Answer me, Shinji! The School of Super Robot Wars MX!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Answer me, Shinji! The School of Super Robot Wars MX!

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AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ah, SRW MX. Probably one of the more entertaining stand-alones in the franchise. I'm all-in on this ride.

Also, I don't blame you for passing on the PSP port. Those load times and the HP bloat in the endgame are just not fun at all to deal with.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2016 23:09

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 20:24

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Booky posted:

Oh boy I'm so excited!! Is Prince of Darkness really infamous or something, though?

To give a longer explanation, Prince of Darkness was the movie follow-up to Martian Successor Nadesico and was intended to kick off a trilogy of movies. Sadly, the movie failed for a couple of reasons (spoiled just in case). First, the tone of the film is a more darker and less meta-comedy approach compared to the TV show. Secondly, it heavily relied on the viewer having played a PS1 game called Blank of Three Years (if I remember the title correctly) to explain what the hell is going on in the first place. Which not a lot of people did, plus Blank of Three Years never got an international release, leaving even more people out of the loop. Finally, as we'll see in the LP (or if you jump over to Brunom's SRW W LP), the main character is not Akito, but Ruri as a result of her popularity. Unfortunately, she really cannot carry the film on her own and the supporting cast members do little to compensate for this. Couple this with Akito's major shift into a brooding and emo personality, and Prince of Darkness falls apart at the seams. The only saving graces it has are some good animation and a good soundtrack, but overall it is a massive disappointment compared to the TV show.

E: fixed for spoilers.

AradoBalanga fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Jul 29, 2016

# ¿ Jul 29, 2016 06:03

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ardeem posted:

There was a Saturn game and a Dreamcast game, not PS1.

poo poo, I always forget which platform that game came out on.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2016 19:18

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

TheLastRoboKy posted:

Damnit Bright you're married stop ogling.

Bright may be a brilliant tactical commander, but when it comes to personal relationships (either familial or romantic), he's not so great on that front. See exhibit A, ditching Mirai on Earth to join a rebellion movement in Zeta; and also exhibit B, dealing with his son Hathaway in the post-CCA fallout.

But yeah, the Shangri-La gang. They really shine more in Alpha 2/3, where they can be squad filler or useful spirit bots (like Beecha being an Accelbot, for instance) for better units. That said, you'll still want to dump some levels into them because of reasons. No, not the Djieh-SR reasons. Something else altogether.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2016 03:48

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

ImpAtom posted:

A major problem with the ZZ Gang in pretty much any game is that they're always going to be fighting for high-quality MS with significantly better pilots. Even if you really want to use the Hyaku Shiki or Super Gundam there's probably several better pilots for them just sitting in your pilot ghetto.

Yeah, this is their other problem (as well as a problem with a lot of the UC Gundam series in SRW): being stuck in a giant Mexican stand off dueling for only a handful of units. I can see why Judau, the Purus, Haman and maybe Roux and the Nahel Argama usually get top billing from ZZ. It's a small effort to trim the fat and control how many people are on the bench twiddling their thumbs.

Speaking of pilot availability, I don't think we've had a game where Beecha gets a chance to captain the Nahel Argama (or another UC Gundam battleship) like in the show. They pretty much keep him as a pilot all the time. Hell, Torres has been given the captain's seat way back in 4 for the early game.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2016 04:15

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Seyser Koze posted:

Well, that and the fact that armor calculations were heavily borked in D, making any super robot a questionable investment.

Not that D wasn't awesome, because cca char on your side hell yes

And that was made possible through Roger Smith negotiations.

Which makes me wonder how Roger managed to appeal to Char's ego and get him to fully work with everyone.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2016 02:39

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

EclecticTastes posted:

I'm surprised to see all the love for the Dijeh SE-R. I mean, true, it's basically the only option if you intend to use all of the good Newtypes (keep in mind, this is a game in which the Hyaku Shiki is bad), but compared to the original Dijeh, it's kinda boring. Without the beam naginata, it's just not the same.

But, the ZZ representation is the first of many interesting quirks in this installment's design. My theory is that games like the Wonderswan titles/Impact, MX, and the early GBA games were made by a secondary team at Banpresto, while the main team worked on the Alpha series. The choices for pilots and units include some curveballs, like actually including Beecha, Mondo, and Elle, who by that point in the series were pretty much never used (because they weren't very good), and the Mega Rider, an oddball inclusion that really just provided fanservice. You might also notice that pretty much all of the franchise regulars are using different songs for their BGM than usual (EDIT: actually double-checking the updates whoops Grendizer and Zeta Gundam are coincidentally the biggest exceptions to this, but notice Judau in Space rather than Silent Voice or Anime Ja Nai). More subtly, you may notice that the level-up jingle is different from what's traditionally used, and enemy reinforcements aren't punctuated by a remix of Dreadful Visitor (these last couple traits are consistent across most of the games I'd attribute to the hypothetical second unit at Banpresto). Now, I don't think any of this stuff is bad, I just think it's interesting, and worth taking note of, for comparison with the rest of the series, which tends not to be quite so adventurous with its included series.

Oh, there's no mistaking it, there are indeed several teams at Banpresto, all with their own unique quirks/styles. The current breakdown is as such:

--Alpha team: The guys behind the Alpha games, as well as the Z games.
--OG team: The guys behind the Compact/Impact/MX games, who are now the people behind OG.
--First handheld team: Made Advance up until K, wherein the latter's failure led to internal changes.
--New handheld team: Brought on as fresh talent after K flopped; made L, UX, and BX.
--GC team: Made GC/XO, NEO, and OE. Their music staff are probably the biggest standouts, due to their remixes and more electronic sounds.

The OG team (the ones featured in this game) have one of the more easy to spot identifiers. The "bubble pop" effect for critical hits is perhaps their most noticeable fingerprint.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2016 22:13

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

EclecticTastes posted:

Huh, the rabbit hole went way deeper than I was expecting, thanks for the info. The OG and first handheld guys had a very strange aversion to the opening themes for Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger, I'm curious why that was.

When it comes to music choices, always assume it's due to licensing fees unless proven otherwise. That's how I approach the topic.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2016 22:55

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

quote:

Tap is the �worst� of the Dragonars

So you say, but Tap (and Kaine to a lesser extent) practically dead-lifted and carried my entire team through my one playthrough of Advance. He's definitely worth his weight.

All aside, yes the D-Team are probably one of the most reliable units you get in the game. While the D-3 will trail off compared to the other two, they are extremely versatile and are usually my go-to Reals for just about anything. Admittedly, that's because some of the other reals in this game are lackluster (as seen with the ZZ members not named Judau or Puru/Puru Two) or have limited usefulness. In short, to anyone reading this thread and considering playing the game, stick with the Dragonar Team. They will not let you down. Outside of the RNG deciding to spite you, that is. Plus, Dream Color Chaser is an amazing theme song.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2016 21:59

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Montegoraon posted:

If the Giganos know what NERV is, I'd think they'd also know that they would be as screwed as Earth if the Angels win.

Never underestimate villain overconfidence. Giganos probably thinks they can clean sweep the Earth forces, then pivot around and take out the Angels as a follow-up operation.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2016 05:14

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Dr Pepper posted:

Man Musashi you just can not catch a break.

It's pretty much Getter Robo law that Musashi and/or the Getter-3 line must get hosed over, no matter the continuity.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2016 19:45

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Spiritus Nox posted:

...On that note, what are people's favorite SRWs in this thread? Mine is definitely Z1, but I'll probably always hold J in a bit higher esteem than a lot of people do just because the translation patch made sure that it was my first one.

For me, it'd be W, L, and Z1.

W and L are both fun and entertaining stand alones (barring one or two stages that annoy me to death), while Z1 just manages to hit the right notes and act as a wonderful swan song to the PS2 era. Shame its sequels never managed to fully recapture that magic.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2016 18:56

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

That�s totally a Falken from Ace Combat � it�s just missing the nose laser!

Of course, TERRA is funded by Belka of all countries. Their diabolical reach knows no bounds! :argh:

All jokes aside, I do like Rahxephon. The show got some very nice touches with the aria SFX underscoring their attacks, so there is some love put into what is Rahxephon's only appearance in the franchise.

Ardeem posted:

Also, have Nadesico TV and Eva ever been in the same SRW game? I'm imagining Inez trying to get Ritsuko to sub for her in a Naze Nani segment.

Nope, they have not. This game is the only time Nadesico and Evangelion cross paths to date.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2016 02:46

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

I think RahXephon also showed up in SC2. No one plays SC2, though.

I wouldn't go so far as to say Char won in D, considering Axis never really fell onto Earth - the Ruina just phased the whole planet away before the drop succeeded. I haven't played that game yet but I imagine that made for a very awkward moment where Char, Amuro and Bright just sat there going "...Now what?".

And I reckon I oughta take a look at 64 at some point. I've always heard of so many interesting events that played out there (and also how that Soulgain-esque bot has "Getter 1 range" syndrome).

I think Scramble Commander is considered "that side thing we tried twice and don't really talk about anymore". But, the sub-series matters enough that SEED Destiny's appearance in SC2 is considered its big SRW debut instead of Z1. Scramble Commander is weird like that.

As for D, it's more like Char got ready to drop Axis, and then grew several brain cells. He basically realizes that instead of taunting Amuro, Char needs to take him out of the equation to prevent any meddling. And he does this by managing to keep Amuro and Bright under house arrest, then tries to drop Axis. Cue the Ruina phasing the Earth away and Char probably thinking of how to explain to Amuro how his grand plan hosed up without the latter dying of laughter.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2016 17:48

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ginga, get your Gundam tropes right. Vega's clearly copying Zechs Merquise, not Char!

# ¿ Aug 18, 2016 19:57

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Grashbar posted:

Also geez, Hugo, chill.

Hugo's actions make a little more sense if you look at him having a severe case of PTSD (as a result of the dream we got snippets of) and, like many protagonists with troubled pasts/traumatic past events, being very bad at communicating this to others. Having to encounter the sources of said PTSD again is not going to put Hugo in a positive mood.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2016 20:58

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

: Let’s do this, Blue Tri-Stars!
: No, no, Judau. They’re called the Practice Squad.

Oh Judau, you lovable dork. :allears:

# ¿ Aug 27, 2016 00:01

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

And thus we conclude episode 1 of "The Biggest rear end in a top hat in the World".

Stay tuned for the premiere of our newest show, "Duke Fleed: Horse Whisperer", coming up next!

# ¿ Aug 28, 2016 20:08

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Section Z posted:

Yeah but Asuka isn't stuck in support duty either

On the other hand, Asuka does have to deal with her unit running out of power quickly after performing a certain action.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2016 00:45

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Spiritus Nox posted:

I've never really cared for Zeorymer, honestly. Granted, my only exposure to it is J, and that wasn't a particularly well written SRW, but even aside from that it sounds like the show is mostly just a series of one on ones with the Haudragons that tend to finish with EVIL MASAKI coming out and doing Meioh. And Meioh isn't even that great a finishing move, Zeorymer just fistbumps with itself and the enemy explodes, really.

Zeorymer is a case of "the source material is super bad, but the robot itself works wonders in the game". And that's before we get into the equally cringe-worthy original manga Zeorymer is based off of, which has almost nothing to do with the OVA outside of the robots and a few characters.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2016 01:10

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

Why is it that Operation Yashima always gets fuckhuge missions?

My money is on whatever licensing deal Gainax made with Banpresto, it had the following clause: "Everything regarding the 5th Angel and Operation Yashima gets priority billing within the limits of the game budget. No questions asked."

And here, we have probably the most cleverly planned out adaptation of it. And all it needed was one of Dendoh's episodes riding shotgun.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2016 22:15

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

ImpAtom posted:

Why would you NOT give Vega a flying bike, I don't understand?

Maybe Brunom's waiting on another equip part to make her even more hilariously broken? :shrug:

# ¿ Sep 2, 2016 21:11

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Materant posted:

I can't say that they'll make an appearance in OGs, personally; the Gespenst Haken was a special concession because of Haken and Aschen's very explicit tie to the Shadow Mirrors (and because it was an actual plot point from Endless Frontier) . It would be an incredibly difficult sell for Reiji and Xiaomu to suddenly have twenty-meter tall robots custom-built for them.

Plus, Reiji and Xiamou are almost certainly covered by the Namco x Capcom license. So, in order to use them in anything would require the SRW staff to walk to another floor of the building to discuss licensing particulars with the Namco x Capcom/Project X Zone people. Whereas with Haken and Aschen, those two are straight-up Banpresto Originals and don't require the SRW staff to do the Featured Series Licensing Tango^TM to use them in projects.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2016 03:41

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

EclecticTastes posted:

It's super annoying how Evangelion never has good BGMs despite having some rad themes, it's like how Zeta Gundam never uses "mizu no hoshi e ai wo komete" and instead goes for boring-as-poo poo MS in the Flash and G Gundam settles for King of Hearts (it's okay, but remember the alternatives are Flying in the Sky and Trust You Forever). And then you get stuff like Gaogaigar in W or Macross Frontier where they just load up the soundtrack with great stuff. I assume the difference is that in the latter cases, the license holders for the music are giving them a good deal (not surprising in Gaogaigar's case, since all the music there was written by Friend of the Series Masaaki Endoh).

More or less, yes. Zeta Gundam in particular is a doozy because apparently the rights holder to both OP songs is an American composer (or production company, I forget which) who is a tremendously petty rear end in a top hat when it comes to the rights and has made it clear he's sitting on them until he's six feet in the ground. A Portable had to sub out the Zeta Gundam OP music that was in the original GBA game for one of the overused BGM tracks because of this mess. The only explanation I can think of as to why Lantis Records got the chance to do covers for the 2009 Gundam tribute album was because they sent out a dump truck full of money to the rights holder and it was enough to win him over.

Music rights in Japan are an abyss of red tape and strict dealings, which affects things like SRW's music catalog. As much as the RIAA here in the U.S. are shitlords when it comes to music rights, their Japanese counterparts are just as bad, if not worse in some cases.

Montegoraon posted:

There's just a pile of motorcycles at the bottom of the sea, isn't there?

Not shown: Vega putting added security on her own motorcycle to prevent Akira from "borrowing" it in a crisis.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2016 21:46

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

That's in this version, too... though I always forget because I don't think Scan does that anywhere else!

J's version of Scan also shows retreat HP amounts and items/money held as well.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2016 03:16

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Rigged Death Trap posted:

I thought SRW licensing in japan works upon good relations and a metric ton of gentleman's agreements.
Also on VAs who fuckin love their job and the game.

The voice actors part is definitely true, but there are some actual issues with music and/or featured series that not even a truckload of gentleman's agreements can patch up. See: the Giant Robo license and its own flavor of clusterfuck.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2016 22:29

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I completely forgot that Kouji's outfit was a choice you could make. It's an interesting touch that adds a little bit to this game's overall look and feel.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2016 23:51

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

MonsieurChoc posted:

Just invent Shin Grendizer to go with Shin Mazinger.

IIRC, the Shin Mazinger Zero manga did do something along those lines. An in-universe continuity reboot where Kouji got amnesia (while Sayaka and others remembered the past) and instead married Maria Grace Fleed.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2016 19:29

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ashram posted:

In what timeline? The main one?

I don't recall, but I think it was after the manga adapted Great Mazinger's plot. Just remember browsing around /m/ a while back and stumbling across the images.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2016 23:16

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Another little touch here: the Houkushin pilots barely had any depth in PoD proper, yet MX opts to give them all unique portraits to help them stand out. Although that's probably because PoD's villain roster would be only represented by like, two dudes we haven't met yet, and only one of those characters has any meat to their character.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2016 02:10

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ardeem posted:

There is nothing short of pulling an SRW-W and bringing Gai back to life that could fix Prince of Darkness, we just want to know WHY IS IT SO BAD?

W did a little more than just bring Gai back to life. It also rewrote the TV series' ending episode to make it PoD's proper ending. That was probably the best change that could have been done, in my opinion.

As for why PoD is bad, well there's a few reasons. The biggest one is the massive tone shift from the TV series. Nadesico TV was a mix of parody and meta commentary on the giant robot genre, and (outside of a few times) was generally a comedic series. Prince of Darkness (and what little I've read about Blank of Three Years) shifts into super serious drama that ultimately falls flat thanks to pacing and the next issue, characterization. All but a handful of the returning characters in the film are rewritten completely to be polar opposites of what they were like in the TV series (to the point you could argue the changes count as character assassination for a few), and the new characters for the film are bland, especially the villains. Finally, PoD was written with the intention of being part one of a trilogy. Unfortunately it bombed and the other two parts, that probably would have explained a bunch of crap in PoD, vanished into the ether with no information on what the follow up films would have covered. So, at the end of the day, Prince of Darkness stands as an example of how not to follow up a comedy show with a sequel movie that changes almost everything.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2016 04:48

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Spiritus Nox posted:

Was Linebarrels actually finished, though? Because SRW obviously isn't scared to give a series a new ending to make it fit the setting or theming of the game better, but I don't know if it's ever taken a completely unfinished thing like Rebuild of Evangelion and given it an actual ending before the actual writer did.

Aside from Linebarrels, Evangelion TV had not finished its broadcast run by the time SRW F came out, resulting in a slightly different ending.

And then there's NEO, which managed to cobble together enough material to make the canceled fourth Eldoran show, Daiteioh, into a playable unit complete with its own upgraded form.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2016 22:43

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

EclecticTastes posted:

This is actually untrue, SRW F came out in September of 1997, while Evangelion ended in March of 1996. Any alterations were likely early attempts by Banpresto to rehabilitate NGE, an art they'd perfect by the time of the Alpha games.

Crap, I keep thinking Evangelion was 1997, not 1995-1996.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2016 00:20

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

: You! Mikelo Chariot!!

I could have sworn it was spelled Michelo Chariot.

Yep, double-checking a few official places has "Michelo" as the spelling of his name.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2016 03:54

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

Odd... I could swear I saw it spelled with a K but, yes, the wiki has it with CH.

Maybe I just remember hearing the name and defaulted to the K.

Either way, it's changed.

It seems to be the kana character for that part of his name, which usually has a "ke" sound to it. Except in Michelo's case where it's a "che" sound, probably (in my opinion) to keep with the Italian background by being some weird shortening of Michelangelo.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2016 04:10

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ashsaber posted:

Spliting the units from one series across the route splits? Yeah that seems weird. Has there been any other SRW that does something like that?

A few times. The last big route split in D has the Ra Calium going off to do Godmars stuff, while everyone else related to CCA are off wrapping up the Macross 7 plot. IIRC, Akatsuki and Erina do this in J for a bit (after it's been revealed he's Nergal's elusive president) where they become window dressing for the Archangel before returning to the Nadesico.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2016 22:05

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Alacron posted:

So, Dorchenov seems to be shaping up to be the Ghiren of Dragonar, as far as I can tell.

On a scale of Space Hitler to Djibril, how comically is this guy?

He really loves to send his opponents to the Netherlands, if that helps.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2016 23:39

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Blaze Dragon posted:

Banpresto should allow us to forget Prince of Darkness ever happened. It isn't even fun to mock like SEED Destiny, it's just a gigantic piece of poo poo that should've never existed and was made by people who completely failed to understand the original show and somehow wrote something that followed everything Nadesico stood against.

Years later, Eureka Seven AO would do the same loving thing, but you know what doesn't appear in SRW so we can safely ignore forever? Yeah.

Prince of Darkness is so bad even the Latin American dub just...didn't give a poo poo. Several name mispronunciations, a change in VAs IIRC, and even some lines that weren't translated at all, and while I watched the only thing I thought was "this is still more effort than this poo poo deserves". Yes.

gently caress Prince of Darkness. At least W let Gai survive and actually take part in it unlike actual canon, here we don't even have that.

I'd argue the best thing W did in its adaptation of PoD was actually bumping the "Inez is Ai" reveal from the end of the TV show to the end of the movie, because that change actually gives closure to events and wraps up a few character arcs much nicer due to being placed after the depressing events of PoD. Granted, Akito still waits until the second-to-last stage of W to join up (spoilers: he's going to do relatively the same thing here in MX), but at the end of the day, I give the writing staff for SRW W a lot of credit for taking the shows they were given and managing to create a good story out of it. Including taking a bunch of sub-par content and making them work brilliantly.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2016 02:42

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

Didn�t Kouji actually end up hooking up with Maria instead in some manga? Mazinger Zero?

Yep, it was the Shin Mazinger Zero manga. Basically, from what I've heard about it, an in-universe soft reboot or some other major event caused Kouji to succumb to amnesia and move away from the main cast. When Sayaka finds him again on a farm, Kouji reveals he's married to Maria but has no memory of his past adventures. This leads into an adaptation of Grendizer's story, wherein Daisuke is a lot more reclusive compared to his classic incarnation.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2016 05:01

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 20:24

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Synthbuttrange posted:

Cross action going on and the Evas dont muscle in? For shame.

This is still early on in Evangelion TV, when the religious stuff was rather light and/or subtle, and the show was more a mix of teen angst and serious drama with some comedy here and there. It's understandable they'd not raise an eyebrow at Combination Cross.

Or they heard "Cross" and assumed Daisuke was saying "Combination X" because Japan does that a lot for some reason.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2016 20:15

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Answer me, Shinji! The School of Super Robot Wars MX!

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