For those that played the original Armored Core back in 1997, they may remember with trepidation the final mission their Raven’s mecha had to undertake. For those that don’t, it was a massive level, so big in fact that it had to be split in half and have the player restocked and repaired mid-mission. It also had the trickiest level design in the entire game, with the player having to negotiate floating platforms in a never-ending tower of guaranteed death to those that lacked the necessary AC piloting skills. Then there was Nineball.

Nineball, and its pilot Hustler One, were listed as the top ranking AC and Raven combo and from the various e-mails received from enemy Ravens and greedy corporations, Nineball was a terrifying and truly formidable opponent. In the last mission you faced him, twice. Many who have played Armored Core will know the significance of Nineball and that of defeating the bugger. Thus in Armored Core 2 a new term was introduced into the world setting, given to pilots of exceptional skill and design prowess; Ninebreaker. It is this terminology, this legacy, even, that From Software has built their latest traditional Armored Core game around. The term is also fitting to the fact that this is the ninth iteration in the series.

One of the most renowned and influential mecha of all time, that of Tetsujin 28-go, has been given the life size treatment in Kobe. The reason that it’s been erected in Kobe rather than Tokyo is because the creator of the series, Mitsuteru Yokoyama, was born there.

Tetsujin 28-go is also the first real Japanese mecha series, pre-dating the likes of Gundam by almost quarter of a century. Naturally, the series has seen many remakes and sequels over the years, with a new CG film very likely on the way courtesy of Imagi (the same studio behind the upcoming Astro Boy remake).

Personally, my favourite interpretation was the 2004 TV series, as that retained the stylistic overtones from the 50′s and 60′s whilst keeping contemporary production values in terms of the animation. It was also decidedly bleak in terms of the narrative, much more so than the original. The 2004 series also received a video game tie-in (which we’ve reviewed). Interestingly, Tetsujin 28-go has never been featured in a Super Robot Wars game.

Unlike the recent and temporary RX-78-2 Gundam that was in Tokyo, this statue will be a permanent fixture next to Shin-Nagata Station.

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Back in July of 2000, the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park opened Gundam The Ride. You were escorted onto a Federation transport and carried through the final battle of the One Year War, A Baoa Qu, by two chirpy GM pilots. The ride was full of wondrous little references which all zoomed past at lightning speed.

A few years later, in 2003, Bandai released Meguriai Sora on the PlayStation 2 (this was later released abroad as Encounters in Space). Within one of the latter campaign levels there was a nice little reference to the ride, as you encounter the transport and the GM’s in the middle of a Dolos class ship. Naturally, very few in the Western gaming press picked up on this rather cool reference.

Unfortunately, the ride closed down in July 2007 and was replaced by Gundam Crisis. Thankfully, someone managed to capture the ride for posterity before it shut down. So I’ve linked that below as well as a capture from the game that featured the cameo from the ride.

Enjoy!

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To the uninitiated the Super Robot Wars games appear to be a terrifying endeavour. Language barrier aside there is an immense cultural chasm present for anyone that didn’t grow up watching anime in Japan as a child. Half a century of mechanical nuance to be exact. All this has very interesting functional ramifications as Super Robot Wars Z is a turn based strategy game, much like chess in fact. Except it’s chess with close to a thousand possible pieces, almost all of which are unique, with gaming idiosyncrasies borne out of the parent anime series that birthed them. Daunting doesn’t quite cover it really.

Super Robot Wars Z is the final PlayStation 2 game in the series and unlike the Original Generation (or OG) games, Z is very much a continuation of the premise where disparate mecha from various anime series effectively high five for the win. However, despite being a follow on from the engorged excess that was Alpha 3, Z is very much a crafted game; from the pristine battle animations to the deeply layered strategy.

In December of 1999, SEGA released a nigh-on arcade perfect port on their ill-fated Dreamcast for Virtual On Oratorio Tangram. Like the Saturn port of its precursor, it also featured a bespoke controller to emulate the arcade version’s original setup: a pair of twinsticks. It was critically lauded by almost all Japanese (and many Western) publications and did quite well in terms of sales too.

The thing with the Virtual On series though is that they’ve always been focused around human multiplayer. In that regard they are practically peerless. As to their singleplayer “experience”; it’s almost been an oversight.

Even Hajime Katoki’s mecha design was forcibly restrained for the various Virtuaroids, as the 1995 original had very stringent polygon counts which set the aesthetic. The first two Virtual On games in fact are almost exercises in functional minimalism.

Yet Virtual On, as a series, has had a remarkable amount of design-based progeny over the years but in the case of Oratorio Tangram such “offspring” would only be a few years away.

Cue Hideo Kojima…

How can anyone explain the satisfaction of creating a beautifully balanced mechanical avatar, taking it into the thick of combat and yet returning from the battlefield unscathed? Bathing in your freshly acquired and truly magnificent skill, you watch as charred wreckage surrounds your astounding creation. Gaming empowerment doesn’t really come any better than this.

Armored Core Nexus is the eighth game in a franchise that has lasted over seven years and survived two generations of console warfare. Moreover, it is a franchise that has endured purely on its own contextual merit. Nexus is, in many ways, a celebration of this series’ success.

There are particular anime heirlooms that require a certain type of respect and admiration, especially when licensed merchandising invariably raises its head. Choujikyuu Yosai Macross is such an heirloom. Originally aired in 1982 as a 36 episode TV series, then as an adapted movie in 1984, Studio Nue’s epic-yet-human space opera is greatly revered.

It also marked the creative debut of one Shouji Kawamori: a then meek mecha designer, he penned the timeless design of the VF-1 “Valkyrie”. Timeless in the way it looked like a contemporary F-14 fighter jet but also seamlessly transformed into a giant mecha to combat equally giant aliens out to destroy the human race. Unsurprisingly, there have been many Macross videogames over the 20-year period since Macross was created. Many have been utterly dire. A select few haven’t.

Normally, the mere mention of SEGA-AM2 indicates a project of austere quality, after all AM2 truly have an enviable gaming portfolio. Bandai realised this state of affairs after releasing the (pretty poor) Macross Digital Mission VF-X games developed by UNiT, not to mention the shocking Macross Plus Game Edition and Macross M3 created by Shoeisha, and they thankfully commissioned AM2 to make matters right.

In 1956, a certain Mitsuteru Yokoyama penned a manga by the name of “Tetsujin 28-go”. This manga portrayed the life of a young boy called Shotaro Haneda, remote controlling a huge military robot called Tetsujin 28-go to thwart the forces of evil and do good in the world. It wasn’t very long before this manga made the transition to anime, and then jumped the Pacific Ocean to mesmerise the US populace (under the new name of “Gigantor”). It’s important to clarify one thing from the start: Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s “Tetsujin 28-go” was single-handedly responsible for the creation of Japanese mecha pop-culture. His work has inspired generations of people. Some of these people happen to work at a Japanese developer called Sandlot.

Tetsujin 28-go is Sandlot’s third mecha game, and the first time they have been allowed to tackle possibly the most prestigious of mecha icons. Their first outing – Remote Controlled Dandy on the Psone – was impressive and unique, having the player control a huge mecha from ground level and having them position themselves accordingly – after all, you were the camera. The second attempt was Gigantic Drive (on PS2), which was essentially “Remote Control Dandy Deluxe”. Both of these games had an amazingly intricate control system where each limb was controlled individually. Whilst this was a comprehensive approach, it had an obviously steep learning curve.

Virtual On is oft-misunderstood as a series. The majority of people focus on the presence of big robots, rather than the game mechanics, that the franchise offers. Moreover, the game’s control interface, through that of a pair of TwinSticks, has caused consternation amongst many a gamer due to their apparent lack of inclusivity: players new to the title struggle with the steep learning curve these devices create, not forgetting to mention that the majority of people remain utterly baffled as to the game’s actual content, and how to manoeuvre within the game world.

Arcade games require practice, patience and training on the part of the player. Virtual On has a brutal learning curve, but the thoroughness of thought and skill that is expected from the player only helps to enrich the overall experience. Thing is, this could be said for any arcade game, and is very much a tenet of design within this part of the games industry.

Set a few years after the first incarnation, the game starts with the player being re-introduced to the mechanical avatar of Egyptian death, Jehuty. Along with it’s new virile pilot, Dingo Egret. What follows is a truly impressive and epic narrative, after all the first game wasn’t the only part of the saga. Admittedly, the plucky little hero from the first game game, Leo Steinbuck, makes an appearance, but the overall narrative tone is far more mature and developed now. There has even been an animated movie and TV series too. Unfortunately, there is just too much focus on the narrative, to the point where it detracts from the overall game.

The actual game itself has been improved noticeably, Jehuty can do a lot more now. The old grab function, with its new implementation, adds a lot of spice to regular combat, but some of the boss fights fall foul of this new function to the point of gimmickry. As such, in many of the numerous boss fights the player has to grab an object and use it as a “guard” against an ensuing attack. So instead of gauging the combat mechanic in a gradual process, we have to endure lengthy boss encounters where we cannot directly attack our foe. Admittedly it is a useful and innovative function, but over used.