Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation Code Fairy is a third-person mecha video game based on the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. It was published by Namco Bandai Games America Inc, and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe S.A.S, with an English release on November 5, 2021.
Occurring during the One Year War of Universal Century, the fighting has ground on to a standstill. To break through the deteriorating war situation in North America, a secret squadron, "Noisy Fairy," is formed under Kycilia Zabi of the Principality of Zeon. The story follows Noisy Fairy, led by Alma Stirner, as they survive the conflict, taking on the brutality of war and grasping the unshakable bonds between their comrades.
The game utilizes the same engine, assets, and controls from Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation 2, so previous players will feel right at home. Unlike the game it's based on, Code Fairy is story-focused and single-player (with no online gameplay). The two games link data, meaning progression in one unlocks rewards in the other.
Tropes
- Ace Custom: Like in Battle Operation 2, Code Fairy has many custom mobile suits that can be unlocked. There's a wide variety of canonical mechs available, with some original to the storyline, and they can be played in the main game via link.
- Amazon Brigade: Noisy Fairy was created expressly as a test case for an all-female Mobile Suit squadron. They earn the elite status of this trope by the story's halfway point.
- Ascended Extra: Killy Garrett originally appeared as just a name and a personal emblem in the Mobile Suit Variations features, before finally being fleshed out as a character in Code Fairy.
- Ax-Crazy: The Black Dog squadron, led by Renato Germi, is tasked with hunting down any Zeon forces they find on Earth. However, it doesn't take long for the player and Noisy Fairy to realize they're out of their gourds. They're a bloodthirsty bunch who see the One Year War as a game and have no regard for other soldiers, not even to those on their side. It doesn't help they have 18-meter robots.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Renato tries to act tough and flaunts his deranged and misogynistic ego against Alma, even going so far as to use friendly fire on his fellow teammates just for the kicks of it, but he eventually gets his butt whooped by Alma and Lilith at the end of the game.
- Bling of War: The White Rider is an refined and elegant looking Mobile Suit that has a large golden Cool Crown and gold trimmings on its armor and "shoulder cape". The only problem is that its pilot is a Faceless Goon who sounds like an arrogant jerk.
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Killy and Barbara have this kind of dynamic, despite Barbara not being an active combatant either. She does serve as your direct Mission Control, though, and is present on the field in the transport plane in some missions.
- Continuity Nod: Plenty given the wealth of existing stories concerning the One Year War, but one of the more prominent ones is to MS IGLOO. Specifically, Noisy Fairy locates the wreckage of the Hildolfr Mobile Tank, recovers its main cannon to eventually be repurposed for their own Dom Gnomides MS, and gives Lt. Cmdr. Sonnen a proper funeral.
- The Dreaded: As the One Year War progresses, the Noisy Fairies have built a reputation as a deadly and skilled squadron; however, this is a double-edged sword. For Zeon, the Noisy Fairies have been a massive morale booster for their troops. Unfortunately, the Federation is gunning for them and created the Witch Hunter squad to combat them.
- Easily Forgiven: Barbara leaks Tir na nOg's location to the Federation on Gihren Zabi's orders, but it's quickly revealed that this was due to her family being threatened. She is clearly remorseful, and the girls don't really blame her.
- Enemy Civil War:
- Zeon's in-fighting is shown in the game, specifically, the feud between the Zabi family. Kycilia's decision to create an all-female squadron wasn't met with high regard from Zeon command, and many believed Noisy Fairy would be an ineffective unit. Gihren likely believed this and hoped they would be wiped out, showing how inept his sister's decision was. However, as the war progressed and Alma and the others proved their worth, Noisy Fairy became a massive morale booster for Zeon, forcing Ghiren to adapt. He set Noisy Fairy up in a position where they'd likely be destroyed by forcing Barbara to leak Tir na nOg's location to the Federation on his orders; he hoped they'd be killed in the Feddie attack, putting them up as martyrs. However, Alma and the others managed to escape with their lives, foiling Ghiren's scheme.
- As Renato is nearly defeated by Alma, the Black Rider Mobile Suit ambushes Alma and pins her down, prompting Renato to finish her off. But because of Renato's deranged mentality, he instead orders his teammate in the Black Rider to blow up as a "joke", even shooting his Mobile Suit's back to hasten the process. This causes the teammate to retaliate and briefly get into a fistfight with Renato before doing a boosted tackle and knocking both Renato and himself off a cliff. Renato survives with a damaged Mobile Suit, but is then apprehended by Lilith when he tries to attack a surrendering Alma.
- Everyone Lives: No, really, in a time as dark as Universal Century during the One Year War and a series like Gundam, you'd expect a member of the main cast to die or the whole group in general. In a surprising turn, no one does! All of Noisy Fairy makes it to the end of the war and presumably resumes their regular lives, save for Killy, who's hiding out on Earth.
- Fairytale Motifs: Noisy Fairy squadron, living up to their name. Their base is named Tir na nOg, the Dom Gnomides's name comes from an older term for female gnomes, and the Titania is named after the queen of the fairies, as well as having its back thrusters' exhaust be reminiscent of fairy wings.
- Fake Ultimate Mook: The advertised Federation Mobile Suits, White Rider and Black Rider, are shown to be powerful boss units with the Black Rider having a invisibility stealth mechanism and the White Rider having the most firepower. However, both units are ultimately shutdown by Alma and her team in their fight. You'd think that pilots like Lilith Aiden would be worthy of using the White Rider, but both are instead piloted by Renato's two Faceless Goons, giving both Mobile Suits a serious case of being Paper Tigers.
- A Father to His Men: Gender-inverted example in Killy Garrett. The safety of her team is always a top priority to her, and once it becomes clear that Zeon will lose, her primary concern is how to make sure they will be able to continue their lives beyond the current war.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Renato's GM Spartan has a custom Gundam-style head with cracks in the faceplate that make it look like it has scars across the eyes. He is, fittingly, a psychotic bastard.
- Hot Springs Episode: Doubles as a Beach Episode, where Alma, Mia, and Helena are in a mini sauna house and all three of them challenge to see who could last longer in the steam. Helena ultimately wins the challenge, but an additional amount of hot steam added by Helena causes all three of the girls to run outside and jump into the river to cool off. Given the fact that Alma was briefly shown wearing a blue swimsuit, it's safe to say that all three girls were wearing swimsuits underneath their Modesty Towels.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: As the One Year War reaches its climax, the Zeon soldiers on Earth realize their side isn't going to win and chooses to run, survive, and wait out the last days of the fighting. After blowing up Tir na nOg, Noisy Fairy decides to do the same and join a massive group of retreating Zeon soldiers.
- Laser-Guided Karma: For all the trouble that he caused, Renato goes through a Humiliation Conga twice. One from his loss against Alma as well as being betrayed and pushed off a cliff by his own teammate and another from being apprehended by Lilith who already finds his behavior intolerable. It was a well-deserved Shut Up, Hannibal! moment and Renato was most likely knocked out by the impact of Lilith's Gundam Pixy. He doesn't even get a proper ending in the epilogue, implying that he will definitely stand trial as a war criminal like the rest of his Black Dog squadron.
- Mecha Expansion Pack: The Dom Gnomides is created by this method. It's basically a Dom Tropical Test Type with the engine unit from a Gallop transport hitched to it, in order to have enough stability and thrust to mount and fire the Hildolfr's 30-cm main cannon.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: At least one each for the Noisy Fairy girls and Lilith, as befitting a Gundam story.
- Modesty Shorts: According to concept art, Alma wears shorts underneath her Zeon uniform.
- The Musketeer: This is kind of the design concept for the Efreet Jaeger, to be able to be good at both sniping and close-range combat. This is reflected in its balanced stats and how its equipment loadout is clearly split for both purposes (sniper rifle with two fire modes for long range; Short-Range Shotgun, heat blade, and stealth for close range).
- One-Man Army: Invoked for Alma for the final EX mission. Mia and Helena are present for part of the battle, but are stuck on a rooftop providing anti-air cover and can only occasionally help you, leaving you to fight and defeat wave after wave of enemies alone.
- Race Against the Clock: As the One Year War draws to a close, the remaining Zeon soldiers on Earth acknowledge that they aren't going to win. As such, Noisy Fairy, and many others, opt to run, survive, and wait out the remaining days. The final mission basically becomes how long they can last until they announce the war is over.
- Shadow Archetype: The Black Dog squadron represents the darker aspects of war in general; heck, Alma and Barry, the latter especially, lampshade this. They're what would happen if someone gave in to the bloodlust, the killing, or the trauma that comes with wartime. Their actions scare Lilith enough to rethink her own life, realizing that she could have been like the Black Dogs if she let her hatred of Zeon control her.
- Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy: The Black Rider and White Rider respectively, the contrast being highlighted since they are always fought together.
- Superboss: For those who started playing the game from Volume 1, one of the unlockable Simulator missions pits you against a simulated Char Aznable in an incredibly souped-up Zaku. It's horribly agile and a nightmare to fight with the available suits at that point, though the stronger suits from the later volumes will lessen the difficulty.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Not surprising, since Code Fairy takes place during the original Mobile Suit Gundam, which pioneered the Real Robot genre.
- Acting like a psycho and committing atrocity after atrocity during wartime isn't going to look well for you when that conflict is nearing its end. The Black Dog squadron's bloodthirst finally bites them in the ass, and the Federation can't condone their actions anymore. Lilith's side story reveals that their remaining members went AWOL and are on the run to escape prosecution, and it's her job to hunt them down.
- True Companions: The ladies of the Noisy Fairy squadron grow into this, with Alma explicitly saying that she considers them her family and home.
- Worthy Opponent: The rivalry between Alma and Lilith ends up becoming a mutual duel of honor after the two characters go through some major Character Development. Although Lilith loses in the final duel against Alma, Alma decides to spare her and in return, Lilith saves Alma from Renato. The two even meet face to face at the end, showing honorable acknowledgement to each other.
