Line #18 VideoGame/SuperRobotWars3


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superrobotwars.png]]
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3	''Super Robot Wars 3'' is the first ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' game that was released for the Platform/SuperFamicom. ''3'' is the first title to introduce backgrounds during combat animations, pilot and units stats and upgrades for playable units. Additionally, ''3'' features the first of many animated titles outside of the "[[FanNickname Holy Trinity]]" of ''Anime/MazingerZ'', ''Manga/GetterRobo'' and ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''. Banpresto largely greenlit the game as a favor to developer Winkysoft, who wanted one more chance after ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2'' was a flop. The fledgling series was on the brink of cancellation after the release of ''3'', only for gaming magazines to give the game positive press, turning it into a SleeperHit and justifying further games.
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5	The main plot of ''3'' is the arrival of the "[[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic Inspectors]]" hailing from the intergalatic "[[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic Zuvorg Alliance]]" who instantly pacify the Earth, deeming them too dangerous and a potential threat to the galaxy. [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Londo Bell]], who had been forewarned of this impending invasion in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2'', are ready to fight back.
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7	The original Super Famicom release was fan-translated by Aeon Genesis.
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9	!Series present in ''Super Robot Wars 3'' (Bold indicates debuting entries)
10	* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' (Includes the debut of MSV)
11	** '''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket'''
12	** '''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory'''
13	** ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' (Includes the debut of Z-MSV)
14	** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ''
15	** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack''
16	** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91''
17	* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' (Includes the movies)
18	** ''Anime/GreatMazinger''
19	** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer''
20	* ''[[Manga/GetterRobo Getter Robo]]''
21	** ''[[Manga/GetterRobo Getter Robo G]]''
22	* '''Anime/Daitarn3'''
23	* '''[[Anime/CombattlerV Super Electromagnetic Robot Combattler V]]'''
24	* '''Anime/BraveRaideen'''
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26	----
27	!!Tropes prominent to ''Super Robot Wars 3'' are:
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29	* AllThereInTheManual: Subverted; the Inspectors eventually appear the player will deduce who they are at any rate, but it's possible to wind up skipping their introductions and motivations speech, thus having no clue what their real goals are for most of the game.
30	* BagOfSpilling: TheFederation simply strips all the upgraded mecha from the Londo Bell without justification.
31	* CanonEnding: There are three possible routes in this game - one where [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Anavel Gato]]]] decides it's the smart thing to join the Londo Bell, one where [[spoiler:[[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic Inspector Mekibos]]]] decides to assist the Earthlings via NonPlayerCharacter for a scenario or two, and one where neither of these things happen. ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars4'' establishes the [[spoiler:Mekibos]] route is the canon one.
32	* CanonForeigner: This game introduces the Mass Produced Jagd Doga, which is Quess' Jagd Doga pained with the color scheme of Gyunei's Jagd Doga.
33	* CombatPragmatist: [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Paptimus Scirocco]] is perfectly willing to tip off his enemies to your location for EnemyMine benefits.
34	* DegradedBoss: While common to the franchise as a whole, ''3'' elevates this to an art form. The same {{mook}}s who likely gave you a hard time will return the favor a few scenarios later. This gets ridiculous when you realize this is S.O.P. to the ENTIRE GAME, with little to no variation, regardless of whether you're fighting the [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic Divine]] [[TheRemnant Crusaders]] or the Inspectors.
35	* DiscOneNuke: A couple, but in any scenario that isn't in space the [[Manga/GetterRobo Getter 3]] and its "Daisetsusan Oroshi" attack, once you acquire it, will annihilate anything. Additionally, since the unit comes with three sets of Spirit Commands from its three pilots, it gives you access to pretty much all available Spirit Commands in the game, except the "Love" Spirit Command.
36	* EnemyMine:
37	** The only reason why most of the Divine Crusaders are willing to get along (despite fairly major series canon incompatibilities); in short, they all hate the Londo Bell. Subverted when you discover that there are internal power struggles, but considering the Divine Crusaders are run by various Universal Century ''Gundam'' {{Big Bad}}s, that's not really much of a surprise.
38	** Played straight with [[spoiler:Gato in one route, who decides the aliens are just too big of a threat to continue attacking the Londo Bell]].
39	* ExcusePlot: ''Anime/{{Daitarn 3}}'' has no plot whatsoever in ''3'', especially since none of its story is utilized (not that most fans care, however). To a lesser extent, the ''Anime/CombattlerV'' and ''[[Anime/{{Raideen}} Brave Raideen]]'' stories are rushed to make them available to the player without plot attachments. ''Manga/GetterRobo'' and ''Anime/MazingerZ'' are slightly better off, but most of their plot outside of a few scenarios is totally ignored, though ''Mazinger'' at least gets enough of its own plot in to be recognizable. The main plot points regarding ''Getter'' are [[spoiler:[[Manga/GetterRobo Musashi Tomoe]] and his HeroicSacrifice]] and the [[Manga/GetterRobo Getter Robo G]] MidSeasonUpgrade. The [[Manga/GetterRobo Dinosaur Empire]] {{mook}}s are enemies, but none of the ''actual'' leaders like [[Manga/GetterRobo General Bat or Emperor Gore]] appear. Likewise, [[Anime/MazingerZ Dr. Hell]] is absent, as is [[Anime/GreatMazinger Archduke Gorgon]]. [[SpotlightStealingSquad The majority of the screen time]] goes to Universal Century ''Gundam'', more or less.
40	* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:[[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic Shu Shirakawa]]]]
41	* {{Flanderization}}: [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Henken Bekenner]] and his attraction to [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Emma Sheen]] is ''way'' overblown to the point of making him a StalkerWithACrush. The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' series is way more mature in this regard, and tones it down appropriately.
42	* FixFic: Minor instance of this - if [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Kamille Bidan]] defeats Paptimus Scirroco in their final battle, [[spoiler:Scirroco will do his usual MindRape on Kamille]] a la ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam''. However, the instant Kamille hears the voice of [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Four Murasame]], he snaps right out of it.
43	* GameBreakingBug: Stage 12 has you start with a skeleton crew, since most of the pilots are [[BeachEpisode relaxing on the beach]]. They're supposed to deploy on Turn 5, but if you manage to defeat all the enemies first (either by cheating or being insanely good at ''SRW''), they're [[PermanentlyMissableContent unobtainable]]. Hope you like using a small handful of ''Gundam'' characters and the Getter Team!
44	* GuideDangIt: Did you know that [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Quess Paraya]] is in this game? Good luck finding her as she's hidden in a specific stage on a specific tile that only Amuro can land on to trigger her event[[note]]Stage 27 "Shangri-La", in the building above the rightmost bridge[[/note]].
45	* GuestStarPartyMember:
46	** [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Ryu Jose and Hayato Kobayashi]] wind up only being around for the early parts of the game before they’re both transferred to the ''Radish'' along with [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Four Murasame]] (who herself qualifies for this trope [[SecretCharacter if you don’t recruit her permanently later]]). According to the developers, they didn't program in more than a handful of Spirit Commands for them, seeing as how they're always going to leave. Their stats seem to emphasize that the player should focus on using other characters.
47	** [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Sayla Mass]] also becomes this if the player meets the requirements for recruiting [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Char Aznable]] (in his PaperThinDisguise as [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Quattro Bajeena]]) - sadly, there's no sibling team-up beyond one stage. The reason given in-game is that, being Char’s sister, she recognizes “Quattro” the moment he introduces himself and she admits to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Bright Noa]] that she can’t bring herself to fight alongside her brother (at least at the moment; she reappears as a SecretCharacter in ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars4 F Final]]'', having seemingly put those issues aside). Unlike Ryu and Hayato, Sayla has rather good stat gains and a decent Spirit Command set.]]
48	*** [[spoiler:Likewise, if you didn’t recruit him, Char will show up in a later stage as an allied NPC along with [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Lalah Sune]], [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Gyunei Guss and Nanai Miguel]]. [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Anavel Gato and Karius]] also show up here, though Gato will join you later as an EleventhHourRanger on this path.]]
49	** Depending on the path taken, [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Chuck Keith]] is only playable in one stage. Otherwise, he becomes a permanent party member, in which case, [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Bernard Monsha]] fills this role instead.
50	** [[Anime/MazingerZ Boss]] joins up with Londo Bell for 3 stages before leaving once they get ready to head to space, which his Boss Borot is not properly equipped for. And he probably won’t see much use in the stages where you DO have him, considering at this point Borot was not yet the LethalJokeCharacter it is in later installments, but rather just a regular JokeCharacter.
51	** [[Manga/GetterRobo Michiru Saotome and Jack King]] only partner with you for two scenarios, one early in the game and one much later. And the first one is optional. To be fair, SOMEONE has to defend Saotome Labs in the Getter Team’s absence.
52	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Gato and Char, among others, should you choose to recruit them]].
53	* IntrepidReporter: [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Kyra Soon does this to Mashmyre Cello]], to his hilarious consternation
54	* JokeCharacter: [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Bernie Wiseman]] and the [[Anime/MazingerZ Boss Borot]]
55	* LaughablyEvil: Mashmyre comes off as even more of a lovable doofus than he was in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ''. In his case, any possible {{Flanderization}} is a good thing.
56	* LeeroyJenkins: Lune Zoldark's debutting stage is as bad as Michiru's Getter Q scenario in the previous game. As an unhealable NPC, she simply rushes into enemy's army while she's piloting a FemBot with [[TooDumbToLive mediocre dodging rate and subpar armor.]]
57	* MagikarpPower: [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Kou Uraki]]
58	* MultipleEndings
59	* MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers: [[spoiler:There’s no way to have both Deikun siblings on your team in the same playthrough: recruiting [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Quattro Bajeena]] means leaving [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Sayla Mass]] behind. In addition, Quattro brings [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Apolly Bay and Roberto]] with him when he joins, while keeping Sayla around nets you [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Kayra Su]] (and later [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Katz Kobayashi]] if [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Emma Sheen]] pulled a HeelFaceTurn earlier).]]
60	** Also, [[spoiler:[[MobileSuitGundamZZ Kyara Soon]] and [[MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Anavel Gato]], who are locked to different ending routes. Tying into the above, [[AvertedTrope while recruiting Quattro still allows to to choose whether to recruit Kyara or Gato later]], if Sayla stays on the team, an earlier route split that serves as the first step to open the way to recruit Kyara is closed off, {{Railroading}} you into the “Gato joins Londo Bell” ending.]]
61	** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Four Murasame]], who’s recruitable on both [[spoiler:the Quattro path and the Sayla path. However, not only does she join much later on the Sayla path than she does on the Quattro path (to the point where she’s more or less an EleventhHourRanger), it’s also [[NintendoHard much harder]], as it requires you to practically speedrun your way to Stage 47… which, given that there are only three stages left to go after that, means your turn count will be low enough that you’re all but guaranteed to find yourself facing off against [[TrueFinalBoss Shu Shirakawa in his Neo Granzon]] (aka, THE [[ThatOneBoss one boss]] of ''Super Robot Wars'' until [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Dark Brain]] dethroned him for that title) unless you go out of your way to avoid doing so (either by recruiting Four and then deliberately wasting turns until you exceed the limit, not sortieing Shu in the final stage, or doing so and letting him get shot down).]]
62	* NegativeContinuity:
63	** [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam The defection of Reccoa Londe and the brainwashing of Four Murasame]] happened [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2 last time]]. It happens again in this game. ''No one'' bothers to mention that it's happened before. Further, recruitable characters [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Puru I and Puru II]] have jumped back to the DC and must be convinced to rejoin. Luckily, saving Puru II [[spoiler: does not kill off Puru I like it did last time.]]
64	** [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Lalah Sune]] was savable [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2 last time]] as well, which is a rarity for the series. However, that didn't stop her from randomly jumping back to the DC between games, and again... no one seems to notice. Also, unlike the others above, Lalah [[DoomedByCanon can't be saved]].
65	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: One of the bad endings
66	* NintendoHard: ''3'' is harder than the succeeding ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars4'', due to its limited gameplay mechanics from a limited game engine. However, it's not as hard as ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2''. To be fair, part of the difficulty comes from having to finish the game in a limited number of turns to fight the TrueFinalBoss, otherwise you could abuse the game over trick to power up and make bosses run out of ammo. The principal factors of difficulty are allied units don't deal enough overall damage, {{Real Robot}}s can be hard to hit for {{Super Robot}}s to a point where you might need to use weaker, but more accurate attacks and lots of end game opponents have protection against (or even ''absorb'') beam-based attacks. Oh, and there aren't enough powerful Gundams for all of the pilots the game gives you... well, on your side, anyways...
67	* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:In his bid to test how strong Londo Bell is, Shu taps into the powers of the dark god [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic Shiva Volkruss]], morphing his Granzon into the Neo Granzon]].
68	* OriginalGeneration: [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic Lune Zoldark]], the Valsione, the Inspectors [[spoiler:and the Neo Granzon]]
69	* SchizoTech: Justifed since its a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, but it gets insane how many "one-of-a-kind" mecha the villains can use.
70	* SpotlightStealingSquad: In a rare [=SRW=] instance, ''Gundam'' fans were totally geeked out of their minds by being able to use and fight units from MSV and Z-MSV, recruit [[spoiler: [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Anavel Gato]]]], kill both [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Kycilia Zabi and Gihren Zabi]] (with the added bonus of her OhCrap reaction to [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Quattro Bajeena]] leveling his weapons in her direction), and being able to repeatedly beat the piss out of most of the ''Gundam'' {{Big Bad}}s. Also, most of the dumbest character FaceHeelTurn moments (like [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Reccoa Londe allying with Paptimus Scirroco]]]]) can be averted or given a LampshadeHanging on its sheer idiocy ([[spoiler:Quattro tells Reccoa her defection over him not showing her affection is pure bullshit]]). The death of [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Sleggar Law]]]] is totally avoidable, and the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory GP-03 Dendrobium Orchid/Stamen]] is obtained by means that don't force [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory General Eiphar Synapse]] to a [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath]] event. Also, the depressing endings of ''Zeta Gundam'', ''Gundam ZZ'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'' are entirely averted.
71	* TrueFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Shu Shirakawa and the Neo Granzon]]
72	* VillainTeamUp: Like the previous game, the Divine Crusaders is a patchwork of villains from across the ''Gundam'' spectrum, as well as the occasional SuperRobot enemy.
73	* WakeUpCallBoss:
74	** When Scirroco appears for the first time, you'll be facing an opponent that is both durable and evasive, tougher than what you're used to fight. Even [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Amuro]] [[TheAce Ray]] in the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Nu Gundam]] is not guaranteed to hit him. If you don't get wise and use both the terrain and units that take advantage of barriers to even the odds, you will have an horrible time.
75	** This also applies to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Cima Gaharau and the Gerbera Tetra]], one of the first bosses that can be run into in the game. While a pushover compared to Scirocco's later nightmares, the Tetra runs circles around everything you have and tends to evade almost everything while dealing incredible damage in return for what you have at the time, [[WillfullyWeak like the Proto-Getter]] or [[WeAreTeamCannonFodder most of the early Gundam units given to the player]].
76	* WillfullyWeak: [[BagOfSpilling For some reason]], the Getter Team downgraded between the previous game and ''3'' to a Proto-Getter that barely scratches some foes. Amuro also took a downgrade from his Nu Gundam to the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam RX-78-2 original]].
77	* ZergRush:
78	** ''3'' is notorious for sending huge waves of enemy {{mook}}s at you, almost to the point of absurdity. In one scenario, presuming you decided to be honorable to [[spoiler:Gato]] and help him out, the game throws you a bone and he [[spoiler:destroys a huge portion of {{mook}}s in a later scenario]] to make your job easier. It should be noted the ZergRush factor in future games is toned down to varying extents.
79	** Then again, with units like the Cybuster and Valsione equipped with a [[AreaOfEffect MAP Attack]] that is FriendlyFireProof, those waves can be cleaned up in a surprisingly short amount of time. This gets more ridiculous when their pilots will gain the ability to perform two actions per turn.

Context VideoGame / SuperRobotWars3