Let's play Super Robot Wars Alpha 3~!

[Moerin]

As some of you may well be aware, I happen to be a fan of both mecha anime and RPGs.  So it should come as no surprise that I also love the Super Robot Wars series.  However, seeing how the vast, vast majority of the games will never reach these shores, my experience with them is limited to the OG games for the GBA and the few games that have translation patches made for them.

Until now, that is.

In a (somewhat foolish, but meh) display of impulse buying, I seem to have purchased a copy of Super Robot Wars Alpha 3: To the End of the Galaxy.  And, since I have nothing better to really do with my time at the moment, I decided to chronicle my attempts to get through the game despite my, um, rather limited knowledge of the Japanese language.

So let's get this trainwreck on the move, shall we~?

After being treated to a rather nice FMV, we're brought to the menu screen.

You can't hear it, but the menu music is Gong by JAM Project, which happens to be a favourite of mine.  After selecting "Start", we're brought to the character select screen.  Since I'm going into this blind, I'll let you all decide which route I take.  Here are your options:


This is Touma Kanou, our male super robot pilot.  His mech is the Raioh Kamen Rider, and his initial allies are the Gutsy Geoid Guard of GaoGaiGar.  Giant hammers and flying kicks await if you choose this route!


Our female super robot pilot is Kusuha Mizuha, piloting the GouRyu-Kai.  The beginning of her route has her being aided by the Mazinger and Getter Robo teams.  If you think the old school can still handle those young upstarts, this route is for you!


Cobray Gordon (oh god he's so pretty~<3  :* :* :*) is our male real robot pilot, and his bug-like mecha is the Werkbau.  Apparently he has a mysterious past or something.  He's aided by characters from Gundam's Universal Century.  Will this route go by three times faster than the others?  Pick it to find out!


Finally, our female real robot pilot is Selena Recital's boobs piloting the AS Soleares.  Her breasts get to team up with Gundam SEED and Gundam Wing characters.  Boobs, beam spams, boobs, pretty boys and boobs likely feature heavily in this route, so if that's your thing, vote for it!

Anyways, once some time has passed and votes have been cast, I'll get started on your chosen route.  Hopefully this will turn out to be a fun venture for all involved~

[Maid Xan~]

I vote Cobray~

[Rabbit]

ALPHA 3 OHMAGAWD!

I like the screencaps so far, even if they are only of the menu.  Screencapping, especially for a SRW game, is a long and tedious process with a lot of potential for mistakes.  Hopefully you will go far.  I will be on hand to provide advice, commentary, etc on the current events.  I may be wasting my vote with this but Selena is the only true answer.  It has Macross.  Do it.  Do it now.  You know you want to.

Spoiler:

Since I am also playing SRW @3, with Theorin's permission I would be happy to do bonus entries from other routes of the game just so people can see what they're missing, the fools what the unique scenarios are like for the other characters, and a bit of how they play.

[ES-Anthy]

Lets go retro with Kusuha Mizuha, gotta show off the original mecha to the world.

[Mima-sama]

Kusuha because KUUUSUUUUUHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Also Mazinger and Getter is a big plus.

[Bananamatic]

The first one because it's MANLY

[Rabbit]

Will this route go by three times faster than the others?  Pick it to find out!

Nope, it'll be going at exactly the same speed B)

[kreb cycle]

The beginning of her route has her being aided by the Mazinger and Getter Robo teams.

THIS WILL DO

also kusuha is the only character I remember from SRW OG.

[Kerigis]

Let's go with Cobray Gordon because his mecha looks awesome (and he does as well).

[Maid Xan~]

Let's go with Cobray Gordon because his mecha looks awesome (and he does as well).

* Xan highfives Keri

[sammy t coleridge]

Holy crap, Cobray looks like somebody owes him money. Hell, it looks like somebody in his immediate family like a twin owes him money.

A lot of money.

So I say go with Cobray.

[Dragoshi]

I vote for Touma because...

GA-GA-GA GA-GA-GA GAO GAI GAR! GA-GA-GA GA-GA-GA-GA GAO GAI GAR!

That and I enjoy the prospect of kicks and hammers flying about like clockwork. :V

I'd vote Kusuha because lol OG experience but that seems like a dumb reason and I'm sure there'll be better OGers ahead in the future aaaaanyways. I hope. :V

[Maid Xan~]

I'd vote Kusuha because lol OG experience but that seems like a dumb reason and I'm sure there'll be better OGers ahead in the future aaaaanyways. I hope. :V

Touma's Route has Sanger and ElzamRatsel. Kusuha has Bullet. And Cobray and Selena both have OG2 characters (Arado and Seolla for Cobray and Ibis and Sleigh for Selena).

*Waits for sudden rush to vote for Touma*

[lumber_of_the_beast]

...Wait, Sanger?

FINAL FUSION

[Dragoshi]

Touma's Route has Sanger and ElzamRatsel.

Wow. I sure as hell know how to call it, huh. :V

also I am not surprised at all that Kusuha's route has BULLET. could care less about OG2 folks at the moment.

...this all reminds me that I should prolly' get back to doing Kyosuke's route in OG1 eventually.

[Edible]

Touma and Cobray both have the best routes.  I felt Touma's was the most satisfying.

Edit: Also if you pick Kusuha I will end your miserable life.

[Maid Xan~]

Wow. I sure as hell know how to call it, huh. :V

also I am not surprised at all that Kusuha's route has BULLET. could care less about OG2 folks at the moment.

...this all reminds me that I should prolly' get back to doing Kyosuke's route in OG1 eventually.

DO EEEEEEEEEEET!

[Maid Xan~]

We need a tiebreaker! Where's Purvis?

[ES-Anthy]

Welp, not gonna wait for old purvis to get here, and since my choice in vote was up to Keine, I shall choose the breaker, aka I revert to my GGG Fanboyism

#unvote Kusuha

#Vote Touma

that plus I first played Touma's route when I played a bit of @3 myself

[Moerin]

Well, suppose I'd better close the polls now, then (although I could just leave it untill tomorrow, but that would be lazy).  Looks like MANLINESS won through, so Touma's route it is~

...Probably best it ended up like that, as I'm far more familiar with GaoGaiGar than any of the other starting allies, ahah.

Anyways, polls closed, first real update will hopefully be done soon.

Spoiler:

Since I am also playing SRW @3, with Theorin's permission I would be happy to do bonus entries from other routes of the game just so people can see what they're missing, the fools what the unique scenarios are like for the other characters, and a bit of how they play.

Go right ahead~  It'd be nice to have someone covering the real side too, I guess.

[orinrin]

I would play some Alpha 3 too if I weren't busy trying to unlock everything in Z.

Also, GUN OF DIS > All other OG Themes with the exception of Trombe! and Ken Kon Itteki.

[sammy t coleridge]

I would play some Alpha 3 too if I weren't busy trying to unlock everything in Z.

Also, GUN OF DIS > All other OG Themes with the exception of Trombe! and Ken Kon Itteki.

Even better than GONG instrumental?

[Maid Xan~]

Even better than Rocks instrumental?

Fixed that for you ^_^

[sammy t coleridge]

Spoiler:

Since I am also playing SRW @3, with Theorin's permission I would be happy to do bonus entries from other routes of the game just so people can see what they're missing, the fools what the unique scenarios are like for the other characters, and a bit of how they play.

So does that mean the player is unable to recruit the other protagonists?

[Maid Xan~]

So does that mean the player is unable to recruit the other protagonists?

You CAN, but only on New Game +

[Hello Purvis]

Voting for tits for the sake of contrariness.

[lumber_of_the_beast]

Voting for tits for the sake of contrariness.

Cool. Voting ended sixteen hours ago. :V

[sammy t coleridge]

You CAN, but only on New Game +

I see. What about mechs from series affiliated with those characters? For example, can the player recruit UC Gundam characters while on Touma's story?

[Maid Xan~]

I see. What about mechs from series affiliated with those characters? For example, can the player recruit UC Gundam characters while on Touma's story?

You get all the series no matter what route. However, the time they join varies, and the routes also affect unlock requirements.

[Moerin]

And here we have him, our hero!  But first...


Space.  The final frontier.


Bright Noah, he whose slap turns wimps into MEN OF DESTINY, and Amuro Ray, the original Gundam pilot, seem to be having an interesting conversation.  Of course, I have no idea what it's about since I can't read Japanese, but I assume it's probably along the lines of "blah-blah Minovsky Particles blah-blah Newtypes blah-blah My own father never hit me blah-blah".


Or, y'know, they could be talking about this big Stargate looking thing.  Yeah, that's probably more likely.


Something seems to be coming out of it!  I wonder what it could be...


Turns out it's the Exelion, the flagship from Gunbu-

...Wait, Gunbuster?  Gun... Bus... Ter~!?

* Moerin fangasms for three hours~

...Ahem.  Wait, wasn't the Exelion, y'know, destroyed to get rid of the Space Monster fleet attacking Earth?  Bright, Amuro and... Some other UC Gundam characters who probably aren't important seem rather distressed by it's appearance.  I'm pretty sure this will have no consequence on the plot for a while, though, so we can put it at the back of our minds for the time being~


Meanwhile, thousands of miles away...


The city of Townsville Tokyo!  I think.  It's always Tokyo anyway, so I'm probably not wrong.  Y'know, now that I think about it, why is it always Tokyo anyway?  Is there, like, a dimensional fissure, or a Hellmouth, or something there?  Or is it just the cool place for people to attack?  Anyways, today, like every other day, Tokyo is under threat, this time by what appears to be an army of giant robot fish/duck hybrids.


Luckily, the Gutsy Geoid Guard are on hand to fight back, led by none other than Gai Shishioh and the King of Braves, GaoGaiGar!


As a super robot, GaoGaiGar has a lot of nifty moves it can use.  Unfortunately, it's not charged up enough Will yet to use the final two, Hell and Heaven and, of course, the Goldion Hammer.  So we have to settle with that good old standard super robot attack, the rocket punch.


BROKEN MAGNUM!


This is pretty much what happens everytime GaoGaiGar does anything in this mission.  Those little fishducks don't put up much of a fight, and soon they are all wiped out.


Touma, of course, thinks this is the most awesome thing ever.  And who can blame him?

SUDDENLY!


Enemy reinforcements!  Oh no!  And they're pretty close to our protagnist!  GGG won't be able to save him in time!  How's he going to get out of this?

...Find out next time, as I'm pretty sure this post is already far too long, ahah.  If it has too many images in it, I'll, uh, find some way to work around that next time.  But stay tuned for part two!