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''Super Robot Wars 4'' is the sequel to ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars3'' and the fifth game overall in the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series, released on the [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Famicom]] in 1995. In 1996, the game was ported to the Platform/PlayStation as ''Super Robot Wars 4 S'', which features voice acting and CG movies for the first time in the franchise.

Gameplay-wise, ''Super Robot Wars 4'' adds equipment parts and gives players more flexibility during enemy turns by asking whether they want to counterattack, dodge, or defend every time an enemy unit attacks. With these changes, ''Super Robot Wars 4'' creates the foundation that almost all future ''Super Robot Wars'' games would follow. Also new to the game is the ability to select an OriginalGeneration protagonist, with a few customization options such as their portrait, name, and the mecha genre they represent.

Creator/{{Sega}} decided that they wanted a ''Super Robot Wars'' game on their platforms, and convinced Banpresto to bring the series to the Platform/SegaSaturn by offering to share the video game license to the insanely-popular ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''.[[note]]Legend has it that Creator/StudioGainax wanted nothing to do with ''Super Robot Wars'', only for Creator/HideakiAnno himself to step in and demand that Gainax cooperates with Banpresto.[[/note]] Banpresto first considered an even-futher-enhanced port of ''Super Robot Wars 4'' but figured that they couldn't do ''Evangelion'' justice that way, so they decided to remake the game entirely. The result is a duology: ''Super Robot Wars F'' (1997) and ''Super Robot Wars F Final'' (1998). While some series from ''4'' are dropped, the game is greatly expanded with an increase in writing quality and even more voice acting. After time had passed, the games were ported to the [=PlayStation=], where they continued to sell moderately well.

[[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic The Inspectors]] have been defeated, but this is still not the end for the Earth and its hostilities with extraterrestrials, as the [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic "Guests" of the Zuvorg Alliance]] have arrived to finish what the Inspectors have started. Excluding what occurs in the second half of ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsGaiden Masou Kishin: The Lord of Elemental]]'', the story of ''4'' marks the end of the "Classic Timeline".

!Series present in ''Super Robot Wars 4'' and ''Super Robot Wars F/F Final'' (Bold indicates entries that debuted in ''4'')
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' (Includes the movies)
** ''Anime/GreatMazinger''
* ''Manga/GetterRobo''
** ''Getter Robo G''
** '''Shin Getter Robo (manga)'''
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket''
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory''
** ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam''
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ''
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack''
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91''
* ''[[Anime/CombattlerV Super Electromagnetic Robo Combattler V]]''
* ''[[Anime/{{Daitarn3}} Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3]]''
* ''[[Anime/GoShogun Warring Demon God GoShogun]]''
* ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine''
* '''''Anime/HeavyMetalLGaim'''''
* '''''[[Anime/{{Dancougar}} Super Beast Machine God Dancougar]]'''''
* Banpresto Originals
** ''[[Characters/MasouKishin Masou Kishin: The Lord of Elemental]]''

!Series exclusive to ''Super Robot Wars 4'' (Bold indicates debuting entries)
* ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer''
* ''[[Anime/{{Raideen}} Brave Raideen]]''
* '''''[[Anime/{{Zambot3}} Invincible Super Man Zambot 3]]'''''
* '''''[[Anime/{{Daimos}} Brave Leader Daimos]]'''''
* '''''[[Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine New Story of Aura Battler Dunbine]]''''' (Units/Fairy only)
* '''''Manga/GundamSentinel''''' (Units only)

!Series exclusive to ''Super Robot Wars F and F Final'' (Bold indicates debuting entries)
* '''''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''''' (Debuted in ''F'')
* ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' (Appeared in ''F'')
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' (Appeared in ''F'')
** '''''[[Anime/{{MobileSuitGundam}} Mobile Suit Gundam Compilation Movies]]''''' (Debuted in ''F Final'')
** '''''M-MSV''''' (Debutes in ''F Final'')
** '''''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz''''' (Debuted in ''F Final'')
* '''''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon (Includes Be Invoked)''''' (Debuted in ''F Final'')
* '''''Anime/{{Gunbuster}}''''' (Debuted in ''F Final'')
* '''''[[Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}} Mazinkaiser]] (Banpresto version)''''' (Debuted in ''F Final'')
----
!!Tropes common to ''Super Robot Wars 4'' are:

* ArrestedForHeroism: In ''4'', [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Jamitov Hymem]] tries to have Londo Bell hauled in and dealt with after he gains control of the Earth Federation forces. In response, the heroes end up going independent for a dozen or so missions.
* TheArtifact: The option to have allied units act in a preset way on enemy turns (counterattack/defend/dodge) is still here, but there's very little benefit to using anything except the new Manual option.
* ArtEvolution: ''4'' is the first game in the franchise to feature HumongousMecha looking remarkably well-drawn with a more modern, less "cartoony" look, despite it being SuperDeformed as per formula. Future games simply refined on this aspect even further.
** Although ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsEX'' did this to a larger extent, Banpresto went whole hog with ''4''
* BagOfSpilling: The excuse that ''4'' uses to downgrade the player's army is that the increasingly [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Titan]]-controlled [[Franchise/{{Gundam}} Earth Federation]] distrusts [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Londo Bell]] following their sudden disappearance during the events of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsEX''.
* BreakoutCharacter: Out of the eight originals in ''4'', only Irm and Ring reappear in ''Alpha'' and ''Original Generation''. Doubles as a source of EpilepticTrees due to the absence of the other six.
* CanonImmigrant: Creator/GoNagai was asked by Banpresto to create an exclusive ''Anime/MazingerZ'' MidSeasonUpgrade for [[Anime/MazingerZ Kouji Kabuto]]. Not only was the Mazinkaiser lauded for its design by fans, the positive reception was enough for Nagai to quickly incorporate the unit into ''Mazinger'' canon, later giving it [[Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}} its own series]].
* CharacterCustomization: Unlike ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2'' and ''3'', ''4'' allowed the player to manually select from eight original characters, each with a specific character archetype, to be the protagonist of the story - male/female, who their LoveInterest is, and whether they will use a RealRobot or SuperRobot. (Though, funnily enough, for the first half or so of ''4/S'' and ''all'' of ''F'', you are instead in a "Type R" or "Type S" Gespenst, depending on choice, meaning even super pilots are in a "real" for part of the game, albeit one that can do very convincingly super things.) ''F'' then expanded the system further, allowing you to pick one of the appearances as your own for the character, define their name, birth date, blood type (the two of which determined your spirit commands) and personality (which chose their vocal set), and allowed you to customize their (mandatorally opposite-sex) partner. The pre-set profiles remained if you didn't want to fiddle with this.
* ContinuityCameo: Mixed with ContinuityNod - if players had been following ''Hero Senki: Project Olympus'' at the time of release, they would recognize [[spoiler:[[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic Gilliam Yeager]]]], having made his debut ''Super Robot Wars'' appearance, albeit as a [[TheCameo cameo]], in ''4''. This includes the Gespenst, which is based off of [[spoiler:Gilliam's original machine, the "XN Geist"]] from the same game.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** Daimos' finishing move, "Hissatsu Reppu Seikenzuki", does not work in space. This is actually a [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome surprising bit of realism]], as the move is set up by the wind-based "Double Blizzard" and that obviously wouldn't work in a vacuum, but future games would file it under AcceptableBreaksFromReality instead of depriving Daimos of its strongest attack.
** Though not as weird as the series' barebones implementation in ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', all five members of ''Gundam Wing''[='s=] main cast require steps to be taken to recruit them in ''F Final''.
* EarnYourBadEnding: In ''F Final'', taking the Earth route at the penultimate route split while allowing Eva-01 to go berserk five times and failing to recruit [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Quatre]] at any point will cut the game short, as [[spoiler:Shinji is forced to put down Kaworu and, without positive memories of Quatre to keep his head above water, falls to despair as [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Instrumentality]] is implied to occur.]]
* EleventhHourSuperpower: The ability for all playable units to be upgraded an extra five ranks gained ten scenarios before the end of the game.
* FakeLongevity: The inability to skip battle animations and the fact that these battles take a very long time to resolve, combined with the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading nonstop 2-3 second load times on mundane things such as swapping music]], add hours of downtime to ''F'' and ''F Final''.
* FinalBoss: Three of them for ''F Final'' - [[Anime/{{Dancougar}} Shapiro Keats]], [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Paptimus Scirocco]] and [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Kaworu Nagisa]].
* GameBreakingBug: The Saturn versions of ''F'' and ''F Final'' are known for deleting players' saves seemingly at random.
* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: In one incredibly iconic scene for the [=SRW=] fandom, [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] gets "Bright Slapped" by [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam the man himself]] in ''F''. The scene plays word for word as if Shinji is [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Amuro Ray during the One Year War]].
-->"[[ShoutOut Not even my father hits me!]]"
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: The [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Fifth Angel]] shows up during the tail end ''F'' during the Earth Route in a battle between the Evangelion pilots and the [[Anime/GreatMazinger Mikene Empire]], annihilating the latter's forces before turning on the former.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Treize Kushrenada and Zechs Marquise]]]] attempt to stop Scirocco with this at the end of the Divine Crusaders Route in ''F Final''; unfortunately, they fail. [[spoiler:[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Jerid Messa]]]] does this to stop Shapiro in the Guest-Poseidal Route.
** [[spoiler:Jerid]] will only do this if [[spoiler:Treize]] dies before doing the self-destruction himself, otherwise he ends up as a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere the player needs to beat.
* HowUnscientific: ''F'' would be the TropeNamer - after [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Master Asia]] takes out several military HumongousMecha using nothing but his own martial arts skills, [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Asuka Langley Soryu]] says this word for word.
* NegativeContinuity: Remember how [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Four Murasame]] got brainwashed and shoved into the Psyco Gundam during the [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2 last]] [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars3 two]] games? [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten Guess what happens]] [[GroundhogDayLoop again]].
* NintendoHard:
** ''3'' was harder than this, but ''4'' features even more enemies with the "Beam Absorb" unit ability that ''completely'' nullifies beam-based attacks. This made it an annoyance for early gamers sticking mostly with Franchise/{{Gundam}}s, who are affably religious beam weapon users.
** ''F'' and ''F Final'' are quite manageable outside of Guests or [[Anime/HeavyMetalLGaim L-Gaim]] units.
* MultipleEndings: [[spoiler:It depends on whether players fight [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2 Shu Shirakawa]] or not]].
** DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Shu Shirakawa is defeated, but [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsClassic Mekibos]] thinks that humans are power-hungry, thus canceling the negotiations with Guest & thus leading to a HopelessWar. NiceJobBreakingItHero]].
** BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Masaki decides that Shu Shirakawa is NotWorthKilling, Zezenan is defeated, and the peace negotiations with the Guests are a success]].
* OldSaveBonus: Clearing ''F'' allows players to carry over completion data into ''F Final'' via the Saturn's internal memory or from a Playstation save card.
* OriginalGeneration: All eight selectable protagonists, the Guests, the Gespenst (which would be a recurring mecha in subsequent installments), as well as the very first Huckebein (what would specifically come to be known as the "Huckebein [=008L=]" in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'') and Grungust, [[spoiler:and Gilliam]].
* PurposelyOverpowered: Ideon's strongest weapons, most notably the Ideon Gun, are outrageously broken and can single-handedly clear entire maps if properly set up. Unlocking them requires the player to place Ideon in harm's way, but not to the extent where it can be shot down or have its Ide Gauge overloaded.
* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion EVA Unit-01]] on the cover for the Platform/PlayStation [[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/box/9/5/4/296954_front.jpg version]] of ''F'' is the only robot on the cover to be pointing a gun directly at the viewer.
* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome: At best, ''4'' is set only three months after the last game, but [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Hathaway Noah]], the son of [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Bright Noah]], is all grown up and a playable character. No one else seems to have aged that much to make this plausible.
** Masaki comments that [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Amuro Ray]] has [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack aged somewhat]] since the last time they met, a couple of months ago (during the events of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsEX''); Amuro notes that he's been doing administrative work he isn't completely suited for. [[HandWave It's that kind of game.]]
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Although it's still a fairly subpar unit overall, the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory GP-01 "Zephyranthes"]] is ''very'' useful for extended battles with [[Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine Aura Battlers]] thanks to its decent accuracy from [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Kou Uraki]] and a lot of ammo for its vulcans. Even though there are better units for taking down one or two Aura Battlers, they usually run out of ammo too quickly.
* VillainTeamUp:
** Learning from the Inspectors' mistakes, the Guests decide to align with [[Anime/HeavyMetalLGaim Poseidal]].
** In ''F'' and ''F Final'', the [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Titans]] align themselves with [[Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine Drake Luft]]. Londo Bell finding out about this is precisely what causes the Titans to turn on the heroes.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Exclusively to ''4'', each playable character get an explanation of what they're doing after the war with the Guests are over, to conclude the end of the Classic Timeline.