New trailer for Super Robot Wars Z2

Brace yourself for the latest epic trailer of Banpresto’s Super Robot Wars Z2!

Ok, now I’m sure there’s a fair few of you who don’t know what the hell this thing is, so I’ll give you a quick crash course. Super Robot Wars is a Japanese exclusive franchise that pits giant robots and characters from different anime (Japanese cartoons) against each other in a hardcore turn based RPG. Famous for their spectacular battle animations and the accuracy to which they replicate popular shows, the SRW games usually take the Japanese sales charts by storm in the same way we westerners would expect something like Halo or Call of Duty to do.

There’s also a spin off series called Super Robot Wars: Original Generation, which is the same sort of thing but features characters and robots “inspired” by popular anime instead of using the genuine article. A few of these “OG” games were actually released in English territories under the new name “Super Robot Taisen” (Taisen is Japanese for Wars), apparently to avoid confusion with long dead British TV series Robot Wars. Sadly they didn’t do so good, so don’t expect to see more of them around any time soon. But if your interested learning the ridiculously conveluted narrative of the OG universe, the second game just got an anime adaptation that can be viewed for free in English over at CrunchyRoll.com!

Z2 is actually a pretty big deal to fans of SRW as there hasn’t been a proper entry in the series since 2008’s Super Robot Wars Z, with Banpresto instead preferring to release waves of DS Super Robot Wars games that simply reuse graphics and effects from old SNES titles. There’s also the little fact that the next generation of portables are just round the corner, so it’s looking likely that Z2 may be one of the last major Japanese PSP games alongside Square Enix’s Dissidia Duodecim. It’s also going to mark the first Super Robot Wars appearance of massively popular shows Code Geass, Gurren Lagann and Gundam 00. However Z2 will only explore the first half of these show’s stories, with the other half being saved up for the impending Z3. What platform will Z3 be on if not PSP? Who knows, but I hope it isn’t the region coded 3DS, I can barley afford one of those things as it is!

Still not sure if SRW is you’re thing? Well here’s a list of all the shows Z2 will feature, if you’re a fan of any of them then chances are you’ll probably get a tiny kick out of playing or at least watching someone else play this game.

Gundam Wing
Code Geass
Gundam Seed Destiny
Mobile Suit Gundam 00
Dai-Guard
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Eureka Seven
The Big O
Overman King Gainer
Super Heavy God Gravion Zwei
Aquarion
Macross Frontier
Z Gundam
Gundam: Char’s Counterattack
Gundam X
Turn A Gundam
Armored Trooper Votoms
Mazinger
Muteki Choujin Zanbot 3
Muteki Kojin Daitarn 3
Muteki Robo Trider G7
Space Emperor God Sigma
Space Warrior Baldios
Rokushin Gattai God Mars
Combat Mecha Xabungle
The Super Dimension Century Orguss
Dancougar – Super Beast Machine God
Juusou Kikou Dancouga Nova
Getter Robo: Armageddon

Don’t be put off if you don’t know them all, even mecha obsessives like me have never heard of a bunch of them. Hell, some of them aired on TV long before I was even born!

As it stands, you’ll only be able to get Z2 (or any other SRW game for that matter) by importing it from Japan. Mainly because a lot of different companies own licencing rights to anime in the west, and they’d all want a cut of the profits if a SRW game went on sale outside of japan, so releasing this kind of game in English is a nightmare that Banpresto have never been willing to endure. Still, PSP is region free and the controls/plot of Super Robot War games are simple enough that none Japanese speakers can still get a decent amount of satisfaction from playing. So if you’re a European resident interested in preordering, then your best bet is to go through YesAsia.com or just wait for copies to crop up on eBay, if you’re outside of Europe then head over to Play-Asia.com. Just bare in mind that some retailers will be listing it as Super Robot Taisen Z2.

Which is silly.