The Earth is nearing what seems to be the end of a long, painful war. Dr. Hell, the Mycenae Empire, the Hyakki Empire, Neo Zeon, and the Organization of the Zodiac have all been defeated, with the Campbellians and the Titans on the verge of destruction. However, the Earth Federation cuts back at the very last minute: the Argama is forced to finish off remnant Titans on its own, while the Super Robot teams are left to deal with the remains of their respective enemies without assistance. Because of this, half a year passes with little-to-no progress being made against completely destroying the various factions.
Little do they know that a new war's about to begin: when Jaburo is under siege by a mysterious, fight-happy race called the Shura, a stray warrior named Folka Albark with his mech Ialdabaoth ends up siding with the Londo Bell, while being systematically hunted by his fellow kinsmen.
Compact 3 is a peculiar game compared to its contemporaries within the Super Robot Wars series. It was released during the final year of the Wonderswan's life cycle; Banpresto shipped a mere 15,000 copies to stores, and most indications are that an even lower amount was actually sold. (Compare that to the 200,000-250,000 that Super Robot Wars Destiny, which released around the same timeframe, sold.) The game mechanics are a strange mix of classic design and more modern traits, so one gets pilot customization while also having to work around the "Limit" unit stat. There are no outer space missions whatsover.
The addition of The Vision of Escaflowne alongside the returning Aura Battler Dunbine and the first "true" storyline usage of New Story of Aura Battler Dunbine create a game that is known for dimension hopping and magical mecha. Other debuts include the psychological horror series that is Betterman, the obscure Makyou Densetsu Acrobunch, and the infinitely more obscure (as in, likely the most obscure 70s anime to ever grace a traditional Super Robot Wars game) Combining Squadron Mechander Robo. Everything else is pulled from a previous game in the Compact sub-series.
Series listing in Compact 3 (Debuting entries are in bold)
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
- Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
- New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
- Mazinger Z
- Great Mazinger
- Getter Robo G
- Shin Getter Robo (Manga version)
- Super Electromagnetic Robot Combattler V
- Combining Squadron Mechander Robo
- Acrobunch
- Aura Battler Dunbine
- New Story of Aura Battler Dunbinenote
- The Vision of Escaflowne
- Betterman
Tropes that Compact 3 has include:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Garuda has a moment after being defeated by Combattler V, with Hyouma and Folka agreeing that Garuda is a very prideful - if misguided - warrior.
- Ancestral Weapon: All high-class Shura Gods, specifically the ones used by Shura Generals, are relics of their ancestors; current generation of Shura only has the technology to build the lowest class, namely the mooks.
- Aloof Big Brother: Altis Tarl, Folka and Fernando Albark's older brother.
- An Ice Person: Maysis Mark, the Shura General of Ice.
- Badass Family: The Randou Family from Acrobunch.
- Blood Knight: Most likely "Freedom Knight" Alion Lucada...though to be honest, being a Blood Knight is a requirement for any Shura warrior. According to Folka, the Shura don't just fight for the sake of it, but they fight to win, which makes it very important that they gather THEIR forces up first.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Fernando
- Cain and Abel: Inversion; Fernando being the "bad" Abel for Folka, who's "good" Cain.
- Caped Mecha: A feature of pretty much any Guymelef that isn't a mass production model. The capes on Zaibach mecha double as Invisibility Cloaks. Also present with Fernando's Valefor after its apotheosis.
- Cat Girl: Merle, Nariya and Eriya.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Alion has a crush on Maysis and hits on his own robot (as a joke, mind you).
- Combining Mecha: Acrobunch, Combattler V, Getter Robo G, Mechander Robo, Shin Getter Robo.
- Cool Horse: Altis' mecha is not a horse, but a centaur. A bit of a Shout-Out to Koku-Oh, with Altis being the Aloof Big Brother of Kenshiro pastiche Folka.
- Alion's mecha Agares is actually an anthromorphic horse
- Dare to Be Badass: After beating Alkaid in the final scenario of Compact 3, he dares Folka to find a way for the Shura to live in a world without fighting.
- Demoted to Extra: In spite of being the titular character and more or less the hero of his series, Lamia's reduced to a handful of roles in the game and always is a NPC ally on missions he appears.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Right after both Fernando and Maysis pull a Heel–Face Turn to make Mizal pay for his treachery, Alkaid made his grand entrance and the two immediately pulled a Last Stand, attacking Alkaid and dying (in Maysis' case, she's attempting to reunite with her deceased lover Altis).
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Played with. While it certainly looks the part of a Mission-Pack Sequel to the previous Compact games (which were based on Super Robot Wars F and thus have plenty of this trope), many core mechanics were updated to those of more contemporary Super Robot Wars games. That being said, it still contains the "Limit" stat.
- The heroic force is still collectively known as Londo Bell, while the rest of the franchise had began to move towards original faction names like the "Alpha Numbers" and "Round Knights".
- Expy: Averted so far: Folka isn't THAT much of a Kenshiro expy in the beginning, except for the attack Kanji display, due to graphical limitations.
- Evil Chancellor: Mizal Touval; trope's more evident in Super Robot Wars: Original Generation Gaiden.
- Fanservice Most pilots have static cut-in portraits that slide in and out of view. Hinoki and Kaede have animated portraits where they jump into view
, causing their breasts to bounce. - Gonk: Magnaz, complete with gag lips.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: At the end, Shion tells Silky that no one will believe their tales of another world.
- Green Aesop: At the end of Compact 3, Ryusuke of the Mechander team suggests that cleaning up the pollution and damage to their world might be a better deterrent against the Congistar forces than trying to stage an attack on Ganymede. The Endless Waltz cast is up for it, noting that at least that's a battle that doesn't involve fighting.
- Human Alien: The Shura and Jimmy from Mechander Robo.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Is it Phorka or Folka? Is it Fernando or Phernand? Is it Ialdabaoth or Yaldabaoth? Is it Valefor or Valefar? In fact, Compact 3's inherent use of this trope for its original characters and mecha is just mind-boggling.
- Life Energy: Powering a Shura God requires one's life. Subverted once Folka "apotheosizes" the Ialdabaoth
- Little Miss Badass: Leina Ashta becomes one in this game, to the point where she's the only person who can reach the maximum level of Newtype. Her brother, one of the most powerful Newtypes of all time, only reaches level 8.
- Musical Nod: This game's predecessor was compiled into Super Robot Wars Impact on the Playstation 2. This game, in turn, features downports of a couple of Impact BGMs, most notably the enemy reinforcement theme.
- Not Quite Dead: Tekkou Oni survived his fate in Getter Robo G, and ends up joining the group after an Enemy Mine situation.
- Oddball in the Series:
- Thanks to the heavily Dunbine/Escaflowne-centric plot, there are no outer space missions. Unlike the Earth Crisis portion of Compact 2, the Space terrain stat is completely removed from unit profiles.
- There are a measly three Combination Attacks: "Double Burning Fire" (Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger), "Twin Aura Slash" (Dunbine and Billbine), and "Sisters Attack" (both Teirings).
- Likewise, there are very few secrets in the game. Beyond the Mutually Exclusive Party Members situation involving Getter Robonote , there's only Naria and Eriya and the option to pick up the Camouflage Billbine. This means that Compact 3 is one of the rare games featuring Dunbine where Tod Guiness cannot be recruited.
- Out-of-Character Alert: During the attack on the Omega Missile base in Compact 3, Folka notices that Fernando is a lot more kill-happy than usual. Fernando states that all Shura are born to fight and kill and strive for the position of General, but Folka sees through it and tells him to show his "true face" after defeating him. Sure enough, it's actually Arco disguising himself as Fernando.
- Pragmatic Adaptation:
- Given that the low-key opening theme of Betterman doesn't jive well with SRW's general tradition of including the first opening song when a series debuts, much less a SRW game on the Wonderswan, the developers decided to make an exception and utilize its ending song instead.
- Mechander Robo's Omega Missiles are in the game, but only for a few scenarios as opposed to being an omnipresent threat.
- The Remnant: Whatever's left of the Titans and Neo Zeon.
- Robeast: The Shura attempt a more direct homage with their animal-themed mecha, but they have soldiers as pilots.
- Sampling: The Super Robot Wars series' usage of recorded bits of audio to help its chiptune music approximate the original songs was nothing new at this point, but its usage sticks out here as the Wonderswan's audio was otherwise woefully underpowered by the time Compact 3 released. By far the most notable application is "Epistle" from The Vision of Escaflowne, a song whose main melody consists of Ominous Latin Chanting.
- Smug Snake: Mizal
- Spam Attack: Folka has those Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs; he also has Shinha Kou Ken, where he spams energy bolts. Folka loves to spam.
- Sphere of Destruction: Stoner Sunshine.
- Stalked by the Bell: the Omega Missile from Mechander Robo frequently shows up after 3 turns from Stage 10 until Stage 16. It has a post movement MAPW with a range of 1-6 around itself that hits for about 4k damage and NEVER misses.
- The Starscream: Mizal
- Theme Naming: All Shura Gods are named after mythical demons.
- Tsundere: Maysis gets really gushy in front of Altis, but when Alion teases her about it, she snaps; likewise, in battle, she possesses a no-nonsense personality like Soi Fon.
- Too Many Belts: Folka's outfit is loaded with it.
- Villain Team-Up: After scenario 10, Alion convinces Yazan Gable to work with Rakan Dakaran despite the Titans and Neo Zeon being enemies, so long as he gets a chance to sink the Argama.
