despite not sharing a voice with any newcomer), and obviously the good old Gundam Wing's Heero (because his VA, Midorikawa, is probably the biggest SRW fanboy in the world and always comes back to record as many new lines as possible). The worst are unfortunately characters whose VA retired many, many years ago. Akira Kamiya's voice is truly amazing, and you can feel it in every one of Raideen's attacks. But they're obviously all reused voicelines and the player will basically hear them all over the span of 2 stages. With these old characters it's even worse because only since the SRW Z games did the VA record "generic" lines (like the ones I said about AI or fast type enemies above), meaning Raideen's Akira and Mainkaiser's Koji don't even have these "generic voicelines" to help reduce the issue. But alas this is one of those problems that are unsolvable unless the devs (and most of all what budget Bamco gives them) decide to revolutionize this part of the games, sacrificing fanservice for a more unified experience. I think my disappointment for this specific part stems from 30 having an insane amount of voiceline made specifically for it, but I now realize that was done because that game had special circumstances (being the game for the 3th anniversary and all)
Going back to the gameplay, SRWY is one of the best balanced games in the series. The 4 difficulty levels offer experiences for all players. If you want to curbstomp everything just play on easy, if you want to actually think play on hard, and if you want a real challenge Expert difficulty is where it is. This game is proof the series can offer interesting challenges even with how overpowered the player side can end by the endgame. Even when starting the game with monsters like Dynazenon and Getter Arc expert will require the player to think and play well. This renewed difficulty also comes from the removal of the ExC system from 30 (and the previous 3 games too). In it's place they expanded on the "supporter" system from T and 30 (a system where non-pilots are also recruited and are "deployed" in assist slots where they provide a passive and an active bonus, using their own assist points). This new Assist Crew requires the player to obtain assist points by beating enemies first, and then use them when they actually need it. The effects can still be powerful but they can no longer be spammed to no end like ExC. Also I personally like the idea of recruiting non-combatants as it makes them more than normal npcs, but it's a shame once again characters that should for all intent and purpose be playable end up being stuck as assists
We talked about gameplay, graphics, music. So it's time to talk about game progression and how the series are used (while I usually try to not talk about story too much, as a crossover it's important to know what the player is supposed to expect). The game is separated in 7 main chapters, each featuring between 6/7 (the first and last chapter being an exception, with the first having 4 and the last having the highest amount) "main missions" which are the ones that actually progress the story and a varied amount of "side missions" which are optional stages that can be used to expand on the story, recruit new characters earlier or unlock new attacks (or may be steps for getting some secrets). As I said with the comparison to FE the player recruits new characters only by progressing the story, and character upgrades are also locked behind story progression. Chapter 2 is the chapter with the highest amount of side missions and allows the player to basically recruit 80% of the total playable units by the end of the chapter, with only a few relegated to the later ones (most of them secrets, and most of those secrets in the last chapters). This open progression was without a doubt the biggest issue 30 had (not helped by how easy the game was even on higher difficulties) since most stages felt like they existed in a vacuum, with many having no connection to each other since they were optional. There were some exceptions but in the end most stages focused on a single series, or even a single character, and so many felt redundant (and the player still missed lots of story or risked missing on missable secrets if they skipped, so you were also punished for not playing them). Well, it's
unbelievable how Y improved on this part. Not only Y's side stges are much more interesting gameplay wise, not only the maps look much better, not only they have way more crossover elements and feel more involved in the story, but most of all Y added extra cutscenes that play between separate side stages making them feel interconnected, even if they technically
aren't. A good early game example is after playing the side mission which results in recruiting Seed Destiny's Shinn, the stage you play after always start with a small scene were Shinn is contacted by Lunamaria about Athrun's disappearance, which directly continues from the ending of his recruitment stage. This makes the story much stronger and also lets the player savor the plot mysteries as the game progresses. the story features many "mecha tropes", with the main one being about how important is to defy one's fate
Now time to talk about which series are in the game, and how they've been connected (everything not shown in the pre-launch trailers will be spoilered). Honestly Y went above and beyond in how it really connected every series they could in very interesting ways. This is also pure fanservice, or we could say fanfiction, but it's a pretty damn good fanfiction that gave me more than one "holy shit this is genius" moment. It's also helped by how in Y they gave every series (minus 1, arguably 2 since they shouldn't really count as one) at least one named villain, meaning all series have a "reason" to be part of the story. Gone are the times where half of the cast is just in for the ride and to provide faceless mooks
One of the strongest plot points in the game is the Infernal Alliance, formed by the Super Robot villains in Y. Yoma Emperor Barao, the resurrected Campbellian general Garuda, and the Myceneans Spectral Beasts commanded by the Great General of Darkness. It's also a rare case were they really combine the series OG plot with one of the anime plots by having this alliance
employ a completely original enemy boss, a rare thing even when original elements are used for the player party. Raideen got an expecially good redebut (since it's the first time the series is in HD) with 2 common mooks, a mid level mook and a true final boss villain. For this reason it's really a shame the writers made the decision to have Raideen's plot start at the very last episode, a baffling choice which extends those 20 minutes into the entire game, and a choice that also, conveniently, allows them to not have a playable Bluegar since
Jinguji is already dead. Was it really too much to make a single playable plane, especially since they could have just resuded the old voicelines like they did with the titular Raideen? At least Raideen's looks amazing, just as how Combattler looked in 30. Unfortunately most of Combattler's animations are taking from 30 too, with a few touches. Combattler's main addition is the return of the main villain and rival from the first half of the series: Garuda. While his appearance may seem nothing special, Garuda ends up being a true pivotal element in the Infernal Alliance plot and one of the better "original" plots for the story. Lastly we have Mazinkaiser, Great Mazinger and Mazin Emperor G for the Mazinger side, which unfortunately are all reused from previous games. The devs used their budget mostly on the enemies, but in the end the only real additions are the Spectral General Hadias and the Battle Beast Dante (the Great General is a recolored sprite from V and X), all shown in trailers before release, and the excuse to not have the rest of the 6 generals is just as pathetic as starting Raideen from the final episode. Feels like this time Mazinger was chosen somply so they could reuse most content from past title, an issue which is quite common
an issue that is very commong for Gundam too. Almost everything from CCA is reused (with the exception of Char's Sazabi, which got completely redone) with some new touches or fixed animations (like for the Nu Gundam). But CCA does something interesting for once: because of the game's backstory Neo Zeon is never an enemy. Char is an ally since the beginning, no asteroid was launched on earth, no hidden plans behind Amuro's back, "good guy Neo Zeon" is real and it's in this game. It's so weird seeing characters like
Quess and Gyunei being so friendly with the rest of the heroes. The CCA plot was completely averted, so there was never a "2nd Neo Zeon War". While others aren't playable you also meet other CCA characters (or hear about them in dialogue) on both the Londo Bell and Neo Zeon side. This is such a novel idea I wished they expanded it more with additional playable pilots, but unfortunately the only ones are the same that were playable in the past games like T, same for the mechs. Doesn't help by having no villains then Amuro and Char are kinda there and really don't provide much for the overall plot. Z gundam also reused everything, but it does play well with the Neo Zeon twist by having Kamille start as a
Neo Zeon member, and bringing
Emma and Scirocco back after many games of Z being the Kamille and Fa show is appreciated. Z's real strenght however is how it plays perfectly with the 2 other Tomino shows in the game Dunbine and L-Gaim (allright L-Gaim is half a Nagano show too, but come on the Tomino influences are everywhere too). These 3 shows have many elements in common and the writers decided to built over them in full. And so Z's Biosensor is now straight up called Aura Power because of course it is, Kamille and Daba are officially recognized as Battlers, and all their villains are part of the same group. Dunbine suffers from the same issues of starting at the very end like Raideen, but at least it got many new things both playable and on the villain side. Byston Well is also one of the most important points plot wise which connects many plot points, and the story is once again presented in a way that perfectly connects with the OG plot, especially the part where you see how the heroes and the villains are manipulated by an unknown force into becoming belligerent, and how you clearly see ones like
Gablet Gavlae,
Tod Guinnes Bern Burnings and
Nei Mo Han slowly freeing themselves from it's influence and slowly return to their original personality, ending with them joining the party. All of this finding its conclusion with the Dunbine OVA story, which while being the one that starts much later compared to every other series (chapter 5 with the plot only really starting in chapter 6, even if you can get Shion early in chapter 2 with side missions) ends up being the one used to conclude the entire plot in a very satisfying way. too bad L-Gaim is fully reused from 30, but the Mk-II touch ups are some of the better ones
The rest of the Gundam AUs are similarly connected, with Wing also connecting to other series (creating a giant interconnection with all series in Y). Again all of them are reused with a few touch ups, but I'll forgive everything because having Shinn as Domon's
pupil was 100% worth it. Such an idea would seem absurd until you realize how perfect it is, hell the Destiny Gundam even has a
Shining/God Finger equivalent in its arsenal, a joke that is referenced multiple times across the story. Because of this Shinn is much closer to his Seed Freedom character which makes him more likable. Domon being a mentor is nothing new but they really go al in with him mentoring multiple characters over the course of the story, and bringing back Ulube makes the whole thing more satisfying. As far as Seed villains
Djibril is kinda of a wet fart however, does n0t help you never really fight him (but I'll give them points in the way they used him in the final battle against Scirocco). I'll also give the writers some extra novel points by having Kira
also be part of Neo Zeon (while Athrun
focuses on keeping tabs on Wufei which goes through his usual Endless Walts routine). Speaking on Gundam Wing, I enjoyed the wing boys banter and what they did in connecting Wing with Code Geass. Code Geass also reuses everything from 30 (the reuse is really that bad uh), and the 2 Frame Coats just aren't it. Wing and CG have a long history together and it's nice to see them in the same game again, the friendship between
Wufei and
Shalio was also well made, but I wished the plot did more of it
Speaking of reuses from 30, MJP is one of the most egregious, and while there are some good ideas in its new execution and connection to Macross Delta, I feel they really didn't do enough. As of now MJP is the worst among the reuses unless some twist happens in the upcoming dlcs. There is really not much to say unfortunately
It's time to focus on the main course, the debuts (console or full debuts). Getter Arc and Macross Delta are "console" debuts (they appeared previously in the mobile SRW games but never in a proper one). Getter Arc is probably the debut with the strongest connection to the main plot, Arc is well animated and finally Getter gets something new. Takuma is a a true wild ride and the source of most of my laughs, and this game cements him as a worthy successor to his father Ryoma. It's also the series with the longest surviving enemy as Toenko basically appears 6/7 stages in and survives until the endgame. Probably the enemy boss the player fights the most. The Delta Squadron brings Macross back to SRW after a long absence but unfortunately the VF's animations are very lacking. The Macross stages have some of the most interesting gimmicks and the Aerial Knights are annoying opponents. The writers took some liberty by moving most of Delta's conflict to Earth, but this provides a few extra connections to the other series (but no reason to go into detail here). Outside of the animations which are lacking there is a lot of care in the cast interactions, especially with the Walkure, and both Delta and Arc have great moments. However the lack of secrets is baffling for both series. No
Tarak for Arc, no savable
Messer or
Keith for Delta. The way they stuck with the canon events is so weird I wonder if there is something more behind it
For the full debuts, I'll say my order is Dynazenon > Godzilla SP > Gwitch.. Ah Gwitch, since they announced the game would only feature the first season I knew the risk of its plot being nonexistent was there, but they really didn't even try. Well, the interactions with the cast are great, with a highlight being Suletta
also becoming Domon's pupil and Miorine
becoming Walkure's manager, but GWitch seems like it exists in a bubble completely separate from each other series. There is a weird attempt in the first Gwitch stages to connect it with the rest of the plots by having Heero, Duo and Hilde infiltrate Asticassia because of a tip the Benerit Group is selling weapons to terrorists, which could have been a way to connect it to Wing, but this plot points evaporates, I wanted to say as soon as the stage ends, but honestly it happens as soon as that cutscene ends. The only "plot" GWitch gets are the duels, which alsmo means the only "villains" are Guel, Elan and Shaddiq, which also basically don't exist outside of the few GWitch stages (with one exception being
Guel because he is a secret, but the way they did this "secret" is so weird in needs and extra paragraph later). Especially baffling not having Elan recruitable since just like
Tarak,
Messer and
Keith above he is also playable temporarily so the assets were there
Dynazenon's is the best debut by a mile, just like Gridman was in 30. Tons of story relevance, amazing interactions, great animations, perfect chemistry, and I really like what they did with the Kaiju Club. A true milestone among SRW debuts. Dynazenon being ultra broken, and becoming even more broken as the story goes on only helps. I could list all the interactions I loved from this series and it would be longer than this already long review. Please make Gridman and Dynazenon permanent parts of SRW
Godzilla Singular Point is probably the one series impossible to remove from Y. That's how much plot relevance has, that's how many connections it has to the other series, but unfortunately gameplay wise the debut kinda sucks. First, the story skips a lot: it basically starts after the Anguillus fight and basically only focuses on the last group of episodes. The Mei Kamino side of the story is very rushed and badly presented, but oh boy... what they did with Godzilla, a true chef's kiss. The developers knew they couldn't fuck it up, and they sure didn't. Godzilla is a perfect villain, even when unseen you can already feel his presense, his power. He doesn't get hyped in a poor way since the beginning by the cast, it's the player that realizes how he becomes this danger slowly crawling its way in the plot (like how they use its howl
in an up to that point unrelated scene to reveal he was behind it, or how Sizumu tells the rest of the Kaiju club how
the Kaijus are hailing the arrival of the "King of Kaijus"). This is the genius part about how they used Godzilla in this first canon appearance on SRW. Which makes the next paragraph even harder to write
You see, I like SRWY, I love it actually. It's an amazing SRW, and it's perfect for me since I
consume mecha anime. And I still agree Y can still be loved even by the ones that don't watch as many mecha series as me. but the way they adapted Godzilla SP highlights an enormous amounts of problems the story presentation has. All right, Godzilla starts very late to the plot, only gets Rodan and Kumonga as mooks (come on how did they skip Shalunga?). I don't like it, but I can accept that, after all icenses cost money
But skipping the indian lullaby is unforgivable
Yes if you haven't seen Singular Point this sentence won't make sense, but I can't ignore this point. By starting so late in the story a very important plot point which happens in the first SP episode gets completely skipped. This is so bad before the battle against Godzilla the SP cast has to explain this plot point to the rest of the characters. Show, don't tell is a rule that should always be followed, but this is a case where it's not shown, and it's not told. Having to drop all of this background on the player on the very last chapter is unacceptable, and not having the song itself in the soundtrack is even worse. This is the one point SRW needs a serious shake up: story presentation. The current way is simply too low budget. There is another scene which also highlights how much more they could do if they wanted, the scene in the Getter finale where the team fights
Kamui
Except because the game story actually goes beyond the original anime, the devs gave the following scene something extra: full voice acting. The scene after
Getter Sain Dragon appears and Takuma and Baku convince Kamui to give humanity one last chance, and fight together to defy Getter Emperor's will is fully voice acted. This is a scene that isn't in the original anime, it was made specifically for the game, and the voice acting makes this scene much more emotional. This whole scene makes me realize how much is lost by the game only having voice acting during battle animations. But then we go back to the original issue: should fanservice be sacrificed to bring the story on par with the battle animations? Should old anime characters be fully recasted so you can have the new VAs record as many lines as possible. This one scene made me doubt about it, and maybe it's time for SRW to take a true step into the "next gen". A true shake up (but the gameplay is fine, let's not fix what's not broken). Do that and the series could get its Digimon Time Stranger moment, and I'll be there to see it
Well, the review is over, but there is one last thing I need to point out: SRWY tells a full story, with it's own final boss and all plot points are solved by the end... or do they? Well, obviously GWitch doesn't get solved since the real plot didn't even start, but GWitch also has the most baffling secret with
Guel, and especially the fact
he joins as Bob, and intentionally never interacts with the rest of the GWitch cast. This is such a specific and weird choice I can no longer look normally at the ending, especially when another Gwitch character,
Elan4, ends up
as space dust just like in the series without a reason since the game wouldn't adapt season two regardless
Or will they? Because the way
Bob gets done would fit perfectly in an additional story which focuses on season two. Nah, i'm just getting fixated on something small, but wait... the exact same thing also happens to Delta! Everything that happens follows the canon to a T, meaning they could add a story expansion focused on Macross Delta Zettai Live! No, no, It's just a coincidence, and besides the dlcs have already been announced and no base game story gets new plot there, but then... The way Dynazenon ends would also work perfectly with an expanded story focused on it's sequel Gridman Universe! Nope, no longer thinking about that, just coincindences, just like it's a coincidence they don't expand the last plot point of Godzilla Singular Points that shows
Mecha Godzilla or the fact the Getter Arc team still needs to fight against
Emperor and... oh my god...
The seed Destiny cast hints at Freedom multiple times. The Wing cast hints at Frozen Teardrops, Domon hints about restoring the
Ultimate Gundam, Combattler only talks about the first half of the series meaning the second half didn't happen yet. Code Geass has Roze of the recapture, Majestic Prince has the movie sequel (which already had assets done in 30 as a dlc!), the CCA characters hint at Hathaway. Really the only series that have a "complete" conclusion are Raideen, Dunbine and L-Gaim, and technically Dunbine has Wings of Rean, and L-Gaim has the OVA episode (and Five Star Stories if Nagano got over his hate for SRW)
This isn't a case of "oh the team left a few doors open for the dlc expansion", this is a "we have enough content to make a full blown sequel" case. This is the same feeling I had when I played DWO, and guess what that game is getting a major DLC. Even the OG plot of Y could still be expanded very easily, so was Y intentionally made to get a sequel one year later?
