Super Robot Wars

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

So let's talk about robots.

Specifically, Super Robots.

My roommate and I discovered this series in a fairly roundabout way. We'd just finished a marathon of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann which involved a lot of friends, pizza, and a classroom with a large projector. Still reeling from the pure concentrated awesome that was episodes 26 and 27 on an enormous screen, we happened across a rather good Japanese Gurren Lagann AMV (warning: lots and lots of spoilers) to a song by the name of SKILL.

Our first analysis of the AMV was that it was incredibly awesome. The second was that we needed that song. This led us to JAM Project, also known as Japanese Animation Music Project. They are responsible for any number of hot-blooded, burning passion songs, most notably, the songs for a series we had until now been somewhat unaware of.

That series, of course, was Super Robot Wars.

I am convinced that this series is the most amazing thing ever. It takes mecha, characters and plot from a bunch of different anime, rams them all together and runs with it.

And it is awesome.

The only games that have been released in America are the two GBA Original Generation games, which use the original characters from the series instead of the other anime characters, which make this game licensing hell and pretty much ensure that it will never come out in America.

Even so, it still has a lot to offer. Like mecha cavalry.

So who all has heard of this?

[JKTrix]

I'm sure you knew I would respond to this :P

I own one for the Gamecube and 2 for the PS2 and was considering getting both of the DS games (one came out yesterday, but it's part of the OG series and features KOS-MOS and other Namco characters). These games have a hardcore enough western following that you can easily find online guides for most of the games, so the language barrier isn't so tough.

A good friend of mine though, he owns *a lot* of the games. Ever since I showed him my import sources, he picked up every one he could find over the course of a few months. Besides being a super fan of strategy RPGs in general, he had played ROMs of the earlier SRW games from before we even had PS2s. He's also a fan of the older Robot series (I guess because of the games), though he refuses to watch Gurren-Lagann for stupid reasons.

Another unfortunate thing is that we won't be seeing Gurren-Lagann in any SRW game because of similar 'licencing issues'. Konami has all the game rights to GL, and I doubt Bandai is too willing to negotiate royalties with them.

Though, a man can dream. (look real close at that pic--it's more than just GL)

Recently, I've become more enamored with the Another Century's Episode series which is kind of an action-oriented offshoot of SRW.

As for Jam Project, anyone living near Baltimore and knows about Otakon can expect to see these guys there. The dude who started the group is probably best known as 'the voice of DBZ', having recorded over 50 songs on his own just for that show. (newest)

Regardless of the format, crossovers for any well loved franchises are almost always awesome.

Edit: Also, those Niconico MAD imports lose a *lot* of their charm when you don't have walls of text scrolling across the screen in time with the music. Especially with JAM project songs. Text choreography--believe it.

[Markus. D]

I love it!

But the long...long...LONG fighting scenes get on my nerves sometimes ._.