Favorite robot/mech games?

[Manhattan Sports Club]

Ever since I became a Megaman fan, I always had a fondness for good robot-centered action games. There's always a thrill in blowing giant mechanical heaps to smitherines. Here is a list of some of my favorites off the top of my head:

Series:

-MegaMan/MegaMan X
With Megaman, there is not that much that needs to be said. We MM fans can never get enough of the lasers and charged firepower that results in plenty of nifty explosions throughout as well as all the nifty weapons.

-MechAssault 1 & 2
These are spinoffs of the BattleTech/MechWarrior series (which I admit I haven't played much of yet). I never got to play either on Xbox live. I hear some oldtime MW fans criticized it for being deviant by not including a first person perspective. However, aside from being able to install softmods with the infamous save exploit, it was a great game all by itself, and I enjoyed it to the end. It was very difficult and intense at times, but fun. I hope to eventually complete the sequel as well.

-Assault Suits (Valken, Leynos, etc.)
As you might recall, the first two were released here in the US as "Target Earth" (Genesis) and "Cybernator" (SNES), and despite some censorship at the time, were great titles nonetheless. Too bad the others didn't get released in the US. The other soldiers fighting alongside you in Target Earth for example gave it a much more involving and intense feel than other similar games at the time.

-Vectorman 1 & 2
I enjoyed both of these games and am suprised the Vectorman series didn't persist longer. Still classic and revolutionary for its time on the Genesis, I hope there will be a proper sequel someday that doesn't get cancelled like the PS2 one.


Individual Entries:

-BattleTech/MechWarrior 3050 (Genesis/SNES)
Like I said, I have not had much of a chance to really get into most of the MechWarrior games (which seem to have become rather dated for the most part) but this game is the one I've enjoyed the most so far. I also have a knack for isometric action games.

-B.O.B.
I guess this is somewhat of a cult classic, but I really enjoyed B.O.B back in the day and it's a pretty decent run and gun.

-ExoSquad (Genesis)
It's like three genres in one, and had a decent plot (being derived from the show and all). Good game, I enjoyed it immensely years ago and still do.

-Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie (Super Famicom)
This is one of my favorite shmups on the Super Famicom. Lots of variety in the weapons via the selectable characters, nice shapeshifting action, too. Also very challenging.

-Metal Warriors (SNES)
Often mistaken as part of the Assault Suits series (though it could very well have been) because of Konami's input in publishing it, it was actually developed by the generally brilliant LucasArts. You can exit and leave the mech ala Blaster Master, and it had some challenging moments. Pretty good.

-Ranger X (Genesis)
This game is another excellent example of the Genesis at its best. The inclusion of an immediately flight-capable robot with a sidekick vehicle along with tough-as-nails action made it a blast to play. I also discovered that with the 6-button controller, the companion vehicle can be remotely controlled with X and Z without being on top of it. Quite nifty.

[Steve W]

Iron Soldier 1 & 2 (Jaguar) and 3 (PS1 and Nuon) are good for some good ol' fashioned tank-stompin' fun.

[DonMarco]

Amok counts, right?

[Red Baron]

I clicked this thread specifically to rave about how much I love Metal Warriors, but you beat me to it. That said, knowing that it was compared to the Assault Suit Valken series means that I plan to look those up someday..

That said..

Mischief Makers: A tragically overlooked anime-flavored sidescroller for the N64 starring a rocket-powered robot maid and her overweight perv inventor battling evil on a planet full of people with Scream Mask faces. (It's totally better than it sounds.) It stands next to Star Fox 64 as being one of the first games I played with a meaningful amount of spoke dialog(MM has MUCH less, but the little it does is charming despite the bad VA'ing), so it's lines stand out a lot in my memory.

"Through fire, justice is served!" "A hero in shining armor is called!" "To punish evil forces, I have been charged!"

The unique battles and throwing mechanics are still to this day something I haven't really seen much of in any 2D game since.

The only bad thing is that it was made during the 'Pre-rendered 3D turned into 2D sprites are awesome!' phase so the graphics haven't aged nearly as well had they been drawn more traditionally, and to get the full ending you have to be pretty good at it. (Specifically, the amount of the ending played depends on how many gold gems you get, which are found or earned in specific ways in each stage. A few of them can be pretty painful to unlock, with one being so bad that I swallowed my pride and used an AI exploit on the boss to cheese it.)

But seriously, you have to love a game where back to back, you have a dodge ball match against a cat(which you can cheat by just walking over the line and pounding it's face in!) and then a fight where you can ride said cat(while IT rides a missile) while fighting a furry 40K Space Marine with a Transformer motorcycle full of lasers and missiles which turns into a robot wolf. (Also you throw missiles back at him.)

It's that kind of game.

As for other games..

Gundam Wing - Endless Duel: A solid Street-Fighter type game for the SNES, but with Gundams! Surprisingly good for a licensed title. The graphics are quite good, as they used piecebuilding techniques to manage decently large sprites for a 16-bit game. This is probably the top of the list when it comes to SNES games I'd like to import sometime. Also has some nice tunes to it. Just watch out for people who know the infinites or want to use the Epyon.

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - Fighting Edition: I believe done by the same company as the above. Has similiar, if slightly simplified gameplay, and uses similiar methods to once again have rather large and pretty sprites for an SNES game. Especially the Samurai Megazord.. Move over Potemkin, this guy's almost as tall as the screen, and the earth shakes even when he walks! It also has characters with some surprising agility for an older type of fighter, Lyp Syncher has airdashes and practically plays like a Guilty Gear character.

While fun, it's unfortunately pretty broken, and is actually pretty reknowned for having one of the utterly cheapest characters in fighting game history, Ivan Ooze. They really aren't exaggerating when they say it'd be possible for a monkey to beat an experienced played using Ooze.

One tip is that if you turn off the Zord portraits in the options menu, it displays a traditional fighting game combo counter.

Gundam Battle Assault 1 and 2: Done by the same company as the former two I believe. This time for PSX, they use a different method, but still give some particularly large sprites for a fighting game, and GBA2 even has an obvious throwback in that the Epyon has the exact same animations it did back in Endless Duel, except the saber attacks are now special moves and it lost the cheesy super move.

It's pretty fun, but it can take some getting used to as the controls feel a bit clunky until you play around with them a bit. Once again, more nice music, too. I'm not sure if the later games in the Battle Assault series are any good, though.

Two side notes.. One, is that GBA2 has the four suits from the previous game that were cut from this game(why?) still IN the game, but you have to use a gameshark to unlock them. They're slightly wonky since they weren't updated completely to the modern game's physics engine, but still fun to play around with. (Even if the Zeta's super can be blocked after the first hit, rendering the fun-looking move useless.)

Two.. Is that the game made it's large sprites by putting sprites on invisible polygons and stringing them together. What this mean is that despite being 2D, the graphics are affects by the PS2's 3D graphic smoothing if you turn it on beforehand, and it takes the sprite's appearance from 'alright' to 'AWESOME' looking. They're so nice that I can't believe they never released another game that capitalized on this.

Super Robot Wars: Hoo, where to begin. All of my favorite giant robots and characters from anime in one place? And alternately, a host of nice original characters and machines as well. (Of which so many have showed up since the early games that they had enough to make entire games with nothing but them, some that we got in the US!) Mecha anime fans with a taste for strat games are just cheating themselves by not playing.

US fans can still track down the original-only GBA games if they want to get into the series and aren't heartbroken by not having licensed properties, as the originals are cool enough to stand on their own by now.

The Gundam 'VS' Series: Mostly seen in the arcades and PS2, some which came over to the US, probably one of my favorite Gundam games of all time, and I insist probably the ones with the least painful controls. Arcade-style multiplayer brawling action in semi-glorious 3D with all the classic songs and sound, handy for those who want their mobile suits to fight and get into melee with all the skill and speed they actually did in the shows.

Federation vs. Zeon and Gundam vs. Z Gundam came out here, and the latter(being a sequel) has all the former has, a billion unlockable features, and more, making it a very fun pick and one of my favorite PS2 games. Both games have nice mini-campaign modes as well.

[Haoie]

Armored Core maybe? Very long running series.

[Wraith Storm]

Gungriffon!!! Gungriffon!!! Gungriffon!!!

This was back when Game Arts was still making landmark original games. Remember those days? Gungriffon on the Saturn was a revelation and is still THE best mech game of its kind that I have ever played. It struck the perfect balance between arcade action and strategy.

It was a showcase title for the Saturns power (not to mention the legendary intro), and helped push the mech genre forward with its smooth controls yet immersive gameplay. You really felt like you were piloting the Hi-Mac yourself from every rocket shot, bullet taken and jump jet used... you felt the impact.

The sequels are a mixed bag however. Gungriffon II which was released pretty late in the Saturns life, was exclusive to Japan. The original GG had an amazing engine that Game Arts had created, so they refined that engine for the epic RPG Grandia. Once Grandia was completed they took the enhanced engine and created Gungriffon II. I was like an ode to all the fans of the first game. GG II added all sorts of extra stuff to the formula. They added link cable support so you and a friend could play together or against each other in deathmatch! The graphics were better with light sourcing and stuff but even with all the extra bells, whistles and polish the level design just didnt seem up to par with the first game.

Then there was Gungriffon Blaze on the PS2 which was an abomination to say the least. Presentation wise it was great. Good graphics, lots of options and customization. But the core game mechanics were changed too much. It was hard as balls, your Hi-Mac didn't control as well, and all the environments were destructible. So the game forced you to go around and destroy buildings to get power ups and stuff. WTF?!?!?! Why can't I just have the supply chopers like in the first 2 games? No thanks... In the end it felt nothing like a GG game.

Fortunately Game Arts sought to rectify the "PS 2 Blaze" incident with their 4th Gungriffon installment, Gungriffon: Allied Strike on the Xbox. They took a long hard look at what made the original GG so great and rolled with it. Unfortunately they spent so long making sure the gameplay was great that they forgot about presentation. The game plays great. It's tougher than its Saturn brothers but plays very similar and builds off the enhancements of the second installment. Blaze aside, its really neat to see how the series has slowly evolved over each installment. So the gameplay is fantastic and controls back on track, but the graphics are... ummm... not good. Thats one area that the series had always pushed before and its sad to see the Xbox version look so dreary. However the game is still a blast and plays great.

Now seeing as how Game Arts has already made a Sylpheed game for the 360 I pray that they have a new Gungriffon game in the works for it. Tokyo Gameshow 2010 don't let me down!!!:rocker:

[tom]

This had me hooked for ages, one of the best:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=202042&g2_serialNumber=2

and I loved this series:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=200197&g2_serialNumber=2

[Hwj_Chim]

Steel Battalion: The controller makes this game awesome. also virtua on for the Saturn is very good as well

[exit]

Shogo: A nice little Mech PC game developed by Monolith, they planned for a expansion pack and sequel, but for whatever reason were abandoned.

[Steve W]

Shogo: A nice little Mech PC game developed by Monolith, they planned for a expansion pack and sequel, but for whatever reason were abandoned.

That always looked like a nice game, and it was developed for the Mac too. And I have yet to ever find a copy of the Mac OS 9 version.

[fahlim003]

Shogo: A nice little Mech PC game developed by Monolith, they planned for a expansion pack and sequel, but for whatever reason were abandoned.A local friend of mine respects Shogo to a great degree. I remember getting the demo on a PCGamer disc but my specs weren't good enough to try so I never bothered. Interesting to hear about the expansion plans.

As per topic, as far as old robot games go... Bangai-O on Dreamcast isn't too old but it certainly stacks up fun-wise.

Otherwise I've always enjoyed the Virtual On series, from Saturn onward. The Sega Ages Virtual On (PS2) is what I'd recommend if don't have access to the latest 360 iterations of Force and Oratorio Tangram.

The Capcom developed Gundam VS. series are also, in my opinion, quite enjoyable games although they are mostly quite new and for some reason Zeta Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam vs Zeta Gundam - PS2) gets terrible reviews. Thank goodness I don't care about reviews.

Also on the PS2 front is RAD or Robot Alchemic Drive by Sandlot (pub. Enix). It's slow but it can be fun. I really should fire this up again.

Finally, I'm not crazy about it but Brahma Force: Assault on Beltlogger 9 for PS1 is a decent first-person mech game. The reason I'm hesitant on BF is the fact it has (to my knowledge) no analogue support, which really takes away from an otherwise good game.

[kupomogli]

Federation vs. Zeon and Gundam vs. Z Gundam came out here, and the latter(being a sequel) has all the former has, a billion unlockable features, and more, making it a very fun pick and one of my favorite PS2 games. Both games have nice mini-campaign modes as well.

Mobile Suit Gundam Federation vs Zeon/Gundam vs Zeta Gundam

I also say Federation vs Zeon and Gundam vs Zeta Gundam as well. I also want to add that even though GvZG has everything FvZ has and more, FvZ has a much better campaign mode. Atleast 100 different missions as a Federation or Zeon soldier who takes on various missions that coincide with the Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 storyline.

Gundam Battle Universe

The only Gundam Battle game you really need to get. It has everything every other one does. Every single suit, every mission, every thing. It has 0079/0080, 0083, 0087, 0088, and 0093. It's also got suits from F91. My second favorite Gundam video game.

Mobile Suit Gundam Encounters in Space

Ever play Zone of the Enders? This is that in Gundam form and in my opinion a better game. After leaving Jaburo and going into space, it covers the entire second half of Mobile Suit Gundam 0079. There's a new storyline called Thoroughbred about two prototype Gundams that covered the rear of the Federation and took pretty much all the attacks that came their way. Thoroughbred has such a great storyline in the game that I would love to see them actually release an anime version(I think they released a manga version either before or after the games release.) The game also has most of 0083 playable, back story on other 0079 ace pilots, and two pilots in manga spinoffs.

Anyways. Just like Zone of the Enders, a portion of this game plays as an on rail shooter while the other portions of the game have an open sphere where you are floating around and destroying enemies. During the White Base mode, Thoroughbred mode, and any of the Ace Pilot modes, you are outfitted with whatever the pilots were at the time. However, there are two other modes, versus and mission mode. Versus lets you create a team with a limit of 300 points for your mobile suits and if a weapon can realistically be used by another suit, Federation or Zeon, it can be used. There are also six additional suits, two each, from Gundam Wing, God Gundam, and Gundam Seed.

Mission mode is really where the game is at though. You play through a series of eight missions. Win or lose you continue on to the next mission. Each type of mission you play, the next mission of that type gets harder. You get special bonus' for using a weaker suit, completing missions in a certain amount of time or without losing a certain amount of health, etc. After every single mission you get to use your points to either upgrade stats(Range, Melee, Defense, Speed,) or a bunch of special skills. It has a ton of skills to customize your character with but you're only allowed to equip six. There's NT1, NT2, NT3 which you need to get each in order(Newtype class gives you better chance to critical hit and less thruster consumption whenever dodge roll.) Other examples are; Hit and Run(increased melee damage,) Master(increased stats while set up in a mobile suit or mobile armor with 45 points or below,) Fast Combat(decreased thruster consumption,) MA/Fighter Pilot(higher stats in a Mobile Armor or in a Fighter,) and many others. So you can really customize your characters in quite a few ways.

Anyways. This is my favorite Gundam. I put so much time into this game getting S rankings and perfecting my mission mode pilots.

Armored Core (series)

I love this series. I've never played the first two games, but from Master of Arena all the way to Armored Core For Answer, just about every game is amazing. You have so many options in which to customize your AC or Next(AC4) and multiple missions to play through as whatever. The games are very hard, especially Last Raven, but they are amazing games and definitely will give you your moneys worth if you like them.

Mechwarrior

This was my first robot game. You were able to hire multiple people to pilot whatever other suits you purchased.

I'd have my entire party set up with either Marauders or the other powerful suit(I can only remember it used multiple laser cannons called PPC) while I would always use the weakest but fastest suit in the game, the Locust, to go out into the distance and once mine and the enemy started firing on each other, come in from behind and take out the legs of the enemies. I don't know how much enjoyment I'd get out of it now though. Maybe I should keep this one in my memories instead of going back and playing it.

[pseudonym]

Armored Core (series)
Zone of the Enders (series)
Front Mission (series)
Mischief Makers is a great game someone already mentioned.

[Tron 2.0]

Macross DYRL:Saturn
Cyberbots:One of capcom most underrated fighters
Virtual On
VOOT
Transformers War for Cybertron
Gungriffon
Metal Storm:Such a nes sleeper hit.
Macross 2036:Good shmup for the PCE

[RJ]

I used to be into Armored Core until it got too time-consuming. Now I like to just get in there & wreck stuff.

But an easier, less-tedious similar game w/ minimal details would be appreciated. Is that Custom Robo or Chibi-Robo?

[Manhattan Sports Club]

I second MechWarrior/Battletech, Armored Core, Shogo and Mischief Makers!

Also, don't forget this one: Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie, it's one of my favorite shmups on Super Famicom. The Cyborg 009 game isn't too bad either, I'm trying to get the opportunity to read the manga as well!

[LaughingMAN.S9]

double post

[LaughingMAN.S9]

steel battalion....yup