History VideoGame / SuperRobotWarsZ

* ''CombatMechaXabungle'' (Follows the movie's storyline, since [[spoiler:Arthur is still alive]])

** [[FridgeBrilliance Which may be the point...]]

* [[HumongousMecha Humongous]] [[CombiningMecha Combining]] and/or [[TransformingMecha Transforming]] [[RealRobot Real]] and {{Super Robot}}s

* [[LetsYouAndHimFight Let's You And You Fight]]: Aside from the trope listed above, one scenario starts with you fighting ''against'' the main character, either Rand or Setsuko!. (It is ''highly'' advised that you do not upgrade the Gunleon or Balgora's defense until after episode 14. ...But do make sure to give them a set of optional parts that you'd like cloned, just in time for it.)

** [[spoiler: Played almost straight with Crowe in Saisei-Hen: his upgraded mech is called the Li-Brasta. The catch is that you decide whether the Li-Brasta is a close-combat [[SuperRobotGenre Super Robot]] or a long-range [[RealRobotGenre Real Robot]].]]

** [[OlderThanTheyThink Which happened first in]] ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Gaiden''.

** [[spoiler: '''Wang Liu Mei''' is spared as well. At least in the normal Route. She still dies in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZdwkxjT6r4 IF route]].]]

* [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Those Three Bad Guys]]: [[CombatMechaXabungle Timp]], [[Anime/TheBigO Beck]], and [[ArmouredTrooperVOTOMS Kan Yu]] like to show up together in ''Saisei-hen''.

**** [[GodMars Emperor Zuul]] is rather proactive in this regard. He spends a lot of the game trying to gather allies from the other villains, including [[TengenToppaGurrenLagann Lordgenome]], [[DancougarNova Moon Will]] and [[GetterRobo Dr. Saotome]]. When you do actually fight him, he brings along quite a few bosses you've already beaten.

**** [[spoiler: The aforementioned 'Final Boss', known in-universe as the Ba'al, apparently includes the [[GetterRobo the Invaders]] and the [[TengenToppaGurrenLagann Anti-Spirals]].]]

''The Third Super Robot Wars Z'' will be the final part of the series, in a simultaneous release for the {{Playstation 3}} and PlaystationVita. Like the ''Hakai-hen'' and ''Saisei-hen'', it will also be a two-parter, with the first half ''Tokigoku-hen'' ("Time Prison Chapter") scheduled for a 2014 release. Notably, this game drops most of the cast from ''Z'' (who were just hanging around by that point), with a few exceptions, in favor of new series.

!Series added in ''Tokigoku-hen'' ('''Bold''' indicates debuting entries):

The first ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' title to be created under Creator/NamcoBandai. In many ways, it broke certain precedents and traditions: for example, the number of new series is more than any previous [=SRW=]. In this game, you play as either Rand Travis, a wandering repairman/mechanic, who's partnered with the young Mel Beater, or Setsuko Ohara, a member of "Glory Star", a small military squadron in the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Earth Federation]], alongside teammates Denzel Hammer and Toby Watson, as they are pulled through many conflicts. The main plot point of the game is kiced off by ''SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss's'' dimension bomb, which fuses an array of parallel worlds into one.

* ''CombatMechaXabungle'' (follows the movie's storyline, since [[spoiler:Arthur is still alive]])

* ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack]]''
* ''[[Anime/AfterWarGundamX After War Gundam X]]''

* ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny]]''

A PlayStationPortable sequel entitled ''The Second Super Robot Wars Z Hakai-hen'' is a [[EpisodicGame two-part release]], with the first half launched in April 2011 and the second slated for April 2012. This "World Breaking Chapter" features another merged world, caused by seemingly a natural phenomena known as "Dimensional Quakes". The game returns every franchise from the first game, but the MazingerZ and GetterRobo titles have their 1970s-vintage entries (including GreatMazinger and {{Grendizer}}) tossed for the more modern ''ShinMazinger'' and ''[[GetterRobo Getter Robo Armageddon]]'', while ''EurekaSeven'' is now represented by its movie adaptation, and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'' has ''its'' movie apparently replaced with the TV series, despite still using the movie character designs (unlike the previous three it's actually the same Kamille from the first game), movie backround music, and including a never-before used movie-only attack. For some reason, {{Gravion}} and Anime/TheBigO only have one season each listed in the credits for Hakai-hen: ''Gravion Zwei'' and Anime/TheBigO's first (it should be noted that Big O still had some Season 2 only attacks in Hakai-hen, so one can assume that the second season was just grouped with the first for simplicity's sake), only for Gravion's first season to reappear in Saisei-hen's credits.

!Series added in Hakai-hen ('''Bold''' indicates debuting entries):

!Saisei-hen includes the following:

* '''''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' (Second Season)'''
* ''{{Dancougar}}''

* ''{{Macross7}}''

* '''''MacrossFrontier: The Wings of Goodbye'''''
* '''''[[Anime/CodeGeass Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2]]'''''
* '''''TengenToppaGurrenLagann: Lagann-hen''/Original Story'''

And now ''The Third Super Robot Wars Z'', final part of the series, comes out for the {{PS3}} and PlayStationVita. Also a two-parts game, with the first half (''Jigoku-hen''/Time Prison Chapter) scheduled for 2014. Notably drops most of the ZEUTH cast (who were just hanging around by that point), with a few exceptions, in favor of a new bunch of series.

!Series added in Jigoku-hen :

* ''Aim For The Top! {{Gunbuster}}''
* ''ArmoredTrooperVOTOMS''

* ''MobileSuitZetaGundam'' (TV series)
* ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing New Mobile Report Gundam Wing]]'' ''Endless Waltz''
* ''Anime/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer''

** ''FullMetalPanic'' ''The Second Raid''

Note that ''Z'' appears to be designed around ''breaking'' the old tropes previous SRW installments had, so expect a lot of aversions, inversions, and subversions.

'''These games contain examples of:'''

And now ''The Third Super Robot Wars Z'', final part of the series, comes out for the {{PS3}} and PlayStationVita. Also a two-parts game, with the first half (''Tokigoku-hen''/Time Prison Chapter) scheduled for 2014. Notably drops most of the ZEUTH cast (who were just hanging around by that point), with a few exceptions, in favor of a new bunch of series.

!Series added in Tokigoku-hen :

By WordOfGod, any series with their first seasons covered in Part 1 will be concluded in Part 2. This is also true of Gurren Lagann, despite being a single season, due to its eight-year time skip. Fans have regarded this titanic series list as the "Best Thing Ever". From what little we know about the second game, things in the Z universe are [[FromBadToWorse going to get MUCH worse]] before they get better.

A PlayStationPortable sequel entitled ''The Second Super Robot Wars Z Hakai-hen'' is a [[EpisodicGame two-part release]], with the first half launched in April 2011 and the second slated for April 2012. This "World Breaking Chapter" features another merged world, caused by seemingly a natural phenomena known as "Dimensional Quakes". The game returns every franchise from the first game, but the MazingerZ and GetterRobo titles have their 1970s-vintage entries (including GreatMazinger and {{Grendizer}}) tossed for the more modern ''ShinMazinger'' and ''[[GetterRobo Getter Robo Armageddon]]'', while ''EurekaSeven'' is now represented by its movie adaptation, and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'' has ''its'' movie apparently replaced with the TV series, despite still using the movie character designs, movie backround music, and including a never-before used movie-only attack. For some reason, {{Gravion}} and Anime/TheBigO only have one season each listed in the credits for Hakai-hen: ''Gravion Zwei'' and Anime/TheBigO's first (it should be noted that Big O still had some Season 2 only attacks in Hakai-hen, so one can assume that the second season was just grouped with the first for simplicity's sake), only for Gravion's first season to reappear in Saisei-hen's credits.

The first ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' title to be created under Creator/NamcoBandai. In many ways, it broke certain precedents and traditions: for example, the number of new series is more than any previous [=SRW=]. In this game, you play as either Rand Travis, a wandering repairman/mechanic, who's partnered with the young Mel Beater, or Setsuko Ohara, a member of "Glory Star", a small military squadron in the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Earth Federation]], alongside teammates Denzel Hammer and Toby Watson, as they are pulled through many conflicts. The main plot point of the game is SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss's dimension bomb, which fuses an array of parallel worlds into one.

A PlayStationPortable sequel entitled ''The Second Super Robot Wars Z Hakai-hen'' is a [[EpisodicGame two-part release]], with the first half launched in April 2011 and the second slated for April 2012. This "World Breaking Chapter" returns every franchise from the first game, but the MazingerZ and GetterRobo titles have their 1970s-vintage entries (including GreatMazinger and {{Grendizer}}) tossed for the more modern ''ShinMazinger'' and ''[[GetterRobo Getter Robo Armageddon]]'', while ''EurekaSeven'' is now represented by its movie adaptation, and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'' has ''its'' movie apparently replaced with the TV series, despite still using the movie character designs, movie backround music, and including a never-before used movie-only attack. For some reason, {{Gravion}} and Anime/TheBigO only have one season each listed in the credits for Hakai-hen: ''Gravion Zwei'' and Anime/TheBigO's first (it should be noted that Big O still had some Season 2 only attacks in Hakai-hen, so one can assume that the second season was just grouped with the first for simplicity's sake), only for Gravion's first season to reappear in Saisei-hen's credits.

* [[LetsYouAndHimFight Let's You And You Fight]]: Aside from the trope listed above, one scenario on Setsuko's route starts with you fighting ''against'' her!.
* LightningBruiser: Baldios: LL-sized mecha with a [[FlashStep "afterimage"]] ability; do the math.

* BashBrothers: ''Z'' started the tradition of pairing [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Camille Bidan]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Shinn Asuka]], which is one of the many reasons Destiny's story turned out much better. Also [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamX Garrod Ran]] and [[EurekaSeven Renton Thurston]]. [[OvermanKingGainer Gainer]] is sometimes in a PowerTrio with the latter two.

* DifficultySpike: Stage 15 of ''Saisei-hen''. Until then, the game's a cakewalk, especially if you imported a save data from ''Hakai-hen''. Stage 15, however, pits you up against [[spoiler:Marilyn and her Firebug squad]]. They're incredibly powerful, accurate, and dodgy, on top of Marilyn having a very high Command level, which means that enemies adjacent to her will receive immense boosts in accuracy and evasion, making them even tougher to deal with.

* GlassCannon: GetterRobo as usual, but the Gravion's a better example, due to paper-thin armor and [[{{Gravion}} Touga Tenkuuji's]] low defense rating. It can dish out major damage thanks to its powerful weapons and a six pilot Spirit Command set, but it can only take a few hits before going down. [[{{Gravion}} Klein Sandman's]] version of the machine is slightly better due to him having a better defense rating.
** Other Obari anime, Final Dancouga and Dancouga Nova follow in Gravion's footsteps. Very powerful, but it has some of the lowest Armor for it's agility stat.
** The real issue isn't Touga's stats, it's that he doesn't naturally come with ''any'' ranks of Prevail. Give him that skill and suddenly Gravion becomes a LightningBruiser.
** Dai-Guard in ''Hakai-hen'' is probably the best example in the series to date: in its debut scenario, it has 200 armor and 1200 after, lower than even the [[ShinMazinger Aphrodite A]]. {{Justified|Trope}} as the Dai-Guard had not been used in-universe for several years and did not have time to swap out of its paper-thin show armor when it was thrown into battle. It gets a lot better later on.

** Which can be accurately said about Gain himself, who is WeakButSkilled. Not much of an Oversense person like Gainer, but he makes up for it with ImprobableAimingSkills.
** Saisei-Hen has [[{{Macross 7}} Basara]] promoted from JokeCharacter to this. While his music still is harmless to most enemies, it has the power to make any [[MacrossFrontier Vajra]] that hear it retreat, with the exception of the Vajra Queen, and whenever it's used on a [[OriginalGenerations Damon]], it takes damage from it instead of just getting a status debuff.

* WhatIf: Done in the first Z with the plot of [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Gundam SEED Destiny]] and in ''Saisei-hen'' with CodeGeass. In both cases the alternate storylines are accessible via an invisible points system related to the respective series, resulting in the last fifth of the game being an entirely different set of stages. Z's alternate route gives you more and better unlockables, while ''Saisei-hen'' only has one extra unlockable but shuffles the order of upgrades to give you quicker access to the Geass characters at the cost of shifting several other upgrades into EleventhHourSuperpower status for how late they come.

* WhatIf: Done in the first Z with the plot of [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Gundam SEED Destiny]] and in ''Saisei-hen'' with [[Anime/CodeGeass]]. In both cases the alternate storylines are accessible via an invisible points system related to the respective series, resulting in the last fifth of the game being an entirely different set of stages. Z's alternate route gives you more and better unlockables, while ''Saisei-hen'' only has one extra unlockable but shuffles the order of upgrades to give you quicker access to the Geass characters at the cost of shifting several other upgrades into EleventhHourSuperpower status for how late they come.

** That's nothing: [[spoiler: [[EarlyBirdCameo in]] {{Super Robot Wars Original Generation}}s, if Gilliam Yeager attacks the [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Stern Regisseur]], he'll mention the Taichi]].

* TrueCompanions: ''[[{{Deconstruction}} Gleefully]]'' toyed with, but [[OlderThanTheyThink this isn't the first time]]: in ''{{Super Robot Wars 64}}'' [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Chang Wufei]] will leave you if you decide to join the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing OZ Organization]], while ''Destiny'' has you [[EnemyMine ally]] with [[CharsCounterattack Char Aznable's Neo Zeon]] to fight aliens. In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAdvance'' actual fistfights occured between Domon & [[{{Daimos}} Kazuya Ryuuzaki]] initially. Still, ''Z'' takes it to a whole new level, [[spoiler: with half the heroes split into sides ready to kill each other]].

* CharacterExaggeration: [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Lunamaria Hawke's]] aiming skills. Thanks to [[NeverLiveItDown an incident]] in the [=SEED=] Destiny anime where she managed to cleanly miss hitting a ''battleship'' with a beam rifle, she has the "honor" of having the Spirit Command "Strike" (gives 100% accuracy for 1 turn) at the monumental cost of 30 SP (it usually costs about half or a third that much) - a figure only matched by Mr. NoSenseOfDirection [[SuperRobotWars2 Masaki Andoh]].

** That's nothing: [[spoiler: [[EarlyBirdCameo in]] {{Super Robot Wars Original Generation}}s, if Gilliam Yeager attacks the [[SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Stern Regisseur]], he'll mention the Taichi]].

** WordOfGod confirms the [[ArmoredTrooperVOTOMS Armored Troopers]] and [[Anime/CodeGeass Knightmare Frames]] are as extreme in this trope as the [[{{Megazone23}} Garland]] was back in ''SuperRobotWarsDestiny''. How fitting, since almost every series that was in ''Destiny'' is in ''Hakai-hen''.

*** Simon randomly calls out "Ittou Ryodan!" (roughly translates to "I'll cleave you in two!") when he slashes an opponent with his sunglasses. [[SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Sanger and Wodan]] would be proud.

* TrueCompanions: ''[[{{Deconstruction}} Gleefully]]'' toyed with, but [[OlderThanTheyThink this isn't the first time]]: in ''{{Super Robot Wars 64}}'' [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Chang Wufei]] will leave you if you decide to join the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing OZ Organization]], while ''Destiny'' has you [[EnemyMine ally]] with [[CharsCounterattack Char Aznable's Neo Zeon]] to fight aliens. In ''SuperRobotWarsAdvance'' actual fistfights occured between Domon & [[{{Daimos}} Kazuya Ryuuzaki]] initially. Still, ''Z'' takes it to a whole new level, [[spoiler: with half the heroes split into sides ready to kill each other]].

* XMeetsY: Many people considers the Z Timeline as ''SuperRobotWars'' meets ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''.

* TheOtherDarrin: A notable case with a few of the debut series: both Orguss' Olson and Baldios' Flick (two roles originally done by the late HirotakaSuzuoki) are done here by KenyuuHoriuchi and KeijiFujiwara, respectively; Fujiwara also did Godsigma's Gagan due to death of Mikio Terashima. Likewise, TakumiYamazaki and TomokazuSeki take over the roles of Marin and Toshiya for the late KanetoShiozawa and KeiTomiyama. Averted in the case of Bright and Banjou (two other Suzuoki roles) as ''Z'' uses old audio clips from previous games.

** [[OlderThanTheyThink Which was true in]] ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Gaiden''.

** [[OlderThanTheyThink Which was true in]] ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Gaiden'', except the characters were taken to a time after it happens.

* GuestStarPartyMember: Quite a few especially in Z2 part 1, which has Suzaku (who joins the party for a few stages at Euphie's request only to leave once the SAZ incident occurs) Brera (helps out a few time but never joins) Zechs Timp and Beck (team up with you for one stage only) Fyana (tries to join up but is captured after one stage) the Barcoff squad (are only in a flashback stage) Gregor (helps attack Pailsen then leaves) and to a lesser extent Kamina Lockon Holland and the Gekko (who are around for awhile but will eventually leave. Holland you can get back for the last stage). Suzaku Brera Fyana and Gregor join for good in part 2, while Zechs is a guest again twice (once with Tallgeese and once with Epyon). Both parts also have Kokubogar, which never joins permanently.

** Other Obari anime, Final Dancouga and Dancouga Nova follow in Gravion's footsteps. Very powerful, but it has some of the lowest armour for it's agility stat.

** Another example (albeit nearly not as severe) is Renton and the [[EurekaSeven Nirvash Spec3]]: although its stats are much better and its attacks pack a bigger punch, the main reason anyone used the Nirvash Spec2 was its Seven Swell MAP attack, which it loses eventually, making it less useful against hordes of mooks you're up against.

* DemonicSpiders: Hakai-hen features the Type-Bull Dimensional Beasts. Combining a fairly strong barrier with around 10,000 HP when most mooks have 5000-8000 is unfortunate, but it's not what makes them obnoxious. That would be their attacks inflicting Morale Down, reducing your damage and cutting you off from your finishers and thus making Spiritual Fortitude a must-have for every super robot. In contrast, the next-highest tier (Type-Rhino) is actually much less annoying, as while it has more HP and stronger attacks its status effect is only EN Drain, often a negligible penalty.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Setsuko's plot in spades, one of the reasons why some prefer her route to Rand's. It's like they seperated the DarkerAndEdgier and LighterAndSofter into 2 concentrated masses of [[TearJerker suck]] and [[CrowningMomentOfFunny fun]].

** And unfortunately, despite Hakai-Hen FINALLY [[AndTheFandomRejoiced allowing Musashi in Shin Getter 3 - no death, no playing around, no secret character needs]] - he still finds time to die offscreen at the beginning of Seisai-Hen, as per the events of [[GetterRobo Getter Robo Armageddon]] (though not the same circumstances, of course), [[TheyKilledKenny as per the unfortunate norm.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The Baldios storyline continues after its..."[[DownerEnding interesting ending]]" in the anime and goes into the movie storyline, suggesting that this was how it was supposed to be all along. This is even noted in Baldios' encyclopedia entry.