History YMMV / SuperRobotWars

* ScapegoatCreator: Not towards then-developer Creator/{{Banpresto}}, current-developer B.B. Studios and publisher Creator/BandaiNamco, but rather Harmony Gold, whom fans of ''Super Robot Wars'' tend to have a negative view of, particularly their handling of the ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise, which prevents any attempt at ''Super Robot Wars'' games getting exported because of their hold on the ''Macross'' license for their ''Anime/Robotech'' projects. They single-handedly prevented the first ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' game from an international release despite the game nearly having all the necessary licenses for export[[note]]Had Harmony Gold relented, the very course of {{Anime}} history, let alone ''Super Robot Wars'', would be wildly different[[/note]]; even when future titles such as the "[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsV V]][[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT T]][[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsX X]] Trilogy" actually received official English translations, ''Macross'' had to be excluded from these games because of Harmony Gold. Not helping matters is that Harmony Gold managed to ''prolong'' its ownership towards ''Macross'' legally at the end of 2019 for even more decades, while the fandom received no news about their newest ''Robotech'' project, meaning Harmony Gold looked as if they simply want to spite on the ''Super Robot Wars'' franchise by keeping ''Macross'' hostage by producing nothing out of it.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Thanks to NoExportForYou until the late 2010’s, this franchise was not well-known outside Japan. The OriginalGeneration games on GBA barely made a presence on the international market which unwittingly turned it into a GatewaySeries of the franchise. Many newcomers who knew of this franchise through the OG series were surprised that its actual genre is MassiveMultiplayerCrossover.

* CatharsisFactor: Take a look at the series list of the game. Is your favorite series in? Strike one for having the catharsis of controlling your favorite robot and having it kick ass. Does your favorite series have a despicable villain? Strike two for the satisfaction of having your favorite unit or squad of hot blooded heroes beat the crap outta said despicable villain! Was said villain a KarmaHoudini in the past? ''Strike three'' for having these heroes revoke the villain's KarmaHoudiniWarranty!

** An inevitable outcome in most installments due to a variety of invaluable pilot skills and unit abilities, pilot/unit statistics, attack power for weapons, etc. The likes of the [[Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon Ideon]] in ''Alpha 3'', [[Manga/HadesProjectZeorymer Zeorymer]] in ''MX'' and ''Judgment'', and Anime/{{GaoGaiGar}} and Anime/TekkamanBlade in ''W'' stand at the highest tier, while [[Anime/TekkamanBlade Sol Tekkaman]] in ''Judgment'' are part of the lowest. Note that much of this also stems from each games' mechanics and systems in place that might influence how tiers respond, alongside whether {{Good Bad Bug}}s are present.

* DemonicSpiders: [[Anime/MacrossPlus Ghost X-9s]] in ''Alpha'', the [[VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom Katana]] clones in ''Endless Frontier'', Dimensional Beasts in the ''Second Z'', certain Elemental Machines throughout ''Masou Kishin''
* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: There are a number of fans who will readily admit that they find the strategy gameplay SoOkayItsAverage and merely a vehicle for attack animations and {{Crossover}} stories. Those who go into the game with [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory the opposite mindset]] tend to be put off by that fact that the game has so many ways to manipulate stats, yet ultimately requires very little strategy at all.

* ItsHardSoItSucks: The general opinion among the fandom seems to be that a game that is "too easy" is preferable to a game that is deemed to have "unfair" difficulty. Installments that are difficult beyond a handful of [[ThatOneLevel troublesome scenarios]] tend to elicit complaints. ''Masou Kishin III - Pride of Justice'' is an infamous case, having caused an uproar resulting in a number of players returning their copies due to its difficulty; ''A Portable'' is another notable instance, due to the enemies' unusually high evasion rates, [[DiminishingReturnsForBalance evasion decay]], and several other balance choices combining to create a surprisingly NintendoHard game. Common arguments against more difficult titles are that [[CurbStompBattle one-sided battles]] allow players to run their favorite units, and that [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame animations and cross-series interactions are more important than challenging gameplay]].
* JustHereForGodzilla: Some only become interested in a given ''Super Robot Wars'' title based on certain licensed series making the cut, which is understandable given the nature of the franchise. This became noticeable during the midst of the ''Z'' saga when popular series such as ''Anime/CodeGeass'' and ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' made their debuts. By the time ''X-Ω'' was released, this became literal when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGcFOvAFuUw Godzilla himself]] made an appearance.

* PlayerPunch: If a character's death was a significant impact on the overall story from their original series (as opposed to a gratuitous or base-breaking death), ''Super Robot Wars'' will often punch players by not averting that death at all, [[TearJerker forcing them to experience the heart-wrenching event from the cast's perspective]]. Some examples include [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Mu La Flaga]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment''[[note]]Which was actually very ironic, because in ''SEED'''s debut at ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha 3'', [[SparedByAdaptation Mu actually survived the story]], and continuity-wise, it wouldn't even reach ''SEED Destiny'' part.[[/note]], [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Neil "Lockon Stratos I" Dylandy]] in the ''Second Z'' and [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Princess Emeraude and Zagato]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'']].
* ScapegoatCreator: Though not necessarily towards Banpresto and Bandai Namco, fans of these series tend to have a negative views towards Harmony Gold, especially because of its handling with the ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise, preventing any attempts on ''Super Robot Wars'' games to be exported because they still held the licenses of the franchise for their project ''Robotech''. They single-handedly prevented the first ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' game to be exported to the west despite the game nearly having all the necessary licenses for exported (had Harmony Gold relented, the course of ''Super Robot Wars'' or even anime history would be wildly different), and this would mean that even after future games actually gave translations to the game, ''Macross'' needs to be excluded because of Harmony Gold. Not helping matters was that Harmony Gold managed to ''prolong'' its ownership towards the franchise legally near the end of 2019 for even more decades, while the fandom still got no news about their newest ''Robotech'' project, meaning that Harmony Gold looked as if they just want to spite on the ''Super Robot Wars'' fandom by keeping ''Macross'' hostage and produced nothing out of it.

** ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' and its {{Sequel}} movie "The Prince of Darkness" for the early-to-mid 2000s: they made an abnormal number of appearances for a series that wasn't one of the "mainstays" ([[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 one of which]] is a VideoGameRemake of a trilogy that didn't have ''Nadesico'') and had {{Crossover}} importance in all of them. Judging by the reaction to its inclusion in ''BX'', the eight or so years away from ''Super Robot Wars'' [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap worked wonders for its reputation]].
** ''Anime/DancougarNova'', ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'', and ''Gundam SEED Destiny'', despite having nothing to do with each other, became a notorious trio due to the sheer number of appearances they found their way into during TheNewTens: ''Frontier'' is generally considered the worst of the three, as fans do enjoy seeing [[FixFic the writers revamp the plot]] of ''SEED Destiny'', and ''Dancougar Nova'' isn't as plot-intrusive for {{Crossover}}s, yet all three became recurrent enough that many fans wanted a break. However, they've been showing up less since ''BX'', which lacked ''SEED Destiny'' and ''Nova''; meanwhile, ''V'' had ''SEED Destiny'', but gave ''Frontier'' a break[[note]]Amusingly, this was likely because of [[ScrewedByTheLawyers the spectacular legal trainwreck]] surrounding ''Macross'' outside of Japan[[/note]], ''X'' got rid of all three, with ''T'' following suit. Additionally, ''Anime/{{Daitarn 3}}'' above can be included to this kind of category as well, as it has appeared in every major ''Super Robot Wars'' games on the console, only skipping ''T'', but then coming back in ''DD''. At least ''DD'' promises to bring in its plot and original villains but the damage has been done.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: The average difficulty of ''Super Robot Wars'' has, and continues to, drop with each new entry with very few exceptions. The death of the "Classic" games' EarlyInstallmentWeirdness is a major contributing factor, as is the introduction of mechanically-diverse pilot skills and unit abilities and new gameplay mechanics.

* VindicatedByHistory: While the general attitude is that ''Super Robot Wars'' [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame is not meant to be particularly challenging]], this wasn't always the case. ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsW'' and the original [=PS2=] version of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsMX'' in particular were [[ItsEasySoItSucks derided]] for their near-nonexistent difficulty in their day, the latter game's UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable port infamously sporting bloated health in an attempt to mitigate this. Nowadays, they are known more for their well-regarded stories than for being total cakewalks.

** Any time {{Fanart}} or a parody video depicting a HumongousMecha series that hasn't made a ''Super Robot Wars'' appearance yet, then makes its debut for a new installment, will be this. Case in point, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWAh6ULyNJE this 2006 video]] showcases ''VisualNovel/{{Demonbane}}'', ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer'', ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'', ''Anime/GunXSword'', ''Anime/ShinkonGattaiGodannar'' and ''Anime/GaikingLegendOfDaikuMaryu'', while [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTj-YNFwJQk this 2010 one]] includes ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', ''Anime/ArmoredTrooperVOTOMS'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', and ''Anime/CodeGeass''.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Thanks to NoExportForYou until the late 2010’s, this franchise was not well-known outside Japan. The OriginalGeneration games on GBA barely made a presence on the international market which unwittingly turned it into a GatewaySeries of the franchise. Many newcomers who knew of this franchise through the OG series were surprised that it’s actual genre is MassiveMultiplayerCrossover.

** Newer titles have a nasty habit of giving protagonist units from series with interchangeable pilots (like Universal Century ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series and ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine'') finishing moves that are exclusive to their canon pilots, such as "[[RammingAlwaysWorks Waverider Crash]]" only being usable by [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Kamille Bidan]]. This defeats the purpose of granting the ability to change pilots in the first place; doubly frustrating for the aforementioned series as they already have tiered Newtype and Aura Power pilot skills that could be used to make it challenging, but not outright impossible, for supporting characters to use the units' stronger weapons that rely on those pilot skills.

** ''Anime/DancougarNova'', ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'', and ''Gundam SEED Destiny'', despite having nothing to do with each other, became a notorious trio due to the sheer number of appearances they found their way into during TheNewTens: ''Frontier'' is generally considered the worst of the three, as fans do enjoy seeing [[FixFic the writers revamp the plot]] of ''SEED Destiny'', and ''Dancougar Nova'' isn't as plot-intrusive for {{Crossover}}s, yet all three became recurrent enough that many fans wanted a break. However, they've been showing up less since ''BX'', which lacked ''SEED Destiny'' and ''Nova''; meanwhile, ''V'' had ''SEED Destiny'', but gave ''Frontier'' a break[[note]]Amusingly, this was likely because of [[ScrewedByTheLawyers the spectacular legal trainwreck]] surrounding ''Macross'' outside of Japan[[/note]], ''X'' got rid of all three, with ''T'' following suit.

* CompleteMonster: [[YMMV/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Aguilla Setme, Archibald Grims, Lubikka Hakkinen]]; [[YMMV/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Keisar Ephes]]; [[YMMV/SuperRobotWarsJudgment Jua-Mu Dalby]]; [[YMMV/SuperRobotWarsV Lord Embryo]]. See those pages for details.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Thanks to NoExportForYou until the late 2010’s, this franchise was not well-known outside Japan, with the OriginalGeneration games on GBA barely making a presence on the international market which unwittingly made it the GatewaySeries of the franchise. Many newcomers who knew of this franchise through the OG series were surprised that it’s actual genre is CrisisCrossover.

* ScapegoatCreator: Though not necessarily towards Banpresto and Bandai Namco, fans of these series tend to have a negative views towards Harmony Gold, especially because of its handling with the ''Franchise/{{Macross}}'' franchise, preventing any attempts on ''Super Robot Wars'' games to be exported because they still held the licenses of the franchise for their project ''Robotech''. They single-handedly prevented the first ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' game to be exported to the west despite the game nearly having all the necessary licenses for exported (had Harmony Gold relented, the course of ''Super Robot Wars'' or even anime history would be wildly different), and this would mean that even after future games actually gave translations to the game, ''Macross'' needs to be excluded because of Harmony Gold. Not helping matters was that Harmony Gold managed to ''prolong'' its ownership towards the franchise legally near the end of 2019 for even more decades, while the fandom still got no news about their newest ''Robotech'' project, meaning that Harmony Gold looked as if they just want to spite on the ''Super Robot Wars'' fandom by keeping ''Macross'' hostage and produced nothing out of it.

* ScapegoatCreator: Though not necessarily towards Banpresto and Bandai Namco, fans of these series tend to have a negative views towards Harmony Gold, especially because of its handling with the ''Franchise/Macross'' franchise, preventing any attempts on ''Super Robot Wars'' games to be exported because they still held the licenses of the franchise for their project ''Robotech''. They single-handedly prevented the first ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' game to be exported to the west despite the game nearly having all the necessary licenses for exported (had Harmony Gold relented, the course of ''Super Robot Wars'' or even anime history would be wildly different), and this would mean that even after future games actually gave translations to the game, ''Macross'' needs to be excluded because of Harmony Gold. Not helping matters was that Harmony Gold managed to ''prolong'' its ownership towards the franchise legally near the end of 2019 for even more decades, while the fandom still got no news about their newest ''Robotech'' project, meaning that Harmony Gold looked as if they just want to spite on the ''Super Robot Wars'' fandom by keeping ''Macross'' hostage and produced nothing out of it.

** Sometimes a series' {{Leitmotif}} can be bashed due to its frequent use: take "Last Impression" from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz'', for example. Certain fans grew weary of the tune due to it serving as the only musical theme for ''Endless Waltz'' through its years of [[WolverinePublicity obligatory appearances]]. Modern games have started using "White Reflection" instead; however, since newer titles grant fans the ability to insert their own custom soundtrack, [[ILikedItBetterWhenItSucked others might put "Last Impression" back in, anyways]].

* ItsHardSoItSucks: The general opinion among the fandom seems to be that a game that is "too easy" is preferable to a game that is deemed to have "unfair" difficulty. Installments that are difficult beyond a handful of [[ThatOneLevel troublesome scenarios]] tend to elicit complaints. ''Masou Kishin III - Pride of Justice'' is an infamous case, having caused an uproar resulting in a number of players returning their copies due to its difficulty, while ''A Portable'' is another instance, due to the enemies' unusually high evasion rates, [[DiminishingReturnsForBalance evasion decay]], and several other balance choices, creating a NintendoHard game. Common arguments against more difficult titles are that [[CurbStompBattle one-sided battles]] allow players to run their favorite units, and that [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame animations and cross-series interactions are more important than challenging game-play]].

* PlayerPunch: If a character's death was a significant impact on the overall story from their original series (as opposed to a gratuitous or base-breaking death), ''Super Robot Wars'' will often punch players by not averting that death at all, [[TearJerker forcing them to experience the heart-wrenching event from the cast's perspective]]. Some examples include [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Mu La Flaga]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'', [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Neil "Lockon Stratos I" Dylandy]] in the ''Second Z'' and [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Princess Emeraude and Zagato]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'']].

* ItsHardSoItSucks: The general opinion among the fandom seems to be that a game that is "too easy" is preferable to a game that is deemed to have "unfair" difficulty. Installments that are difficult beyond a handful of [[ThatOneLevel troublesome scenarios]] tend to elicit complaints. ''Masou Kishin III - Pride of Justice'' is an infamous case, having caused an uproar resulting in a number of players returning their copies due to its difficulty. ''A Portable'' is another notable example, due to the enemies' unusually high evasion rates, [[DiminishingReturnsForBalance evasion decay]], and several other balance choices creating a surprisingly NintendoHard game. Common arguments against more difficult titles are that [[CurbStompBattle one-sided battles]] allow players to run their favorite units, and that [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame beautiful animations and cross-series interactions are more important than challenging gameplay]].

* PlayerPunch: If a character's death significantly impacts the overall story of their original series (as opposed to being a gratuitous or base-breaking death), ''Super Robot Wars'' will often punch you in the gut by not averting that death at all, [[TearJerker allowing players to experience the heart-wrenching event from the cast's perspective]]. Some examples include [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Mu La Flaga]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'', [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Neil "Lockon Stratos I" Dylandy]] in the ''Second Z'' and [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Princess Emeraude and Zagato]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'']].

** Any series for installments that are simply included [[{{Filler}} to round out the cast]], usually by way of PostScriptSeason or they simply take most of the spotlight from their peers: the 1970s ''[[Anime/MazingerZ Mazinger]]'' and ''Manga/GetterRobo'' series were historically the biggest offenders, though the modern era has silently phased them out in favor of ''Anime/ShinMazinger'' (with an open-ended story allowing the developers to use ''Mazinger'' in creative ways) and ''Getter Robo Armageddon'' (nowhere near as recurring as the classic ''Getter Robo'' series were), respectively. Replacing them as the face of this phenomenon is ''Anime/Daitarn3'', particularly starting with the ''Z'' saga: while it continues to appear in a large number of modern entries, it almost never receives plot representation.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Playing modern, better-polished and refined games in the series first is an '''[[SarcasmMode excellent]]''' way to ruin the early, primitive entries. It's really hard to be motivated to get through the ExcusePlot of the NintendoHard original ''Super Robot Wars'' when there's little to no battle animations, the lack of any ability to skip them, being able to choose how to react to an enemy attack when it happens (instead you have to make one choice for the whole party), etc. It's telling when franchise veterans state to newcomers the only reason to ever go back and play the oldest games is to see how much has changed in the decades between installments.

** "Classic" games featured a unit stat called "Limit": intended as a nod to ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', where Amuro Ray's [[PsychicPowers Newtype]] abilities become too potent for his Gundam to handle, Limit throttles a character's accuracy and evasion rates if their level is too high for the unit they're using. This forces players at spending money for additional upgrades just so units can perform as they're supposed to. Limit lasted all the way up to ''Alpha'' before being quietly discontinued.

* ItsHardSoItSucks: The general opinion among the fandom seems to be that a game that is "too easy" is preferable to a game that is deemed to have "unfair" difficulty. Installments that are difficult beyond a handful of [[ThatOneLevel troublesome scenarios]] tend to elicit complaints - ''Masou Kishin III - Pride of Justice'' is an infamous case, having caused an uproar resulting in a number of players returning their copies due to its difficulty. ''A Portable'' is another notable example, due to the enemies' unusually high evasion rates, [[DiminishingReturnsForBalance evasion decay]], and several other balance choices creating a surprisingly NintendoHard game. Common arguments against more difficult titles are that [[CurbStompBattle one-sided battles]] promote unit variety and thus RuleOfFun, and that [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame beautiful animations and well-written cross-series interactions are more important than challenging gameplay]].

* PlayerPunch: If a character's death in their original licensed series caused an impact to the overall story (contrast a gratuitous death or one caused by base-breaking reasons), ''Super Robot Wars'' will often not pull a SparedByTheAdaptation, and instead play DoomedByCanon in full effect, [[TearJerker allowing players to experience the heart-wrenching event from the cast's perspective]]. Some examples include [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Mu La Flaga]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'', [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Neil "Lockon Stratos I" Dylandy]] in the ''Second Z'' and [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Princess Emeraude and Zagato]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'']].

** Any series for installments that are simply included [[{{Filler}} to round out the cast]], usually by way of PostScriptSeason or they simply take most of the spotlight from their peers: the 1970s ''[[Anime/MazingerZ Mazinger]]'' and ''Manga/GetterRobo'' series were historically the biggest offenders, though the modern era has silently phased them out in favor of ''Anime/ShinMazinger'' (with an open-ended story allowing the developers to use ''Mazinger'' in creative ways) and ''Getter Robo Armageddon'' (nowhere near as recurring as the classic ''Getter Robo'' series were), respectively. Replacing them as the face of this phenomenon is ''Anime/Daitarn3'' at the start of the ''Z'' saga: while it continues to appear in a large number of modern entries, it almost never receives plot representation, seemingly stopping at ''T'' where it's excluded in favor of ''Tryder G7''.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Playing modern, better-polished and refined games in the series first is an '''[[SarcasmMode excellent]]''' way to ruin the early, primitive entries. It's really hard to be motivated to get through the ExcusePlot of the NintendoHard original ''Super Robot Wars'' when there's little to no battle animations, the lack of any ability to skip them, being able to choose how to react to an enemy attack when it happens (instead you have to make one choice for the whole party), etc. It's telling when franchise veterans state to newcomers the only reason to ever go back and play the oldest games is to see how much has changed in the decades between installments, be it for the sake of curiosity or [[SelfImposedChallenge for masochistic reasons]].

** "Classic" games featured a unit stat called "Limit": intended as a nod to ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' where Amuro Ray's "[[PsychicPowers Newtype]]" abilities become too potent for his Gundam to handle, Limit throttles a character's accuracy and evasion rates if their CharacterLevel is too high for the unit they're using. This forces players at spending money for additional upgrades just so units can perform as they're supposed to. Limit lasted all the way up to ''Alpha'' before being quietly discontinued.
** Newer titles have a nasty habit of giving protagonist units from series with interchangeable pilots (like Universal Century ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series and ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine'') finishing moves that are exclusive to their canon pilots, such as "[[RammingAlwaysWorks Waverider Crash]]" for only [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Kamille Bidan]]". This defeats the purpose of granting the ability to change pilots in the first place; doubly frustrating for the aforementioned series as they already have tiered Newtype and "Aura Power" pilot skills that could be used to make it challenging, but not outright impossible, for supporting characters to use the units' stronger weapons that rely on those pilot skills.

* PlayerPunch: If a character's death caused a great impact to the story overall instead of a gratuitous death or one caused by base-breaking reasons, Bandai Namco will punch you in the gut by not averting that death at all, [[TearJerker letting you experience the sadness that comes with that heartwrenching event]]. Case in points: [[spoiler:[[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Lockon Stratos I/Neil Dylandy]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ 2'', [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Princess Emeraude and Zagato]] in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'']]

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Playing modern, better-polished and refined games in the series first is an '''[[SarcasmMode excellent]]''' way to ruin the early, primitive entries. It's really hard to be motivated to get through the ExcusePlot of the NintendoHard original ''Super Robot Wars'' when there's little to no battle animations, the lack of any ability to skip them, being able to choose how to react to an enemy attack when it happens (instead you have to make one choice for the whole party), etc. It's telling when franchise veterans state to newcomers the only reason to ever go back and play the oldest games is to see how much has changed in the decades between installments, be it for the sake of curiosity or for masochistic reasons.

* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: There are a number of fans who will readily admit that they find the TurnBasedStrategy game-play SoOkayItsAverage and merely a vehicle for attack animations and {{Crossover}} stories. Meanwhile, [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory the opposite]] holds true - people without prior interest in either the franchise of its use of licensed series will be attracted to the game-play.

* ItsHardSoItSucks: The general opinion among the fandom seems to be that a game that is "too easy" is preferable to a game that is deemed to have "unfair" difficulty. Installments that are difficult beyond a handful of [[ThatOneLevel troublesome scenarios]] tend to elicit complaints - ''Masou Kishin III - Pride of Justice'' is an infamous case, having caused an uproar, resulting in a number of players returning their copies due to its difficulty; ''A Portable'' is another notable example due to its NintendoHard nature[[note]]As a result of unusually high evasion rates for enemies and introducing "[[DiminishingReturnsForBalance evasion decay]]" to the franchise[[/note]]. Common arguments against more difficult titles are that [[CurbStompBattle one-sided battles]] promote unit variety and thus RuleOfFun, and that [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame beautiful animations and well-written cross-series interactions are more important than challenging game-play]].

* CharacterTiers: An inevitable outcome in most installments due to a variety of invaluable pilot skills and unit abilities, pilot/unit statistics, attack power for weapons, etc. The likes of the [[Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon Ideon]] in ''Alpha 3'', [[Manga/HadesProjectZeorymer Zeorymer]] in ''MX'' and ''Judgment'', and Anime/{{GaoGaiGar}} and Anime/TekkamanBlade in ''W'' stand at the highest tier, while [[Anime/TekkamanBlade Sol Tekkaman]] in ''Judgment'' are part of the lowest. Note that much of this also stems from each games' mechanics and systems in place that might influence how tiers respond, alongside whether {{Good Bad Bug}}s are present.
** Zigzagged with the [[Anime/MazingerZ Boss Borot]]: depending on the game, he ranges from either JokeCharacter (bottom-to-low tier) to LethalJokeCharacter (high tier upwards to GameBreaker status).

* EnsembleDarkhorse: [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsAlphaGaiden Sanger Zonvolt]] began as a sympathetic enemy and late-joining SixthRanger type in ''Alpha Gaiden'', but was so popular among fans of the game he was brought back as a major character for ''Original Generation'', as a ''main'' character for ''Alpha 2'' and has a prominent role in ''Alpha 3'', ''then'' being the representative for [=SRW=] in ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone''. Being one of, if not, '''THE''' biggest badass in the Banpresto multiverse helps.
** The Ardygun family in ''W'' are wildly popular, as well. The fact that they have one of the most iconic GameBreaker mecha in the franchise helped a bit of their popularity (or really, ''W'', in general). For a one-game-only continuity UsefulNotes/NintendoDS [=SRW=], it's so well-liked that a sizable part of the fanbase considered it the best installment to date.
** While there are a plenty of favorites for the franchise's original characters, those appearing exclusively in ''Original Generation'' are better received, such as [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Kai Kitamura]] of the elite Aggressors and The School children, namely [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration namely Latooni Subota and Ouka Nagisa]].
** [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars3 Valsione]] could count, being one of the best examples of HumongousMecha RobotGirl in fiction. In a similar vein, [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsAdvance Lamia Loveless]], though she's more RidiculouslyHumanRobot.
** [[Characters/MasouKishin Shu Shirakawa]] is pretty popular, mostly stemming from his infamous [[ThatOneBoss Granzon/Neo Granzon]] in older appearances. When his ''EX'' route is carried over into ''Original Generation'' via DownloadableContent called ''Dark Prison'', his status continues to elevate.
* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: There are a number of fans who will readily admit that that they find the strategy gameplay SoOkayItsAverage and merely a vehicle for attack animations and crossover stories.
** However, you can easily find livestreamers who feel [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory the opposite]] in ''Website/YouTube'' and it's a safe bet that most of them wouldn't continue streaming it after a while. They're often people without prior interest in either the game series or HumongousMecha anime but convinced by their viewers to try it out, attracted by the TurnBasedStrategy gameplay then, after a while, were put off by the minimal variations in objective level after level.
* GameBreaker: See [[Gamebreaker/SuperRobotWars entries here]]
* GoddamnedBats: Barrelions from ''Original Generation'', nearly all {{Mook}}s in ''Destiny''.

** Any time {{Fanart}} or a parody video depicting a HumongousMecha series that hasn't made an [=SRW=] appearance yet, then makes its debut for a new installment, will be this. Case in point, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWAh6ULyNJE this 2006 video]] showcases ''VisualNovel/{{Demonbane}}'', ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer'', ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'', ''Anime/GunXSword'', ''Anime/ShinkonGattaiGodannar'' and ''Anime/GaikingLegendOfDaikuMaryu'', while [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTj-YNFwJQk this 2010 one]] includes ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', ''Anime/ArmoredTrooperVOTOMS'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', and ''Anime/CodeGeass''.
** ''Scramble Commander 2'' might not be one of the most well-received games, but it had ''Anime/MacrossZero'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny''. In other words, two series where [[NamesTheSame the protagonist was named Shinn]]. One could say this is an area where it gets [[IncrediblyLamePun a leg up - twice]] - on the other games.
* ItsHardSoItSucks: The general opinion among the fandom seems to be that a game that is "too easy" is preferable to a game that is deemed to have "unfair" difficulty. Installments that are difficult beyond of a handful of [[ThatOneLevel troublesome scenarios]] tend to elicit complaints. ''Masou Kishin III'' is a particularly infamous case, causing an uproar and resulting in a number of players returning their copies due to the difficulty, while ''A Portable'' is another notable example. Common arguments against more difficult [=SRWs=] are that [[CurbStompBattle one-sided battles]] promote unit variety and thus RuleOfFun, and that [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame beautiful animations and well-written cross-series interactions are more important than challenging gameplay]].
* JustHereForGodzilla: Some only become interested in a given [=SRW=] based on certain series making the cut, which is understandable given the nature of the franchise. Particularly noticeable when popular series such as ''Anime/CodeGeass'' and ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' are included. This becomes literal when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGcFOvAFuUw Godzilla himself]] made an appearance in Super Robot Wars Cross Omega.
* MagnificentBastard:
** Bian Zoldark, lord of the Divine Crusaders, is a genius scientist who sees the extraterrestrial threat on the horizon and realizes drastic action must be taken to save the world. Forming the Divine Crusaders, Bian launches a coup that nearly succeeds in overthrowing earth, with only the crew of the Hagane managing a resistance against him. Bian is worshiped by his men who he deeply respects and cares for, and at the end when defeated, he reveals his plan was to strengthen the heroes to face the threats in his place, dying with his last thoughts of his beloved daughter Lune.
** Shu Shirakawa, {{archnemesis}} of Masaki Andoh, is from a parallel world, and a genius scientist who created the super mecha, the Granzon. Devastating the kingdom of Langan, Shu lured Masaki into fighting him while escaping to the earth and assisting Bian Zoldark in his plans. Shu is well known for manipulating many heroes, including Masaki himself, constantly arranging things to his benefits. When defeated and killed, Shu is revived by the dark god Volkruss to be his servant but later manipulates things to be free and achieve his own victory, sneering that he will allow nobody to control him. Not even a god.
* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/SuperRobotWars Now with its own page]].
* TheScrappy: An inevitability, given an individual's preference to particular HumongousMecha series
** Any series for installments that are simply included [[{{Filler}} to round out the cast]], usually by way of PostScriptSeason or they simply take most of the spotlight from their peers. The '70s ''[[Anime/MazingerZ Mazinger]]'' and ''Manga/GetterRobo'' series were historically the biggest offenders, though the silent phasing out of the '70s series in favor of ''Shin Mazinger'' (with an open-ended story that allows BB Studio to use the series in creative ways) and ''Getter Robo Armageddon'' (which is nowhere near as recurring as the classic ''Getter Robo'' series were) has alleviated this. Replacing them as the face of this phenomenon is ''Anime/Daitarn3'', particularly starting with the ''Super Robot Wars Z'' series, as it still appears in a large number of modern entries yet almost never receives plot representation or even notable boss enemies, only seemingly to stop at ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'' where it is not included in favor of ''Tryder G7''
** ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' and its sequel movie "Prince of Darkness" for the early-to-mid 2000s. They made an abnormal number of appearances for a series that wasn't one of the "mainstays" ([[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 one of which]] is a VideoGameRemake of a trilogy that didn't have ''Nadesico'') and were fairly important in all of them. Judging by the reaction to its inclusion in ''BX'', the eight or so years away from [=SRW=] [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap worked wonders for its reputation]].
** ''Anime/DancougarNova'', ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'', and ''Gundam SEED Destiny'', despite having nothing to do with each other, became a notorious trio due to the sheer number of games that they found their way into during the early 2010's. ''Frontier'' is generally considered the worst of the three, as fans do enjoy seeing [[FixFic the writers revamp the plot]] of ''SEED Destiny'', and ''Dancougar Nova'' isn't very plot-intrusive for crossovers, but all three had become recurrent enough that many fans wanted a break. Fortunately for those fans, they've been showing up less since ''BX'': that game lacked ''SEED Destiny'' and ''Nova'', ''V'' has ''SEED Destiny'' but finally gives ''Frontier'' a break[[note]]Amusingly enough, this is probably due to [[ScrewedByTheLawyers the spectacular legal trainwreck]] surrounding ''Macross'' outside of Japan[[/note]], and ''X'' gets rid of all three, with ''T'' following suit.
** Sometimes a series' {{Leitmotif}} can be bashed due to its frequent use: take "Last Impression" from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz'', for example. Certain fans have grown weary of the tune due to it serving as the only musical theme for ''Endless Waltz'' through its years of [[WolverinePublicity obligatory appearances]]. Thankfully, the games have started using "White Reflection" these days instead of "Last Impression" though because fans can use a custom soundtrack for the modern games, some fans will [[ILikedItBetterWhenItSucked put "Last Impression" back]] anyway.
* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Playing modern, better-polished and more-refined games in the series first is an '''[[SarcasmMode excellent]]''' way to ruin the much more-primitive early entries. It's really hard to be motivated to get through the ExcusePlot of the NintendoHard original ''Super Robot Wars'' when there's little to no battle animations, the lacking of any ability to skip them, being able to choose how to react to an enemy attack when it happens (instead you have to make one choice for the whole party), etc.
* ThatOneRule:
** "Classic" games feature a unit stat called "Limit". Intended as a nod to ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', where Amuro Ray's [[PsychicPowers Newtype]] abilities become too potent for his Gundam to handle, Limit throttles a character's accuracy and evasion rates if they're too high-leveled for the unit they're using. This forces players to spend money for additional upgrades just so units can perform as they're supposed to. Limit lasted all the way up to ''Alpha'' before being quietly discontinued.
** Newer games have a nasty habit of giving protagonist units from series with interchangeable pilots (like the UC ''Gundam'' series and ''Aura Battler Dunbine'') finishing moves that are exclusive to their series-canon pilot. This arguably defeats the purpose of granting the ability to change pilots in the first place. It's doubly frustrating for the aforementioned series, as they already have tiered "Newtype" and "Aura Power" pilot skills that could be used to make it challenging, but not outright impossible, for supporting characters to use the units' stronger weapons.

** Any series for installments that are simply included [[{{Filler}} to round out the cast]], usually by way of PostScriptSeason or they simply take most of the spotlight from their peers. The '70s ''[[Anime/MazingerZ Mazinger]]'' and ''Manga/GetterRobo'' series were historically the biggest offenders, though the silent phasing out of the '70s series in favor of ''Shin Mazinger'' (with an open-ended story that allows BB Studio to use the series in creative ways) and ''Getter Robo Armageddon'' (which is nowhere near as recurring as the classic ''Getter Robo'' series were) has alleviated this. Replacing them as the face of this phenomenon is ''Anime/Daitarn3'', particularly starting with the ''Super Robot Wars Z'' series, as it still appears in a large number of modern entries yet almost never receives plot representation or even notable boss enemies.

** ''Anime/DancougarNova'', ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'', and ''Gundam SEED Destiny'', despite having nothing to do with each other, became a notorious trio due to the sheer number of games that they found their way into during the early 2010's. ''Frontier'' is generally considered the worst of the three, as fans do enjoy seeing [[FixFic the writers revamp the plot]] of ''SEED Destiny'', and ''Dancougar Nova'' isn't very plot-intrusive for crossovers, but all three had become recurrent enough that many fans wanted a break. Fortunately for those fans, they've been showing up less since ''BX'': that game lacked ''SEED Destiny'' and ''Nova'', ''V'' has ''SEED Destiny'' but finally gives ''Frontier'' a break[[note]]Amusingly enough, this is probably due to [[ScrewedByTheLawyers the spectacular legal trainwreck]] surrounding ''Macross'' outside of Japan[[/note]], and ''X'' gets rid of all three.

* ItsHardSoItSucks: The general opinion among the fandom seems to be that a game that is "too easy" is preferable to a game that is deemed to have "unfair" difficulty. Installments that are difficult beyond of a handful of [[ThatOneLevel troublesome scenarios]] tend to elicit complaints, ''A Portable'' being the most notable example. Common arguments against more difficult [=SRWs=] are that [[CurbStompBattle one-sided battles]] promote unit variety and thus RuleOfFun, and that [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame beautiful animations and well-written cross-series interactions are more important than challenging gameplay]].

* ThatOneRule: "Classic" games featured a unit stat called "limit"[[note]]A nod to the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise regarding a Newtype's growing powers making the eponymous machine unable to keep up with them[[/note]] where a character's accuracy and evasion rates are throttled if they're too high-leveled for the unit they're using, thereby forcing players to spend on additional upgrades just so units can perform as they're supposed to. Limit lasted all the way up to ''Alpha'' before being quietly discontinued.

* AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/SuperRobotWars An entire page of it]].

* CharacterTiers: An inevitable outcome in most installments due to a variety of invaluable pilot skills and unit abilities, pilot/unit statistics, attack power for weapons, etc. The likes of the [[Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon Ideon]] in ''Alpha 3'', [[Anime/HadesProjectZeorymer Zeorymer]] in ''MX'' and ''Judgment'', and Anime/{{GaoGaiGar}} and Anime/TekkamanBlade in ''W'' stand at the highest tier, while [[Anime/TekkamanBlade Sol Tekkaman]] in ''Judgment'' are part of the lowest. Note that much of this also stems from each games' mechanics and systems in place that might influence how tiers respond, alongside whether {{Good Bad Bug}}s are present.

** ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' and its sequel movie "Prince of Darkness" for the early-to-mid 2000s. They made an abnormal number of appearances for a series that wasn't one of the "mainstays" ([[Anime/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 one of which]] is a VideoGameRemake of a trilogy that didn't have ''Nadesico'') and were fairly important in all of them. Judging by the reaction to its inclusion in ''BX'', the eight or so years away from [=SRW=] [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap worked wonders for its reputation]].