Dai-3-Ji Super Robot Taisen
The third Super Robot Taisen game is the first to appear on the Super
Famicom and a direct sequel to its predecessor. Six months after the war
against the Divine Crusaders, the heroes that defeated them (now organized in
the Londo Bell special forces unit) are called back into action. The DC
remnants have regained strength under the control of the Zabi family.
Additionally, unexplained disappearances near lunar colonies indicate that
there might be another faction in play. It is up to Londo Bell to investigate
and fight the next Super Robot War.
Like its predecessor, the game is a turn-based strategy game with heavy RPG
elements that crosses over characters and robots from various animated TV
series and puts them into an all-new story. The game features 58 missions
(more than doubling the number from SRW2) and introduces a branching mission
path to the series. The path through the game is determined via direct player
choices during and after missions as well as mission performance (i.e. number
of turns required to complete the level). The choices made also lead to three
different possible endings.
The basic gameplay of the series remains unchanged from the predecessor, with
players having their units move and attack on a map of the area via context-
sensitive menus and fights played out as animated scenes. Series mainstays
like the spirit (for unleashing special powers) and negotiate (for making
enemy units defect) commands also make a return.
The strategic complexity however has been increased. Pilots and their robots
are now separate entities with separate stats, making it possible for pilots
to switch robots between missions, but only within their own franchise (i.e.
Amuro Ray can control all Gundam, but no Mazinger robots). Another new feature
is the ability to set one of four global counterattack strategies: from
aggressive (always counterattack) to conservative (only if the counterattack
can’t destroy the unit or if it has more than 50% HP) to defensive (never
counterattack).
The pilots are rated in six stats: attack power, probability to hit, piloting
skill (determining damage potential and chance of critical attacks), response
(determining chance of evading attacks), willpower (required for special
attacks) and intuition (a static overall bonus). Stats are automatically
raised through leveling, done by gaining experience points in combat. The
robots are rated in hit points, energy, range, armor and maximum response
(limiting the respective pilot’s stat). All stats but range can be upgraded
between levels by spending money, which, like XP, is gained through defeating
enemies. Additionally, both pilot and robot are also rated in their
adaptability to different terrain types. Each robot comes with a variety of
unique weapons, which also all have their own stats: attack power, range,
probability to hit, and ammo or energy requirements. Ammo, like spirit points,
only refills at the end of a mission, but energy regenerates continually.
Besides adding some new robots and characters from the known franchises
(including Gundam’s War in the Pocket and Stardust Memory ), the game
introduces franchises from outside the Gundam/Mazinger/Getter Robo trinity for
the first time: making their debut in the series are Raideen , Combattler
V and Daitarn 3.
Dai-3-Ji Super Robot Taisen