Thrill as fearsomely cute robots smack the crap out of one another to save the universe!
Super Robot Taisen W is the latest in that line of games, and also happens to be the first of the series on the Nintendo DS. Unlike many games before it, there is no distinct storyline that it continues, instead being a stand-alone game like the previous Game Boy Advance games in this series. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a plot of some sort.
You play as Kazuma Ardygun, the only son of the Ardygun family. He travels around with his family in the Valstork and pilots the transforming mecha Valhawk, and his entire family are members of the organization known as ‘Trailer,’ essentially a group of space-traders.
As the story progresses, Kazuma and the player will run into the biggest draw to the Super Robot Taisen series: interacting with animated franchises from Japan. In fact, there are several franchises here, stretching from the 1970’s all the way through modern times; some of the shows featured actually premiering for the first time. In fact, you’ll run into characters and mecha from the following shows… -Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
-Gundam Seed (and side stories Astray and X Astray)
-King of Braves: GaoGaiGar (and its sequel, GGG Final)
-Full Metal Panic! (Including the sequel OVA Fumoffu and The Second Raid)
-Martian Successor Nadesico (and the movie, Prince of Darkness)
-Tekkaman Blade (and Tekkaman Blade II)
-Detonator Orgun (almost unknown in Japan and the US)
-Mazinkaiser (both the OVA and it’s movie)
-Getter Robo (No series used)
-GoLion
Now, here’s the funny thing about that last one. You see, GoLion isn’t all that popular in Japan, where it was overshadowed by other shows like Getter Robo, the Mazinger Family of shows and even the Romantic Trilogy. However, it has a cult-following in the United States and Canada. Name not ringing a bell? Maybe you know it better by its US-name: Voltron: Defender of the Universe.
That’s right, Voltron is in this game. If you were a child when this series was on TV, like I was, you’re probably rejoicing.
Either way, the game is split into two halves, each with 27 stages to run through. However, the amount each series is involved in those stages easily varies. For the first half of the game, shows like Mazinkaiser and GaoGaiGar take a major focus, with Detonator Orgun, Tekkaman Blade and FMP taking a solid backup for the plot. In fact, Gundam Wing only has two stages to focus on its plot – and even then, it has to share those stages with other shows!
A similar thing happens in the second half of the game, where GaoGaiGar again takes a major focus of the game, as does Gundam Seed. However, the main focus of Seed this time is NOT on Kira and company. Instead, focus shifts to the side stories Astray and X Astray, something that thrilled me to no end. Detonator Orgun returns as a solid sub-plot, and brings along Tekkaman Blade II and Martian Successor Nadesico’s movie.
However, when it comes down to it, many shows just don’t get that large a focus. As I mentioned before, Gundam Wing is almost ignored; seemingly there to fill the role of ‘extra cannon fodder.’ GoLion also suffers from this, though it actually receives some decent stages of its own. Getter Robo, unfortunately, has almost no plot in this game.
For some reason, the creators of this game decided to ignore the idea of the Shin Getter Robo having one of several plots, instead tying it in with the Mazinkaiser plotline. This really makes the poor Getter machine seem ignored and unloved despite being a fan-favorite.
Also worth mentioning is that, though Detonator Orgun has a solid plot influence, the show it comes from was only 6 hours long and the only playable character from the series (Orgun himself) does not become playable until the second half of the game. Yeah.
Regardless, this game remains a solid and fun one – though fans of some shows may find themselves frustrated when their favorite show gets less screen time than a minor character from another show.
Now, of course, all this fan-favoritism and anime licensing would be worthless unless the game played well. Luckily, it does. The touch screen is used to deliver all commands, much like Advance Wars DS before it. The controls are solid and easy to use with only minor flaws, but it sadly remains much faster to just plain use the buttons and d-pad to control everything like in the previous SRT games.
As for combat itself, it’s rather simple. At the start of a stage, the player selects up to a pre-determined number of units to deploy (sometimes, units will deploy automatically, preventing you from deploying the full amount, other times not), and then move them through the areas. Much like in Advance Wars, the player and the computer will take their turns; sometimes even a third force will join in, and even NPCs will join your side as well (your forces and NPCs take the color of blue, the main enemy force takes the color of red and the third forces take a yellow color).
A selected unit has a few choices handed to it, as well. The player can have the unit move, attack (if anyone’s within range, and the attacks will also have a selection – some requiring certain things met before use) or cast certain spirit spells (such as raising evasion, or lowering the amount of damage received).
Key units will also have the ability to purge some parts of their mech, others can repair and replenish allied units. Some can transform into multiple forms, and still others might have some more unique abilities – like combining with a nearby unit to create an even stronger ally.
Once the player is done doing what he wishes to do with his turn, the computer then has its turn as trying to decrease your numbers – though with a much more limited choice before it. In fact, except for rare occasions, the computer can only move and attack.
I know this all sounds complicated, but it makes more than enough sense once you start playing.
As the enemies get stronger, so must your own units. On top of being able to upgrade your own units and equipping parts to them, even the pilots are customizable. With each level gained by a pilot, like in a traditional RPG, pilot points are gained to be placed into one of 6 areas:
-Melee (making close-range attacks do more damage)
-Shooting (making long-range attacks do more damage)
-Defense (lets you take more damage)
-Skill (the chance of using a special skill in combat goes up)
-Dodge (the chance of evasion goes up)
-Accuracy (the chance of hitting goes up)
In fact, this system can be considered slightly broken with some units. If a character can dodge well enough, then all their pilot points can be dumped into something like melee – which makes them a real monster out on the field.
Pilots can also be given skills that are picked up during battle, such as the ability to help out an ally in attacking, defend an ally from an enemy attack, or even attack multiple enemies in a single turn!
Though the game is far deeper than this, it’s about all I’m able to describe properly in a review without going insanely in-depth and making this boring. Though there are some flaws in how the game is laid out overall, and how some shows are almost completely ignored (not to mention the game is actually on the easy side of things overall), it’s worth a 9 in the long run; easily well-done.
When it comes down to visuals, this is quite possibly one of the best-looking games in the series, and is easily the best-looking handheld SRT game in existence. The 2D sprites are fluid and are animated just right to look almost like they do in their respective shows. On top of all that, you might even catch moments of the anime itself slid into an attack animation – such as the unfolding of Wing Zero’s wings.
One thing also extremely unique about this game is the ‘dynamic kill.’ While it’s been around in SRT games for a while (SRT 3, at least), the sheer amount of dynamic kills here is insane. Essentially, a dynamic kill is a different set of animation played when an attack kills an enemy, rather than damaging them – often very flashy and can even be a wonder to behold. Each mecha in this game will usually have at least one dynamic kill, but units like the Sandrock and the ultimate upgrade for your main character often have almost their entire attack list consisting of dynamic kill options.
Quite frankly, this game is beautiful in motion – it gets a 10 from me, no contest.
The music and effects in this game are also near-perfect. From the sounds of the beam saber on a Gundam being activated to the sounds of battle, almost everything is taken directly from the shows these mecha were in. And the music is just as fantastic. The only way the background music could get any better would be to use the actual .mp3s instead of creating facsimiles for the game to use – though many of them sound near-perfect anyhow. In the place of vocals for those songs that should have them, a second set of tunes belt out notes that approximate the same sound… but are just slightly off.
And in those rare cases (GGG’s two themes, the theme of Gekiganger 3 and GoLion’s theme), some vocals do wind up making it into a song or two. However, the words do sound slightly muted compared to the music, which is unfortunate. Also, it should be noted that some of the music used just does not make for good battle music, such as ‘Find the Way’ from Gundam Seed.
Despite those few flaws, the selection here is just wonderful. In fact, I often find myself just listening to some of the music when I’m bored. Another 10.
Replay value is, sadly, a slightly different story. While there are branching paths to take, the end result for the story is the same for the most part. However, there are some stages that will be new on the second play through – re-arranging some of the old stages more than a little, which is refreshing.
On top of that, there is a store available to players starting on the second time through, selling new parts and units not before available for use! However, the units are almost useless, seeing how they’re only from Full Metal Panic and Gundam Seed. While the FMP units are welcome, only one of them is worth buying (and there’s only one available of each, to boot), the Gundam Seed units are ultimately almost completely inferior to the units you wind up receiving in the game… to say nothing of the fact that you can’t use them in the first half of the game anyhow.
This is really the only area of the game where it falls flat, but the ability to play through new events and purchase some really devastating items is more than enough for me to give them an 8.
Finally, I really love this game. It contains my favorite Gundam series: Seed Astray. I honestly recommend checking it out if you’re a fan of Gundam. On top of that, literal almost-unknowns like GoLion/Voltron and Detonator Orgun also get to show up for once – and in Orgun’s case, make a wonderful showing overall. Really, though I have some complaints with the game, it’s wonderful. A 10 for my own personal bias.
If you can import games, don’t mind looking through a few translations and FAQs, and love strategy RPGs, this game is for you. If you like at least one of these shows, you might want to consider picking up the game – especially if you’re a fan of something like GaoGaiGar or Gundam Seed Astray, which receive major focus.
Easily, this is one of the best strategy RPGs out there – which is a shame, because it probably won’t reach the US shores, thanks to licensing issues with all the different franchises.
Final Score:
9.5 out of 10