Super-Robot-Wars
Latest
Dear Import Gamer: You can do better than Super Robot Wars UX
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer. Twitter followers have recently asked me: "Is Super Robot Wars UX worth importing?" The short answer is no, but the reason I won't be importing Super Robot Wars UX pretty much cuts to the heart of what irritates me about both the Super Robot Taisen franchise and Namco Bandai in general. Super Robot Wars UX is filler. It's the game that's meant to bridge the gap while we wait for more entries in the main story arc. I know this because Namco Bandai has been releasing games just like it for roughly 15 years now. When I think of Super Robot Wars UX, the first thing that comes to mind is Treyarch's early work in the Call of Duty franchise. Games released to plug the gaps between major entries. And being a strategy RPG series that is mostly known for having a lot of licensed mecha anime shows, such filler entries aren't that hard to make. There is a lot of love for the Super Robot Wars series, especially in Japan. It's one of Namco Bandai's flagship franchises. It's as if instead of going into a precipitous decline around the time of Star Wars Episode 1, LucasArts turned around and started putting out one to two Star Wars games per year. And not only that, they had found a way to cross it with Babylon 5, Star Trek, and Dr. Who in a way that inspired not rage but glee among the hardcore fans. That's Super Robot Wars in a nutshell – a strategy series that seamlessly mixes a lot of Japan's most beloved mecha franchises.
Super Robot Taisen: Card Chronicle coming to iOS and Android
Super Robot Taisen – known as Super Robot Wars on this side of the pond – is coming to iOS and Android devices in the form of a card battling game. (That's battling via cards ... not two giant, thin paper sheets scrapping it out for world domination.)Siliconera reports that Super Robot Taisen: Card Chronicle will launch this fall as a free download with in-game items available for purchase, according to an article in Famitsu.Joystiq has asked Namco Bandai if the mobile title will appear stateside, but the publisher has yet to respond at the time of publishing. We're going to gas up our mechs, just to be safe.
Why the future looks expensive for Super Robot Taisen and other Namco Bandai RPGs
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer. It's gone largely unnoticed here in the U.S., but Namco Bandai is in the middle of a grand experiment with its Super Robot Taisen strategy RPG series (which has seen life stateside in the past thanks to Atlus USA). And if you like Japanese RPGs – or anything that's expensive to produce in general – you might want to pay attention, because this could be your future.Namco Bandai's licensed strategy game series -- which teams mechs like Gundam with the likes of Voltron -- has been around for 20 years now, and in that time it's picked up a loyal audience. I know because I'm one of them. We were all excited because we wanted to see how the story would continue in the franchise's latest arc, which kicked off on the PS2.But Namco Bandai, of course, had a curveball. Like the last two Harry Potter films, the SRT sequel would be split into two parts. It even released a boxed set that came with the first of the two games, a story digest recapping the event of the storyline so far, and a slot for the second game. The total price for just one of the games at launch was 7300 yen (about $90).The rising prices go hand-in-hand with the decline of anime and domestic gaming in Japan, and the rise of piracy. Put simply, making a Super Robot Taisen game doesn't come cheap. The series has based its reputation on elaborate 2D animated sequences like this this one, which take time and money to create. And the robots touted in the title are all from well-known mecha series, which means ever higher licensing fees.
Atlus lasciviously announces Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier
As we followed the Japanese version of Infinite Frontier Super Robot Taisen OG Saga, we found ourselves in awe of the lavishly animated battle sequences. But another visual element was prominent in screens of the RPG -- and by "prominent" we mean "spilling out". Somehow, developer Monolith Soft had managed to fill a game about robots with busty girls. The inclusion of KOS-MOS from Monolith's Xenosaga acted as sort of a bridge between the two groups; after all, she is both busty and a robot. Atlus has officially announced a US release for the RPG (surprise!), a more traditional role-playing spinoff of the Super Robot Taisen tactical RPG series. In its riotously funny press release, the company promised a "stacked action RPG" with "so much game ... you may just get lower back pain from the effort!"Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier comes out April 28th. Like Legacy of Ys, every copy will be a boxed edition with a bundled soundtrack CD.%Gallery-14186%
Super Robots dethrone Snake from top spot in Japan
The new PSP game Super Robot Wars A Portable has reached the top of the sales chart in Japan with 102,000 units sold, dethroning the previous champion Metal Gear Solid 4 to second place with 68,000 units sold. Two other PSP games on the chart are Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G and Powerful Pro Portable Baseball 3, with 21,000 and 19,000 units sold, respectively. There is even a PS2 game on the charts -- the dating-sim/hybrid targeted at women called Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 4 in fourth place with 55,000 units sold. Only in Japan, huh? 1. Super Robot Wars A Portable (PSP) - 102,0002. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) - 68,0003. Super Mario Stadium: Family Baseball (Wii) - 58,0004. Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 4 (PS2) - 55,0005. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 33,0006. Wii Fit (Wii) - 32,0007. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) - 21,0008. Powerful Pro Portable Baseball 3 (PSP) - 19,0009. DS Calligraphy Training (DS) - 18,00010. Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou (DS) - 11,000
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 6/9-6/15
Just as we were starting to get comfortable with the DS coming in third consistently on the Japanese hardware charts, Metal Gear Solid 4 came out and helped push our favorite handheld down to fourth. Fourth! Meaning, it only did better than the PS2 and 360. Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake! DS hardware did get a little boost, though, despite the fact that not much new software made its way into the charts: Playstation 3: 75,311 (64,455) PSP: 64,675 (2,659) Wii: 45,564 (925) Nintendo DS: 39,201 (4,181) PlayStation 2: 7,297 (1,018) Xbox 360: 2,163 (117) There were some surprises this week, as Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team! found itself back in the top thirty (so did Pokémon Diamond). But, you can just see all the hot software action for yourself after the break.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 5/26-6/1
Two DS games debuted in the top ten this week (Endless Frontier: Super Robot Wars OG Saga and the cutesy spatial puzzler Empty Space Training), but otherwise, DS software had a relatively lackluster performance. Only twelve titles ended up in the top thirty, which is low for Nintendo's handheld. As for hardware, the DS is getting comfortable in third place behind the PSP and Wii: PSP: 71,986 (7,537) Wii: 50,851 (1,804) Nintendo DS: 38,355 (951) PlayStation 3: 9,169 (98) PlayStation 2: 7,203 (14) Xbox 360: 1,959 (12) Front Mission 2089: Border of Madness is another game that premiered last week, taking twelfth in the charts. If it follows the path of games like Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team! and Glory of Herakles, though, it's likely to drop soon. As for English of the Dead, the game didn't debut in the top fifty, and according to Famitsu it only sold 1,500 copies in its first week. Click on past the break to see the other software numbers and rankings from 5/29 to 6/1.
Fresh screens from SRW OG Endless Frontier
If perhaps a large chunk of gameplay footage and the screens in our gallery below haven't sold you on this game, we really don't know what to do for you. It's okay that something we present not immediately pique your interest; you're going to like what you're going to like. In case you're receptive to reasons why you should like the game, however, we have several. They're reasons in the form of new screenshots in our gallery below. Outside of that, we really got nothing.Oh wait, there's boobies! People seem to respond to those, right?%Gallery-14186%
11 minutes of SRW OG Endless Frontier's elaborate battle animations
As shallow as it might seem, these battle animations are the only reason why we bother watching these SRW OG Endless Frontier clips, or any video for the Super Robot Wars series, for that matter. It's like loading up a Marvel vs. Capcom 2 combo video to watch an intricate series of strikes pile up with no sign of ending anytime soon.So, here we have eleven minutes of precisely that -- floating HP-damage counts, KOS-MOS's poorly secured top, and team attacks acrobatically combining martial arts and heavy weaponry. What else were you expecting? SRW OG Endless Frontier ships out to stores in Japan this May 29th.%Gallery-14186%[Via Nicovideo]
Take a gander at the Super Robot Wars Portable A trailer
While we can't embed the video for you to view here, we can point you towards the website where the official Super Robot Wars Portable A trailer can be viewed. It pops up in a separate window and takes several seconds to click into action, but fear not! It works and it really shows off some absolutely stunning 2D sprite animations. Incredibly fluid, incredibly cute robots, incredibly painful-looking robotic destructions ... it's everything you need and nothing you don't. Enjoy![Thanks, Torin!]
Super Robot Wars Portable A gets much more than a facelift
It's an understatement to say that Super Robot Wars A Portable has gone through a few tweaks for its PSP release. Originally on the Game Boy Advance, it should be fairly obvious that a straightforward port wouldn't satiate the desires of many robot fanboys. So what's new?Graphics have been overhauled to near PlayStation 2 quality -- it's like having a console version in your hands or something. Battle scenes are now fully-voiced, more detailed 2D maps with a zoom feature along with other elements from the PS2 versions. There's also some gameplay tweaks. New skills abound and a "Trust" system has been instigated where your attack and defense will be affected as well as upgrading your equipment. You can opt between a 4:3 or 16:9 mode and enjoy some shortened load times if you're using the PSP-2000. The game's out in Japan on June 19th, so get your import cards ready![via PSPHyper]
Brand new screens of Super Robot Taisen A
Super Robot Taisen A Portable is a PSP remake of an old Gameboy Advance S-RPG. Moving onto the PSP means the game is getting a full overhaul with graphical enhancements, reworked weapon tunning and skill part systems, and all-new voice-acting. It's only fitting that a game about robots and upgrading robots gets an upgrade for itself. Want to see these changes for yourself? Then have a look at these new screenshots right here.
Super Robot Taisen A jumps to PSP
A Famitsu scan reveals that the popular deformed-robot action game, Super Robot Taisen is coming to PSP. While it's found quite a following over in Japan, this series has a much more cult status here in the States. Previous releases were found on GBA and SNES -- glad to see that it's finally coming to Sony's handheld.It's currently planned for a June 19th release in Japan. Check out a scan at Jeux-France.[Thanks, Kodiack!]
Heavy mechs and heaving chests: SRW OG Endless Frontier commercial
Though we still have two months before Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier ships to stores in Japan, Banpresto already has a commercial for the Monolith-Soft RPG at its official site. The 15-second spot has everything you'd expect from a Super Robot Wars title -- ornate mechas swinging swords and firing giant canons at each other.Oh, and at some point, KOS-MOS's (Xenosaga) top spills open, exposing her cleavage for no discernible reason. Perhaps it's a special attack? Does it consume SP? We might just have to wait until May 29th comes around to find out!%Gallery-14186%
Monolith Soft reveals a little more of Super Robot Wars
When Monolith Soft first announced their Infinite Frontier Super Robot Wars OG Saga, many people scratched their heads in puzzlement. An RPG? What happened to the long tradition of strategy games? Why Original Generation? While these screens -- many of which showed up in those scans, just not as clearly -- might not answer any questions, they do offer a deeper peek at the title. You can check them out in the gallery below.By "reveals" here, we really mean to say many of the characters are dressed in somewhat revealing outfits.%Gallery-14186%
Famitsu reveals Monolith Soft's new Super Robot Wars game
In a vaguely shocking turn of events, Nintendo's newly-acquired developer Monolith Soft has partnered with Banpresto to make a new entry in the long-running Super Robot Wars series of strategy RPGs. Oh, except this one isn't a strategy RPG! Infinite Frontier Super Robot Wars OG Saga is actually an RPG with some action elements. The game features traditional RPG combat, with parties, random encounters, and timing-based attacks.Since this is part of the "Original Generation" series and therefore contains Banpresto original robots, the licensing issues that keep most Super Robot Wars games in Japan don't apply to this one. Atlus published Original Generation 1 and 2 on the GBA in the U.S. The fact that it's being developed by a Nintendo-owned company doesn't hurt its chances either. Famitsu scans are available after the break.
