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

[GethN7]

Stage 15: The "G" Gathers (Part 2)


We start as Tekkoki is about to throw down with the Getter team, and we get some automated battle sequences of them trading blows, and I for one find it quite amusing Tekkoki considers his rivalry with the Getter such serious business his attacks are basically a mirror of Getter-1's

However, Hidler reveals he's a POS with no honor like everyone expected:

And Ankoku Daishogun is also a fucking liar:

Ryouma calls foul on Tekkoki, and Tekkoki can honestly say he's not party to this treachery.

Mushashi got hit around the same time, and Tekkoki's innocence is proven when Hidler admits straight up he and his buddies sold Tekkoki's honor out for their own gain.

Tekkoki is appalled, citing Burai himself signed off on this duel, and Hidler reveals even Burai was in on the screwjob.

To that, Tekkoki turns his blade in Hidler's direction and tells the Getter team to escape, honor demands he atone for this treachery, dammit.

This just gives Hidler his excuse to off Tekkoki, but that's when someone else shows up.

Meet Benkei Kurama and the Getter Robo G

Benkei here is the guy who would take over for Mushashi whenever Mushashi dies in Getter canon, which is around the time they upgraded to the Getter Robo G.

Both Ryouma and Hayato (and Lamia) recognize the Getter G, the former two surprised it's complete for use. Benkei quickly gets the hint they need to swap Getters and is Mushashi still alive but out of action for combat, so Benkei will fill in in the Getter G Unit 3 seat.

This just prompts the Hyakki/Mycenean forces to show up.

We can begin now, and the Getter G carries over any upgrades to the original Getter and is basically a stronger version of it in every relevant way.

I'll cover the details after this stage though.

Anyway, here's your map:

Two things: If you want to keep Tekkoki alive, throw caution to the wind and support his ass, he's a tad suicidal.

Second, you'll get some more help soon, so don't panic over your limited numbers. Kouji does start at 10 HP, so use Guts on him to replenish his HP, unless you feel lucky and plan to abuse his high Prevail at critical health and hope the enemy keeps missing.

After two turns, Great Mazinger and Venus A show up:

Unfortunately, so do the chucklefucks known as the Campbellians:

A turn or two later, the Nahel Argamma and Nadesico show up too, and you can sortie 9 units.

This does cause Hidler, Ankoku Daishgon, and Dr. Hell to retreat, thankfully.

All you need to do is beat Janera's force retarded, and since Tekkoki is a suicidal numbnut, have everyone with the Trust seishin keep his ass alive.

That aside, none of the new Campbell units bring anything special to the table, and Janera isn't too much tougher than Dungele and Warchimedes, who are still as predictable as always.

Thankfully, Janera runs under 20,000 HP.

Afterwards, we get two scenes.

If Musashi died, he croaks in the Nahel Argamma sickbay, everyone is super sad.

If he lives, everyone freaks, but Rain (who has medical training) tells them his pulse and heart rate are normal, he was just knocked unconscious and despite being pretty beat up (the cockpit of his machine was trashed), he was tough enough to not die like a bitch.

Both Ryouma and Hayato are in quite relieved shock to see Mushashi managed to survive.

We then cut to the bridge, where Jun and Tetsuya report for duty on the regular.

We then cut to the mech bay, where Benkei says Professor Saotome says they can keep both Getters, he worked it out so they keep OG Getter locked in Getter-1 form and let whomever they want pilot it, while the current team uses Getter G.
Hayato wonders how the Professor can research Getter Rays without a Getter machine, which was created to study them without exposing the researchers to raw radiation, as Hayato is unaware of Shin Getter.

Benkei formally says hi, he's a former baseball coach (soccer in some continuities) who was training in case Getter needed a spare pilot, he's taking Mushashi's place like in canon, but since Mushashi lived he can use OG Getter. He also hands Astonaige the plans to make Getter-1 of the original machine work minus the combination mechanisms, which will allow it to not be gimped in combat strength despite no transforming capability.


We then cut to Hyakki HQ, where Burai is dressing Hidler down, who blames shit on Tekkoki turning traitor, and Heinel just acts like a smug jackass to Janera, saying she got her ass beat by arrogantly believing she could take on Londo Bell with no plan. She doesn't like this, but Heinel reminds her they are both supported on sufferance of their mutual master, not fucking up is in their best interest.

If you saved Tekkoki (and Risa is on your team), they have a brief scene where they are shocked to see each other, but she convinces him defecting is not so horrible. However, Hayato is still pissed Mushashi got fucked up cause of him, even if he didn't die. Regardless, he offers to fight for Londo Bell until all their foes are dead, but afterwards he wants his duel with the Getter again.

Bright accepts, but on the strict promise he keeps his word on waiting till it's all over before he throws down with Getter Robo again. Tekkoki, honorable man he is, accepts this condition, and Bright takes his word for it.

As the stage ends, he also advises Tekkoki to hide his horns around non Londo Bell personnel, assholes like Miwa would likely throw a fit otherwise.

 

[GethN7]

Okay, before we begin the next stage, this game actually lets us have a choice to save one of two Zeta Gundam characters, and @Jaimas, if I screwed up anything, let me know.


One is Four Murasame, a woman who made a Cyber-Newtype by the Titans and whose memories of her past were basically fried, and part of the reason she's helping them out is because they promised to fix the amnesia (not really, they don't give a fuck in truth, but if it keeps her compliant, sweet, they'll say anything). She kinda became a rival for Kamille's affections (as opposed to Fa Yuiry, who canonically wins since Four dies) whenever SRW rolls around to doing Zeta because they prevent her canon death, leading to fun romantic tug of war crap between the two, with Kamille usually being kinda oblivious.

Hell, there was an SRW 4Koma I read awhile back that mocked the fuck out of this (set during Alpha Gaiden).


The other is Rosamia Badam, a chick who had her head messed with far more extensively than Four, to the point she was not only made a Cyber Newtype, her memories were rewritten several times because the Titans tried to use her as a Manchurian Candidate to infiltrate the AEUG at one point, and unfortunately all the memory fuckery they did turned her sanity into silly putty.

They even had to have a second Cyber Newtype named Gates Kappa serve as a tard wrangler to keep her in check when her sanity really started to go south.

The games usually save her from her canon death and let her keep her canon mind rewrite that convinced her she was Kamille's sister (when the Titans tried to make her their Manchurian Candidate), allowing Kamille to convince her to join your team.

Most of the time though, she might get a stay of canon death, but she eventually dies for real in most games.

SRW Advance let's you choose either Four or Rosamia to save from permanent canon death, and you must pick one.

In terms of stats, Four and Rosamia are similar, but Four learns the ultra super useful Attune and Enable seishins, though Rosamia doesn't but compensates with a spell list ideal for kneecapping bosses. I'd say Four wins the better spell list, but Rosamia can murder WILL gains by bosses with her Daunt and Confusion seishins, which is also super useful.


Most of the time, I save Four so we can get the wacky romantic tug of war between Fa and Four, but I'd like to solicit suggestions from the audience before I continue.

NOTE; Both get the same Ace Bonus at 50 kills, which makes their best spells cheaper to cast.

 

[Jaimas]

Okay, before we begin the next stage, this game actually lets us have a choice to save one of two Zeta Gundam characters, and @Jaimas, if I screwed up anything, let me know.


One is Four Murasame, a woman who made a Cyber-Newtype by the Titans and whose memories of her past were basically fried, and part of the reason she's helping them out is because they promised to fix the amnesia (not really, they don't give a fuck in truth, but if it keeps her compliant, sweet, they'll say anything). She kinda became a rival for Kamille's affections (as opposed to Fa Yuiry, who canonically wins since Four dies) whenever SRW rolls around to doing Zeta because they prevent her canon death, leading to fun romantic tug of war crap between the two, with Kamille usually being kinda oblivious.

Hell, there was an SRW 4Koma I read awhile back that mocked the fuck out of this (set during Alpha Gaiden).


The other is Rosamia Badam, a chick who had her head messed with far more extensively than Four, to the point she was not only made a Cyber Newtype, her memories were rewritten several times because the Titans tried to use her as a Manchurian Candidate to infiltrate the AEUG at one point, and unfortunately all the memory fuckery they did turned her sanity into silly putty.

They even had to have a second Cyber Newtype named Gates Kappa serve as a tard wrangler to keep her in check when her sanity really started to go south.

The games usually save her from her canon death and let her keep her canon mind rewrite that convinced her she was Kamille's sister (when the Titans tried to make her their Manchurian Candidate), allowing Kamille to convince her to join your team.

Most of the time though, she might get a stay of canon death, but she eventually dies for real in most games.

SRW Advance let's you choose either Four or Rosamia to save from permanent canon death, and you must pick one.

In terms of stats, Four and Rosamia are similar, but Four learns the ultra super useful Attune and Enable seishins, though Rosamia doesn't but compensates with a spell list ideal for kneecapping bosses. I'd say Four wins the better spell list, but Rosamia can murder WILL gains by bosses with her Daunt and Confusion seishins, which is also super useful.


Most of the time, I save Four so we can get the wacky romantic tug of war between Fa and Four, but I'd like to solicit suggestions from the audience before I continue.

NOTE; Both get the same Ace Bonus at 50 kills, which makes their best spells cheaper to cast.

I recommend Four.

 

[Kiwi Jeff]

I recommend Four.

I would also have to say Four.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 16: "Marionettes" (Part 1)

Alright, we're going to start the road of saving Four Murasame this level.

We start this level in Neo Hong Kong, where Dorchenov is paying a visit the same mystery backer of the Gon Jem Squad, asking if his mind control device has been perfected.

Mystery Man says he's currently asking for the impossible, citing the lab was destroyed by Londo Bell and the capture of the Devil Gundam went to hell. Dorchenov says he's not here to listen to Mystery Man bitch, and says just hand some of his shit to the Gon Jem squad for some results. Mystery Man is not sure about that, but Dorchenov just wants results fast, seems he's looking for a way to convince Guiltorre to see things his way.

Mystery Man notes Dorchenov's desperation (and the fact he's not on the Marshall's list of people he's fond of at the moment), and Jin of the Gon Jem squad concurs.

The rest of the Gon Jem squad is present, and Gon Jem asks if Mystery Man knows where Londo Bell is now.

He does, and when he hears they really want to kill something since the Devil Gundam is still AWOL, he's understandably nervous about handing his toys over to people looking to burn shit down for fun. He also mentions the Berserker System is still undergoing adjustments, but looking more promising than the Psycommu System in terms of stability.


We then cut to the Nadesico bridge, where Prospector notes Giganos has really been getting it's shit pushed in of late, which is credited to mass production of the MBD-1A Dragoons, which are really turning the tide, though Hikaru notes she'd prefer them to have the D-3's head, which she thinks is cute. However, the fact Giganos isn't doing anything too insane of late after their brief Mass Driver usage is disturbing, like the calm before the storm for most of the team. The fact the Mass Driver was used AT ALL does make some of them wonder if Guiltorre has changed his "I love Earth" views, unaware Dorchenov used it behind the Marshall's back and he was pissed.

We then cut to Jun Honou and the D-Weapon/Gundam cast discussing how they are fighting Linda Plato's brother, and the talk naturally drifts into how things are turning into a repeat of the One Year War.

Quattro gets a bit defensive at this point, saying unlike Giganos, the Zabi family that controlled Zeon just hijacked Zeon Zum Deikun's original ideals, having none of their own save lust for power, prompting suspicion among the UC Gundam cast about Quattro's crappy disguise.

Even Lamia isn't fooled in the slightest.


We cut back to Neo Hong Kong, where Mystery Man is having a freak out over Allenby going off the reservation, and we find out Mystery Man is in cahoots with Master Asia.

Mystery Man is not amused, and Master Asia cites his distrust of a machine drawing out human potential. He wants Master Asia to tard wrangle her back under control, but he says he's got other shit to do, so Mystery Man, reluctantly, says he get the Gon Jem Squad to do it.

In the midst of this conversation, Master Asia throws considerable shade at Mystery Man, implying he's a gigantic pussy when push comes to shove.

And we find out who Mystery Man really is:

For those who don't watch G-Gundam, he's the Chinese representative of Neo Hong Kong in the Gundam Fights, and in this game, he's basically the Earth Federation version of the UN Secretary General. He's also been playing footsie with Giganos and Master Asia for his own goals.

In both the source show and this game, he comes off as affable and chill, but he's secretly a nucking futs manchild desperate to be in position of power indefinitely, he just hides it really well.

He's also the ones pulling the strings of the aforementioned Cyber Newtypes, a project he scooped up from the remains of the Titans and is using for his own ends.

Meanwhile, back on the Nahel Argamma, Kamille is pestering Bright for the deets on Giganos, and while Bright understands why, he tells Kamille to chill, freaking out over what they are doing to Four and Rosamia isn't gonna help.

Before we continue again, some more information on the alternate Zeta Gundam backstory.

Four and Rosamia managed to survive in the backstory, but when the Titans went down, Wong snapped up their Cyber Newtype project and rebrainwashed Four and Rosamia to be his willing slaves to make use of the Psycommu powered Psyco Gundams. Kamille managed to free them once, he wants to do so again and make it stick this time.

Domon managed to piss Kamille off royally by telling him he;s throwing a fit like a little girl (BAD MISTAKE, Kamille takes that sort of insult hard, as he thinks people believe he's got a girly name), but Kamille manages to make Domon shut up with two words:

"Allenby Beardsley"

In the alternate G-Gundam telling, Domon was much like Kamille, having saved Allenby from the Berserker System once, but Wong is intent on making her a loyal drone of the damn thing even if it kills her (though Domon is not yet aware of Wong's involvement), thus Domon has a similar motivation as Kamille here.

And that's when Giganos Metal Armor IFF signals are detected by Ruri.

As we deploy, Kamille is damn sure he senses Four and Rosamia nearby.

I'll cover the fight next post, but before I continue, if I screwed up any Gundam info, I invite @Jaimas to fill in any blanks.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 16: "Marionettes" (Part 2)


Sure enough, we start the leve as Kamille's feeling Four and Rosamia are nearby gets stronger, but everyone else is concerned with the Gon Jem squad as a passel of Giganos douchecanoes showing up.

Both your guys (D-Weapon team especially) and Gon Jem squad have little love for each other, though Min serve as Gon Jem's token sane person and tells him they should be focusing on tracking down Wong's wayward brainwashed sheep.

Your team senses a trap and prepares to withdraw, which confuses the hell out of the GJ squad, but they decide to deploy their trump cards a bit early since kicking your ass is still too easy a task to turn down.

Kamille launches, and he has good reason:

Four mindlessly takes Gon Jem's word you're the enemy, and Rosamia is convinced you are going to to "make the sky fall", so she wants to shoot you too, despite Kamille's pleas for them to snap out of it.

While Bright and even Tetsuya caution Kamille to careful, all he sees is two women he can save from being used as slaves, and that's all he gives a damn about.

DOMON, of all people, he snaps his fingers for his Gundam since Kamille's display of brass has impressed him.

You now sortie eleven more units of your choice.

Map time:

None of the Giganos goons are anything new, and the Psyco Gundams have been fought before, both Four and Rosamia are effectively identical in stats, so not wasting time on strategy, just kick ass and don't die.

However, if you want either Four or Rosamia (we are going for Four), have Kamille park next to your choice and use the Persuade command to set the ball in motion for them to be recruited later.

You CAN ONLY PICK ONE. Doesn't matter if you talk to both, the first one you talk to locks the game into your first choice, so make it now.

After a few turns, Allenby shows up (non brainwashed):

Unfortunately, the Gon Jem squad was looking for her, and that means you'll have to keep the Nobel Gundam from being shot down.

But after a turn or two, more assholes show up:

And that unfortunately triggers the Berserker System on the Nobel Gundam to drive Allenby batshit again.

Allenby is now an enemy, so you don't have to safeguard her anymore, and she's basically the same as the last time she was nuts.

The Death Army goons are pretty lame, and since they start in the water, they are slow and very easy targets for artillery, so any Heavy Frame equipped Aestivalis can turn them into a hilariously pathetic skeet shoot.

If you want to get Allenby out of there before she risks seriously hurting your team, just wail on her until 70% HP is gone, and she regains sanity briefly to give you this hint:

As she runs off, Domon realizes she's saying the Devil Gundam can be found in the Guiana Highlands.

Regardless which Psycommu brainwashed woman you speak to, they'll regain sanity ever so briefly before going into "KILL!" mode again, so you'll have to shoot them down or force them to retreat afterwards.

Once all foes are defeated, you cut to the Nahel Argamma docking bay.

Kamille curses himself for not being able to save either Four or Rosamia, and Quattro has to be the wet blanket and say the brainwashing might be permanent this time.

Meanwhile, Banjou asks the really salient question: Why is so much effort being put into brainwashing tech at all?

They also note Allenby's tip about Guiana Highlands, which are in South America.

Quattro realizes that's a good place to look give the unusually high amount of quakes reported there, and they all go to tell Bright.

Meanwhile, Domon is moping about his fail in saving Allenby, and as Domon is being a dick cause emo again, the Getter Team drop by with a message for Domon, saying it's gonna be route split time.

One third of the team will head for Nanbara Connection to hook up with the Combattler V team. One will head to Big Falcon for the Voltes Team, and they plan to search for Professor Kentarou Gou, Voltes V's creator, who may have been captured by the enemy.

The remainder (including the G Gundam Team) are heading for the Guiana Highlands for the Devil Gundam.

It's at this point Lamia will get to choose who she wants to tag along with, and here are the route choices:


1. Nanbara Connection (Get Combattler, can acquire secret character Kerot, and bonus move for Combattler)

2. Big Falcon (Get Voltes and bonus Voltes move)

3. Guiana Highlands (Get bonus move for Daimos)

I'll be doing all three routes, though the third will be the canon route.

 

[GethN7]

Before I do the next post, I hope everyone will forgive me if I don't go into massive amounts of sperging on Combattler and Voltes V. I already covered most of the basics in the first couple of posts in my SRW Alpha Gaiden LS, so if you want the deets read the first few posts in that thread where I cover that for characters and mecha info.

If I ever dust off my SRW J LS and finish it, I'm gonna refer to this LS for Nadesico specific info.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 17 (Combattler Route): Fake


We start at Heinel's underground base, where he got the word of our split up:

Jangal is the Voltes counterpart to Dungele, albeit somewhat less stupid.

Katherine is another Heinel's adjutants, and she also has a massive, throbbing ladyboner for her boss, though he's mostly oblivious to it.

Since Nanbara connection is the home of Combattler, Heinel tells Jangal to get Janera on the horn to kick her greatest enemy's ass, and they will take on Big Falcon and Voltes alongside the Hyakki.

It's worth noting Heinel makes a comment how the Hyakki have his respect for having horns on their heads, and time to address a bit of racism in the Voltes verse.

On Planet Boazan, horns are seen as a sign of nobility, and not having horns gets you treated like a second class citizen at best. Part of the reason they think humans suck is due to this.

As we switch over to Janera, Heinel and crew don't really give a shit about whatever we are doing in the Guiana Highlands.

We then cut to Janera, who is in a shitty mood.

Dungele and Warchimedes are pretty forced to have to endure her bitching about how Heinel thinks he's the boss, then once she gets that out of her system, Warchimedes brings up a Combattler plot point.

Deus is the true leader of Planet Campbell, Janera ousted him and in show, once her ass is dealt with for good, he declares peace with Earth. In this game, Janera and her supporters managed to escape before they could be dealt with, but they had to flee to the protection of third party for continued support, and they are not thrilled because this just gives Deus and his supporters time to consolidate the planet they once ruled with an iron fist.

Janera also references Oreana and Garuda, who were the primary antagonists for the first half of the Combattler anime, as Janera was their superior, now deceased in this game, and plans to do better than them long term.

Meanwhile, Warchimedes plans to get help from the Mycenean, just to be on the safe side.

We cut to the Nadesico, who asks about the specifics of Combattler V, and since I don't want to repeat myself, check my Alpha Gaiden LS for the deets.

We then cut to where, Master Asia, of all people, is at the Nanbara Connection, trying to get the help of Combattler co-creator Professor Yotsuya.

Professor Nanbara, the primary creator, he's deceased at this point, as he was killed sometime during the show, leaving Yotsuya to take over for him full time.

Anyway, Yotsuya isn't entirely opposed to helping Master Asia, but he's working his ass off to stall for time anyway, clearly having some second thoughts, and Master Asia is getting a bit annoyed by his wishy-washyness.

He then mentions he'll be on an island playing with his stupid disciple if Yotsuya's onboard by then.

Later, the Combattler Team shows up, asking Yotsuya if anything is wrong, and he just says he has a lot on his mind and asks how Combattler maintenance is going.

They confirm this is the second half of the show (Janera only showed up after her advance force got their asses beat hard in the show), and they plan to deploy a support mecha called Kerot to help, though the resident team smart kid, Kosuke, he's not sure it's wise, and he's it's creator.

Besides, it's mainly for resupply, not combat.

And that's when the alarm goes off as the combined Campbell-Mycenean forces show up.

As we cut to the battle map, two kids named Kinta and Chie (essentially tagalong kids in the show) have an idea to buy time until Combattler is ready to launch.

Janera and company don't expect Combattler is ready to launch, but, inexplicably, it does, leading to Ankoku Daishogun to ask what the hell is going on.

Back at Nanbara Connection, we figure out what deal is: It's a fake cardboard copy that looks real enough at a distance.

And Kosuke explains the reason it's moving:

Yotsuya realizes plan is gonna go up in smoke literally if Kinta and Chie get killed and tells them to fall back, but they insist on buying time, even moving off the Nanbara Connection to lure the enemy away,

You can move now, combat time:

If you hover over Combattler, it's status as a crappy fake is reflected with the name "Cardboardler V".

If you check it's attacks, they are laughably weak parodies of many attacks from the real thing too.

It's health is a joke as well, so short version, try to avoid combat in that thing.

Thankfully, only a turn goes by before we get some support:

You have Quatre and Zechs to help, but this is where the game decides to screw you over if you cheated earlier.

If you upgraded the crap out of their units during the brief window you had them, those upgrades will be gone and they will back to stock stats this level, just to keep it from being too easy.

They are surprised Combattler is moving so fast, but to avoid giving the ruse away, Yotsuya tells them to not worry about it for now, they could still use the support anyway, meanwhile he's working his ass off to get the real Combattler up and combat ready.

The ruse will be discovered by the end of the second turn after a lucky shot blows away the Cardboard shell of Kerot, revealing the goofy supply mech underneath.

Kinta makes the most of it and mocks the shit out of the enemy for falling for a fake, and they all feel like dipshits.

Of course, this kinda worked out for Yotsuya too, because he not only had enough time to get the REAL Combattler working, he also verified Zechs was who he said he was too, and the enemy force kicks themselves harder as the actual Combattler sorties.

Here's what was wearing a bad Combattler disguise:

This thing sucks ass in combat, but until the Nadesico and Nahel Argamma show up, you can't let it or the other allies die until then. And regardless what happens, keep the enemy off the Connection.

Thankfully, a turn later, the Nadesico shows up, and Tetsuya's Great Mazinger will be a forced deploy. After Noin and Zechs say hi again, you can deploy nine units.

Protecting the Connection is your most important goal, so switch all Aestivalis units to the Aerial Frame for the speed advantage and cover that lab like white on rice, shooting anyone who gets close. Don;t be ashamed to blow through Accell seishins if need be to make it to the Connection before the enemy does either.

Aside from that, laugh as the butthurt flows from the Mycenean for Tetsuya and Campbellians for Combattler when they fight and kill everyone and/or force their commanders to retreat.

However, killing Ankoku Daishogun's carrier just prompts the man to fight personally. And like Alpha Gaiden, he's a bitch to beat up.

In fact, he'll regain some health as you are about to kill him and refuse to lie down and die.

Treat him with all the respect he deserves, he will be a bastard to finally kill this level.

He finally dies, but not before leaving Dr. Hell the mission to finally destroy you, and Tetsuya salutes the badassery Ankoku Daishogun displayed.

Once you beat the level, Janera is even more pissed than before, as Heinel will have MORE cause to gloat. However, Heinel apparently got his shit kicked in on the Voltes route, and Dr. Hell is almost ready to deploy MP Great Mazingers reverse engineered from those plans he stole to avenge Ankoku Daishogun.

Back at the Connection, Yotsuya thanks the good guys and introduces his pilots, and it turns out the resident big guy of the team is an aspiring manga artist like Hikaru. Kinta and Chie want to come along with Kerot, but Tetsuya is all "if we have to babysit anymore kids, then I wish I had LOST to Ankoku Daishogun."

Zechs still declines to formally join the team, for reasons he asks Noin to trust him on for now, saying that might come later.

However, as they about to leave, Kinta and CHie stowed away on the Nadesico, not taking no for an answer, and despite all the crap they get, they aren't budging, so you'll be taking them along.

I'll cover the other levels at this point, the routes will dovetail here.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 17: (Voltes Route)

We start with the same Heinel and friends conversation as last time, only Heinel adds he wants to do his thing before their backers get off their asses, otherwise he'll be forced to be a bottom tier bitch of their erstwhile backers for some time longer.

It seems Katherine has also captured someone and she wants to make use of the captive for their assault plan. Heinel thinks it's kinda pointless, but tells her "fuck it, do whatever you want".

She does elaborate though. Apparently, it's a SHOCK to the Boazans that we humans are capable of that emotion called "love" (funny really, aside from the horns, humans are pretty similar to Boazans genetically, another thing that makes their racism pretty asinine, which the show itself loved poking fun at), and while Heinel thinks that's one funny joke, he's all "well, if they can, let's see if we can use it to our advantage".

I'll skip the Combattler specific stuff for the sake of brevity, then we cut to Nahel Argamma where they are discussing Voltes V.

Voltes is basically just like Combattler (after all, they are sister series), only it was built with military backing in Voltes canon. Turns out the director of the Big Falcon base, Professor Sakonji, they had initially rejected offers to join with Londo Bell, but they recently reconsidered and we're gonna pick it up.

And we cut to the Big Falcom map, where Sakonji is bitching at the pilots over their performance.

He manages to work in a sick burn concerning French people into his bitching, and as the pilots wonder why he's being such a hardass, he's all "I don't ask for adequate performance, I ask for EXEMPLARY PEFORMANCE!"

The G-Forces they are enduring to stress test Voltes are about to kill off Hiyoshi (the token kid of the team), but Sakonji does not give a shit, rookies die all the time according to him.

Thankfully, his continued being a flaming asshole is interrupted as the Hyakki and Boazans show up to attack.

Heinel scoffs humans are too stupid to keep their emotions in check, but Burai tells him to quit selling humans so short, some might surprise him, and when the Boazans soft soap Burai some more, he realize they are trying to flatter him, but he decides to play along for now.

Map time:

Two things: Notice the shape of the island that looks like a bird? That's why it's called Big Falcon.

Second, take Sakonji's advice and avoid fighting till Londo Bell shows up, Voltes will get it's ass beat otherwise.

Also, let's cover the new goons:

Burai is a good artillery unit, is built like a brick shithouse, and has an EWAC aura, be wary.

She isn't all that strong, and if you wait tell you can sortie Getter, Ryouma can convince her to defect, and she joins if she survives the stage.

After about two turns, Katherine informs Heinel your ship is inbound, and Getter G is a forced deploy, much to Hidler's consternation.

You can sortie 11 units, and your objectives are to kill everyone and protect Voltes and Big Falcon from destruction and capture.

Like in the Combattler stage, don't be ashamed to burn through Accel usage to beat the enemy to the base you need to defend.

After a turn or two, Heinel will be pissed you are slowing them down, and Jangal advises using their trump card. Again, he sees no benefit to using the captive they have for a distraction, but he shrugs and tells Jangal and Katherine to do it.

And here is said captive:

This is Professorr Kentarou Gou, one of Voltes' creators, not to mention father to half the Voltes Team, especially it's leader, Kenichi, his son.

Heinel is pleasantly surprised the bait was taken, and tells them to surrender in exchange for their father's life.

Sakonji, however, tells the Voltes team to kick ass anyway, and when they bitch, he tells them two things:

1. You can;t be sure it's you real dad and not a doppleganger/fake.
2. Even if it is him, he built Voltes to defend Earth, you think he wants to live if you throw that away?

The second one proves effective, and Kenichi fires at Heinel's Skullrook, asking his dad to forgive him.

Professor Gou is pleased at the choice his son made, and Heinel is told by Kentarou that they chose to sacrifice him because they wanted to honor his wish as their father to save Earth.

It's not out of apathy they aren't saving him, they are making a sacrifice out of love, and as their father, he couldn't be prouder.

Thankfully, some help arrives as he says this, in the form of Heero and Duo's Gundams.

Burai is impressed the Voltes team isn't cucking out thanks to hostages, and as we resume the fight, the same thing said in the Combattler stage is true here, if you upgraded the Wing Gundam units while you had a window earlier, those upgrades will be gone here.

Note: To recruit Kockoki, she might fight Ryouma once, then he needs to use the Persuade command on her. If you cheated Getter to max stats, just have them encounter each other in battle and dodge her attack the first round they fight, then use the Persuade command after.

Note 2: If you sortied Tekkoki, you get some fun butthurt dialogue from Hidler if they fight.

Note 3: Once you persuade Kochoki, Ryouma will basically convince her that using a hostage is pretty cowardly and that he's appalled a beautiful woman like her would be so coldhearted as to approve of such tactics. On the turn he usues the Persuade command, he adds he'd happy accept her fighting on his side if she was willing to change sides, and while she's kinda torn between her massive ladyboner for him, her Oni heritage, and what to do, the dialogue changes depending on whether Miyuki, Risa, or both are with you. If they are, they'll add their voices to the mix persuading her changing sides will not be a problem, they were accepted no matter what they were before.

Once you pummel Heinel down to under 20,000 HP, he retreats, with Professor Gou with him.

If you got Kochoki, turns out her horn snapped during battle, and she laments she's still an Oni, but Ryouma pours on the sweetness when he says he sees a beautiful woman, not an Oni.

Benkei and Hayato are about to gag on the sappiness, but Hayato thinks better of it, saying a little sugar isn;t so bad every now and then.

We cut back to Heinel and his peeps, where Heinel is blaming Katherine for shit going south, and even though Gou sucked as a hostage, he decides to keep him arou8nd i9n case his brains could be used to their benefit.

Still, he knows repeated failure will force their sponsors to intervene, and that is bad news for him.

We cut to Big Falcon, where Sakonji is introducing the Voltes team (see my SRW Alpha Gaiden LS for the deets on that), and he reveals he's not a total asshole.

He informs the Voltes team he was a hardass to prepare them for a time like today, when they nearly surrendered just because a hostage was dangled in front of them, and while having feelings is by no means bad, he wanted to be sure they would be ready to make cold, hard, but necessary choices when it counted.

We cut to Amuro thanking Duo and Heero for the help, and AMuro sense they are are working on something else.

Duo realizes Amuro saw through him, says he can't elaborate, but like Zechs in the Combattler Stage, says he'll provide more detail when the time is right.

The route dovetail here, so I'll cover all that next time, on the G-Gundam/Daimos route stage.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 17 (G-Gundam/Daimos Route): My Palm Is Like A Raging Fire


Okay, two things about this stage before we go on. It has some of the best crossover writing in the series, and two, we need to discuss Schwartz Bruder and how he fits into SRW crossovers.

While retaining his canon role as the mysterious mentor to Domon at times from the source, he often gets paired up with similar characters from other shows like Alan Igor from Dancougar and is usually considered a trusted informant of at least one if not more of the good guy factions.

Without giving away plot deets, he's one of the characters that usually if not always gets great character writing, even in otherwise crappy SRW games. Even SRW J made good use of him despite phoning in large portions of the G Gundam crossover plot.

It's very rare an SRW game will let him join you, but he has been a recruitable party member in a few games, but most of the time he's at least guest reinforcements in a few stages in most games too.



We resume at Richter's Bharmian underground base as Aizam is informing Richter his sister Erika may not be dead after all, she was sighted (or at least someone matching her description) near Little Bharm recently. Richter finds it hard to believe, and so do Aizam, but before either can discuss it further, Balbas runs in with news that Londo Bell split into three groups.

Ricjter considers this a perfect time to kick their ass, as does Aizam, but before they can discuss how to set up the asskicking, Aizam collapses.

As Richter calls for some medics to take care of the guy, we cut to the Guiana Highlands.

However, the Shuffle Alliance does not have happy memories of the place, as it's where Domon once trained with Master Asia and they all got attacked once, and since the attack was done at the same place Domon's master was even then likely planning to turn on his own student, kinda sours the mood.

Anyway, since they are searching for the Devil Gundam, they will be splitting into three groups, and at least one will be investigating an underground heat signature that is either a lava vein or their target.

Then they get hailed by Schwartz before they can head off.

He tells Burning he needs to speak to Domon privately, and to the surprise of everyone, Burning signs off on it immediately.

We cut back to Richter and crew, where Aizam seems to have woke back up from his earlier collapse, and we find out Aizam is dying.

One of his latest experiments exposed him to highly destabilizing energy that basically turns his insides into dogshit, and he'll be dead in three days, tops. He explains he knew this, but he accepted Olban's request to take over the Bharmian invasion force, knowing his death soon after taking the job would mean Richter would get the position back by default, thus canceling out any potential screwjob for Richter.

Richter is understandably devastated to hear Aizam's gonna die soon and tries to promise the medics will work night and day to save him, but Aizam knows it's pointless, he's doomed and has made his peace with that knowledge.

We cut to later, where Aizam has gone AWOL from the medical bay, and Richter is all "WAT?!" when Raiza gives him the news.

And we find out why:

Basically, he knows he's a walking corpse, and he'd rather die helping Richter succeed than uselessly try to extend his already doomed life, and he also knows Richter is poorly dealing with the loss of his sister, so he hopes his death will strike a grievous blow to Londo Bell so while Richter might lose someone else dear to him, that death won't be in vain.

Before we go on, Aizam is one hell of bro to do all this shit if you ask me.

We cut back to Domon, who is being asked to mediate by Schwartz, and he's all "are you kidding me?"

He then asks for some more information first, and Bruder obliges by informing him Prime Minister Wong is a slimy bastard, and whatever he's up to is balls deep in the Devil Gundam business.

However, he then busts Domon's balls by telling him he's not ready to kick the Devil Gundam's ass, so this is training for that end. Kazuya Ryuuzaki shows up at this point and tells Domon to quit autistically screeching, it might be a good idea.

Schwartz appreciates the support, and ask Kazuya to join them, this could benefit him too.

Domon is still being a tard and insists his Gundam's Super Mode will be enough, to which Bruder tells him he's a paint chip eating dumbass, it won't be enough.

We cut over to Nanbara Connection where Master Asia and Yotsuya have the conversation from the other routes.

When we cut back, the crossover writing for Daimos and G Gundam gets awesome, here's a recap:

During the meditation, Schwartz sneaks up behind Kayuza and is about to take him out, but Kayuza calls him on it. Impressed, Bruder asks how he was able to sense him, he made sure to be stealthy as shit.

Kazuya then recounts his days training back at the International Space Agency (Daimos international NASA), and at one point, he broke his entire spine and was paralyzed. However, through a shitload of physical therapy and having a will you could use as tank armor, he got his mobility back. Crazy bastard couldn't move shit below his arms, but he forced himself to crawl on his hands up stairs rather than accept he was eternally fucked mobility wise.

Bruder is again impressed, saying Kazuya's other distractions had dissolved into water, to which Kazuya says that's a good way to put it, his focus on being able to walk again was that laser focused.

And that's when he felt a sweat drop hit the floor during one of his rehabilitation sessions.

Something snapped inside him when that happened, and his will became so focused he told a permanent injury to his spinal column to fuck off AND REGAINED SOME OF HIS MOBILITY BACK.

And all that inspired him to do was to keep reaching that state of hyperfocus, to the point he regained all of his old mobility and more, simply because he decided lying down like a bitch and accepting paralysis was bullshit.

Schwartz refers to this as "Clear and Serene", saying Ryuuzaki abandoned everything save his goal and focused on it alone, putting aside regret, hate, and fear. He then tells Domon:

"That's the focus you lack, Domon, you're screwed without it."

Domon has the point fly over his head, so Bruder puts in simple terms to reiterate Domon's a chimping faggot whose anger only fucks with his focus in battle and that all it gonna do is get him killed.

Domon doesn't believe it that, and Bruder is all:

"You fool. If you've decided to succumb to your rage, you will die a fool's death."

We then cut to the map, where Schwartz summons his Spiegel Gundam to beat Domon to death since he's too fucking stupid to learn, to which Domon calls the Shining Gundam.

Kazuya shows up to intervene in Daimos, and tanks a hit for Domon. However, this just knocks Daimos loopy, and Domon nearly dies from Bruder's next assault.

However, as death seems certain, the lightbulb finally clicks on and Domon finally gets what Schwartz was talking about as he hears a drop of water fall.

Bruder is pleased, and while he apologizes to Kazuya for cold cocking his Daimos, he's chill so long as Domon took a badass level in exchange.

However, before Bruder can leave them to do his thing, having accomplished what he set out to do, they get attacked.

By this asshole:

Predictably, Master Asia riles Domon up, he gets pissed, Bruder facepalms, he's just playing into his former master's hands. But mere shit talk isn't all Master Asia has got up his sleeve.

Cue a shitload of Death Army and the Devil Gundam.

However, as this continues to push Domon's buttons like the easily pissed moron he tends to be, the rest of the Shuffle Alliance and Kyoshiro's Galva shows up to help out.

But as Schwartz tanks a hit for Domon, he snaps out of his rage induced stupid and realizes he is gonna get his ass beat doing that shit, which cues his "Still Water" upgrade.

Schwarz, however, seems to have died as a result saving Domon's ass from that last hit, but he dies with a smile, Domon has what he needs now to kick ass and take names.

Master Asia, however, goes into a line by line spiel about how he will be the Undefeated of all the Earth, complete with that memeworthy "Super Asia" line from the show.

We can fight now, map time:

I suggest abusing Support Defense, terrain advantages, and turtle tactics. Domon getting shot down is a game over, but thankfully he starts at 130 WILL and full health, all you need to do is help him fend off the Death Army with Kazuya.

Good news is that the Devil Gundam and Master Asia tend to sit on their ass, so just focus on taking out the Death Army. Try to have everyone bathe in Galva's EWAC aura for an accuracy and evasion boost in the process.

After a few turns of these assholes, more are inbound.

Master Asia is all "lol, who this tard?", and after a turn, you can sortie the rest of your team.

Aizam's ride is merely a buffed up version of his lackeys, and everything else is the same as previous stages, so just kick their asses.

How you do it doesn't matter.

Might not hurt to let Kaine get some kills. It's early on, but if Kaine has 30 or more kills by Stage 30, you get a Dragonar secret, this is a good level to start early on.

Once you take Aizam down, Richter arrives too late:

Aizam refuses an offer to eject, he's a dead man walking even if he does, but as he dies, he leaves Richter the blueprints for his Mecha Warrior as a final farewell gift to a man he happily will die for with a smile.

Richter has a full blown skyward screaming meltdown as Aizam dies, and even Kazuya is moved by Aizam's selflessness.

Richter leaves with Aizam's remains to give him a proper burial, and your team lets him go, they'd do no less for their own.

FYI, after Aizam is taken down, focus on the Devil Gundam next.

Master Asia with tard rage hard once you kill it (he won't attack unless you get right next to him prior), but laugh and beat his ass next.

Once you stop him, you find Schwartz is still alive, though barely, and Garrison shows up to get him to a hospital.

As the stage ends, everyone prepares to link up with the others and we find out Rain went on ahead to pick up a new Mobile Fighter.

Or not, as Domon remains behind, realizing Master Asia didn't die like a bitch that easily.

And he's right:

Master Asia tries to piss Domon off and beat the shit out of him, but to his shock, Domon is no longer tard raging at every little provocation, but as Master Asia gets the upper hand anyway, Rain shows up with a new Gundam for Domon:

She's piloting her own as well, more on that next post.

Domon's new Gundam is the God Gundam (since his arch foe is the Devil Gundam), but as Rain tries to deliver it, she gets her ass shot pretty hard by Master Asia.

Thankfully, he fails to stop Domon from getting his new ride, and Master Asia gets his ass beat retarded as the stage ends for real this time.

 

[GethN7]

Got some IRL crap to deal with, this will resume ASAP.

In the meantime, found something in my backlog of weblinks, someone wrote a helpful pastebin of tips for getting through this game with the least amount of pain:

A Portable Tips and Recommended Units v3 - Pastebin.com

pastebin.com

For those who rip their hair out trying to kill Don Sauzer/Zauther from Daitarn 3, even includes a well detailed strategy to make him as painless as possible to kick the ass of.

 

[GethN7]

Resuming this, we start after Domon finished kicking Master Asia's ass, we cut to the Bharmians, when Richter gets news that Grand General Olban wants them to pack their shit and head back to Little Bharm.

He's all "WUT?", and we cut back over to Bright, who is getting news from Yurika on how things went on her end.

After the Votes and Combattler teams say hi to everyone, Bright says they are parking at the moment until resupply.

As the stage ends, let me get you guys up to speed on Voltes and Combatter:

Voltes is a brick wall of defense, bit sturdier in this game than in Alpha Gaiden for those who followed that LS.

Gains "Beam Coat" when fully upgraded, letting it laugh off weak beam attacks.

Combattler is much the same, and if anyone noticed in the Alpha Gaiden LS, Combattler always has a hair less HP than Voltes, even when fully upgraded, bit of a series gag, possibly a reference to the fact Voltes was put together by the military, while Combattler was done by a civilian lab.


The key difference between the two is that Combattler is always better with ranged attacks, while Voltes is good with melee, and when both have high enough WILL, they make excellent boss killers with their combo moves.

BTW, next level is when we get Four Murasame to join, and get the ball rolling on getting Allenby.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 18: Neo-Hong Kong, On Fire


Okay, before we begin this level, few things we need cover if you didn't watch Zeta Gundam nor G Gundam.

Hong Kong was where Kamille tried to break Four of being a brainwashed drone in the Zeta show. Neo Hong Kong played a role in the G Gundam show as PM Wong's stomping grounds. Since this goes together like Peanut Butter and Jelly, we will basically get a mini-retread of events from both shows next level, using SRW's predilection for combining similar themes from different media into one stage.


Also, don't bother trying to talk to Rosamia in this level, she's basically dead to you if you didn't convince her before, get Four. You can talk to her for the same dialogue you'd get if you went for her, but it will fail miserably and she has to die.



We start this level with Bright telling us we'll lay over in Neo Hong Kong while the Luo Company handles the resupply. Amuro had a run-in with them awhile back, so he's gonna say hi to the staff while they wait. Quattro and Lalah go with him, while Burning plans to mind the store while they're gone. Kappei thinks Amuro is just gonna pig out at a Chinese buffet while Keiko chides him for thinking Amuro is that irresponsible.

Amusingly, Benkei has to admit he'd be tempted to do just that....twice over.

Hayato believes him, and Noin says if anyone else wants to have a brief furlough, they need to sign an away form. Noin also has some business with the Luo Company herself. Kaine, Hyouma, and Kouji DO think that food idea sounds great, and while Tetsuya is Mr. Serious and chides Kouji on not being prepared if the enemy attacks, Kouji ain't listening.

The Shuffle Alliance save Domon and Argo are going too, the former because waiting on repairs to his ride, the latter cause he's not a fan of crowds. Most of the other leave for food related reasons, a few (like Kosuke) for the electronics stores, and Nina decline an invitation to go, they are expecting a new unit delivery soon from Anaheim, she has to sign for it.

Shiro and Aina give Kou their sympathy as they head out for a date, and Lamia quietly decides to head out to, ostensibly to collect intel.

We then cut to the Nadesico, which ironically CAN'T let anyone go, they really need to some Aestivalis repairs and all hands are needed on deck. This pleases none of the crew, but Erina puts her foot down.

We then find these assholes are around as well:

Gon Jem plans to assault them while they are vulnerable, but Wong REALLY would like to avoid them shooting up the place (it is his city after all, not to mention he'd like to keep his own toys from getting broken), but Gon Jem couldn't give a shit what Wong wants, because he wants Londo Bell to burn, and he's through taking crap from the Chinese jackass.

We cut to where the Combattler, Mazinger, and Zeta characters are walking out of a buffet with stuffed guts, and as Kouji beleches to Sakaya's disgust, Kamille feels his Newtype senses twitch.

Amuro and Quattro catch up with him and bluntly tell him "Give up, Four and Rosamia are likely utterly mind fucked at this point", which he refuses to believe.

And that's when a surprise guest shows up while they are trying to convince Kamille otherwise:

He mentions he's here to meet a friend (guess who), then tells Kamille to remember no human is perfect, and before he can elaborate, every Newtype in the area gets a headache as Four and Rosamia pop up on their Jedi style radar.

We cut to the battle map where Gon Jem's goons have deployed, and Ruri states the obvious:

Since most of your pilots are out, that means you've only got who stuck behind to play defender,

The Nadesico will be your carrier, and you can sortie anyone from Nadesico, Voltes V, Bolt Gundam, Burning's GM Custom, and Great Mazinger.

Since you need to play defense, the enemy is slow as shit, and range is your friend, deploying the Aestivalis with the Heavy Weapons modules works great.

As the map shows, you are in an ideal position to defend yourself on both sides, just position your best artillery and turn this into a giant skeet shoot for awhile.

After about two turns, most of the others return, and the Nahel Argamma deploys. You can sortie seven more pilots, EXCEPT Kamille, he's out for a bit longer for story reasons. Domon too, but he'll show up later.

Pick whomever you wish at this point.

Once you deploy whomever, Kamille says this:

After another turn trading shots with Gon Jem's goons, Wong says this:

Cue the Psyco Gundams and Allenby in Berserker Mode showing up to the east side of the map.

Thankfully, Kamille gets back to the Nahel Argamma at this point, and Astonaige has a surprise for him:

Wong is not pleased and decides to deploy the Death Army to complement his forces to keep Kamille away from his brainwashed pilots, just in case.

After another turn, another unit arrives. Two in fact.

Master Asia also shows up:

Apparently, Master Asia is quietly peeved Wong had to reveal the Death Army NOW (thus spiking any ability to keep the Devil Gundam not being dead under wraps), so he's helping you out on this map because Wong pissed him off.

He makes clear it is but a temporary truce, don't get ideas this lasts longer than that, meaning you will be enemies after this map is over again.

Wong pages Master Asia, asking WTF is going on, to which he gets told

"Ask yourself that question again."

Kamille's Zeta Gundam does NOT carry over upgrade from the Gundam MK-II if you upgraded it prior, but it's pretty agile, can fly, and is amazing when upgraded. For now, just have him convicne either Four or Rosamia (we are going for Four) to get them to switch sides and otherwise keep him alive.

As for Domon and Rain:

Domon's God Gundam DOES carry over upgrades from the Shining Gundam and kicks ass in every relevant category.

Rain's Rising Gundam, on top of it's obvious Japan theme, it's also a good sniper and can support Domon's machine well, but starts off with no upgrades, try to keep Rain from getting her ass kicked for now.

Master Asia is AI controlled, just let him help you out and have Domon convince Allenby and Kamille convince Four before Master Asia accidentally takes either out, as he's prone to fighting whomever.

Note that if Kamille and Domon succeed, they must still destroy the unit Four/Allenby are in, who does it does not matter.

If you did it all right, you'll get confirmation Four is alive after destroying her unit. Wong will call Allenby's unit back no matter what.

One other things, this level let's you take down the Gon Jem Squad for good, so kill each member, this is the last you have to fight those bastards.

WARNING: EACH ONE YOU KILL JACKS UP GON JEM'S WILL METER.

Be warned, Gon Jem is even tougher in this level because his WILL is super high because his guys likely died to you first, meaning Strike and Attune are your best friends for kicking his ass, because he can spam Double Image, which counts as 50% free dodge per attack.

BTW, Master Asia and Gon Jem get some fun shit talk if they fight.

Once Gon Jem finally dies, Domon runs after Allenby and Master Asia withdraws.

We cut to another part of the city, where some Giganos goons in lesser versions of Gon Jem's machine corner Domon, but Master Asia shows up to bail him out, saying he's the only one who can kill Domon, dammit.

He also shows Domon his ultimate technique, the Sekiha Tenkyoken (basically the Hadoken from hell) while making the Giganos goons his bitch.

He then segues into a rant about the ruined town around them:

He says this is the fate of anywhere touched by war, and says humans never stop trying to kill each other over something, and the Earth always endures the crossfire.

Domon isn't sure where he's going with this, and the rant is interrupted as more goons show up and Domon uses the Sekiha Tenkyoken to kick Giganos ass.

Lamia shows up, having gotten to the battlefield a bit late, and Master Asia leaves Domon two pieces of advice:

1. Look at the ruins around him, that is humanity's fate.
2. Be careful of that woman (Lamia).

Afterwards, we cut to the Nadesico sickbay, where Four is worn down from the stress but reasonably okay, and as soon as she can leave the bed, she insists she helping you guys kick ass.

Kamille obviously doesn't want her ass in the crossfire again, but she makes it clear no is not an answer she's taking.

We then cut to Yotsuya, who is being asked by the Combattler team who he was meeting in Neo Hong Kong, a question he deftly dodges by saying he needs to speak to Rain rather urgently, and while they get the wrong idea (they think he's trying to put the moves on her), he's more wanting to discuss the former Ultimate and now Devil Gundam.

We then cut to the Giganos Practice Squad, who have heard their leader is currently on the Moon, and as they are 'Sweet, we can finally go back too!", Min walks up, but barely alive, managing a last second eject from her now blown to hell unit.

Werner and Dan of the team have no love for anyone from Gon Jem's team, but Karl is a decent enough man he doesn't like leaving anyone in that fucked up a state, and she needs obvious medical attention, she confirms the Gon Jem Squad is no more, she's all that's left.

We cut back to the Nadesico, and get this bad news:

If you remember, Master Asia told Yotsuya he'd be with the Devil Gundam on an island a few stages back.

As both the Nadesico and Nahel Argamma move to kill that bastard again, we cut to the Peace Liberation Base, where Relena Peacecraft is planning to speak with Marshal Guiltorre now that the Gon Jem squad and Giganos' ground forces on Earth have had their back broken.

She insists on going without guards, despite her subordinates pleas, wanting to show the Marshal good faith, and as her shuttle is enroute to Giganos territory, she meets this woman:

Lemon explains she's a fan of Relena's, then reveals she not the good kind of fan by pulliung a gun on Relena, telling her she'd like to keep things civil and not have to use said weapon, and when Relena asks what she wants to do:

We cut back to the Nahel Argamma, where Axel sent Lamia a message:

"ELIMINATE MASTER ASIA."

As the stage ends, Lamia finds herself questioning why, even though the order makes logical sense......

 

[GethN7]

Okay, before I begin the next level, I need to cover two things.

One, it's another level with some obtuse instructions for getting a character, follow them to the letter or no deal when I cover it.

Second, and I believe @Kiwi Jeff and @Jaimas can appreciate this especially, it features some of the best crossover writing in SRW.

One of the things I believe essential to any good crossover is the willingness to not only do justice to the source material that is borrowed from, but to also cross over related material in such a beautiful way it feels so organic you could imagine it being canon to the sources, and the next level manages to cross together UC Gundam, G Gundam, and Combattler in such a way it feels completely natural to all three media, and the way they do so even enriches the meta-plot of the game as a whole.

SRW has had some crap writing, no question, like the poor attempts at making SEED and G Gundam make sense together in SRW J, SRW K was a phoned in shitshow, and even the otherwise good Alpha and Z series had their final parts hobbled by WTF writing decisions, but one of the reasons I've stuck with SRW writing for the most is that when it delivers a good fanfic crossing over multiple mecha shows, it FUCKING DELIVERS.

And the next level I consider a stellar example why.

Edit: Two final notes.

Full upgraded Rising Gundam gains the Repair skill, making Rain a good fighter and support unit.

Full upgraded Zeta Gundam gains the Waverider Crash attack, Kamille's strongest attack and an excellent boss killer move.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 19: The Gate To The Soul (Part 1)

First off, you want Allenby, do the following EXACTLY. (you must have done the previous level correctly as well)

1. Deploy Rain.
2. Have Rain convince Allenby
3. Have Domon convince Allenby
4. Have Domon get the kill shot on the Nobel Gundam.

Do all that in that exact order, or no Allenby for you.


We start this level with Wong wanting to know why Master Asia went off the reservation and helped Londo Bell.

Master Asia counters with the question of why the Death Army was let out, and Wong bullshits, saying they escaped, it was good they were put down.

Master Asia can smell the bullshit but lets it go, and Wong says he leaked the location of the Devil Gundam to Londo Bell. Master Asia is unmoved, having leaked similar information, tells Wong he's not concerned about having any of Wong's brainwashed puppets around to help him, and we get a clue Master Asia isn't well (which he shrugs off poorly) as we cut to the Nahel Argamma docking bay.

Rain informs Domon that Schwarz is missing from the hospital he was staying at since the Guiana Highlands, and Domon and Argo guess (correctly) Bruder is heading the same place they are. Bright then announces over the intercom they are inbound for Lantau Island, time to stand to for battle.

We cut over to Rain and Yotsuya pouring over some documents ont eh DG Cells, enviromental reports, and other technical information that has the Combattler team confused and which Yotsuya refuses to elaborate on, but he privately is having second thoughts about Master Asia's plans.

We then cut to the battle map:

Ir so it appears, but energy signatures covering the whole island are radiating like crazy on the sensors of both carriers.

And that's when several Death Army goons appear.

Domon and the Shuffle Alliance are auto deploys,

And this prompts more Death Army goons to show up.

Bright and Yurika order everyone to sortie, and Gai decides to mimic the Shuffle Alliance like the fanboy he is:

Angelg is also a forced deploy, then you can pick seven more units.

REMEMBER, RAIN MUST SORTIE TO GET ALLENBY.

Also:

Don't waste too much strength taking down the Death Army, you will need it.

After a few turns and about half a dozen Death Army dead, more will show up:

And that's when he calls out Professor Yotsuya, asking if his being on the Nahel Argamma is his answer.

And this where the awesome crossover writing begins.

Everyone, including the Combattler team, gives Yotsuya a "DA FUQ", but he just says Master Asia wanted his help, and he has chosen NOT to do so.

Domon calls Master Asia on trying to conquer the world and trying to get others to help him, to which Master Asia gets offended. His goals are not so materialistic.

Domon calls bullshit, he did work with Giganos.

Master Asia says that had nothing to do with him (which is true).

Kamille then calls him out on the Berserker and Psycommu System being deployed, which he can't claim ignorance of.

Master Asia then realizes the reason they believe this and laughs his ass off.

He then says they were pawns, he used them, he was never on their side. All he did was to restore the Devil Gundam, he'd use anyone to get that done (which is true to character).

Cue this hypocrite:

Everyone else is 0_0 at Prime Minister Wong showing up, and Master Asia tells Wong he's had enough of Wong's bullshit.

Quattro asks what Wong wants with the Devil Gundam, and Wong says BECAUSE HE'S the PM, that's exactly why he needs it.

According to him, the world is a bit of a clusterfuck right now, but that won;t last forever, so when the dust settles, he'd like something to ensure the dust will STAY settled.

Domon then asks if Master Asia concurs with Wong.

Master Asia is unequivocal in saying 'HELL NO."

He then reminds Domon of their conversation back at the ruined part of Neo Hong Kong, and Ruri, getting the hint, mentions most of Neo Hong Kong got raped during the Gryps conflict (as in Zeta Gundam), and only the least damaged areas got repaired, most of it is still a wreck.

Master Asia then adds that is the only place on Earth that looks like a shithole, places like that exist all over the Earth, and it's only been getting worse since the One Year War.

And he sums up Earth's fate if this continues with:

He then calls out the fucking morons shooting each other and letting Earth be the punching bag for their bullshit, saying he had to do something to make the damage stop, humans are too stupid to stop themselves, hence him doing what he done to this point:

And that is to restore the Earth, no matter the cost.

Wong then tries to play to this after Yotsuya clarifies things:

As he does this, he admits he was the one who struck the deal with Giganos, and Bright is all:

"You just admitted to high treason, Wong".

Wong admits yeah, true, but soon, that won;t matter, then says he wants Master Asia to help him defeat the Federation.

According to Wong, once the Federation is brought to its knees, the Devil Gundam can be returned back to it former, non corrupt purpose, which can then heal the damage to the planet.

But Master Asia tells Wong to quit bullshitting, he doesn't give three shits about Earth so long as he can be its ruler. Master Asia has a simpler goal in mind:

This open declaration of planetary genocide horrifies all parties concerned, but he explains his reasons.

The Devil Gundam, back when it was the Ultimate Gundam, was intended to peaceably terraform the Earth to repair the damage done to it. However, Master Asia came to an epiphany when he realized no matter what damage was repaired, it would all be undone because humanity is too damn stupid to quit waging war.

The Ultimate/Devil Gundam could fix whatever it wanted, and it would all be for nothing. It would only encourage mankind to keep doing more and more damage to the planet, figuring their damage would be fixed, and Master Asia is tired of Man treating their mother planet as disposable. The damage to the Earth is just as much on their hands as the blood of each other they have shed, and he wants mankind held to account for its sins against it's own world.

And if that means humanity will die across the Earth, the Earth would be forever a no man's land to anyone; human, alien, or otherwise, so be it, the ends justify the means.

Wong is a bit horrified, he wants someone to rule over, not to kill everyone, but Quattro/Char can understand what would drive such fatalism (anyone who saw Char's Counterattack would get that instantly), and that's when Yotsuya explains why he considered helping Master Asia.

Back when Professor Nanbara was alive (his co-creator of Combattler), he admitted he once saw humans as a problem and admitted if they all died, he'd shed no tears.

When asked to clarify if this is a lie or not, Yotsuya explains:

According to Yotsuya, he has a very cynical view of humanity, but based on the premise we humans don't give a shit about the welfare of our planet until it starts to become a problem for our own personal well being. Otherwise, we are selfish bastards.

Can't say he wrong.

Akatsuki sees where he going with this, saying the formation of the space colonies and the terraforming of Mars was done for the benefit of man alone.

Domon tries to claim Master Asia is no better than the alien invaders, but Master Asia is all "BULLSHIT!"

He then asks Domon to explain why people built space colonies and artificial environments while not giving a damn about destroying the real ones.

Yotsuya doesn't disagree, and while he still holds humanity is fucked up, his feelings do not extend to all other beings that are NOT human. In that, he parts ways with Master Asia, he does not feel genociding humanity while leaving all other non sapient life as collateral damage is a price he's willing to pay just to see humanity pay for its crimes.

However, Master Asia isn't done ranting, calling out the nukes, colony drops, the Mass Driver, and every other weapon man has ever scarred the Earth with.

Kouji realizes in a way, the Myceanen and Hyakki are native to Earth as well, and while fighting will never stop, this is their birthplace as well.

Hyouma then asks Yotsuya why he helped Professor Nanbara with Combattler if he felt humanity should be glassed.

Youtsuya's answer is simple (paraphrased): "Humanity can fuck itself for all I care, if I could spare the Earth just a little pain from damage beyond the control of Men, then I was content with that", referring to the aliens.

It's at this point Bright takes charge of situation. Master Asia's motives are understandable, and the logic is compelling if twisted, but he's also well aware no one person has the right to decide the fate of so many other people.

The Devil Gundam shows up at this point, and Master Asia points to it and tells everyone he needs it for his plans to fix the Earth, and he's not listening to arguments otherwise.

He then tells Domon what's left of Kyoji's zombified husk inside the Devil Gundam is nearly dead for real as a result of what happened in the Guiana Highlands, and he wants Domon to be the new Devil Gundam core.

Domon is sickened Master Asia trained him just to be spare parts for the Devil Gundam (it needs someone capable of great power as a core, Domon now fits like his brother did), and Wong realizes a fight is inevitable, so he calls out Allenby.

And that's when the time for talking is over, the fight will begin. I'll cover that next post.

I do want to end this by saying this is DAMN GOOD crossover writing. For fans of Combattler, this is true to Yotsuya's character, for fans of G Gundam, this fits all involved perfectly, and for UC Gundam and the rest of this crossover, this just enriches the storytelling that involves their use in this game.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 19: The Gate To The Soul (Part 2)


Now for the actual fight.


Only new threat is the Devil Gundam, which is far stronger than before:

Thankfully, it's counterbalanced by the fact there is only one of it, but as I stated prior, don;t blow all your energy on the Death Army and beating this retarded should be easy, but be warned, it's attacks are far stronger and will hurt like a bitch if it attacks.

It's worth noting that Wong will explain what you suspected all along if you persuade Allenby.

According to Wong, Allenby, Four, and Rosamia were all candidates for replacing the Devil Gundam core, and while he lost both of the Cyber-Newtypes, that he's fine with, their reliance of external methods of reinforcement was probably more trouble than it was worth.

Kamille will get ripshit pissed at this callous confession and outright tells Wong people like him don;t deserve to live.

If you succeed in doing all the steps to save Allenby, you'll get a message confirming she survived and Wong will get really salty, wanting the Devil Gundam to burn everything down. If you fail, Domon will be aghast and Wong will be upset he lost another spare part for the Devil Gundam.

Once you manage to take the Devil Gundam, this happens:

But nope, it revives again, and Ruri informs you the entire island is acting as a power source for the Devil Gundam, likely so seeded with DG cells under its surface that it regenerates even fatal wounds like it was nothing.

However, just as Master Asia is about gloat about how the Devil Gundam cannot be stopped and how Earth will be restored whether they like it or not, Yotsuya decides to take the wind out of his sails.

As the Ultimate Gundam, it might have done what Master Asia wanted, but in it's corrupted state, the Devil Gundam is like it's name says: It's no savior, it can only corrupt other things to serve it's own needs.

As it's corrupted form, the DG cells take the "self-evolution, self-replication, and self-restoration" aspects of the the original Ultimate Gundam and have bastardized them into their most selfish extreme.

In essence, they will heal the Earth, but only so it can sustain itself. The Devil Gundam is a parasite, not a symbiote.

Master Asia finds this hard to believe, but Yotsuya and Rain fill in the blanks.

In it's original state, it would do as Master Asia wanted, but as the Devil Gundam, it's only purpose is to keep itself alive, as seen by how it simply corrupts whatever it drains the life out of, like the Death Army and Kyoji Kasshu himself. The nanomachines it uses for it's task drain life from other living things, but do not restore them.

He then thumps Master Asia's imprudence on the nose, saying he was not opposed to Master Asia's goal, but he wanted to make sure the means would do the job, and he even bandied the question with his fellow eggheads like Saotome and Yumi, and they all came to the same conclusion:

"The DG Cells would do more harm than good and destroy, not create anew."

Master Asia proves denial is not just a river in Egypt as he says there is no time to screw around, the world is getting more fucked up by the day, he just wants it to STOP, no matter the cost.

He then throws some UC Gundam shade, pointing out Man's first thought on discovering Newtypes was simply how to make them weapons of war. Even if Man is progressing, they only seek better means of ensuring their own destruction as a result.

HUMANITY. IS. FUCKED.

And that's when Domon is fed up and punches Master Asia's twisted logic in the balls.

Humanity was born of the Earth as was everything else on it. Maybe he's right, humans were fucking up their birthplace, but it WAS STILL WHERE THEY WERE BORN, THUS THEY ARE A PART OF THE PLANET MASTER ASIA WANTS TO SAVE.

Master Asia is saying he'd kill part of what the Earth created to save it, leaving it less complete than it started.

As Domon forces Master Asia into a logical corner, a newcomer applauds Domon:

It's Schwartz, and he reveals the Devil Gundam will keep coming back because the core that drives the rest needs to die.

And is Kyoji Kasshu. So long as any part of Kyoji lives, the Devil Gundam cannot truly die.

And as he let's the Devil Gundam target and destroy his Spiegel Gundam so he can hijack the Devil Gundam cockpit block, this happens:

Yotsuya explains how there are two Kyojis.

The show breaks with this explanation somewhat, but the short version is that the DG Cells initially absorbed the original Kyoji and tried to make a copy, which the original took control of, leaving the mindless husk we've had to fight. From the clone, which managed to separate from the DG Celled host, he's been aiding you guys under an alias all along.

In short, Kyoji has been fighting the Devil Gundam from the outside in, in the person of Schwartz Bruder, who is Kyoji's shadowy mirror in a sense (he even throws amusing shade at Nadesico's Ms. Exposition and says she can give you the long version later).

He says he couldn't reveal himself initially because Domon would have not believed him then, and he had to keep Giganos ignorant of his identity at the time. Giganos had been the original hijackers of the Devil Gundam (though they had Wong's backing to do so), and Kyoji was the hero all along, trying to keep it out of their hands, winding up becoming absorbed into it after it had corrupted in transit.

He then tells Domon he needs to die along with the Devil Gundam. His consciousnesses is what keeps reanimating the Devil Gundam, and THAT must die to stop it's regenerating again. Domon obviously doesn't want to kill Kyoji, but Kyoji tells to quit being a pussy, he's got the Shuffle Alliance crest, he's got a planet and humanity to look after.

Wong and Master Asia are freaking the fuck out, but the Shuffle Alliance joins with Domon, unlocking their ultimate combination attack, adding their power to Domon's ultimate attack, and their combined power takes the Devil Gundam down in one shot.

And their efforts were not in vain:

And Master Asia is pissed beyond all belief:

Now you have to take his ass down.

He has a mere fraction of the Devil Gundam's HP, but his WILL starts at 150, so he can and will hurt like HELL if he hits someone.

Remember he's on Fuunsaiki, so he has to be shot down twice.

He also has another nasty trick. Once reduced to being mount-less, if you don't kill him once he falls under 30%HP, he will regain ALL of his HP, and his sky high WILL gives him awesome stat boosts, meaning this will get frustrating if you don't beat him down fast and hard.

Once you succeed, Master Asia still refuses to die, and wants Domon one on one.

Cue both of these guys beating the crap out of each other, and Lamia, who has orders to kill Master Asia, even she can't bring herself to interfere as two of the most badass fighters on the planet wail the shit out of each other.

Yet in the end, the victor is clear:

With that, Master Asia feels his life about to end for real, as he dies, he and Domon recite the creed of the School of the Undefeated of the East one last time, the master now realizing he had been the fool the student had said he had been all along.

Yet as Lamia watches, she feels sadness, and she cannot bring herself to feel satisfaction that Master Asia has fallen.....

 

[GethN7]

Bit of a warning for those following along, from this point on the plot is gonna get insane, but for those who played SRW Original Generation 2/Original Generations, you will get some epic deja vu, though not everything goes like it did there, though many events will be similar.

Again, I will cover any differences when and where appropriate.

 

[GethN7]

The after battle starts with a scene that confirms Allenby survived if you saved her, and Rain and the other gearheads plan to scrape all traces of the Berserker system off of Allenby's Mobile Fighter so she can use it without being driven batshit again.

It also has a very amusing part where Inez is chomping at the bit to explain how all that works, during which Rain wastes no time getting the hell out of there, this conversation bores the shit out of her and she already suffered through a four hour rant of it once.

We then cut all the way over to here:

Lemon is dropping Relena off to be detained here after her earlier capture, and when Relena is understandably annoyed Lemon has the brass to APOLOGIZE for abducting her, Lemon drops the courtesy, saying she was just trying to be polite.

And we find out who Relena's new captor is:

Meet Mariemeia Khusrenada, daughter of the late Treize Khusrenanda, who tried a coup to take over the Earth Federation around the close of the One Year War prior to Gryps Conflict.

(short version, plot elements of Gundam Wing and UC Gundam were spliced together to make the two series work nice)

Lemon's uber bubbly nature is seriously annoying Mariemeia, and Lemon rather insincerely apologizes before Mareiameia explains it would be rather inconvienent for Relena to mert Marshall Guiltorre at this point, as that would scotch her plans for ruling the Earth Sphere, and she's not brooking interference with said plans.

Lemon makes reference to Wong getting his plans scuttled, saying things have changed, and when Relena does not follow, Lemon says she'll get the hint in the very near future.

With that, Lemon takes her leave as Mariemeia takes over as Relena's captor.

We cut back to the Nahel Argamma, where Rain tells Bright she sticking around Lantau Island to make damn sure the Devil Gundam is dead, and she declines having Domon as escort, citing his recent losses and that he needs some time alone. Burning and the other comment Wong is now AWOL but his now foiled plans have made him the most wanted man in the Earth Federation at this point if he's ever found.

We cut back to Neo Hong Kong, where Yotsuya is about to head back to the Nanbara Connection labs, but he admits his uber cynical view of humanity has improved somewhat in light of what happened on Lantau Island.

We cut back to the Nahel Argamma, where Secretary Miwa is messaging them from Jaburo.

Miwa lets them know there have been some shakeups at Feddie HQ since they last spoke, but that is now behind them, and after Bright gives him a summary of the new volunteers added to Londo Bell's forces, Miwa tells Bright to head the Yokosuka Port for his new orders.

Bright asks if they are still going to reset the D-Weapons, and this irritates Miwa, who calls the pilots in question pussies, citing that this is WAR, they should be pleased to serve the cause of Earth, and this also prompts him to say the Nadesico members are going to be formally impressed into military service at Yokosuka as well (merely making official their current status more or less).

Bright tells Miwa they will head out ASAP, and Miwa, pleased again, then tells Bright rather smugly he expects the aliens and Giganos will have their asses beat pretty soon and that he will look forward to savoring the defeat of anyone who messes with his planet as he signs off.

Quattro pithily notes Miwa is "quite a handful", and Bright cannot make enough emphasis on the sheer understatement as we cut away.

------

Next level is gonna be HELL, especially since they adapted the arc where the Nadesico's AI powered computer Omoikane goes batshit and it plays a role in the next level, I'll get into detailed strategy for that when the time comes, but be warned, difficulty will spike rather hard.


Some other story notes:

Like with most of the Zeta's backstory, they are fuzzy on most of the finer details of the Gundam Wing backstory save the general basics of it happened in some form around the time of UC Gundam's One Year War, but for the purposes of the plot, this is sufficient.

As for Lemon, anyone who played the original SRW Advance may notice her character has been retconned somewhat to match later uses of her in the Original Generations series. No spoilers on that, they are not strictly essential to know for those who have not played those games, but if her character seems somewhat different, that's why.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 20: Zweizergain (Part 1)


Alright, this level is gonna be a massive difficulty spike for two reasons:

1. The Nadesico and it's Aestivalises will all be off the table for use. In fact, you will have to shoot the latter down for plot reasons, and they are very accurate even if they are blessedly weak under AI control.

2. Lots of tough as shit enemies deploy.


I have a strategy for minimizing the degree of pain this level will inflict, but this level is still gonna suck.

It's actually slightly easier than the version shown in Original Generations is in some ways, but harder in other ways.

Also, not story relevant, but the Nadesico AI controlled computer, Omoikane, it's named after the Japanese god of knowledge.

----

We start this level with Garrison paying a visit to the Nadesico bridge, asking if the ladies are alright staying up so late.

They are fine, but Ruri is very concerned the AI controlled shipboard computer Omoikane is acting very strange.

Garrison tries to lighten the mood with a joke referencing Wyatt Earp (which none of the ladies seem to get), then deftly changes the subject and says he made them a meal in the cafeteria because he was concerned their late hours would have made them hungry, which they are quite appreciative of.

Ruri declines to leave, still worried about Omoikane, but accepts Garrison's offer to bring her something while she continues her vigil.


We then cut to the Mystery Man and Lemon discussing recent events, and Lemon wonders if Lamia should be called back, but is told no, how to deal with them has not been evaluated yet.

They both discuss the possibility of getting Londo Bell to join their side, and while they doubt getting that to happen would be easy, they expect upcoming events might prove compelling reason to sway them to their side.

Msytery Man then says he's paying a visit to Earth to assess things personally, and he says his personal machine could use some performance testing, so it's a good reason as any to go. Lemon offers to come along, but is declined, she has enough to do already.

They discuss Lantau Island, saying that a work in progress.,

He then tells her to call Axel, they are gonna be leaving soon.

Mystery Man then says he's going to use the Gaizock to test Londo Bell, and while Lemon doesn't like them, he counters they are a species largely made for a singular purpose, the similarities to her own work are a bit ironically similar.

He then says's it clear Lamia was unable to do everything they planned because she was unable to recieve proper orders, that will rectified soon.

And then we find out who he is:

We then cut to the Nahel Argamma, inbound ETA to Yokosuka is 3 hours.

We find out the Nadesico is having problems and is slowing down, and then we cut to the Argamma hangar.

Domon is still kinda emo but is not as bad off as before, he's even acting more mature about it, even Tetsuya compliments him on this.

And that's when the enemy attacks.

As we cut to the map, Killer The Butcher is waiting, and you might notice he has a few non-Gaizock machines you've seen before.

The Zambot autodeploys, and that's when the Gespensts are noticed.

Killer is asked where he got those, and he smartassedly replies "from my carrier hangar".

Since that's not a straight answer, your team decides to beat the straight answer out of him.

You can deploy 13 more units, and since this level is going to be difficult, make your choices wisely.

Map time:

Tips how to NOT die on this map:

1. Stay towards the extreme right edge most of the map.

2. Conserve your strength.

3. Survive until the biggest threat leaves, then you can kill everyone without a problem.

4. The Gespenst and any other original enemies are the deadliest things on the map. the Gaizock aren't all that bad. Prioritize murdering non-Gaizock assholes first.


After a few turns, the Nadesico will appear on the left side of the map, but thanks to Omoikane going batshit, it's made the ship useless and the Aestivalis' will try to kill you due to Omoikane seizing control away from the pilots. You can shoot down the Aestivalis (they have no modules equipped), their pilots will simply eject, but don't kill the Nadesico, it will not attack, but killing it is a game over cause you'd murder a carrier.

Killer will be very amused at this, and you'll get some apologetic dialogue from the Nadesico cast if their batshit units attack you despite their attempts to override the crazy AI that seized their controls.


This aside, stay alive a few more turns.

Because Vindel and some of his goons alongside Axel will show up:

Their arrival was via some form of teleportation, but according to Inez, it was NOT a Boson Jump, the system appeared to be an onboard teleportation, not teleportation from a remote area.

Vindel establishes an encrypted channel to Lamia and tells her new orders will be inbound soon, but the channel is detected contacting her by the D-3 Weapon ECM system, and while Light can't crack it, the good guy team notices Lamia's unit seems to have seized up, and they yell at her to snap out of it, which prompts Vindel to tell Lamia to act natural and fight him and Axel to keep suspicion down.

In the process, we get a name for the enemies:

From now on, Vindel and his goons will be dubbed the "Shadow Mirror", which, as the plot will reveal, is meaningful naming in many ways.

Original Generations had a different rationale for their name, so for those who played that, this is the only major difference so far.

Anyway, here's what Vindel's Zweizergain is like, all the other Shadow Mirror goons you've seen before, and Soulgains are basically half strength versions of Axel's Vysaga piloted by generic pilots with slightly more HP, but lower stats otherwise.

This bastard is FUCKING DEADLY. He's effectively a bottomless pit of long and short range attacks, can regenerate 10% HP a turn, and while he has only 100,000 HP, the chances you'll kick his ass even with all fighters maxed out statwise is pretty shit.

Ironically, he's nerfed from the way he was in Original Generations, where his stats were final boss level on first meeting him. Still, he's more than deadly enough to brutalize your team in Advance Portable.

Thankfully, he leaves in couple of turns, just SURVIVE. Bathe all units in EWAC auras and just kill everyone else while avoiding his insanely powerful attacks, they can and will kill even your beefy super robots.

I'll cover the rest in a following post.

 

[GethN7]

Slight warning for everyone, will take a bit to get back to this point, latest PPSSPP update did not like my savestates/save files for some reason, possible regression in handling those, not sure.

If you update to the latest version of this, it would be wise to make backup of your save files. I got off fairly easy, I just need to redo a stage or two, but you could lose a whole save file if they get utterly corrupted.

Save the battery save files for sure, those carry over better than save states.