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Super Robot Wars MX is a video game for the PlayStation 2. It's the fourth Super Robot Wars title by Banpresto released on the console, preceded by Super Robot Wars Impact, Super Robot Wars Alpha 2 and Super Robot Wars Scramble Commander, and was released on May 27, 2004, later ported to the PlayStation Portable on December 19, 2005, with minor gameplay tweaks, titled Super Robot Wars MX Portable.

MX is one of the few games in the franchise where the player doesn't have a choice of which "Banpresto Original" protagonist they can play. Both originals Hugo Medio and Aqua Centolm share the same machine, though there's still a choice of which two mecha to use: the Super Robot Garmraid or the Real Robot Cerberus.

MX is the first SRW to have the Mobile Suit Gundam series not partake in any of the major events of the game. Other than Mobile Fighter G Gundam, which loosely links their endings (from which the MX storyline is set after the endings, according to the events of Impact) and plots to the original storyline, the other Gundam productions almost solely exist in purpose to support other non-Gundam titles of MX. It departs from other SRW productions where conflicts between various Gundam factions must be taken as part of the overarching storyline. The only other game to do this is Super Robot Wars NEO.

As suggested by many of the series included, MX was originally intended to be a direct sequel to Impact, including several same series from that game, most notably Machine Robo. At the same time, both games feature the "Free Route" system, use the same in-game font, and much of MX's soundtrack is remixed or rearranged from Impact's (a remixed version of the Impact theme's played in the final stages of the game). Some sprites and cut-ins from Impact are reused in MX; the most noticeable is arguably the God Gundam's sprite and the "God Finger" Super Move Portrait Attack.

Series Included (Debuting entries are in bold)


This game features examples of:

  • Adapted Out: A plot point for Neon Genesis Evangelion, as many of the angels never show up: after defeating all the angels up until the Seventh, they jump straight to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth, and then to Seventeenth. The missing angels are nicknamed Lost Numbers. This confuses the cast, especially because the way Gendo names the angels doesn't make sense anymore. The Lost Numbers never showed up because the interference of the MU, who came from a different dimension, threw the prophecy of the Dead Sea Scrolls out of whack. And the reason why the numbering of the Angels seems to be random is because this same prophecy gave Gendo and SEELE knowledge of the Angels, allowing them to number them in advance.
  • Artificial Limbs: The wounds Hugo suffered while fighting the Devil Gundam were so severe, he only survived by replacing a big chunk of his body with cybernetic implants.
  • Assimilation Plot: Since Evangelion and RahXephon are amongst the series list, this was a given.
  • Back from the Dead:
    • The DG cells have once again brought Michelo and Chapman back to life. Ulube turns out to have received the same treatment later in the game.
    • Seems to apply to the Gyandolar too, as Rom claims to have already defeated them. However, the Gyandolar themselves have no recollection of being defeated by him, and act like he is speaking nonsense. This is because those Gyandolar are not the same as the ones he defeated: they are their counterparts from a different dimension.
  • Badass Crew: The Magnet Ten or Magnet X ( Or MX in short. ) The heroes' group in this game.
  • Bag of Spilling: Since Mazinger Z was put in a museum before the start of the plot, some of its weapons were removed. Thus, Koji doesn't have access to its full arsenal when he gets it back until Yumi recalls them to his lab precisely to put those weapons back in place.
  • Bash Brothers: Ayato and Shinji, due to their very similar circumstances, as well as the plans of their superiors clashing with it other, often find themselves fighting together.
  • Big Damn Heroes: This is a Running Gag for Rom Stoll. The biggest example is in this scene. It gets as far as the instant before Asuka dies at the hands of the Mass Production EVAs. Right before the moment of agony anybody who's seen the movie has come to expect, we hear Rom yell "WAIT!" He goes on to explain to the gibbering monsters that sometimes, when everything seems darkest, the tide of battle can turn in an instant, and that's what's known as "divine intervention". He and 15 other fighters appear on the battlefield at maximum Will and proceed to rip them apart.
    • Ayato also has his moment. He blocks the remote controlled Eva-01 (With Shinji on board) from ripping Eva-03 under Gendou's orders.
  • Big Good: Kouichirou Misumaru, who is Bright's superior and often the one to give orders to the Magnet Ten.
  • Birds of a Feather: Misato and Haruka immediately become best friends due to their nearly identical personalities.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Kouji Kabuto is brainwashed by Balendos into fighting Duke with Mazinger Z. As per the plot of GEAR Fighter Dendoh, Altair and Hokuto are also brainwashed into serving Gulfer, but ultimately manage to snap out of it.
  • Break Out the Museum Piece: Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger were put in a museum after the battles against Dr. Hell and the Mikene were over. However, with the invasion of the Vegans, Koji decides it's time to take them out of retirement.
  • But What About the Astronauts?: All the heroes manage to avoid being hit by the Third Impact because they're in space when it happens.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Hugo's color scheme is red; his first theme song is "Burning Red", just to drive the point home. While he doesn't quite like the color, the song name also fits as in he's Hot-Blooded. Aqua's color theme's blue, as seen in her theme song "Dancing Blue" and the Dragoon she pilots while Hugo is put of commission in the PSP port. Albero Esto's color scheme is black, hence his nickname "Black Wolf" and theme song "Crying Black".
  • Combination Attack: MX marks yet another appearance of the Final Dynamic Special.
  • Combining Mecha: Getter Robo G as always.
  • Cruelty Is the Only Option: Unfortunately, the player is forced to reenact Ayato killing Asahina; there's no way to prevent this. Made worse as it comes immediately after Rahxephon averts the Bardiel incident from Eva.
  • Deadpan Snarker: When Rom Stoll activates Vikungfu, we get this:
    Devil Saturn 6:What? Right from the start? This is unfair!
    Rom: Unfair? This sounds so good in your mouth, Devil Saturn 6!
  • Death by Adaptation:
    • Miwa is freed from jail by SEELE and given command of the forces sent to attack NERV. This leads to his death when he tries to personally attack the good guys with a Gilgazamune piloted by a death row convict.
    • Depending on your concept of death, this applies to SEELE themselves and Gendo. In their series, Instrumentality fused them together with the rest of humanity into a single being, which isn't the same thing as death, but meant the end of their lives as humans. Here, they just plain old die.
  • Demoted to Extra:
    • Sayoko's role in the plot of RahXephon is completely removed. Now she is just Itsuki's assistant that barely shows up at all in the game.
    • Fa Yuiry is usually a playable character in the games featuring Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. In this one, she is a NPC that only shows up in two occasions: in the Scenario where Kamille debuts, and then in the epilogue of the game.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: There are several enemies from the licensed series that fit this trope when defeated, such as The Angels and Mass Production type Evas, The Devil Gundam, and Emperor Gulfer, but we also have a new one in the form of The Medius Locus/AI-1's ultimate form.
  • The Empire: Three of them, each acting independently from the others: The Giganos, Vegan and Gulfer Empires.
  • Engineered Public Confession: As per the plot of Metal Armor Dragonar, albeit the circumstances are different here: It's not Min who tricks Dorchenov into confessing he killed Guiltorre, but the Dragonar pilots. They pretend to have given in to despair and ask Dorchenov to tell the truth about how he became so powerful as their last wish, while secretly transmitting every word to the entire fortress through the D-3.
  • 11th-Hour Ranger: Shinsei Rahxephon is only available for the player to use in the last scenario, but has stats fitting for a Final Boss. Very useful for fighting the actual Final Boss.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Albero, but he turns face again once the Devil Gundam is killed off.
  • Flashback Nightmare: Hugo has a nightmare/flashback of the final moments he had with the Cry Wolves. After failing to neutralize the Devil Gundam, the Cry Wolves are taken out one by one. Alberto's son Foglia is turned into a zombie by the Devil Gundam and Hugo tries to reason with Foglia but ultimately gets his Gespenst blown up.
  • Gambit Pileup: Neon Genesis Evangelion and RahXephon's Ancient Conspiracies are direct rivals. Masaki Kirihara and Original Generation villains throw their hats into the ring as well.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: The Dragonars have a skillset designed to push the player into using them like they are supposed to be used in-show: D-1 is meant to use its superior speed and balance between short and middle-ranged weapons to take the enemies head-on, D-2 provides long-range support, and D-3 specializes in technological warfare. In-game, D-1 and Kaine have great melee stats and good evasion, so they are an excellent choice for spearheading the offensive. Tap comes with both Support Attack and Support Defense, and D-2 has good ranged weapons and reasonable defense to use those, so the best position for them is right behind another unit, supporting their attacks and taking hits for them. Finally, D-3 has an EWAC that boosts the evasion and accuracy of allies within a two tile radius, so Light can help his friends simply by following them from behind or by their side.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: When Masaki uses the MAP version of Meiou to kill Si Aen and Si Tau, everyone from Magnet Ten is enraged because he fired that attack with no regards to their presence in the battlefield. Except the game obviously isn't going to risk having the player lose units in a cutscene, so even if there are friendly units in the range of the Meiou during that scene, they won't suffer any damage, as if the attack had become Friendly Fire Proof.
  • Good Hair, Evil Hair: For the majority of MX, Eldy Mitte keeps her hair all nice and neat, even when being a villain. When she merges with the AI-1, she lets it hang loose, adding to her shift in Ax-Crazy.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: The cast of Machine Robo shows up to help the heroes and then leave many times before joining them permanently. The same applies to Zeorymer, albeit with a smaller amount of times. But the standout example here is Akito: Despite making several appearances through the game, he won't join for real until five scenarios before the ending.
  • Happy Ending Override: In Super Robot Wars Alpha 3, Nagisa Kaworu (who had previously been killed in Alpha 1) shows up and explains that he came from a world resurrected through the "song of a mechanical god". However, he also mentioned how that world was eventually destroyed by the "cycle of death and rebirth", implying that the MX world was ultimately wiped out by Apokalypsis and reborn as the Alpha world.
  • Heel–Face Turn: AI-1 pulls one off (or, at least, comes to recognize human will and determination and rejects Eldy).
  • How Unscientific!: Asuka, the Trope Namer back in Super Robot Wars F, once again voices her complaints about how the cast of Mobile Fighter G Gundam makes a mockery of physics. This time, characters from Machine Robo are also around, and are just as absurd, so she puts them together with the Gundam Fighters.
  • The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Ginga is a huge fan of both Domon and Kazuya, claiming that fighting alongside them and training under them is the dream of any martial artist.
  • Lotus-Eater Machine: Vivace puts in Shinji and Ayato in one. However, they break free because of Reika and Akira Hibiki's assistance. Their mecha go berserk and tear Vivace apart.
  • The Man Behind the Man: This game has two cross-series examples:
    • The person responsible for the resurrection of the Devil Gundam and his corps turns out to be Bähbem
    • The mysterious employer of the Original Generation villains is revealed later in the game to be SEELE. They also rescue Saiga from being killed by Zeorymer and turn him into another pawn of theirs, and do the same to Miwa after freeing him from imprisonment.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Gendo Ikari as always, but Eldy Mitte gives him a run for the money. Case in point: she deliberately hides from Aqua that she was involved with the theft of the Medius because she knows the girl will be shocked to learn that, so she waits to reveal it in a crucial moment so Aqua will make a mistake, leaving her and Hugo vulnerable.
  • Master Computer: AI-1 slowly becomes self-aware and becomes MX's true antagonist.
  • Medium Awareness: Devil Saturn 6 is quite the meta guy here, commenting on a lot of common tropes for both his home series and the game he is currently in. He is shown to be very worried about invoking Speak of the Devil regarding Rom, and his final piece of dialogue in the game is pretty much him despairing that it's time for his Plotline Death.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: Cerberus Ignite or Garmraid Blaze. In the PSP port, there is a scene where Hugo shows up in said upgrade to save Aqua.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Aqua, with her Stripperiffic outfit and a bit of bouncing thrown in.
  • Opportunistic Bastard: The Hyakki Empire doesn't have the resources to start their Take Over the World plan yet, so for most of the game their strategy is to attack labs and other important places while the heroes are away, or taking advantage of battles between other factions to strike a fatal blow against their enemies. Kouji gets really tired of this in his last confrontation with Hidler.
    Kouji: Don't you know any tactic other than hitting unguarded labs or piggybacking off ongoing battles?!
  • Rage Against the Mentor: Both Hugo and Aqua end up in this trope, since both of their mentors are piloting the Original Generation villainous robot. Aqua in particular gets it hard, since Eldy turns out to be a completely selfish villain, while Albero still has sympathetic reasons for doing what he does.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Thanks to the heroes stopping Instrumentality, Gendo isn't killed or assimilated after his epiphany about how terrible his treatment of Shinji was. He decides to use this chance to end the plans of SEELE permanently, in a Taking You with Me moment.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Albero's primary motivation is to go after the Devil Gundam for what it did to his son.
  • Secret Character:
    • When Kamille joins the party, he will normally be piloting the Re-GZ. However, if the player fulfills certain requirements, he will instead join with the Dijeh SE-R, a much superior machine (though the player still gets the Re-GZ).
    • Full Armor Dendoh can go from being usable in only one scenario to being a permanent addition to the arsenal of the player.
    • The Mass-Produced Great Mazinger is an interesting case. You can get it in Stage 38 by defeating one of the MP Great Mazingers with Boss. However, even if you don't, you will get it anyway in Stage 48. The catch is that if you get it earlier (and if Tetsuya has more than 50 kills by the start of this stage), when you arrive in Stage 48 you will instead receive the Black Great Mazinger. So the secret is how to get two units instead of just one.
  • Smug Snake:Dorchenov is seen by the cast as nothing but a petty villain who happened to gain power by coincidence, and they are proven right by the pathetic display he puts in his final battle. Makoto Isshiki is just as bad, acting like he is the boss of everyone when he is just a pawn of bigger villains.
  • Spanner in the Works: Masaki Kirihara was this for the Ancient Conspiracy of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The people working on Adam's salvage operation in Antarctica were going to use the Dimensional Coupling System of the Zeorymer to open and close the Doors of Guf, but when Masaki stole it, they had to open it without a safe way to close. The result was the Second Impact.
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • As it's usually the case with this franchise, Ple and Ple Two are alive and well when the game starts, despite the events of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ happening before the plot of the game started.
    • Kaji, Asuka, and Misato are all saved from their canon deaths. One may argue that the same also applies to the rest of the cast (if you consider "being assimilated" to be the same as dying), since Instrumentality is averted in this game.
    • Itsuki, Elvy, and Souichi all live until the end of the game, even without Ayato turning back time during the tuning.
  • Spelling Song:
  • Spiritual Successor: To the Compact/Impact series, sharing many titles with it as well as the "Free Route" system. Notably, despite the lack of a direct connection, it still acts as though the G Gundam and Nadesico plots occurred as it did in Impact.
  • Stripperiffic: Aqua's outfit looks like a swimsuit. Later it's revealed that it functions like one too.
  • Theme Naming: Aside from the Color-Coded for Your Convenience entry, MX has plenty.
    • Albero and Foglia are Italian for "tree" and "leaf", respectively.
    • Medio, Centrum (or "zentrum"), Mitte and Tsentr all mean either "center" or "middle" in various languages; Medius Locus means "middle point". In the last scenario, enemy mooks Sinistra and Dextra mean "left" and "right", respectively.
    • Cerberus and Garmr (of which Garmraid is derived from) are names referring to the watchdog of hell in Greek Mythology and Norse Mythology, respectively.
  • Truer to the Text: Grendizer's Anti-Gravity Storm is finally portrayed as an energy force that lifts opponents up, rather than a normal Chest Blaster similar to Mazinger Z's Breast Fire.
  • Villain Team-Up:
    • Dorchenov makes an alliance with the Martian Successors. Lurahn also hires Hokushin once.
    • Gulfer and Gyandolar join forces for most of the game. Interestingly, it's purely a decision of their leaders. Most of their members despise the other side, and barely hide it when working together because they were ordered to do so.
    • The Vegan Empire contacts the Hyakki Empire to build an alliance. Both sides are planning to stab the other in the back at first opportunity, through neither ever gets a chance to try it.
  • World-Healing Wave: As in the parent show, Ayato uses his power as Ollin to do this. Unlike in the show, there is no turning back time to erase bad events from history. He simply saves the universe from the seemingly inevitable collapse and lets time keep flowing normally.
  • You Wanna Get Sued?: When Rahxephon first shows up, Kouji is about to comment that it resembles Sirene, but is interrupted by Hayato after the first syllable, who says that if Kouji finishes that sentence, he might beckon "aerial attacks".

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