Dai-3-Ji Super Robot Taisen

"Hard, but if you know SRW, not impossible"

For anime fans, and especially fans of the Super Robot and Real Robot genres, it is truly heartbreaking that there as so few Super Robot Wars games out in English. Be that as it may, the ones available at your local game store or through emulation are still phenominal and worth your time, and Super Robot Wars 3 for the SNES is no exception to this rule.

Story: 9/10
As rudimentary as the story is, provided you know who the players are and the different series they are from, the plot is quite enjoyable. In the previous game, SRW2, the original character Bian Zoldark formed the hostile group called the Divine Crusaders, who attempted to conquer humanity. In the final battle, he confessed as he died that he was attempting to force the various factions of the world to be unified, either against or under his rule, and be able to defeat an incoming enemy invasion.

Jump to Super Robot Wars 3, where the members of the Londo Bell who hadn't gone back to their lives were investigating disturbances, and before they know it, the Divine Crusaders are back, now under the control of the Zabi family from Mobile Suit Gundam. To make matters worse, Zoldark's prediction comes true, and the mysterious alien invaders led by the five Inspectors arrive not long after that, the Londo Bell forces seemingly the only group capable of fighting back.

What makes the story truly shine, however, is how a few actions you take throughout the game will alter the story quite a bit. Usually the game is forgiving enough to at least hint at who should talk to an enemy unit to trigger this change in the storyline, although there are a few twists that require help from those that already know. In the meantime, players can experience re-enactments of various famous moments in mecha history, be it Musashi's brave sacrifice against the Mechasaurus Dai or Char slipping on a pair of sunglasses and assuming the identity of Quattro.

Graphics: 8/10
When you're dealing with a gaming system like the SNES, you can't have everything. The robots themselves are static and cannot change their positions, and the backgrounds aren't that fantastic. However, the amount of detail in the actual robot designs is decent and some attacks, such as the various "Funnel" shots and anything done by Granzon still have quite a flair about them.

Music/Sound: 6/10
Definetely a weak point. Don't expect anything on the level of Chrono Trigger here, there are a handful of songs in the game, and that's it. The overhead map music, which differs depending on whether you're fighting on soil, moon-like terrain, inside a base, or outer space, is okay, but not something you'll play the game to hear. Battle-music is also bare-bones, with only a handful of songs used, and some exclusive to only a particular character.

Gameplay: 5/10-9/10
Super Robot Wars, especially its early games, were notoriously hard for several reason. One of the biggest was the fact you are initially working with a group of units, all of which but for three are worthless: Mazinger Z, a prototype Getter Robo, and the original Gundam. This may imply that you should try the Fire Emblem approach with your weaker characters; train them hard and they'll reward you later on. Don't.

For one, there are many occasions in the game in which Gundam characters will leave your group. Some forever, others for short periods. The main heroes of the Gundam series included in this, Amuro, Kou, Camille, and Judau will stay, but others won't. In addition, early on battles are hard when you lack many good units, and you'll have to make sure Amuro, the Getter team, and Kouji get enough experience so they can continue being the workhorses of the team until you start recruiting other Super Robots like Combattler V and Raideen.

Battles themselves are also difficult to get the hang of first too. The game follows the Advance Wars line of thought, whereby long-range weapons cannot be fired on the same turn a unit moves. This requires a deal of strategy in moving units where they can attack the enemy with various guns but won't be swarmed the turn afterwards.

Spirit points also play a key role, especially later on. As a unit levels up, they gain more and more Spirit commands, up to six, which have various effects. The Spirit command "Guts", for example costs 30 points and restores 30% of the units health. Since the Spirit points do not regenerate until the end of the level, rationing them off for when they are necessary is important. Ammunition and energy function similarly, where certain attacks require one or the other. Thankfully, energy slowly recharges over time, and both energy and ammunition can be restored by simply returning to your flagship.

Battles are a hit-and-miss affair, where each attack has a certain probability of hitting or not, and usually when you attack your opponent, they will strike back. However, when it's your opponent's turn to do the same, your unit will react automatically and you cannot decide which weapon to use during the counterattack. This makes it frustrating when dealing with weapons with high energy consumption, like Mazinger Z's Breast Fire, which can quickly exhaust Mazinger's energy reserves in only a turn or two of repeated use, even with a fully upgraded reactor. However, you can set your character's reactions to attacks to one of four settings, to either always attack no matter what, attack unless the opponent's move would destroy them and evade in that case, evade all attacks if health is below 50%, and evade no matter what. However, since this is a blanket command, it effects all your units.

Upgrading units also plays a role, and there are four catagories in which your robots can be improved. Reaction time helps raise a unit's skill with dodging enemy attacks and hitting back, while energy can be increased to enable units to cast certain moves more often without needing to recharge. Raising armor and HP are also choices, and important ones at that.

The problem with the game, however, is the fact that if a unit were to receive a storyline upgrade, such as Mazinger Z getting the Jet Scrander or the Getter team switching to Getter G, the money you poured into the previous unit is all lost, as the upgrades to not carry over. Likewise, the game all but punishes you if you do not play favorites and selectively focus on training and upgrading a small but elite group, anywhere from one quarter of your initial characters to about half you whole team by the end. In addition, the turn counter plays a role in determining if you unlock the final, secret level, and spending a few extra turns here or there to try to nurture a minor character will blow up in your face quickly.

That being said, if you *do* know what you're doing, Super Robot Wars 3 is a great game and never gets too terribly hard. Most of the units that join you later on, such as Combattler V, Raideen, and Daitarn 3, all are very helpful, and most Gundam characters will eventually be able to move twice in one turn, enabling you to easily position them and use them to the best of your ability. The game is also fortunate enough to offer you the option to sell off most minor robots, which is a great way to scrape together money for the units you actually use.

All in all, the gameplay factor depends on whether or not you can learn from your mistakes. Running through the game, provided you know what you are doing, does not take too terribly long. Unlike Fire Emblem, the game merely deducts a nominal fee from your cash account for repairing destroyed robots, and by the end of the game, you are raking in more than ten times the required amounts for the occasional trashed mech a scenario.

Replayability: 8/10
Depending on how you are, Super Robot Wars 3 may be the game that keeps on giving. A few chance conversations's results echo through the game, causing one of three very different situations from breaking out. The end result is the same, but the paths to that result differ quite a bit in terms of available units at your disposal, who you'll fight, and who will support you.

Overall: 8/10
As I said before, knowing what to do in this game is key. If you waste time, money, and experience on weak units, the results won't be pretty. However, the opposite is true as well. If you work with units and characters you know will prove their worth, the game will never be impossible and you'll usually be able to emerge victorious against your opponents with intelligent usage of Spirit commands.

As I said before, with so few Super Robot Wars games out there for non-Japanese speakers to play and fully understand without a translation guide, those that are available are certainly worth looking into. While the animation might not be fantastic, the music selection is very limited, and the learning curve is steeper than a cliff, for those that give it a try and learn from their mistakes, Super Robot Wars 3 is certainly a good game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/19/08

Game Release: Dai-3-Ji Super Robot Taisen (JP, 07/23/93)