Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2

"The GBA aint dead yet! This game is the reason."

Super Robot Wars/Taisen has spanned over 20+ games over the years. Yet chances are not many people have ever heard of it. Thanks to Atlus, who have brought this serie to the US, we can finnaly get our hands on this long running serie.

Super Robot Wars is Banpresto's flagship franchise. It is a cross-over of almost all Giant Robot animes from Sunrise, such as Gundam, along with Banpresto's original characters and story. This game, Original Generations, only features the original characters, as its name suggests. And that is probably the reason US is getting this game, no licensing issues for all the countless series the other SRW games have.

This review is based on the US version of the game rather than the JP version that the other couple of reviews are based on.

Graphics: 10/10
Talk about pushing the GBA to the edge. SRW is famous not only for its cross-over series, but also for its outstanding animation. Every attack are a beauty to behold, and some special/ultimate techniques will leave your jaws open. More things such as the character's portrait appearing during the battle sequence can really make you feel the intensity of the battle. The framework is also excellent, and some even seems impossible on the GBA, but this game made it happen, from explosions to the sprite frames. The animation and framework is a huge improvement from the first Super Robot Taisen OG1. If you thought that game was amazing, wait till you see this games.

Sound: 10/10
Many of the soundtrack from OG1 made it to this sequel. And most of them are remixed. The new comers also receive their own personal and somewhat famous in the SRW fanbase. Soundtracks such as "Falling Star, Slice the Night Apart" for Ibis and "Ware ni Teki Nashi" for Kusuha and Bullet are all present, along with many more. The sound effects are also very nice and fit with the situation perfectly, such as the gunshots of machine guns to explosions of missiles and robots.

Gameplay: 9/10
The best way to describe the gameplay would be that it is very similar to Nintendo's Fire Emblem. You move your unit, choose to attack, the info screen will appear showing you the success hit rate of you and your opponent's counter-attack. Every character fights in mechs and robots. Some of them can be equipped with other weapons with various range and power. There are 4 types of weapons: Bullet, Beam, Physical, and Special. While there is little difference between these, they do effect the pilot using them. Some pilots are better at melee attacks than ranged attacks. Other things like abilities can reduce damage to a certain type, such as the Beam Coat accessiry will reduce damage received from all beam weapons.

Every robot and weapon have 4 types of ranks. Air, Ground, Water, and Space. This determines how effective the robot and weapon are on this terrains. An A rank is normal damage, D rank means unusable, S rank means bonus damage, and B and C are reduced damage. The Robot's rank for these determines how much HIT/EVADE bonus it receives. S rank means more hit/eva while lesser rank means less.

You win money, exp, and Pilot Points for each enemy you destroy. Money is used to upgrade your mech's stat and weapon power. Unlike Fire Emblem, when a unit dies, they are not lost forever, but rather money will be spend to repair the mech. Some enemies will drop parts that mechs can equip to enhance stats or give them special abilities like various forcefields that reduce damage or increase weapon performance to a certain RANK e.t.c. Pilot points are used to teach the pilot various skills, increase their stat, or increase terrain rank.

Weapons with a (P) next to their names means Post-Movement, which means that weapon can be used even after you moved that unit, while other weapons cannot be used if you move. Some weapon cost ammo, meaning once you run out you cant use it for the rest of the map, other weapons uses EN, or energy, and once you're out of energy you cant use any weapons that cost energy. The difference is, ammo are individual to the weapon, while all EN weapons share the EN of the robot. Some weapons requires WILL, or Morale. Morale is gained in various way, either landing a hit, missing a hit, dodging, getting hit, killing an opponent e.t.c. They also affect various parameters, chance of abilities to activate in battle, and triggering certain skills.

One new feature in OG2 is the Counter Chain. Any weapon labeled with a (C) means it can be counter chained. If the pilot using the mech has the Counter Chain ability, which can be bought with Pilot Points, than that attack can hit 2 enemies at once if they are adjacent to each other. Think of this as a 2 ranged Spear attack from your typical SRPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance/Tactics ogre.

Every state has a win/loose condition like most other games. Each stage also has a Skill Point requirement. They are usually things like Kill # of enemies under # turns or finish the map in # turns. The more skill points you earn, the more difficult the game will get, such as gaining less money from enemies and enemies with more stats. Skilled players will want to earn these, as you need almost a perfect number of them to play the Secret Stage after the final stage for the true ending.

Other Stuff: 7/10
Overall Atlus did a great job in the translation, as the conversations as filled with humor. Other things such as special attacks were changed, like the Metal Genocider being Metal Destroyer. But Atlus did keep a few names in Japanese, such as Sanger still saying Zankantou during the attack, while the translation in the menu is Colossal Blade. The translation isn't bad, but it can confuse newcomers a lot.

Replay: 6/10
There are a few instances of route splits in the game, so it will take at least 2 playthrough to see them all to know the story on both sides. Also the second playthrough gives you access to some other robots you couldnt get in the first game. Replaying will let you inherit your PP and Money, so playing long enough will allow you to max all your robots. The game has a lot of dialogues, some may not find the story too interesting while some will be curious as to what happens next, but if you hold R and A together you can skip through the dialogues very fast, making replays a breeze and less of a hassle.

Buy or Rent?
If you are new to the serie, I would suggest renting it first to see if you like this game. But I doubt you will be able to beat it in 5 days as this game isnt short. If you are a SRPG fan, a SRW fan or just like giant robots, this game is for you and I fully recommend a purchase. Its a shame that this game came out so late during the GBA's final days, but its thanks to this game that the GBA isn't fully dead yet.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07, Updated 09/04/07

Game Release: Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 (US, 11/14/06)