Playing a Super Robot Wars game and binge watching the included anime...

[Isegrim]

I never played a Super Robot Wars game before. The closest was Namco x Capcom but I already played a lot of the participating characters in their respective game.

I just started playing Super Robot Taisen J on the GBA and more than half of the cast, I have no idea except for Combattler V, Mazinger Z and Voltes V (I only played it because of the latter.). The plot kept jumping all over the place until I started watching the participating anime and only then did it made sense due to the reenactments of key episodes of certain anime. I had to watch several episodes of Martian Successor Nadesico, a bit of Tekkaman Blade and I'm now trying to watch the first events of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. If I didn't, I'd probably try to skip the dialogue hurriedly.

But...ugh...I almost dread seeing the next stage when a new character/anime series is introduced.

It is rewarding and fun though but doing it like this is going to be a very slow slog. Did any of you guys tried to do the same thing.

 

[Pearly]

I played, finished and absolutely loved ZOE fist of mars on the GBA back when I was a kid, I later discovered this was from the super robot wars devs and the story was amazing, like 3 seasons of a serious dark mech drama with heavy psychology elements(post eva syndrome), but I loved it. The other mash up games are good but there's only so coherent and interesting they can make a crossover story and I find their more closed titles have great stories.

Gameplay is usually pretty similar though. Many aspects of gundam unicorn and gundam NT were straight lifted from ZOE fist of mars, shamelessly almost.

I will say that trying to keep up with everything in the SRW series would be an intense task after so many years of all these different series, I'd say play the ones that have series you adore, assuming it's translated or otherwise available in English and play just those. There's no way anyone likes all the series in these games. Hideaki Anno was heavily involved in the story aspect of Alpha for example, there was even a mini documentary of his involvement in the game. He made sure Shinji got a crush on Minmei, has Asuka being oddly infatuated with Char as he appeared in Zeta gundam and also wanted Char to use the EVA 02, but the devs told him they can't do that, he got annoyed and asked why, and he was told that due to licensing reasons, Char can only appear in the mechs form his respective series. He essentially wanted to make the game his fan fiction based on his own series which is amusing, but also interesting as he is a pretty good writer for the most part.

He obviously felt quite limited by his experience on alpha and didn't ever get involved in another SRW after this. This game has still not been translated into English and I am still waiting on that one, it's sort of the holy grail when it comes to the story and crossover interactions being apparently S-Tier. That all said, Anno really did not like being told no, and could be very petty. That usually worked out well for him back then, but the SRW devs hands were tied as it involved a lot of legal IP related issues for everything and anything they did.

Some people will say Z because it had the most series in it, as opposed to the most series with the most coherent and best story.

 

[Rakoniomm]

I've always been interested in trying the series it looks cool and, it reminds me of Sakura Taisen minus the dating sim elements. but I believe the gameplay will be much better than Sakura Taisen cuz MAN the 1st battle system was very rough it felt like Fire Emblem_Beta 1.02 or something

 

[Billy Pecos]

Wouldn't that burn you out pretty fast,though?There are many series involved in each SRW game,frequently stopping the game,to watch a few episodes of each anime,sounds rather tiresome to me.
Yes,the games may contain key story moments from some mecha anime,but they're not vital to the game's story,they are used as filler battles and/or as a nod to the fans of the series.
If a set of characters or a mech design looked interesting to me,i wrote down the name of the anime,so i could watch it,at some point,after finishing the game.For example,i had no idea about Nadesico or Brave king gaogaigar(what a name),i discovered them thanks to the games.
Since u are on the gba,u should play the 2 SRW original generation games.They contain none of the familiar mech series,due to licensing shenanigans outside of japan,but they're excellent games.

 

[newtype711]

There is over 50 years of anime history in the Super Robot Wars video games. Trying to bidge all of that is not really a good idea for 99% of people. Just play whichever game you want (the games themselves are mostly the same since the SNES days) and after you beat one watch the series of the characters that you liked the most.

Example: the first SRW game we play was T(ps4). Went through the story and was interested in the characters from Aura Battler Dunbine, and loved the theme for the Gunbusters mechs. Watched both after beating the games and was happy as hell that we did.

p.s Fist of Mars (gba) was FIRE shame we did not know about when it came out, otherwise we would have an original copy or two

 

[Zeo]

Is better to play the game then see their material or you will only get a very bad experience

Not to mention some of the series have other videogames in the middle

The best example is Lord of the Elementals. Unless you play the game and a SRW you wont understand Masaki and Ryune whole story with Shu

The good thing is that Lord of the Elements comes with a resumed story of that game key plots that you can see if you want

Just with J, Alpha, W and the others that got an english translation you have tons of stuff to see

Not counting if you decided to dive into the Gundam universe with those manga only stories or videogame only characters

 

[Tenshishi]

J was a big gateway for me as well!

I tried the game out at first because I absolutely love Mobile Fighter G Gundam, but aside from that, I knew I hated SEED (sorry, as a big Gundam fan I just prefer so much to it that I find it pointless), I knew Tekkaman Blade from Tatsunoko vs. CAPCOM... And that was it.

Since playing it, I got SUPER into Blue Comet SPT Layzner (which was a huge inspiration on Zone of the Enders, was kind of fun to learn that in reverse), Tekkaman Blade, and Brain Powerd. I also really enjoyed the Hades Project Zeorymer OVA!

As someone who owns a hard drive full of anime, it also motivated me to get the complete Mazinger, Combattler V, Voltes V, Martian Successor Nadesico, and Super Beast Machine God Dancouga saved onto it; which helped me get more into mecha as a whole as I now have a whole bunch more of it than I started with, and not just the stuff directly referenced in J.

However, no SRW has ever featured Megas XLR, so it's a terrible series and I hate it. The end.

 

[Isegrim]

Just to clear up things, I'm not watching a whole 50 episode series between chapters.

I've only been watching key episodes usually the first ones in the series or events that the game portrays. Wikipedia can also be a big help in case I can't or don't want to watch something. Some faqs can also hint where something was lifted from.

If I was more deeply acquainted with these shows, maybe I (or maybe someone else already did) could compile a recommendation watch list for certain games, like how comic collectors would post a reading list for comic events that cycle through several series. (Crisis of infinite Earths, The Infinity Gauntlet saga). I'm more of a comic reader though and this is my first playthrough of a SRW game.

If anything else, I'll just consult wikipedia or fandom sites. Thanks for the game recommendations.

 

[Tsukishima]

I never played a Super Robot Wars game before. The closest was Namco x Capcom but I already played a lot of the participating characters in their respective game.

I just started playing Super Robot Taisen J on the GBA and more than half of the cast, I have no idea except for Combattler V, Mazinger Z and Voltes V (I only played it because of the latter.). The plot kept jumping all over the place until I started watching the participating anime and only then did it made sense due to the reenactments of key episodes of certain anime. I had to watch several episodes of Martian Successor Nadesico, a bit of Tekkaman Blade and I'm now trying to watch the first events of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. If I didn't, I'd probably try to skip the dialogue hurriedly.

But...ugh...I almost dread seeing the next stage when a new character/anime series is introduced.

It is rewarding and fun though but doing it like this is going to be a very slow slog. Did any of you guys tried to do the same thing.

Serious kudos to going through that kind of prospect, i'm personally taking my time with watching mecha anime in preparation to know everything wholesale for whichever entry i'll play the first time (though it really is tantalizing, especially when i get lost in looking at screenshots and seeing all these screenshots of who's playable ... the Mazinger and Getter Robo lover in me is dying to raise those units to max level and go to town with them.)

J was a big gateway for me as well!

I tried the game out at first because I absolutely love Mobile Fighter G Gundam, but aside from that, I knew I hated SEED (sorry, as a big Gundam fan I just prefer so much to it that I find it pointless), I knew Tekkaman Blade from Tatsunoko vs. CAPCOM... And that was it.

Since playing it, I got SUPER into Blue Comet SPT Layzner (which was a huge inspiration on Zone of the Enders, was kind of fun to learn that in reverse), Tekkaman Blade, and Brain Powerd. I also really enjoyed the Hades Project Zeorymer OVA!

As someone who owns a hard drive full of anime, it also motivated me to get the complete Mazinger, Combattler V, Voltes V, Martian Successor Nadesico, and Super Beast Machine God Dancouga saved onto it; which helped me get more into mecha as a whole as I now have a whole bunch more of it than I started with, and not just the stuff directly referenced in J.

However, no SRW has ever featured Megas XLR, so it's a terrible series and I hate it. The end.

I've always been so depressed personally that no SRW has featured Zone of the Enders yet. I know they made Fist of Mars which i do plan to play, but yknow, i want to see Jehuty with all these other amazing creations and series.

 

[Isegrim]

Serious kudos to going through that kind of prospect, i'm personally taking my time with watching mecha anime in preparation to know everything wholesale for whichever entry i'll play the first time (though it really is tantalizing, especially when i get lost in looking at screenshots and seeing all these screenshots of who's playable ... the Mazinger and Getter Robo lover in me is dying to raise those units to max level and go to town with them.)

I'm doing the same thing with Voltes V, my favorite childhood anime.

I'm happy discovering new interesting shows like Nadesico and Tekkaman Blade. The only thing I have trouble with is Brain Powerd which is annoying to watch but unfortunately, is a major part of my current game's storyline and the most confusing to understand so watching it is practically required reading.

 

[Tenshishi]

The only thing I have trouble with is Brain Powerd which is annoying to watch but unfortunately, is a major part of my current game's storyline and the most confusing to understand so watching it is practically required reading.

One thing might help you to keep it all in context - the show was created as a sort of anti-Evangelion, and thus is centered around the concept of a fundamental celebration of life.

The Brains, like Evas, are living things; but unlike Evas, that means they are very sentient and want to experience life just as their pilots do, and therefore have normal emotions like fear and joy. The female protagonist is immediately aware of this fact, while the male protagonist will take some time throughout the story to come to full grips with it.