The latest and third installment in the Valkyries book series by Hidetaka Tenjin will be released this September in Japan. Like the first and second books, this one will contain new Macross related art by Tenjin featuring a variety of variable fighters from the series. This new book will also be fully bilingual and feature English text. Considering that Macross Delta is the latest series in the saga, it’s clear this new book will focus on this more readily but it will be interesting to see what other pieces of art turn up. Valkyries Third Sortie is released on September 14th in Japan by Kobunsha and you can pre-order it over on Amazon. In the meantime, make sure to check out my review of the second book.

We’ve tried to avoid doing these kinds of lists over the years. Mainly because they end up being contentious and misinterpreted. That said it’s about time we got around to doing this. Especially as other places have attempted similar lists and ended up being laughably parochial and clearly ignorant with it.

Before we start, there are a few a disclaimers. “Best” in this context means that these games are obviously great fun to play but they also went on to influence other games as well as approached mecha gaming in a unique way. They might have even resolved design issues that had plagued other titles too.

The games listed are also not necessarily based on our reviews either, as some we have yet to even cover, but more how they have defined mecha gaming over the years. These are also games that we regard to be very well wrought, based on our years of experience from playing lots and lots of mecha games.

Over the weekend we went to see Bandai’s Macross Chogokin Exhibit in Akiba. It was pretty great and showed off old and new tots alike. From the VF-19 Advance (above) to a new toy range, called Hi-Metal R, that featured all manner of classic designs. The latter might indicate the Harmony Gold legal situation might be changing too but we’ll see on that. We’re also getting a new anime too by the looks of it, by the name of Macross Delta. No real details as yet but they are getting ready for singing auditions. We covered this over at Forbes (yeah, we are also writing there now) but there’s also a nice little gallery of the event here.

One of the biggest mistakes Gundam games make is when they try and put you in the shoes of a Newtype. It always ends up being disappointing as it is an impossible thing to get right. We’re not meant to be Newtypes, not yet anyway, and Gundam games should acknowledge this.

This is where the Blue Destiny trilogy came in. Released across three mini-games, they placed you as a grunt GM pilot on the front-lines. Not only that, you got it all via a faithfully claustrophobic first person cockpit view. Put simply, this approached nailed what the Gundam mythos was about in a way that hadn’t been done before. It’s also one of the best Gundam games ever made.

Following on from the regular Robot Damashii ZZ Gundam, we’ll be now getting a new toy of the mighty FA-010S Full Armor ZZ Gundam this August. Priced at 7,560 yen it’s a bit pricier than the regular version but it comes with more gimmicks and is a fair bit bigger. It’s not quite as sleek as the version in the anime but it’s still most welcome nonetheless, as the last toy we had of this was the godawful Gundam FIX Figuration version and then in the Sentinel colours. This new Robot Damashii figure looks just the ticket and as with the rest of the line, it will likely have great articulation too.

Update: This is a web shop exclusive.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Super Robot Chogokin Mazinkaiser as seen in Mazinkaiser (though its origins predate that by quite a bit). In addition, we’ve also included some game and anime footage of the mecha in action at the end of the review.

Now that this year’s Tamashii Nation event is underway we’ve had all manner of reveals, many of which are pretty surprising. First off is the confirmation of the DX Chogokin YF-30 Chronos (shown above) from Macross 30 and it looks rather magnificent indeed. Following that we have the re-appearance of the 1/35 scale RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. Ka that’s part of the Gundam Fix Figuration range. This last appeared back in 2009 and many thought that it was dead and buried. No word on price or release date but expect the former to be a pretty long figure. After that there’s the Soul of Chogokin Gaogaigar, whether this will do the much loved Final Fusion gattai sequence is unclear but likely considering the history of the toy line. After that there are all manner of new Robot Damashii figures, from the aforementioned Skullheart, to the Zwarth and even the Kshatriya. Though the real surprise is the Geminass from the Wing sidestory G-Unit. Even the Virsago Chest Break from the latter half of Gundam X is on the way. A special mention also needs to go to the new Hello Kitty chogokin, as after 40 years she will finally get her own mecha. Shown no mercy Kitty-chan! If you want to browse the rest of the show’s coverage then you can do that here, here, here and here.

Following on from the Virtual On Memorial Event we mentioned, 4Gamer have a nice breakdown piece. Despite the appearance of peeps from Volks and Haseagawa regarding all manner of kits, the interesting stuff came from Mori Yasuhiro (a designer at Sega who worked on both Marz and Oratan, he’s also the guy wearing the Tangram t-shirt in the above picture). Notably that there may be a new Virtual On game surfacing during the series’ 20th Anniversary in 2015. Now, this isn’t the first time this has been said but we do know that since Force there have been multiple attempts at making a new Virtual On game (with Border Break being the unwitting results of one of those attempts). Anyway, we hope that whatever is planned finally sees the light of day (preferably if it’s an arcade game too obviously).

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Riobot Blodia as seen in the classic game Cyberbots. In addition, we’ve also included some game footage of the mecha in action at the end of the review.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Super Robot Chogokin Shin Getter Robo 1 as seen in Change!! Shin Getter Robo (though its origins predate that by quite a bit). In addition, we’ve also included some game and anime footage of the mecha in action at the end of the review.