Let's Sperg Super Robot Wars Advance Portable - A PSP remake of one of the hardest SRW games ever

[GethN7]

Okay, this post is so people can give me opinions before I commit to a route, but here's the secrets.

Common to Both Routes:

If Amuro has a higher kill count this stage end: Full Armor Gundam
If Sayla has a higher kill count this stage end: G-Fighter

Amuro will likely be the winner here by default, unless you went out of your way to sortie Sayla after she showed up and benched Amuro.

You get the other if you do a New Game Plus anyway.

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Operation Stardust Route

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Gai Daigouji can survive his canon death in Nadesico (he and Akito have a lot of powerful combo attacks if you save him)

Boss Borot can acquire the Borot Pressure Punch attack if Boss kills total 5 or higher

Lalah Sune can survive and join the team with her Elmeth, one of the earliest Funnel equipped machines you can get.

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Pursue Devil Gundam Route

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Gets the ball rolling on being able to get Master Asia and the Master Gundam to join the team.


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My recommendations

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Personally, I'd go with the Operation Stardust route secrets because long term, Real Robots are gonna do more damage long term than Super Robots, and Funnels are OP as hell because Newtype pilots innate Newtype abilities give them amazing accuracy in a game where accuracy is essential to hit shit, so Lalah and her Elmeth are a sane long term investment.

Akito is somewhat crippled long term without Gai, they are designed to partner up and do retarded high damage together with combo attacks. He's not useless without him, but he's more effective long term with him.

Boss' bonus attack isn't all that great TBH, and it's skippable, it just gives a ranged attack, and given his pisspoor damage chances and the fact he's better as a supply unit, don't worry if you don't get it.



As for getting Master Asia, he's a one man asskicking team with kickass stats, super accuracy, and his Master Gundam is OP as fuck.

On the other hand, it takes a LONG time to get him on the team, and you have to kiss all the Stardust secrets bye-bye.

If you're a Getter fan and haven't gotten Mushashi up to 15 kills to keep him past Stage 15, Earth route may be better since you play with the Getters somewhat longer.

Note: Already got this covered, just advice for those playing along who didn't.



Anyway, these are the pros and cons, let me know your votes before I continue. I will do both routes, but I'll pick the fan favorite route as "canon".

 

[Kiwi Jeff]

I vote for Stardust to save Gai

 

[Intelligent Calcium]

Normally I'd be inclined to go with G Gundam, but Stardust just seems overall better and recruiting Lalah sounds interesting. I hate giving up multiple good secrets for one great secret that you get way too late in games like this.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 8: Seal of the Shuffle (Part 2)

Note: Michiru Saotome default pilot of Getter Q if you have it.

Going to do Earth route first, but Stardust will be canon, as voted.

This level is identical either way,except Lamia doesn't help out on the Space Route.

It's worth noting that if Lamia chooses to stay, she wonder WTF she's doing (thinking more than her speech was messed up)

Anyway, this level has the following conditions:

Basically, siege level.

Your enemies, aside from the Devil Gundam, are these goons:

These are the Zaku II's of G Gundam. Not too hard, but you'll have to fight off a lot from multiple sides.

It's worth noting you'll get some funny color commentary from the non-combatant team members each turn.

Note that you have to kill the Devil Gundam, it won't run, but it drops the Ultimate Cells, which give a unit regen ability, so killing it is a good idea.

Once you beat all initial foes, Bright and the Space Team leave, and the Devil Gundam pops back up despite it's defeat, having regenerated.

But before round two happens, this guy has a few words:

Cue Master Asia, on his horse Fuunsaiki (a horse theme mecha that is piloted by Master Asia's flesh and blood horse of the same name.....yeah, it's that kind of show, just roll with it).

Everyone wonders who the weird old dude is, but Domon tells them to show some respect to the guy who taught him how to kick ass.

However,Master Asia busts his balls and tells him he can't beat the Devil Gundam now, especially because his goal is to beat his brother Kyoji retarded in the process, but something about how he says this seems off to everyone.

But that's when this guy shows up to explain Master Asia....isn't himself, per se.

This is Schwarz Bruder, Germany's Spiegel Gundam pilot, and he tells Domon that Master Asia is the real master of the Devil Gundam.

Domon obviously has a hard time believing this, but even Master Asia is all "Domon, you dumbass, he was RIGHT!"

Rain rather insistently tries to snap Domon out of his denial trance,and Master Asia gets annoyed and tries to take a potshot at her.

And that breaks the denial filter as Domon calls Asia out on being an asshole.

Asia is all "then try kicking my ass then!"

Worse, more enemies show up.

Giganos forces, to be exact. The Gon Jem squad, with their Colonel leading the pack:

Gon Jem is as much a thug as he looks, and he's a bitch to kill at high WILL levels. He does have the redeeming quality of being very loyal to his subordinates, but he's such an asshole otherwise it's hard to appreciate.

He's here to capture the Devil Gundam, and this dumb gorilla (that's his in universe nickname, he hates it) is all for it:

Gol is a dumbass motherfucker, and his stilted, simplistic Japanese was translated as borderline tard Hulk Speak in the fan translation (pretty accurate, actually), but he's very lethal in a Mobile Armor, though not as bad as his boss.

Ganan is better spoken than Gol, but he's otherwise just as much a ruthless prick.

Jin has pretty boy looks, but he's just as much a thug as his buddies.

And we already met Min.

Master Asia is not a huge fan of the Giganos black ops team, but both sides are more interested in kicking your ass at the moment.

The Practice Squad is forced to help Gon Jem's guys out, and they aren't really fans of it, but are playing ball anyway.

Anyway, the fight begins anew, and aside from Shining Gundam having to survive, you just need to kill all foes.

You now have Schwarz as an ally, he's pretty damned strong:

As for your new foes:

These things are the Giganos equivalent to the Xamels Zeon used in Gundam. Good long range, but frail and suck at close range.

Ganan pilots a flying version of these things, the Stark Gan-Dolla, and is basically just a tougher version.

Jin pilots a Stark Dauzehn, a modified version of the flying mecha the Practice Squad use. Min and Gol have their own custom variants, the Stark Eins and Stark Zwei.

Gon Jem pilots this beast:

Try to kill his ass before his WILL hits 150, he's a bastard to kill after his WILL gets high enough.

Master Asia is just as bad. I frankly recommend icing his ass ASAP as well. He does have low Hp, so be grateful for small mercies. However, after killing his horse, you have to fight his main unit, and it's just as bad. He'll run after reducing his HP below 70% the second time, and killing each form nets some nice parts.

However, after a turn, you get some help:

Meet Chibodee Crockett, Queen of Spades of the Shuffle Alliance (note the card theme?), American through and through, though he's a respectful, positive take on Americans for the most part, unlike Jack King's original Getter Robo portrayal.

This is Sai Saici, the Chinese Ace of Clubs. Supposed to be 16, but he looks 12. Doesn't make him any less of a badass though.

George de Sand, France's Jack of Diamonds. Like Chibodee, a positive take on Frenchmen for the most part, though prone to a bit of elitism and pride at times.

And finally Argo Gulski, Russia's Black Joker. A former cargo pirate (though one with standards, he went out of his way to not kill or harm people, and he only turned to crime to take care of his crew, who he considers family), and despite looking a jacked up hardass, has a heart of gold.

Tapp recognizes them as the Shuffle Alliance, and Domon says he'll explain what that means later to the confused among the team later.

Gon Jem's team figure they can tack on killing the newbies as a hazard bonus to their pay, and George has done his homework on them:

Before we resume the fight, bit of a briefing on their Gundams.

Chibodee's Maxter is a short to medium range melee specialist.

George's Rose Gundam is essentially a funnel equipped machine, except he's not a Newtype, though some early SD Gundam games would class him as one since his Rose Bits attack was basically Funnels under a different name.

Sai's Dragon Gundam is basically like the Maxter, only it sacrifices armor for mobility.

Argo is built like a brick shithouse, and he's basically the tank of the team.

All of the Shuffle Alliance Gundams have super modes that buff their stats and attacks too.

For this battle, I recommend turtling up on the bases and beating the hell out of anyone who gets close. Have as many units as possible bathe in Light's EWAC aura in the process.

Once you defeat Master Asia, he says he'll let you live for now, but adds to Domon he's no longer his disciple.

Also, good news, take down ANY of Gon Jem's (named) goons, and they ALL retreat. Good thing, fighting them all at this point would be exhausting.

The Devil Gundam will retreat around 10,000 HP the second time round too.

Once the fight is over, Schwarz says he'll keep on the Devil Gundam's tail for now, telling Domon he's screwed if he tries to fight it, do it when he's stronger.

In fact, he leaves Domon a tip, specifically that he can't win unless he has a "clear and serene" mind.

As the stage ends, Domon's emotions over Master Asia's betrayal finally catch up with his adrenaline, and he has a bit of a sobbing fit.

Afterwards, Tapp asks the Shuffle Alliance for their autographs, and Tapp explains they are the greatest fighting champions of the colonies.

Note: They managed to work in the colonies of G Gundam, being basically outer space versions of their respective countries like in the source, while the originals still exist, but have been beaten the hell out of due to all the past and current conflicts, though they still refer each other's country as Neo-(insert country here) like in the show. The fact the Earth is a wreck like in G Gundam is worked into this game's plot more prominently later on.

Ryouma draws a blank, but then again, he doesn't follow colonial news a lot either.

Chibodee introduces himself, and Jack gives his fellow American props for being one hell of a boxer, though his Texan is so overblown (not spoiling it here, some jokes are funnier if you experience them as you play in real time) Chibodee asks for a translator.

Amusingly, as Mary gives the tl;dr, Chibodee hopes Jack isn't giving everyone a bad impression of Americans, as something of a sardonic meta reference to how Jack originally WAS just that incarnate.

Sai says hi and makes clear he's devoid of any corny Chinese accent. Argo, on the other hand, is kinda laconic, says his name, leaves it at that.

George introduces himself with typically French courtesy, and Hayato finally notices the card theme they have going.

George explains the name comes from the crests each one of them has on the back of their hands, explaining the Shuffle Alliance has existed in some form, watching over the Earth for over 4000 years.

Domon finally has snapped out of his funk by now and asks why the other Shuffle peeps are here, and Chibodee is all "to help with the Devil Gundam and Giganos, duh."

Domon still tries to play loner tough guy, but Jack says the Devil Gundam took shots at all of them, so they are its enemies too, and Lamia adds, obviously mimicking Jack:

"He ain't just jawing, ya hear?"

Chibodee is bit weirded out by this, and they all wonder what to do next, and when Linda suggest asking Miwa for marching orders, everyone else gives her a "are you kidding?" look.

Risa concurs, he's scary, and Michuru suggests contacting the Saotome Labs instead.

But that's when Lady Une of the Preventers shows up, and when George calls her "Lady Lady Une", she wonders if he'd rather call her "Mademoiselle" instead.

Note: It's heavily implied, though never stated outright in Gundam Wing, that "Lady" is her first name, not just a title, this is a reference to this.

Anyway, she says she'll be handing out some info and handing them off to someone who can help further, and we thus cut to Tenican Island.

Tenican Island is where the Nadesico hunkered down since we last saw them, doing emergency repairs, and Yurika plans to get them back into space ASAP.

They also reference their source canon a bit here:

TL;DR; This is from a semi-comical episode of the Nadesico show where the Nadesico stopped over on this island for half work/half relaxation, and the Aqua in question got a bit of an obsessive crush on Akito, and Yurika was not a fan of this. They abbreviate it somewhat here, but basically Aqua was a little psychotic on being told, no, you can't keep Akito, but they omit this part.

As the stage ends, Yurika plans to drag Akito back to the ship ASAP before they head into space themselves.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 9: Zambot Combination (Part 1) [Pursue Devil Gundam Route]


We resume in a transport craft overflying the Indian peninsula, and it's a bumpy ride where everyone is packed in like sardines, and a bit of turbulence almost results in Miyuki getting body checked by Argo.

Lady Une apologizes, the Preventers don't have a lot of transports on hand at the moment, and even though she's out of leads on the Devil Gundam at the moment, she plans to take you all to a mansion where you'll meet your Preventer support.

Said support is Banjou Haran.

Banjou Haran is the man who leads the Haran Conglomerate, son of Sozou Haran, one of the guys who helped kick start Mars exploration, creator of the artificial lifeforms known as the Meganoids. Banjou is one of his two sons, and is supposed to be richer than Midas.

He also has his own super robot called Daitarn 3.

Apparently, thanks to his deep pockets supporting the Preventers, not to mention the fact his wealth and connections being able to pull lots of strings, you're being seconded to him since he could probably use the aforementioned to help find the Devil Gundam.

They get a reminder he's a civilian but they are still seconded to the Londo Bell force (meaning they should play nice with the military when need be, but if push comes to shove, do whatever is best for the situation at hand while working for him), and she stops when Linda informs her Preventer "Water" has an urgent call.

Turns out the Gaizock are raising hell in Japan, and she explains those assholes tried to take a shot at invading Earth while the One Year War had their hands full, but they got their shit pushed in a super robot named Zambot 3 before they even made Earthfall and were forced run like bitches.

Apparently, Zambot's creators declined to do anymore fighting after that, but recently changed their minds and offered their assistance to the Preventers. However, Miwa Sakimori, asshole he is, demanded that Zambot 3 be remanded to military custody.

So you'll have to go bail their asses out.

We cut to the battle map, where one of Zambot's creators isn't happy to be strong armed by some carrot haired asshole.

Miwa doesn't give a fuck, and when it's pilots (who are children) tell Miwa they are the only ones who have the experience to pilot it, Miwa has some random Feddie soldiers summoned who apparently took some simulator courses to pilot the machine and demands they'll take over for civilians.

Before we go on, it's worth mentioning Miwa's being a fucking idiot. Zambot is literally attuned to specific pilots (the three kids who do pilot it), this plan is doomed to failure.

Heizaemon is a bit nasty in retort and Keiko (the 3rd Zambot pilot, brings up a good point}

Miwa tries to deflect this, but Kappei (first pilot of Zambot) realizes they hit a nerve:

Miwa is then told the Zambot creators were more than happy to help Londo Bell of their own free will, and Uchuta (second Zambot pilot) notes the scent of bullshit in the air:

Heizaemon then figures it out: Miwa was too stupid to check, and decided to seize shit without asking because he's a tard.

Needless to say, Miwa is about to have an autistic screeching match right then and there.

And that's when the Gaizock show up, whom Miwa stupidly assumes to be Bharmians or Giganos (and he more stupidly assumes those two are ailles).

Anyway, Heizaemon lets the Feddies try to use Zambot, knowing they'll fuck it up, figuring it's the only way Miwa will learn.

And sure enough, we get some cutscenes of the Feddies getting their asses beat in Zambot.

As some mystery figure on the Gaizock side is enjoying the show, that's when you can deploy:

As toy do, your team watches the assbeating Zambot is getting and is all "we're supposed to bail out people who couldn't find their dicks if they were holding them?"

As the Feddies in Zambot are coming to the realization they're fucked and wanting to run, and Miwa daring them to return to a firing squad, that's when this lovely fellow shows up:

Meet Killer the Butcher.

Killer is bored because he wanted Zambot to be more than a joke of a fight, and the Zambot kids are pissed that asshole isn't dead like they had though him to be.

And that's when Lady Une confirms to Miwa he should have checked to see if Londo Bell was contacted by the Zambot creators:

Miwa's pissed when he sees the Dragonar team is on Earth and not space, and he gets told shit happened, they had to split up.

And Heizaemon finally lays down the law to Miwa and tells him his men will die having accomplished nothing, the kids who can pilot Zambot literally had the knowledge implanted in their brains in sleep learning, and they have proven combat experience already, so if he wants to do more than get Zambot blown up for nothing, he needs to step aside and let the experts handle things.

Miwa concedes if only because the alternative makes him look more impotent, and the Zambot redeploys with pilots who actually know what the hell they're doing this time.

Kappei tells your guys to take a rain check, they got this, and while Domon is ready to get the popcorn and watch them prove that, Rain admonishes him for it, and Domon reluctantly changes his mind lest he get bitched at some more.

Heizaemon tells the Zambot pilots their new help isn't the incompetents Miwa had originally, so work together, and I'll cover the rest of this stage after some more infodumping.

 

[GethN7]

Before I go on, @Jaimas, add notes on anything if need be.

Both Daitarn 3 and Zambot 3 were directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, and much like how he tended to follow the uber depressing Zeta Gundam with the somewhat comedic ZZ Gundam (though it got serious later on), his manic-depressive tendency of following comedies up with tragedies continued, with Zambot 3 being the depressing counterpart to the much less emo Daitarn 3.

In fact, much like how IRL Tomino had his edgy emo moments due to recurring battles with depression, Zambot 3 is depressing as fuck, here's the short version:

The families who created Zambot 3 were from another planet the Gaizock razed to the ground because they are planet burning assholes who rape, pillage, and burn planets cause that's their thing, and the families who built Zambot 3 ran to Earth since their planet got burnt to ground by those bastards.

However, fearing they'd be screwed if Earth wound up a target, they decided to create Zambot 3 to prevent their next planet from dying to Gaizock's bullshit, and they pretty much sleep-fed information on how to control Zambot 3 to their own kids and had them pilot it to fight the Gaizock.

As you can see, evil planet destroyers and child soldiers, this shit is pretty dark already, but it gets worse.

Despite the cartoony, kid show animation, the Gaizock are evil cunts, and we got to see them perpetrate genocides with mass bloodshed, commit all sorts of depraved war crimes in general, including turning children into bombs and blowing them up for kicks, and these assholes are utterly irredeemable scum. Worse, the kids who had to pilot Zambot 3 got put through war trauma that was intensely scarring, and they also had to deal with their fellow Earthlings shitting on them because they weren't happy their family attracted those aliens attention and got Earth caught in the crossfire.

Simply put, this shit is dark as fuck in the original, and fittingly, Zambot has a moon like theme as result.


Super Robot Wars usually waters down some of the worst parts of the Zambot source and edits out the worst of the Gaizock's brutality, leaving what they portray as a condensed version of the original with a huge chunk of the angsty crap removed, or they chuck out most to all of the plot and have it exist to support it's sister series Daitarn 3, which is more upbeat.

Super Robot Wars Z reversed this trend, with the full horror of the original on proud display (as far as they could get away with and still keep a Teen rating at least), and it got so bad even some of the villains who were willing to work with the Gaizock had to go "dude, that's fucked up" to the Gaizock more than once, and even the more amoral allies they had thought the children as bombs shit was just too depraved even for them.

And in that version, Killer the Butcher got to be far more of the sociopathic lunatic he was in the source as well.

As for this game, we're getting one of the more watered down versions, though not to extent other games would, and both it's plot and Daitarn will get some focus, though they will thankfully skip over some of the darker shit from Zambot in this game.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 9: Zambot Combination (Part 2) [Pursue Devil Gundam Route]


We resume this stage with control of Zambot 3 and your Londo Bell team as Killer as his assclowns await:

I recommend making it where Zambot is in the center of the map, more foes will appear from the southwest of there after you dust off Killer and his goons.

Note; For story reasons, I recommend deploying Risa in Getter Q

Here's Killer's idiots and assholes:

These all are different flavors of HP spongy artillery with not so amazing accuracy.

Killer is a 60,000 HP damage sponge that will run around 10,000 HP, don't bother trying to kill him, just force him to retreat.

He's got a moderately dangerous MAP attack that hurts like hell if you bunch units up in front of him, so flank his ass, his aim is a bit shit otherwise.

Killer and his goons love to use missiles, so Light's Missile Jammer ability works great against these tards.

If Lamia and Killer fight, he thinks he saw her unit somewhere before, she gets defensive and tell him that's not funny.

Once Killer fucks off, the usual villains teamup douches appear.

Hidler is one of their commanders, but they have a new set of goons with them, led by Prince Heinel, who announces he's the new commander of the villains team alliance.

Everyone is stunned, the Boazans haven't appeared before now, and it seems the Gaizock have been working with them.

Hakkotsuki is on the front lines along with Hidler, and she really wasn't expecting to die here, but so be it.

Risa will recognize her and let her know she's alive if she's with you and that will alter the tone of this entire scene, you won't have to fight her if Risa is here.

If true, this happens:

Hakkotsuki will be shocked to see Risa alive, Risa explains she was taken in by Michiru, and Hidler is planning to shoot Risa himself. Hakkotsuki can't bear to let him do it, so she elects to die trying to stop him by self destructing in his face.

Unfortunately, it fails to do any appreciable damage, and it just confirms to Hidler both of them were always traitors, with your team lamenting that Hakkotsuki didn't defect to your team as well instead.

If not, you will have to fight and kill Hakkotsuki this stage.

These are the new goons:

Voltes V bottom tier enemy goons.

The Skullrook is the Voltes equivalent to Killer's Zambot carrier, it too runs before it can be killed, so just wear it down to that point.

It's worth noting Hidler is much weaker HP wise (seems Hakkotsuki did more damage than we thought) and won't run at all, so if anyone wants to beat Captain Fuhrer to death, have fun, this stage should be cathartic.

I usually let Risa get the kill, just to fit the schadenfreude for what Hidler wanted to do to Risa and her mom.

If Lamia and Heinel fight, both he and his adjutant Jangal (pictured below) recognize her unit as well.

Also, by this time, the Dragonar team should all be LV 10, so they can use a combination attack that does a nice amount of damage so long as they all have the energy to spam it and their WILL is 110+.


Once that's all over, Lady Une asks Miwa why he decided to fuck up the deal they had negotiated with the Jin (no relation to Hayato)
family regarding Zambot.

His answer amounts to "because I thought I was right".

Heizamon tells Miwa to fuck off, he agreed to second Zambot off to Londo Bell via the Preventers only, that's the only way he's letting shit happen without a fight, and Miwa is too frustrated to continue being a faggot, so he just stomps off, mouthing the Preventers should be a little more subservient to him, and Une retorts they are subservient to Earth Federation as a whole FIRST, the army second, which he can't really bitch about, so he just continues stomping off.

FYI, Kappei Jin is Heizamon's grandson, but Uchuta Kamie and Keiko Kamikita all call Heizamon Gramps, since they grew up together.

Their dog is also along for the ride:

Chiyonishiki doesn't seem to like Lamia much (he can sense she's not what she appears to be apparently).

Heizamon then explains the Gaizock destroyed their home planet of Beal, and he'd rather they not make Earth another on their list of blown up worlds, hence his willingness to let you take Zambot 3 and his kids with you to help fight the Gaizock and their butt buddies on Earth and in space.

Later, Miwa is still tard raging to himself, and he runs into Risa.

The bandages she used to cover up her broken horn fall off, and he starts throw the mother of all conniption fits when he realizes she's actually an Oni.

The Getter team holds his sorry ass back and tell him, more or less,

"Fuck off, she defected to our side and has our trust, and if you want to shoot her because you're a bigot, you have to go through us first."

Jack and Mary King both stick up for her as well, and he storms off, ranting about how no one seems to respect his job title.

Later, everyone asks Lady Une why she'd be willing to tell Miwa off when, if he really wanted to, he could pull strings to make the Preventers dance to his tune.

Her answer, in TL;DR format, boils down to:

"Because the EF military is full of window lickers and forces like Londo Bell have gotten a lot more shit down long term, and if this were a casino, I feel comfortable wagering Earth's long term safety to Londo Bell."

 

[GethN7]

Just some added notes before we continue:

Zambot 3 makes a good long term tank, and it has some awesome high damage combination attacks with Daitarn 3.

It's full upgrade bonus isn't all that good, though. You get the Ion Cannon, which has great range and power, but really high WILL requirements and it's accuracy is a tad ass.

The best of it's three pilots is Keiko, she is loaded down with all sorts of useful support seishins like Attune, blowing any mods that increase SP points on her is a great idea if you plan to deploy Zambot 3 a lot.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 10: Meganoid's Gamble (Part 1) [Pursue Devil Gundam Route]

We resume as everyone is heading for Banjou Haran's crib.

Apparently, Banjou has few servants for a rich guy, his house is largely kept up by robotic help, and just as everyone is wondering what it's actually gonna look like, Lady Une informs you all you'll be meeting him elsewhere.

Banjou is currently occupied fighting off a cyborg threat, you'll be changing course to bail him out.

Said threat are the "Meganoids"

Brief note before we continue, they are, technically speaking, androids, but they aren't above modding themselves like classical cyborgs, so they are technically both.

The Meganoids were created, originally, for making Mars habitable, but they went rogue and became a threat. Nergal stepped up to finish what they started after they decided they didn't give a fuck about making Mars more habitable for humanity. In fact, they'd rather turn humanity into more of them, as they have that classic "we are superior to fleshbags" shtick going on.

However, while they are one of the threats from Mars, they aren't currently starting shit there, that would be another threat, currently known as the "Jovian Lizards", according to intel gleaned from tapping Nergal communications. Considering what everyone knows about the Nadesico, it's quite likely even the Nadesico crew are in the dark about this information, meaning their sponsor company is not telling even their own employees everything.

As they approach Banjou location, Lamia makes this comment:

We then meet Garrison Tokita, whom those who saw my Alpha Gaiden LS will be acquainted with:

He explains Master Banjou and his assistants may have been abducted, and he'd appreciate your help. However, Banjou heard his master planned to escape by dinnertime, and he says this in the most casual manner possible.

He can do this because Banjou is basically anime James Bond, but what worries Garrison is that he has some fresh persimmons that might spoil if Banjou is back too late.

And that's when everyone notices a massive robot nearby, which is identified as Daitarn 3.

As we cut to the map, it seems one of Banjou's assistant (more like girlfriends, he has two, anime James Bond, remember?) is piloting the Daitarn (Banjou's peeps did this in the show, this is not a surprise)

This is Beautiful "Beauty" Tachibana (her real name, actually), an agent of the Japanese security services in the source, though the exact details are a bit vague.

But something seems wrong with her right now.

Oddly, the Meganoid mecha don't seem to be pursuing Daitarn, and Beauty is acting quite oddly, which leads to the natural assumption Daitarn 3 is under enemy control.

And that's when the enemy Meganoid commander makes her entrance:

She's actually about 50 feet tall right now (Meganoids can enlarge themselves, turning into what amounts to those huge as hell mecha from Power Rangers), and as Garrison explains, she been macronized into what is known as Megaborg, or basically a Super Robot sized Meganoid.

Mylene has some simple demands: Either become her willing bitches, or Daitarn 3 will kill everyone at her orders.

She even adds "Resistance is futile", which brings to mind another species of "Borg".

Domon tells her to fuck off with that shit (this is a man who has kicked skyscrapers into gravel before, no 50 foot tall cyborg woman is going to intimidate him), and Mylene tries to make good on her threat, and we get confirmation she's brainwashed Beauty in the process.

The Shuffle Alliance's response to this involves a bunch of finger snaps to summon their Gundams (everyone else's mecha need more time to arrive).

However, as Domon is about to lead the G Gundam peeps into kicking ass, Garrison has a request: Don't fuck up the Daitarn 3, please.

Domon and company are all "and if it attacks us, what do we do?"

Garrison: "I would suggest dodging or guarding."

With this, the fight starts, map time:

Daitarn 3 under Beauty's brainwashed control has some crappy aim, but I suggest taking advantage of the terrain to maximize the chances she'll miss.

These things are fairly weak.

These bastards are tough artillery with carrier level health, but their accuracy is shit up close.

Mylene is a HP sponge who has wisely parked her short range ass on a base, and while reasonably tough, is not all that agile.

My suggestion is to dodge hits from Daitarn, punch out as many Meganoid units as possible, and try to remain not too far from the start point.

After a turn or two, this happens:

Apparently, another Meganoid named Aisa gave him a key to his cell.

Mylene is pissed, and Banjou warns Aisa she's going to piss off her sister.

She's well aware:

FYI, Banjou did the anime James Bond bit and won her over like Bond does any woman on the villain team.

Reika Sanjou, Banjou's other girlfriend who was also captured (she also has an intel job like Beauty), meanwhile, is struggling to keep up with him.

Aisa apparently was really won over by Banjou to the point she's happily committing treason against her fellow Meganoids because he really charmed her pants off (in more than one way). Unfortunately, her twin sister is pissed off;

You can deploy at this point.

After another turn or so, Lisa demands Aisa surrender her foolish moonlighting for the enemy, but Aisa doesn't give a shit, she might be a Meganoid, but she has the hots for Banjou anyway.

Lisa is pissed off and want to forcibly turn her sister into a Megaborg so they can crush him like the weak human male he is.

....did I mention both Lisa and Mylene are a weird brand of android misandrists?

Lisa deploys as a Megaborg at this point, and despite Aisa's protests, tosses her ass in the macronization machine, turn her into a Megaborg as well.

Worse, Lisa took control of Aisa's Megaborg body, meaning she has no choice but to fight you.

We then get a scene where Banjou tells Reika to find a place to keep her head down while he gets his own map sprite:

What happens next requires some emphasis:

HE THEN HAULS ASS, ON FOOT, ACROSS A DESERT FOR DAITARN 3, DODGING ARTILLERY FIRE FROM MASSIVE TANKS AND SCALES HIS OWN 50 FOOT TALL MACHINE, AGAIN, ON FOOT, AND HOPS INTO THE COCKPIT.


No, the above is not an exaggeration, he did that shit.

It's worth mentioning in the actual show he once busted out of a prison cell BY RIPPING THE IRON BARS OUT OF THE FUCKING WALL!

..........So, did I mention this guy was a total fucking badass yet?


Mylene tries to make the brainwashed Beauty try to kill Banjou, and he asks you to keep the enemy busy while he tries to restrain her nonviolently.

After a turn or so, Banjou resorts to knocking Beauty out (he does apologize, he wasn't a fan of having to do that). As he does, the Daitarn 3 theme starts up.

Sing it with me folks:

1,2,3...........DAITARN 3!


Banjou apologizes he was late, and Mylene finally calls in more goons.

To that, he gives her his catchphrase:

"If you don't fear the shine of this Sun, then BRING IT ON!"

Note: the translation opts for "Come at me!" at the end, but that's not all that inaccurate, the context of the original Japanese could read as either.

Your new goons:

Somewhat tougher than the Aiai, but not by much.

Lisa is tougher than her sister, but mostly is just an HP sponge.

Aisa is the weaker of the two, kill her to speed this stage up, you only have to take out one of the two. Aisa starts with pretty low WILL, which makes her unable to support Lisa with their combination attack, take one of them out before it builds up.

Lisa and Aisa will both move off the base to make your job easier, as will Mylene.

Note: It does not matter if you kill Aisa, Lisa, or even both at the same time (possible with Goerge's MAP attack). Either way, you'll have to fight a combined form of them both that is basically a somewhat harder HP sponge version of both.

Once you take the combined version out, Aisa regrets her fate, wishing the odds of her finding happiness despite being a Meganoid weren't as low as they proved to be, and as she and Lisa die, Banjou feels genuine regret along with her.

Mylene will retreat around 10,000 HP, saying she'll be back later.

As the stage ends, Lady Une hands you off to Banjou, who, while trying to act all cool, is still mourning Aisa's fate, which he wishes he could change despite his own hatred of his father, whose creation of the Meganoids led to this whole sorry set of affairs.......

 

[GethN7]

Some Daitarn 3 trivia before we continue.

Daitarn 3 is one of Yoshiyuki Tomino's less emo works, but that doesn't mean it's devoid of drama, and in this case, the drama mainly centers around the concept:

"Even if we are dealing with artificial life that went rogue, should we deal with them all as irredeemably evil?"

The answer of the show tends towards "no" quite often. Many of the Meganoids show conscience, standards and ethics, and many can be charming and have quite the sense of humor, even the more villainous ones. On the other hand, many of them are high off their own farts that smell of the bullshit they should supplant mankind with themselves, which leads into the conflict of series hero Banjou Haran.

Banjou Haran is a bit conflicted concerning the Meganoids. While they were created for far more benign purposes by his father, all the shit they caused after going rogue caused a lot of people grief and he always resented the mess his dad left everyone else to clean up. However, despite contempt for the bullshit the Meganoids do as a whole, he's well aware not all of them are 100% evil and he'd really like to redeem as many who would like to be redeemed if he could.

It's also hinted and implied at points Banjou himself may be a Meganoid and never realized it, but the show has never done anything more than tease the possibility at best, but if true, it just makes Banjou's situation even more complicated, as he's decided to fall on the side of helping humanity.

Another thing about this work is that Banjou is one of Tomino's attempts at making a protagonist who was basically handed a lot of cool shit in life, including being incredibly rich, having two girlfriends, being a total badass (aka anime James Bond), and he even adopts a little kid as his own family at one point. Regardless, Banjou ultimately is not happy with the threat his dad's creation of the Meganoids left him and he often feels guilt and responsibility for cleaning up the mess while struggling with letting his resentment overcome his innate decency that compels him to see the Meganoids as a group who members could be redeemed despite what nasty crap they do as a group.


Super Robot Wars generally goes one of two routes when adapting Daitarn.

1. Setting it post series and having Banjou be Uncle Pennybags to the good guys.
2. Adapting the plot of the show while still having Banjou support the cast.


Earlier games went the first route, but as the storywriting prowess of the SRW writers improved, they did #2 more.


Banjou, regardless of adaptation choice, tends to either be funding some or all of the good guy groups, and is regarded as one of the senior leaders of any good guy army, often being considered as important as the senior military personnel from most of the Gundam shows due to his connections and seniority, including often having ties to government intelligence agencies via his girlfriends, who both generally have some connection to the Earth Federation's intelligence organs in most adaptations (mostly just Japan in the original show).


And that brings us to one last interesting fact.


Banjou's age is often given as 18, but he looks a lot older, and that's because he spent several years on Mars, which has a longer year than Earth due to it's distance from the Sun. As a result, his age in Earth years would like be somewhere in his mid-thirties, though the exact amount of time he spent on Mars is left rather vague in some adaptations.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 10: Meganoid's Gamble (Part 2) [Pursue Devil Gundam Route]


We resume as Mylene is quite asshurt over her pwnage at Banjou's hands, and she get's a page from Koros, the Meganoid second in command:

Koros tells her she's need back on Mars, they had a warship named the Nadesico to deal with there. Mylene tries to protest, but this guy interject his silent objection to her recalcitrance:

Note: The translators went for a literal/grammatically correct translation, as his name is usually translated Don Sauzer. The one this game uses does make more sense in English name conventions.


Koros then emphasizes she'll do whatever she doing on Mars, Don has spoken.


We then cut back to Banjou's crib, which is, like any mansion for the uberloaded, decked out to the nines in damned near everything. He also adds they have an underground service bay for mech maintenance, if that's needed.

While being shown around, Beauty pulls Light aside and asks if he's related to Lord Vermont. Light explains Lord Vermont is his grandfather, and it's something of a touchy subject, as he rather not be known as Lord Vermnot's grandson, nor as the son of a director in the Earth Federation.

We then cut to Lamia, realizing her communicator's circuit is utterly fried, meaning she has no way to speak to her mystery employers, meaning she'll be winging everything until she can again.

As we end this level, let's cover Daitarn 3:

Daitarn's base form is an awesome tank, and in this form can parry enemy attacks. It can also partner with Zambot for some combo attacks.

The Daitank has even better armor, and makes an outstanding artillery meatshield.

The Daifighter is the most mobile form of Daitarn, and I recommend using it on levels where you need as much speed as possible.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 11: Secret Weapon [Pursue Devil Gundam Route]


We resume at Banjou's crib when we get news there was a nuclear attack at Solomon/Konpei Island.

Note: Solomon was a space asteroid base Zeon had. The Feddies captured it and renamed in Konpei Island during the OYW.

Londo Bell is currently engaging Zeon's Delaz Fleet, and everyone curses the fact the Zeon forces couldn't be stopped from hosing over 70% of the Feddie forces at Solomon with a nuclear weapon.

Lamia notes "Step One" has been completed to herself.

Everyone else is all "well, we couldn't be in two places at once, we already had to divide our forces to deal with our current threats", and the Shuffle Alliance guys are getting tired of getting depressed hearing news about shit they can't fix, so they all decide to get some exercise.

During this, George notes Ryouma has some swordplay skills and invites him to spar with him (he's an accomplished fencer), and while Ryouma's specialty is katanas, he's game.

Meanwhile, Banjou's gonna do some intel work to figure shit out, reasoning that the enemy forces they've had to fight couldn't have slipped onto Earth unnoticed as easily as they have, unless they were already here from awhile back, have been building up their forces, and are attacking in force now.

Given other alien forces snuck in during the OYW prior, it makes sense, and speaking of human threats, Banjou is aslo concerned with Giganos and Zeon's movements.

We then cut to the Nadesico on Mars, where an Inez Fressange is telling the Nadesico "thanks for the rescue, but we'll stay here".

Note: Inez is the 'Miss Exposition" of the Nadesico cast, a running gag is that she always is explaining everything.


Inez explains she was one of the designers of the ship they are on, and she knows what it can do. Based on that, she concludes you guys would have your asses shot down by the Jovian Lizards in no time flat.

The crew try to protest otherwise, but Inez shoots down their arguments with cold logic, stating correctly they know jack shit about the Jovian Lizards intentions. She correct, but she comes off as a bitch.

Some Jovian ships show up, they try to prove they can kick ass with a Gravity Blast...and it has the effect of a wet fart when they discover the Jovians have Distortion Fields as good as the Nadesico. Worse, ships are emerging from the Jovian Chulips, what was assumed to be their transport ships.

But Inez point out, especially since far more ships than a Chulip could reasonably hold come out of it, the Chulips are no mere transport vessels. They are portable transporters, meaning the ships are sent through a teleporter from somewhere else, and the Chulips are a portable exit point for them.

Yurika tries to order another Gravity Blast, but they can't, and Inez points out the weapon cannot fire sustained blasts outside of the vacuum of space,so within a planet's atmosphere, the Gravity Blast will eventually shit the bed because there is only so much non-oxygen in an atmosphere capable of sustaining human life.

Note: In Nadesico, Mars was made habitable by humanity seeding the thin atmosphere with oxygen producing nano machines that buttressed the existing atmosphere until it had oxygen suitable for human life to exist without needing a space suit.

Akito says they could sortie the Aestivalis, but Uribatake shoots that idea down, the Jovian force would shoot his ass sideways, and Ruri notes it might not have hurt to spread a Minovsky particle field earlier.

@Jaimas, correct me if I'm wrong, but given the Distortion Field tech of Nadesico is heavily based on EM radiation, I believe it's plausible Minovsky particle fields as emanated by ships in Gundam would, at the very least, inhibit the strength of the enemy Distortion Fields as well as play havoc on their targeting systems.

Yurika then wants to raise their own Distortion Field to prevent them from getting shot retarded, but Megumi points out not all the refugees on the planet on the Nadesico, only Inez, and activating the field now will likely kill them, as they are huddling in cave beneath where the ship is stationed, and the field activating will reverberate off the cave hard enough to collapse it. Yurika then wants to fall back, THEN activate the field, but their engines are still a bit too cold to throw everything in full reverse in time, leaving her, as Inez points out, with a sadistic choice.

Don't raise field, get shot to death. Raise it, the refugees they want to save die.

After a painful pause, Yurika gives the order.

"Raise the Field."

Inez barely waits until they get confirmation the field kill everyone below before adding it was likely they would have died anyway, as even assuming the survived the Jovians, the Meganoids are around too, and they don't exactly have problems taking human beings and turning them into Meganoid grunts.

Note: While not identical, the way they do this has similarities to how Cybermen in Doctor Who turn humans into more Cybermen.

This said, the Nadesico is then forced to retreat while the Field is still holding.


We cut back to Banjou's crib, and his intel net picked up news of a Giganos weapons factory, and while the Dragonar guys want to kick Giganos ass, the information leak, while supposed reliable according to the Federation, he nor any other contacts in his net could confirm it. In fact, as Garrison adds, the information was likely leaked or fabricated on purpose.

Unfortunately, there is no other way to actually tell without going to the source of the info, so you all depart.


We then cut to Neo Hong Kong (from G Gundam), where a mystery man is noting Londo Bell's ground team has realized something is up and they won;t be able to stay hidden for much longer, and Gon Jem is all

"Why complain? We get to deal with them a lot faster."

The mystery man is not happy, it's throwing the timing of his plans off, but Gon Jem couldn't care less and asks if the thing" is ready.

Mystery Man says it is, but it hasn't been tested yet, and Gon Jem offers to do that part, pointing out Londo Bell needs to die ASAP, for both their sakes, and while mystery man isn't happy, he concedes Gon Jem's logic has a point.

Gon Jem notes he expects to be paid for this, and mystery man notes his shrewdness. Mystery Man also notes the Federation's "new model" should be ready, and before we continue, we need to discuss a minor plot hole.


Mystery Man is referring to the latest model of the mass produced Dragonars, which, according to the backstory, should already exist, so either he's referring an improved version of the versions used to win the OYW, or the game script changed a bit during development and this line wasn't fixed in time. The Metal Armor Dragonar plot was condensed and while they try to retread the high points of the original in this game, the war with Giganos has been going on for awhile by the start of the game, taking place just after the Gryps Conflict, which has been over for a few months at least (Kamille needed awhile to recover from the events of Zeta, a few months is the bare minimum time that is remotely plausible given the psychic attack he endured at end of Zeta). That said, this is a minor plot hole, but not one that really hurts the overall plot consistency long term, more likely an ambiguity in the script, not clarifying the MP Dragonars mentioned at this point are improved over the originals used in the backstory.


I'll cover the rest next post.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 11: Secret Weapon [Pursue Devil Gundam Route] (Part 2)


We can sortie everyone, do so.

We are in an weapons base, where we meet some Feddies who need some help:

They've been repulsed several times trying to take the place, and apparently, while they did put out a call for your help, they weren't exactly sure why they were calling you guys specifically, meaning either their commanders gave them poor information on their reinforcements, or they were set up.

And that's when Gon Jem's squad and some Giganos goons show up on cue.

The weapons factory is also revealed to have a nasty centerpiece, a massive cannon that explains the repeated failed assaults,given it's big enough to fry anyone stupid enough to step down the hall towards it. Banjou recognizes it as the Infinite Mobile Cannon, and the Gon Jem guys reveal they were tipped off, meaning the Feddies were set up.

Lamia appears to recognize the Cannon as well as the Feddie head towards their doom,despite optimism they got some other reinforcements coming.

D-Weapon reinforcements, to be exact.

These are Dragoons, mass produced Dragonar derivatives. Banjou clarifies that while they were mass produced to win the One Year War, the Federation was still unsure to either commit to using Metal Armors, Gespensts, or GMs as their mainstay forces until recently.

Apparently, they decided Dragoons were the best long term military investment. GMs and Gundams were relegated to special operations uses, and Gespensts were considered too cost inefficient, hence only a few test models were ever made.

And that's when the cannon blows all the Feddie units, GM and Dragoon alike, into scrap metal.

Anyway, you guys need to take their place taking the cannon and Gon Jem Squad down, and while you avoid the cannon's direct line of fire, you'll have to flank it, and Banjou fires off a Giganos version of his "I'm gonna kick your ass" one liner before you start.

Map time:

The glowing white area is the cannon, land a unit on it to win. The glowing green areas are fuel tanks, they can restore some health and energy per turn for any units sitting on them. As from some Gan-Kolles and the Gon Jem Squad, this map has no other obstacles.

And, as the dimensions of the map show, you'll want to flank attack and NOT get caught in the area the cannon faces on the enemy turn (it will fire down the main hallway every two turns or so)


Consider this map your first indoor level, where space is limited and tactical movement to safe spots is key. Do note on either side of the cannon on the left and right is an apparent one space safe zone, but don't fall for it, you will die if caught there when the cannon hits, it's a one hit kill.

In fact, for this level, make haste slowly.

Once you succeed, this happens:

With the Cannon destroyed, Gon Jem calls in the troops to kick your ass.

The only new surprise is this thing:

It's Dragonar's Gouf Flight Type stand in, nothing too scary.


You have to take down all the Gon Jem goons and the grunts, and Gon Jem has special dialogue when fighting the Dragonars, Banjou, and the Shuffle Alliance.

The last one is pretty damn funny, they piss off Gon Jem royally by calling him a dog that just follows orders when they press him for info on why he was after the Devil Gundam and he claims it was just a job he was ordered to do.

As the level ends, Banjou orders everyone to hurry with destroying this place, and he also notes Lamia knows a lot more than she's telling people.


Afterwards we cut a mystery man bitching about someone leaving the line of battle, and he's mad as fuck it might prevent them from dropping a space colony. The second mystery person tells them to chill, the plan has 99% of succeeding, but the first person is not happier, that 1% has fucked shit up for people before.

The second person guesses the 1% refers to Londo Bell, and the first person remarks they are stronger here than they were in the other world.


"In the Other World". Keep note of this, it will be important.


The first then asks about W17 (Lamia), and he's pissed that despite apparently getting orders, she seems to have not been doing shit like she should have anyway, and the second one tells them to chill, things are working out anyway, but concedes her lack of contact is troubling, prompting this guy to say he'll check things out.

He's told not yet, but he insists, he could use the workout since the "transition", and the first person tells him he'll get his chance.

Axel then adds if the Colony Drop (of Operation Stardust) is somehow stopped, they'll have to face him anyway.....

 

[GethN7]

Stage 12: Mind Control System [Pursue Devil Gundam Route]


Time to begin Part 2 of kicking in the Gon Jem squad's teeth.


Banjou hits Garrison up for updates on the colony the Delaz Fleet wants to smash into Earth, an it seems the Nadesico and Londo Bell are cooperating to prevent the drop, and the worst case is still unknown.

And since they don't know more about that, they decide to pursue the Gon Jem squad to the remaining side of the factory then ran to and finish their asses.

We cut over to Gon Jem,pissed he's backed into a corner, and that when his mystery contact calls to dig the glass in a little. Gon Jem is pissed the Infinite Mobile Cannon turned out useless and wants the other project Mystery Man was working on, but he insists it's not ready yet.

Given it involves using female test subjects to fine tune it, Min accuses mystery man of building his own harem under the excuse of testing weapons, to which mystery man takes offense, he's not that kind of man. As for Gon Jem, he's losing patience and just wants another weapon to use, and mystery man does have an experimental Metal Armor, which Gon Jem is happy to pilot, but mystery man insists it not safe and could kill him due to the speed it flies at, but Gon Jem is all

"Fuck it. Life is risk, and I'm not a pussy, just let me use the damned thing."

Mystery Man: "Fine, but if it kills you, it's your funeral."

And that's when Schwarz is noticed spying on them:

Schwarz clears out before they ventilate his forehead, and as the Gon Jem squad goes out to deal with the others, mystery man realizes he can't waste anymore time if that was Schwarz Bruder.

We can deploy at this point.

As you do, the Gon Jem goons sans their boss show up, and everyone realizes there aren't too many Gon Jem goons to fight, so this could be a trap.

Map time:

As you can see, the Gon Jem goons are thinly spread out, so expect more, and there a lot of fuel tanks to sit on, don;t be ashamed to do so if need be for healing.

After a few turns, Gon Jem shows up, and he ignores Mystery Man's pleas not to send out the secret weapons.

Zeta Gundam fans will recognize these:

Meet Four Murasame and Rosamia Badam, formerly of the Titans, and in this alternate universe retelling of the Gryps Conflict, which they survived, they and the Psyco Gundams they were made to pilot were recovered by Mystery Man for his own purposes.


As you can see, the Psyco Gundams are HP sponges with tough armor:

Being Newtype powered weapons, their accuracy is pretty good, so exercise caution.

Everyone else (sans Gon Jem, he's yet to deploy) should be no surprise by now.

After a turn or two, Mystery Man lends Gon Jem another woman in a terror weapon, G Gundam fans will recognize it:

Meet Allenby Beardsley, pilot of the Nobel Gundam, currently being driven insane by the Berserker System, which makes her able to dole out critical hits like crazy, but also turns her into the name of the system.

While she's a good guy, Mystery Man has used the Berserker System installed on her machine to drive her nuts and make her part of his female terror weapon squad for his own purposes, meaning she's not doing this of her own will, much like how the Psyco Gundam pilots are being manipulated.

The Shuffle Allaince recognize (and are horrified to do so) the Nobel Gundam, and while most of the males of the Gon Jem Squad think she's kinda cool (in a psychotic sort of way), Min is quietly disturbed Mystery Man prefers an army of brainwashed women to pilot his toys.

While not as spongy, she's got great armor, he attack scores are through the ceiling, and she can get lots of critical hits, so take her out FAST.

After another turn, Gom Jem finally deploys in his new ride. Kappei is bit pissed it has it's own moon style motif and thinks Gon Jem is trying to rip off Zambot.

Here's the specs on this thing:

This thing is FAR tougher than Gon Jem's old Geymalk, even having a nasty MAP attack. Worse, if Gon Jem's WILL goes above 130, it will be a BITCH to whittle down.

Allenby will run around 70% HP down, but not before briefly regaining her sanity.

Mystery Man doesn't want her squealing, but before he yanks her out of there, she drops the douches are hiding out in Neo Hong Kong.

Four/Rosamia will run around 65% HP down, and before they can recover from the brainwashing, Mystery Man will pull them back.

Gon Jem will run around 55% HP down.

After clearing out all the foes, Mystery Man decides this base is lost, and Ganan votes for blowing it up.

As they start blowing the place up, your team hauls ass to escape, and they just barely do.

Afterwards, while still trying to figure out what all the shit you just got hit with has to do with Giganos' plans, you get good news.

Londo Bell stopped the Colony Drop.

Meanwhile, Garrison is tasked by Banjou to dig up more info on Gon Jem's new ride, and when we cut back to Banjou's crib later, the ladies (Linda Plato and Rain Mikamura) are pleased to see their respective men (Kaine and Domon) are back in one piece.

I'll stop here, this is where the two routes dovetail together.

I'll cover the Operation Stardust route split next, and cover the info on the route merge then.

 

[GethN7]

@Jaimas, backstop me on any screwups here.

Before we begin the Operation Stardust route, we need to cover the source version's specific story aspects before covering the AU version.

The original 0083 storyline was meant to be the bridge to Zeta Gundam, explaining that the Titans were formed as a counter to Zeon remnant activity in response to the actions the Delaz Fleet took for their Stardust Operation. It's also implied the guys who would form the Titans helped orchestrate the Delaz Fleet's action by selective leaking of intel to them so they could launch the operation, thus allowing who would form the Titans effect an attempt at a coup in the Federation military to justify their own creation.

Stardust in this game takes place after the events of Zeta Gundam, with the Titans forming for a different reason, that being to mop up any remaining Zeon troops post One Year War that went out of control, forcing the Titans to be put down like mad dogs by sane dissident Earth Federation military and paramilitary civilian operatives disgusted with the brutality of the Titans.

It's worth noting that many of the same events and characters will reprise their roles in this AU retelling, but other people will ultimately be pulling the Delaz Fleet's strings. However, the same end goal of the Delaz Fleet will remain unchanged. Some other plot details, including some crossover character elements, will be altered to account for these changed events.

 

[GethN7]

This will be on hold for a couple days, my old GPU decided to die on me, currently making do with a toaster GPU until then.

New card should arrive in about a week or so hopefully.

 

[GethN7]

Have a decent graphics card once again, this LS will update shortly.

 

[GethN7]

Going to finish up Stage 8 [Operation Stardust Route] now that I'm back to do this stuff.

Screenshots may look a bit different, got a wider monitor.


Anyway, we resume on the Argamma as they continue to pursue the Zeon troops, and Sayla takes over for Linda doing ops officer duties since she stayed on Earth in the other route.

We cut to the hangar, where Kou is bitching about the GP-01 being useless in space, and Astonaige tries to explain without space specific modifications, it's kinda boned.

To be specific, it's Core Fighter (cockpit block) was designed for use in an atmosphere, like a space colony or Earth, and would be unbalanced in zero-G like space. Kouji remarks that odd, Mazinger Z works fine in all terrains, and Nina remarks to herself super robots just don't make sense.

Before we continue, she has a point. The Pilder unit that forms Mazinger's cockpit block was designed for use in an atmosphere, is NOT airtight, and even if Kouji wears a space suit to solve the second problem, he can't eject that damn thing if he has to from the main machine if we follow logic to it's conclusion without it being nigh useless in space, but that's usually not an issue in SRW games.

Kazuya remarks his Daimos is also built for space, but Nina again is all "how does a machine that is designed for doing karate work in space", even though he explains the whole point of Daimos was to be mobile in all terrains, space included.

We then turn to Shiro's Ez-8, basically a customized ground based Gundam with some GM parts kitbashed atop it, and Astonaige figures he can make some modifications based on space based GMs to make it work fine in space.

Note: In Gundam crossover games, they usually make similar modifications to allow the 08th MS Team stuff work in space, SD Gundam especially is known for this.

We turn back to Kou's issues, and they'll have to head for Anaheim Electronics facility on the Moon to get the parts, which presents a new issue.

Giganos is based on the Moon.

However, we discover Anaheim worked out something of a truce with Giganos, which translates to "we sell to everyone", so we'll sell to you guys if you don't shoot us.

As @Jaimas can confirm, Anaheim has always been shady as fuck like that, and it's partially why the UC has been so bloody, both Zeon and the Feddies were using machines whose core components were made by Anaheim, to the point Feddie and Zeon tech have a downright incestuous relationship with each other.

Kyoshiro remarks "merchants of death" like Nergal and Anaheim have to make a living, to which Nina takes offense, as she works for the latter.

Amuro checks in, and Astonaige reveals he got something nice for Amuro back at Kilamanjaro. Turns out the Feddies had been working on Gundam expansion packs and Amuro's Gundam was especially intended to use them. And they have one of them on hand, which, while heavily armored, is slower, but is strapped down with more guns to compensate.

It will make the RX-78 the "Full Armor Gundam", but Astonaige only notes one problem.

Due to the color of the armor addon, Amuro can't be the "White Devil" if the Gundam is green, but Amuro doesn't care about that.

Before we end this, your new swag:

All you really lose is some of Amuro's shorter range weapons while gaining some really long range ones and 10 mobility points, but the armor boost is from 1700 (max upgrade of stock Gundam) to the value above.

It's actually not a bad tradeoff IMO.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 9 [Operation Stardust Route]: Delaz Fleet (Part 1)


I put this off for a few days to beat SMT IV Apocalypse, now to get back to this.


In this level, we can save Gai Daigouji from his canon death in Nadesico, and get a nice attack for Boss Borot if Boss has five or more kills.



Anyway, we start this level in the Argamma loading bay, where Nina is telling Kou Uraki to quit checking his GP-01's balancer, he's screwed until they get new parts for it, tweaking the current balancer won't do shit.

As she tries in vain to get him to quit being a tard, Boss thinks they are getting all lovey dovey and says they need to get a room. As the other pilots are being less stupid yet still finding continued pilot training for space combat dull as hell, Kou is autistically screeching like a manbaby and Nina isn't much better as they continue squabbling over the GP-01.

As Shiro and Burning comment, Kou is pissed his GP-01 is useless in space, while GMs and machines with their data can do better (and that's not something easily ported to a pure Gundam, at least it's not just a simple software fix)


We then cut over to the Nadesico, where Gai's leg is no longer broke, so he can now pilot. Uribatake is so annoyed at his acting like a Super Robot hero he muses he should break Gai's other leg, and Akito's just glad he won't have to pull weight as a pilot anymore. Prospector tells him he'd rather have Akito remain as a pilot due to a shortage of personnel, and Gai's ADD kicks in and he instead drags Akito over to a video machine to watch some Gekiganger.

We cut to later where Akito is weeping manly tears over a Getter Robo parody, and then we cut to the bridge, where after Ruri tersely refers to Gai and Akito as idiots, we then have Yurika say that since the Londo Bell forces as in space, they should depart as well.

We cut back to the Argamma bridge, where Amuro really wants to track down the GPO2 ASAP, but Bright worries they got too much of a head start. They then discuss how the Earth team is in Banjou Haran's hands, and now the Nadesico should be crossing paths with them soon.

They note the Distortion Field will make their beam weapons useless, and their firepower is nerfed since half the team is on Earth, the half with the heavy ballistic firepower.

We cut back to the loading bay where Nina is still griping about Kou being a baby.

We then cut to bridge of the nearby Gwaden, flagship of Admiral Auguille Delaz of the Zeon Delaz Fleet:

As Gato appreciate the compliment, this bitch has to interject:

This is Cima Garahau, and if you think she looks shifty, I'll spoil it here, she eventually backstabs Delaz. The game changes up the details from the source, but she's such an obvious traitor it's not funny.

Gato doesn't like her (she's the Zeon version of the Gon Jem squad, does all the nasty wet work with no scruples whatsoever), but Delaz tells Gato to chill, think big picture instead.

We also see Char say hi to Lalah Sune, a Newtype he rescued during the OYW who managed to survive in this alternate version of events, and he admits they'll have to fight Amuro again, which ended with Amuro and Char trying to convince her to either stop fighting (Amuro) or keep going (Char) for Zeon.

This game defaults to Lalah surviving since Zeon got it's shit pushed in before she would died in canon, so we might just get a second chance to talk her down.

Lalah's Elmeth Mobile Armor was the earliest ever Newtype specific "Funnel" user, or an early prototype thereof in UC Gundam, FYI.

And that's when the Argamma shows up.


As we cut to map, Bright isn't sure they should be pleased to catch up to the Delaz Fleet, and both Amuro and Lalah sense each other. Meanwhile, Cima is deployed in a Gelgoog Marine and is in the mood to dance a round or two.

We cut back to the Argamma, where Nina is trying to stop that dumbass Kou from deploying the GP01 to get it's not fit for space ass shot off, but he isn't listening.

And Cima sees easy prey as the tard sallys forth.

And sure enough, she kicks his ass, as he can't move the GP01 for shit.

As Kou's ass is nearly shot completely off, Burning and Lamia sortie to bail his stupid ass out, and we can deploy as the GP01 is hauled back.

I'll cover the strategy next post.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 9 [Operation Stardust Route]: Delaz Fleet (Part 2)

Map time:

This is not all that hard despite the prevalance of Rickdoms and Gelgoog Marines. Aside from the Black Tri-Stars guarding Delaz's flagship and Cima's yellow Gelgoog Marine, everyone else is not all that bad.

But that's not the REAL hard part.

The Nadesico will eventually show up, and YOU MUST prevent any of it's units, especially the ship and Gai Daigouji, from taking significant damage, or Gai dies for real.

I've found so long as they survive the level is enough to qualify, but due to how easy it is to die of stupid in this game, preventing them from getting more than scratch damage at best is ideal.

If they all survive, Gai's canon Nadesico death is averted.

As for Boss, if you want his Borot to get the Drill Pressure Punch attack, just make sure he gets 5 or more kills by the end of this level.



Anyway, for a few turns, you'll be trading fire with Zeon goons, and the more you kill the better, because more units will arrive soon.

Specifically, the Nadesico.

Delaz is convinced by Gato to let him launch, as Gato would like to win the Nadesico over to his side, and while Char doesn't think that's gonna work, he and Lalah sortie.

Gato hails the Nadesico, and some brief comedy where Minato finds him kinda hot aside (she has a thing for manly, older looking guys, and Gato fits that bill pretty damn well), and while the Zeon forces are amused by Nadesico crew's quirkiness, Gato, while not entirely unsympathetic to their mission to head to Mars to save people, regrets to inform them they will have to be considered enemies, as Zeon cannot risk their ship falling into Federation hands.

The Nadesico sorties Gai and Akito, and Yurika attempts to raise the Distortion Field so they can bull rush through both Londo Bell and Zeon forces to clear the area, but the Field isn't ready for deployment, meaning the Nadesico will take full damage from Zeon strikes.

Now, check the map again:

See the Nadesico and Aestivalis at the bottom? Blue one is Gai's machine, and HE MUST SURVIVE IF YOU WANT TO KEEP HIM PAST HIS CANON DEATH!

However, Zeon forces will NOT make this easy. You can keep Gato busy with anyone you like, that should keep him off the Nadesico guys, and Char and Lalah will prioritize Amuro and Sayla if you send them to intercept Char's Zeong and Lalah's Elmeth, but the other Zeon goons can and will make the Nadesico forces their targets.

The Nadesico forces are considered neutrals by Londo Bell for the purposes of this fight, so the Nadesico forces will not fire on them, meaning the only real enemies are the Zeon forces. The Nadesico forces are AI controlled, and will lean towards evasion over offense, mostly trying to make it to the top of the map so they can clear the area.

With that in mind, if you want to win, the Nadesico must survive, and if you want Gai, so must he.

Anyway, here's the stats on the Elmeth and Zeong, you'll be fighting them a LOT in the next few levels.

The Elmeth is a speedy if slightly frail Mobile Armor, but Lalah's Newtype powers combined with her long range Bits attack means she can do some nasty damage.

The Zeong is a tougher if offensively weaker Elmeth, but is VERY agile due to Char's innate sky high mobility, so don't be ashamed to bust out Strike usage to land hits on his ass.

Final Notes:

1. You can get Gato and Lalah to retreat after 60% or more HP is gone.
2. Nothing stops you from firing on the Nadesico units if you want, but don't, that's stupid.
3. Despite what the story says, the Nadesico and Aestivalis Distortion Fields still work against beams.


If you did it right, all Delaz forces should be defeated or forced to retreat. Further, you'll see all three Nadesico series units make it to the north side of the screen and disappear.

However, as they do, three Aestivalis show up, looking for the Nadesico.

They are the additional forces the Nadesico was expecting, but the ship they were supposed to meet cleared the area before the rendezvous. You team moves to intercept them before they can leave, and that's made easier because the Aestivalis ran out of power (their batteries are nowhere near close enough to Nadesico for a recharge either).

We to later in the Argamma sickbay, where Kou admits he was a dumbass to Nina, and Shiro is more worried about the blow to Kou's pride than any minor injury he sustained being a tard.

We cut to bridge, where Miwa is calling Bright.

To your surprise, Miwa says you can drop the whole "capture/kill the Nadesico" business, Nergal worked out an arrangement with the Federation, that's no longer a concern. The Zeon goons are still a priority though.

We cut to where the Aestivalis pilots are detained, and Ryoko Subaru, their de facto leader, is being all "torture me, I won't talk", but is told "chill, we just got word Nergal and the Feddies are on the same page now".

With that, we find out their names are Ryoko Subaru (the one with green hair) Hikaru Amamno (the red-blonde with glasses) and Izumi Maki (the dark blue haired girl with hair over one eye with a quirky sense of humor).

Despite Ryoko's bitching, Hikaru recognizes Amuro (and calls his last name Ray, like in some American localizations) and wants his autograph, to which Izumi snarks to Ryoko that people think SHE's weird:

We then cut to the Nadesico, who realizes they missed their new pilot meeting as the stage ends, and we get a small scene confirming Gai's survival if you saved him.