Occasionally the Super Robot Wars games do something unexpected and the handheld versions tend to do really go for it when they do so. Super Robot Wars UX had a Hatsune Miku inspired Fei-Yen and brought the Wings of Rean aura battlers onboard, in the case of BX though the roster went back a lot further.

To clarify, BX is the first game in the series to not only feature Galient but also Giant Gorg. For any self respecting mecha anime fan, those are two series that are both brilliant and it is surprising that it took them this long to be featured in Super Robot Wars. The result is probably one of the best and most faithful Super Robot Wars game in a very long time.

With the release of Super Robot Wars BX looming, we’ve been graced with a new promo. It shows a lot of new animation and the game is looking great really. Bandai Namco also announced a new Super Robot Wars mobile game but that looks pretty awful and isn’t being developed by the main team anyway, in fact it’s being done by Sega Games so that likely explains a lot. Thankfully BX is at least a proper game to look forward to. The game is released on August 20th in Japan and you can pre-order it here.

Due to all the pre-orders that Super Robot Wars BX has received, Bandai Namco will be including a download code for 2nd Super Robot Wars for those that buy the game at launch. This was the follow on to the first Game Boy game released in the same year, except this was (originally) on the NES. It also kickstarted the whole series to become a serious sit-down console game, rather than just something for a handhelds. The fact we’re getting this included with BX is a nice little touch. The game is released on August 20th in Japan and you can pre-order it here.

We were recently graced with all manner of new promo videos for the upcoming Super Robot Wars BX. The first was an hour long conference that covered various things regarding the future of Super Robot Wars (we’re getting an iPhone app apparently) but also got some new footage of BX. This was then released as a separate video, so you don’t need to trawl through the hour long conference.

The game is looking good though and the sprites have been partially updated for the returning series it seems. Though it does feel a bit weird when gaming franchise make their way into these games, as the Macross 30 units squaring off in another game is a bit odd but still cool obviously. The game is released on August 20th and you can pre-order it here.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Robot Damashii Dunbine and Robot Damashii Drumlo from the classic 80’s mecha anime Aura Battler Dunbine. While the Dunbine is an updated re-release from 2012, the Drumlo is a brand new release in Bandai’s ongoing and thoroughly excellent aura battler Robot Damashii range. We’ve also included some anime and game footage at the end of the review.

So the next Super Robot Wars game to be announced has the suffix of BX and it will be released again on the 3DS. The last game on the system, in the form of UX, was really solid and so I am glad to see another game on the way. The big surprise is that this entry will feature both Giant Gorg and Panzer World Galient in the series roster. That’s pretty damn fantastic really. The game will be released on August 20th for 6,640 yen and a promo video for the game will go up tomorrow. It’s currently 80% complete in terms of development. For those that are curious as to what the units are in the shadow above, one fan did a nice bit of detective work.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Metal Robot Damashii Hi-Nu Gundam as seen in the novel Beltorchika’s Children (one of the adaptations for Char’s Counterattack). In addition, we’ve also included some game footage of the mecha in action at the end of the review. This is a companion review to the original Robot Damashii figure.

Over the weekend, Makuhari Messe in Tokyo (well, technically Chiba) hosted yet another event, that of Chara Hobby 2014. Prior to that Bandai announced a new line of toys called Metal Robot Damashii. We held off on mentioning the latter because we guessed (correctly) that the new toy line would be shown at Chara Hobby. Well, it turns out the first figure in the new toy line will be the mighty RX-93-v2 Hi-Nu Gundam (pictured above). You may be thinking, didn’t they already release a Hi-Nu Gundam recently? The answer would be “yes” (we reviewed it too) but this has all manner of diecast in the joints and other detailing. Subsequently, it looks utterly glorious. No word on price point or release date as yet but we’ll let you know as soon as we do. In the meantime check out the video of the new metal infused Hi-Nu Gundam below.

As for the rest of Chara Hobby, there was a lot of cool stuff on show. From the eye wateringly expensive Soul of Chogokin Gaogaigar which is out in December, to the gorgeous Megahouse Orguss. Anyway, check out the coverage here, here, here, here and here.

One of the main factors in Artdink’s renaissance as a studio is how it managed to land the Gundam and Macross licenses. Turning them into very capable PSP games and a few decent PS3 games to boot. The former of these licenses started out as the Gundam Battle series and this is where we come to The 3D Battle.

Much like the previous Gundam Battle games The 3D Battle re-uses content but unlike the execrable Assault Survive, it remembers that this is foremost a handheld game. As such it’s much more in line with the older games in the series and subsequently pretty damn good.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from one of our favourite anime series, that of Aura Battle Dunbine to review. Specifically, the Robot Damashii Zwarth that’s on sale. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked gameplay and anime footage of it in action at the end of the review.