Oh boy, a few errors in this one. It wasn't easy to make it look like a 90s TV (and I know I accidentally put 'Mand' instead of 'Man'. 8 Hours of editing later... another video! Hope everyone enjoys it.
Metal Storm was a favorite on my NES back in the day. I got hooked on giant robots early with Voltron, Tranzor Z, and of course the Transformers. When Nintendo Power had Metal Storm as a cover story, I knew I had to play it. But I don’t think I ever owned it. I either borrowed it or rented it until I beat it. I really was bummed about the lack of mech games on the NES. Fortunately that desire was somewhat sated on the Super Nintendo.
25 years ago I got MagMax from the ‘easter bunny’. I played in like thrice and over the last 10 years it has been a ghost in my memory. Thank you for finally putting a name to that game for me ♥️
Metal Storm was literally hiding in plain sight my whole life. Back in the day, I had the issue of Nintendo Power that covered it. Ever since then, I always wanted to play it. But over the years, I completely forgot the game's name; so much so that at one point, I thought it was Gyruss when I saw that at a retro game store, before looking up footage to be sure. Until one day, out of nowhere, I was recommended a video on TH-cam that discussed Metal Storm (not this one, I've had the game now for a few years thanks to eBay). On that video's thumbnail was the white robot that had been permanently ingrained into my brain by the aforementioned Nintendo Power, and I knew I had finally rediscovered it. From there, I was able to put that anticipation from childhood to a long-awaited rest.
Huds and Hudson, what's that? Judging by that picture you shared. I guess having a NES game version of a squash human in a bunny suit is definitely not my cup of coffee. 😅 Glad you covered so many niche Mecha and mech games. 😊 Thanks
Hudson Hawk, it was an obscure Bruce Willis movie back in the day that bombed. The squished character was Yo! Noid, which was the Domino's Pizza mascot. Hudson Hawk made no sense as a game, in my opinion. Thank you so much! I try my best, though this video bombed already!
Does Dynowarz count? The think you pilot is a giant T-Rex mech and the pilot does jump out and have to go it on foot for certain sections. I think it was actually ONLY released in NA. I loved that game as a kid, great bargain bin find.
I think that was more of a powersuit, but it does seem like it borders on Mech. I didn't find anything on it until you mentioned it, probably because it was a Dino themed thing. Hmmm, that's very interesting!
@@KeiNova it was 100% a mecha game. The pilot controlled the mecha from the head (jumping in and out for the various areas when needed). Great game, glad I owned it.
I’m super psyched to give this a watch! I’ve got it cued up for when I take a break from working on the revised version of the birthday episode later tonight. By the way…you remember that we’d sort of briefly discussed working on a project together, and that I mentioned that my next big review/retrospective was going to be on Zone of the Enders 2? How would you feel about maybe doing said video together?
I would love to, and it's good timing too! Our talk in discord got me firing up the game again, and I'm going to try and get my Quest on it again. Of course, message me on discord anytime if you want to go through any details or figure it out - I'm new to the concept of collabs myself! But, definitely willing to learn!
@@KeiNova Sounds good! I don't know how you go about doing things, but my first step is always to record myself playing through the game, start to finish. That way I have footage I can review at my leisure. For my retrospective reviews, I like to do a combination of a review and a detailed going-over of the narrative. Maybe we could...I dunno, just off the top of my head, you could write/cover the gameplay and I could do the story?
That isn't a bad idea at all. I could do that; we just need to figure out a deadline for time and whatever other details you think need to be included.@@novemberbravo6194
Metal Storm is a fantastisch game. I got the Collectors reissue from Strictly Limited games. Also a small correction, the snes's mode 7 handles scaling and rotation of a background plane and doesn't handle any parallax scrolling.
That's my bad, I'd thought that it did. I think too many people mix that up! So, yeah, I should have looked more into it. You are lucky to have that edition. I didn't even find out until I started writing this.
Parallax is seen in Genesis too. I've never seen anyone confuse it for mode 7. Usually, the confusion involves sprite scaling, which is understandable given Super Mario World pretending mode 7 Bowser was a sprite, and Wolfenstein 3D used mode 7 to magnify low resolution software based sprite scaling. But you admitted your mistake, and your enthusiasm for NES era mech gaming was an unexpected surprise. There's really nothing to complain about.
I'm not sure how specific we want to be, but the Famicom certainly did receive a 'Robotech' game. Robotech is an American amalgamation of three separate anime series. The first, and best, Macross, was made into games on the Famicom and Super Famicom.
Yeah, I did, due to the reverse joint bipedal designs! In the first few minutes, I outlined everything I was talking about. And why I didn't include stuff like Base Wars and Cyberball. I do need to eventually do a Famicom video like this though.@@zacharyberridge7239
I think the most impressive feat achieved with this video is talking about mechs/mecha in the 80's and 90's, and specifically the genre in Japan, without mentioning Mobile Suit Gundam or any of its flavors even once. Although I'm being somewhat facetious, I do think it says a lot that easily the biggest mecha series ever has had such pitiful representation in video games for decades. But, Bandai's gonna Bandai. I think the most interesting game in this video, to me, though, was Metal Mech. The getting in and out of your mech to run around as the pilot and accomplish tasks reminds me of MechAssault 2, just way way earlier. Even if the game is a little bit ass, I've always loved that concept; it really reinforces the feeling that you're *in* a mech and playing as a pilot, not as a robot.
You may have been being a bit facetious but I love your comment. I think you are noticing that I simply don't like to be too obvious and repeat information said everywhere else. I also thought that Gundam wasn't seen in the NA NES library - so, it was besides the point. I love Gundam, don't get me wrong. But it wasn't big in the USA at the time of the NES. Now, when Gundam Seed came out - it EXPLODED. If you think I should tackle Famicom mech games, I'd be happy to go through them sooner rather than later. Metal Mech was promising to me too, and boy I was let down pretty hard. I say try it and see if you like it. I'm always up for hearing another opinion and I don't believe anyone should take what I say as gospel by any means! Thanks for the comment, it made me think.
@@KeiNova I was, yes. Facetious, I mean. Somewhat, anyway. I thought that Gundam was a sort of elephant in the room; with your mentioning of Macross, Mazinger, and Transformers (did we have a Transformers game on NES?) I didn't necessarily the stuff you'd brought up as being strictly US-famous or on the NES, although you did restrict the video to mecha games on the NES and in the US. You mentioning at the start that it seems to have started in Japan. Really, I'm not sure if it's me missing something you said, me just not knowing how big Macross or Mazinger really were in the US back then (I know scant little about either, beyond that Macross is the origin of a lot of BattleTech mechs and that it also gets absolutely wild according to some people), or it might just be a script oversight on your end, which I can 100% understand because I did the same stuff back when I made videos on a different channel. Honestly? I think that a video I'd enjoy seeing a sort of overview on mecha in American pop culture during the 80's and 90's from you. Your statement that the "giant robot genre reigned supreme" had me perking a brow, since it's not necessarily a time I'd associate with giant robots (beyond Transformers). It's not like I'm saying you're wrong or anything, I'd just genuinely like to hear why you say as much and think that it's a decent video idea. There are probably plenty more people that would like to learn about the subject, and you have a unique enough perspective/angle on the matter that I think it absolutely warrants making. Not to say that Famicom games would be a bad idea for a video, either; it seems like it'd be a good follow-up to this one since you did allude to them here. Also, I thought that was Wing in the mid/late 90's that blew up over here? I know that anime in general had been slept on by the West right up until about AKIRA being brought over, so Gundam was definitely one of those things that only nerds into Japanese stuff knew about. Mike Pondsmith, creator of Cyberpunk (the game and setting), among them.
Macross didn't really hit the NA as Macross. We never got Macross as Macross, at all. It was a cut-up rebranded version, much like Power Rangers, called Robotech. It strips a lot of what Macross was about. There wasn't a Transformers game on the NA side. Strangely, only in JP. I mentioned how the Mech trend had been booming in Japan at the time and slowly moving to the NA. And, that there were popular NA Mech/Giant Robo franchises, but they just didn't seem to get a game. It did hit pretty hard in the late 80s and early 90s with a few movies and Battletech's massive marketing push at the time. Not only the massive amount of Mech PC games that were released. I should really put together a video like that, exploring everything. It would take a while, but it might be worth it in the end. I'm still trying to get a flow downpat and branch out. So, that isn't a bad idea at all. It would also be very interesting to explore. Akira was popular, I think, in the 80s and early 90s. People were blown away, but the market died really fast. Most people didn't even know what anime was, because no one had developed the term 'Japanimation' just yet for it to be a thing. We all just called it cartoons and saw anything animated as such - so it blended into the masses of everything else. Anime didn't really make any impact because it wasn't a specific thing you could find. I do remember the push, I was a young kid at Walmart in the early 90s when I saw Dragon Ball Z figures - that no one bought, because it just wasn't a thing until years later. No one knew how to handle it at all. We got a lot of strange dubs that turned overseas anime into completely different versions of the originals. But there was a very small importing scene. My cousin, back in the day, was the first person I'd ever known to have shown me real anime. It was Pretty Girl Sailor Moon. I was 5 or 6, I think. I'm 35 now. After a few decades, it started to seep back and nerdy folks such as myself were really happy - and it was actually defined by that point. A lot of mainstream marketing happened and when you saw the hype behind things like SEED and InuYasha, it was spectacular. Dragon Ball Z wasn't even popular until a decade and a half after its original airing - not in NA. I experienced a lot of anime through blockbuster, on VHS and eventually DVD. But the market got oversaturated and crashed hard. They were bringing it over to fast and providing really subpar dubs to people who didn't get subs just yet. I experienced all of this and more, I've always been into anime and part of that crowd. Even before the internet was a serious thing, and people were just finding it out in the wild by accident. It was a weird time, pretty awesome though.
@@KeiNova It's absolutely a video you should make. Even if only to give your own perspective on all of this. I'm around five or six years younger than you, so it makes sense that you'd be more familiar with a lot of this than I would be, if only because my noggin was far less developed at the time. Hell, there are a lot of people potentially watching your videos that are significantly younger than us. If you're not sharing your experience of anime- specifically mecha anime in the case of a video- and its impact on the west, then they're just not really going to know how that stuff happened or what it was like. Sure, there's stuff on wikipedia or old articles you have to dig for, but they're either detached from the human experience, biased, or enough of a pain in the ass to find that most people wont bother. The concept actually reminds me of what Kenny Lauderdale does. Actually, I guess a lot of your channel reminds me of Kenny Lauderdale, albeit for mech games. Oh, and two questions. First; if you could recommend only one mech game to people as the paragon of the genre, what would it be? Second; do you think you'll ever cover Zone of Enders?
I actually may keep that in mind. And, the fact that you mention Kenny Launderdale is a compliment to me. I was considering also covering Mecha anime on here because he did Heavenly Dragon. So, thank you. The absolute paragon of Mech games is MechWarrior 2. It just is. It's a gritty cold game with atmosphere for days. It captured the 90s vision of future-tech but also the industrialized future-vision of movies like Aliens. It wasn't dependent entirely on Battletech, and it allowed an unprecedented level of customization that has communities playing it to this day online. Graphically, not the best- but it's the epitome of piloted Mechs. If you want to know my thoughts on a more 'Japanese' Mech game - it's absolutely Gungriffon that is the best on consoles. I'm absolutely covering ZOE, and I'm actually discussing a collab with another TH-camr when it comes to ZOE2 tomorrow night. @@TheGreySpectrum
@@KeiNova Oh hell yeah, nice. It's a pretty rad game though, between missions ya can boost various stats of the mech's equipment and pieces of it actually get blasted off after takin too much damage while playing. Really needa give some of those old games a go again, they're just sooo damn difficult sometimes. Dx
I'll second this one. It's also pretty tough. Blood Gear is another one that has more of a semi-open world approach. The reliance on Japanese text doesn't make it widely accessable though.
@@Yuuretsu Ohh yeah, its a tough one for sure. Just wish Blood Gear had an english translation.. Love the topdown rpg style mixed with mech lvls. Just such a great combo it's sad there aren't more like it. TT_TT
Well transforming suits would include The Guardian Legend. Just the same, why didn't you include SECTION Z? SECTION Z was originally a Capcom arcade game, and was somewhat of a precursor to Hyperdyne Sidearms. The NES game was an early release, but really wasn't an arcade port. The original arcade game was a dude in a space suit with a jetpack, while in the NES game, the jetpack dude was swapped with a red mecha, and the story was changed as well. It even had cut scenes suggesting the mecha would've been right at home in the Zentradi's arsenal. Gameplay-wise it was like Gradius with a mech.
I actually said no Transforming Robots or Power suits. You actually answered my question for me. All promotional materials, and the cover, shows a person in a power suit. It's not a piloted Mecha, so it wasn't included. If I did include it, someone could argue as to why it was included just as well. Trust me, I'd thought about including it and RoboWarrior. Thanks for the comment!
A lance level tactics game or something similar to Crescent Hawk's Inception could have been a fun NES Battletech game IMO. Sure the Mech selection would be limited but it could still be fun.
Because not many mainstream people know about it. It's sort of how it works. Lunar is expensive too, but it's a hidden gem. I never said it was a hidden gem though, at all.
Aww yeah I loved metal flame, and metal storm. Although I think Metal Flame Psybuster had a different name when I rented it. But I beat both of those games back then. Metal Storm was one of my favs so I ended up getting it at a used game trade in store. I didn't know about Magmax though...I will have to go check that out. Edit: Yes Metal Mech was the name! lol
Robotech? No. Super Dimension Fortress Macross? Yes! Yes, Macross had an NES game. So did Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta. In fact, there are a whole bunch of Japanese exclusive mecha titles on the original Famicom--most of them strategy games, and some even with English fan translations. To cut straight to the best of them, check out Mirai Senshi Lios (Future Soldier Lios).
Yes, a few more from the Japanese side of things! I was just covering NA games here. I want to see if there is interest in these types of videos so I might make a big Famicom one someday and get to those.
I was suggested that twice now! I really need to check out that game. And it sort of does and doesn't. It's said to be a Powersuit in its materials, but its sort of a mech? Section Z had a similar Grey zone.
@@KeiNova some of i know that many just ignore are Z.O.E Fist Of Mars e Super Robot Wars OG, both for the gba and really incredible strategy games with some great mechas
Of the three games I only played Metal Storm - yeah, it's an excellent game! And it's nice to see some clips of Robot Jox in the background - brought back childhood memories 😄
Robo Warrior is somewhat of a Bomber Man copycat, but have you ever noticed Robo Warrior & Little Red Hood have almost identical gameplay & overhead view??
@@KeiNova And to be honest, they may have used a hard e, or had the stress on another syllable. All I know is that the twenty years I pronounced it as "Hal echo" were a mistake.
Oddly both Transformers and Robotech (Macross) had Famicom (Nes) games in Japan. They were very very bad games. The two Commodore 64 Transformers games were arguably better.
I think what couldve been the issue of poor mech representation in video games at the time might be due to a similar reason why mecha isnt very common in manga. Mecha is first and foremost all about cool motion. a cool comic with a mech isnt as cool as an anime with a mech. all these old games that have mechs are nowhere close to presenting mecha in their glory, and thus i think kids were more interested in buying mech toys and playing with those instead. the main mech series that helped translate mechs proper into video games are probably armored core and mechwarrior 2. the unfortunate thing about those games is that they are hard to get in to. both requiring awkward controls for the time, making sure they were only realy enjoyed by a niche audience. at least that is my theory. if you can add it your considerable backlog, i would suggest "shogo mobile armor division" (can be found on GOG). a western mech game made by weebs while imitating an anime mech setting (the first level crew quarters is filled to the brim with mecha anime references).
I have Shogo! It was a bucket list game, because I'd had a demo when I was a kid and a CD with a trailer on it. I remember hyping it up so much, good times.
Oh boy, a few errors in this one. It wasn't easy to make it look like a 90s TV (and I know I accidentally put 'Mand' instead of 'Man'. 8 Hours of editing later... another video! Hope everyone enjoys it.
Bloody well done. Cheers and what all
thank you for the hours you put in your videos!
Hey, as long as people enjoy what I'm doing - I am happy to make it.
Thank you so much! MechWarrior 4 next.
I owned Metalstorm, and it was one of my favorite games for the NES. NOBODY else I knew owned it, and most had never heard of it.
Honestly, when I first played it as a kid I hated it. Now it's probably up there.
Metal storm was my favorite game for years! I ended up buying the limited run re-release.
You are so lucky. I saw that thing and immediately regretted missing out!
Metal Storm was a favorite on my NES back in the day. I got hooked on giant robots early with Voltron, Tranzor Z, and of course the Transformers. When Nintendo Power had Metal Storm as a cover story, I knew I had to play it. But I don’t think I ever owned it. I either borrowed it or rented it until I beat it.
I really was bummed about the lack of mech games on the NES. Fortunately that desire was somewhat sated on the Super Nintendo.
Yes, the SNES had a lot of Mech games. It's sort of daunting, honestly. I though NES was a safe start until I get to making a bigger vid.
25 years ago I got MagMax from the ‘easter bunny’. I played in like thrice and over the last 10 years it has been a ghost in my memory. Thank you for finally putting a name to that game for me ♥️
You are welcome. I'm glad I could help you trace the dots back to that memory. If you play it again, I hope it's amazing for you!
Already you are teaching my friend. I did not know there was a sporting mecha subgenre
Oddly, there actually is!
I had played and loved Metal Storm for the SNES, but didn't know there was a NES prequel, Gonna have to check it out!
I loved Metal Mech when I was a kid. It was the only giant robot game that I had at the time!
For some reason, I'd thought it was on Sega - guess my memories from childhood got messed up from playing so much Shinobi. Great game, so true.
Metal Storm was literally hiding in plain sight my whole life. Back in the day, I had the issue of Nintendo Power that covered it. Ever since then, I always wanted to play it. But over the years, I completely forgot the game's name; so much so that at one point, I thought it was Gyruss when I saw that at a retro game store, before looking up footage to be sure. Until one day, out of nowhere, I was recommended a video on TH-cam that discussed Metal Storm (not this one, I've had the game now for a few years thanks to eBay). On that video's thumbnail was the white robot that had been permanently ingrained into my brain by the aforementioned Nintendo Power, and I knew I had finally rediscovered it. From there, I was able to put that anticipation from childhood to a long-awaited rest.
That is an amazing story, honestly. So glad you found it after all those years.
Might I suggest Wolf Fang? An arcade shmup with a lot of nice mech designs.
I have it, and the first and third game. I've never played it though, and I had no idea it was on Saturn as well? Might be worth checking out...
Huds and Hudson, what's that? Judging by that picture you shared. I guess having a NES game version of a squash human in a bunny suit is definitely not my cup of coffee. 😅
Glad you covered so many niche Mecha and mech games. 😊 Thanks
Hudson Hawk, it was an obscure Bruce Willis movie back in the day that bombed. The squished character was Yo! Noid, which was the Domino's Pizza mascot. Hudson Hawk made no sense as a game, in my opinion.
Thank you so much! I try my best, though this video bombed already!
Does Dynowarz count? The think you pilot is a giant T-Rex mech and the pilot does jump out and have to go it on foot for certain sections. I think it was actually ONLY released in NA. I loved that game as a kid, great bargain bin find.
I think that was more of a powersuit, but it does seem like it borders on Mech. I didn't find anything on it until you mentioned it, probably because it was a Dino themed thing. Hmmm, that's very interesting!
@@KeiNova it was 100% a mecha game. The pilot controlled the mecha from the head (jumping in and out for the various areas when needed). Great game, glad I owned it.
I’m super psyched to give this a watch! I’ve got it cued up for when I take a break from working on the revised version of the birthday episode later tonight.
By the way…you remember that we’d sort of briefly discussed working on a project together, and that I mentioned that my next big review/retrospective was going to be on Zone of the Enders 2? How would you feel about maybe doing said video together?
I would love to, and it's good timing too! Our talk in discord got me firing up the game again, and I'm going to try and get my Quest on it again. Of course, message me on discord anytime if you want to go through any details or figure it out - I'm new to the concept of collabs myself! But, definitely willing to learn!
@@KeiNova Sounds good! I don't know how you go about doing things, but my first step is always to record myself playing through the game, start to finish. That way I have footage I can review at my leisure. For my retrospective reviews, I like to do a combination of a review and a detailed going-over of the narrative. Maybe we could...I dunno, just off the top of my head, you could write/cover the gameplay and I could do the story?
That isn't a bad idea at all. I could do that; we just need to figure out a deadline for time and whatever other details you think need to be included.@@novemberbravo6194
I dunno how you make these videos, but it sure seems they're just getting more technically impressive as we go.
A lot of trial and error, honestly. Thank you for the compliment!
Metal Storm is a fantastisch game. I got the Collectors reissue from Strictly Limited games. Also a small correction, the snes's mode 7 handles scaling and rotation of a background plane and doesn't handle any parallax scrolling.
That's my bad, I'd thought that it did. I think too many people mix that up! So, yeah, I should have looked more into it. You are lucky to have that edition. I didn't even find out until I started writing this.
Parallax is seen in Genesis too. I've never seen anyone confuse it for mode 7.
Usually, the confusion involves sprite scaling, which is understandable given Super Mario World pretending mode 7 Bowser was a sprite, and Wolfenstein 3D used mode 7 to magnify low resolution software based sprite scaling.
But you admitted your mistake, and your enthusiasm for NES era mech gaming was an unexpected surprise. There's really nothing to complain about.
I think I just vastly misunderstood Mode7, and I'd honestly just thought scaling was it.@@juststatedtheobvious9633
I'm not sure how specific we want to be, but the Famicom certainly did receive a 'Robotech' game. Robotech is an American amalgamation of three separate anime series. The first, and best, Macross, was made into games on the Famicom and Super Famicom.
I think it was around less then 2 minutes into the video that I mentioned that this is NA releases and not Famicom.
@@KeiNova missed that line. My bad. I did hear you mention Macross when talking about that goofy first game.
Yeah, I did, due to the reverse joint bipedal designs! In the first few minutes, I outlined everything I was talking about. And why I didn't include stuff like Base Wars and Cyberball. I do need to eventually do a Famicom video like this though.@@zacharyberridge7239
I think the most impressive feat achieved with this video is talking about mechs/mecha in the 80's and 90's, and specifically the genre in Japan, without mentioning Mobile Suit Gundam or any of its flavors even once.
Although I'm being somewhat facetious, I do think it says a lot that easily the biggest mecha series ever has had such pitiful representation in video games for decades. But, Bandai's gonna Bandai.
I think the most interesting game in this video, to me, though, was Metal Mech. The getting in and out of your mech to run around as the pilot and accomplish tasks reminds me of MechAssault 2, just way way earlier. Even if the game is a little bit ass, I've always loved that concept; it really reinforces the feeling that you're *in* a mech and playing as a pilot, not as a robot.
You may have been being a bit facetious but I love your comment. I think you are noticing that I simply don't like to be too obvious and repeat information said everywhere else. I also thought that Gundam wasn't seen in the NA NES library - so, it was besides the point. I love Gundam, don't get me wrong. But it wasn't big in the USA at the time of the NES. Now, when Gundam Seed came out - it EXPLODED. If you think I should tackle Famicom mech games, I'd be happy to go through them sooner rather than later.
Metal Mech was promising to me too, and boy I was let down pretty hard. I say try it and see if you like it. I'm always up for hearing another opinion and I don't believe anyone should take what I say as gospel by any means!
Thanks for the comment, it made me think.
@@KeiNova I was, yes. Facetious, I mean. Somewhat, anyway.
I thought that Gundam was a sort of elephant in the room; with your mentioning of Macross, Mazinger, and Transformers (did we have a Transformers game on NES?) I didn't necessarily the stuff you'd brought up as being strictly US-famous or on the NES, although you did restrict the video to mecha games on the NES and in the US. You mentioning at the start that it seems to have started in Japan.
Really, I'm not sure if it's me missing something you said, me just not knowing how big Macross or Mazinger really were in the US back then (I know scant little about either, beyond that Macross is the origin of a lot of BattleTech mechs and that it also gets absolutely wild according to some people), or it might just be a script oversight on your end, which I can 100% understand because I did the same stuff back when I made videos on a different channel.
Honestly? I think that a video I'd enjoy seeing a sort of overview on mecha in American pop culture during the 80's and 90's from you. Your statement that the "giant robot genre reigned supreme" had me perking a brow, since it's not necessarily a time I'd associate with giant robots (beyond Transformers). It's not like I'm saying you're wrong or anything, I'd just genuinely like to hear why you say as much and think that it's a decent video idea. There are probably plenty more people that would like to learn about the subject, and you have a unique enough perspective/angle on the matter that I think it absolutely warrants making. Not to say that Famicom games would be a bad idea for a video, either; it seems like it'd be a good follow-up to this one since you did allude to them here.
Also, I thought that was Wing in the mid/late 90's that blew up over here? I know that anime in general had been slept on by the West right up until about AKIRA being brought over, so Gundam was definitely one of those things that only nerds into Japanese stuff knew about. Mike Pondsmith, creator of Cyberpunk (the game and setting), among them.
Macross didn't really hit the NA as Macross. We never got Macross as Macross, at all. It was a cut-up rebranded version, much like Power Rangers, called Robotech. It strips a lot of what Macross was about. There wasn't a Transformers game on the NA side. Strangely, only in JP. I mentioned how the Mech trend had been booming in Japan at the time and slowly moving to the NA. And, that there were popular NA Mech/Giant Robo franchises, but they just didn't seem to get a game. It did hit pretty hard in the late 80s and early 90s with a few movies and Battletech's massive marketing push at the time. Not only the massive amount of Mech PC games that were released.
I should really put together a video like that, exploring everything. It would take a while, but it might be worth it in the end. I'm still trying to get a flow downpat and branch out. So, that isn't a bad idea at all. It would also be very interesting to explore.
Akira was popular, I think, in the 80s and early 90s. People were blown away, but the market died really fast. Most people didn't even know what anime was, because no one had developed the term 'Japanimation' just yet for it to be a thing. We all just called it cartoons and saw anything animated as such - so it blended into the masses of everything else. Anime didn't really make any impact because it wasn't a specific thing you could find. I do remember the push, I was a young kid at Walmart in the early 90s when I saw Dragon Ball Z figures - that no one bought, because it just wasn't a thing until years later. No one knew how to handle it at all. We got a lot of strange dubs that turned overseas anime into completely different versions of the originals. But there was a very small importing scene. My cousin, back in the day, was the first person I'd ever known to have shown me real anime. It was Pretty Girl Sailor Moon. I was 5 or 6, I think. I'm 35 now.
After a few decades, it started to seep back and nerdy folks such as myself were really happy - and it was actually defined by that point. A lot of mainstream marketing happened and when you saw the hype behind things like SEED and InuYasha, it was spectacular. Dragon Ball Z wasn't even popular until a decade and a half after its original airing - not in NA. I experienced a lot of anime through blockbuster, on VHS and eventually DVD. But the market got oversaturated and crashed hard. They were bringing it over to fast and providing really subpar dubs to people who didn't get subs just yet.
I experienced all of this and more, I've always been into anime and part of that crowd. Even before the internet was a serious thing, and people were just finding it out in the wild by accident. It was a weird time, pretty awesome though.
@@KeiNova It's absolutely a video you should make. Even if only to give your own perspective on all of this.
I'm around five or six years younger than you, so it makes sense that you'd be more familiar with a lot of this than I would be, if only because my noggin was far less developed at the time. Hell, there are a lot of people potentially watching your videos that are significantly younger than us. If you're not sharing your experience of anime- specifically mecha anime in the case of a video- and its impact on the west, then they're just not really going to know how that stuff happened or what it was like. Sure, there's stuff on wikipedia or old articles you have to dig for, but they're either detached from the human experience, biased, or enough of a pain in the ass to find that most people wont bother.
The concept actually reminds me of what Kenny Lauderdale does. Actually, I guess a lot of your channel reminds me of Kenny Lauderdale, albeit for mech games.
Oh, and two questions. First; if you could recommend only one mech game to people as the paragon of the genre, what would it be? Second; do you think you'll ever cover Zone of Enders?
I actually may keep that in mind. And, the fact that you mention Kenny Launderdale is a compliment to me. I was considering also covering Mecha anime on here because he did Heavenly Dragon. So, thank you.
The absolute paragon of Mech games is MechWarrior 2. It just is. It's a gritty cold game with atmosphere for days. It captured the 90s vision of future-tech but also the industrialized future-vision of movies like Aliens. It wasn't dependent entirely on Battletech, and it allowed an unprecedented level of customization that has communities playing it to this day online. Graphically, not the best- but it's the epitome of piloted Mechs. If you want to know my thoughts on a more 'Japanese' Mech game - it's absolutely Gungriffon that is the best on consoles.
I'm absolutely covering ZOE, and I'm actually discussing a collab with another TH-camr when it comes to ZOE2 tomorrow night.
@@TheGreySpectrum
Have ya ever covered Veigues Tactical Gladiator for the Turbografx 16? Prolly the most hidden mecha gem I've ever come across.
No, but I was looking to get into the Turbografx stuff. I even have a controller coming to play them more accurately.
@@KeiNova Oh hell yeah, nice. It's a pretty rad game though, between missions ya can boost various stats of the mech's equipment and pieces of it actually get blasted off after takin too much damage while playing.
Really needa give some of those old games a go again, they're just sooo damn difficult sometimes. Dx
I'll second this one. It's also pretty tough. Blood Gear is another one that has more of a semi-open world approach. The reliance on Japanese text doesn't make it widely accessable though.
@@Yuuretsu Ohh yeah, its a tough one for sure. Just wish Blood Gear had an english translation.. Love the topdown rpg style mixed with mech lvls. Just such a great combo it's sad there aren't more like it. TT_TT
I'm going to be exploring some of these soon, I really like the TurboGraphx CD. It's got so many gems.
Well transforming suits would include The Guardian Legend. Just the same, why didn't you include SECTION Z?
SECTION Z was originally a Capcom arcade game, and was somewhat of a precursor to Hyperdyne Sidearms. The NES game was an early release, but really wasn't an arcade port. The original arcade game was a dude in a space suit with a jetpack, while in the NES game, the jetpack dude was swapped with a red mecha, and the story was changed as well. It even had cut scenes suggesting the mecha would've been right at home in the Zentradi's arsenal. Gameplay-wise it was like Gradius with a mech.
I actually said no Transforming Robots or Power suits.
You actually answered my question for me. All promotional materials, and the cover, shows a person in a power suit. It's not a piloted Mecha, so it wasn't included. If I did include it, someone could argue as to why it was included just as well. Trust me, I'd thought about including it and RoboWarrior.
Thanks for the comment!
A lance level tactics game or something similar to Crescent Hawk's Inception could have been a fun NES Battletech game IMO. Sure the Mech selection would be limited but it could still be fun.
It would have been, but it would have made sense. Even a little game like Gun Hazard would have worked.
So will check out Mecha Knights: Nightmare and do a video on it?
Is it out of early access? Last time I checked it, it was barely a game. I'll see about buying it, when I get the $$$ if it looks any good.
How the fuck Metal Storm is still being considered a hidden gem when prices for that game are through the roof?
Because not many mainstream people know about it. It's sort of how it works. Lunar is expensive too, but it's a hidden gem. I never said it was a hidden gem though, at all.
Aww yeah I loved metal flame, and metal storm. Although I think Metal Flame Psybuster had a different name when I rented it. But I beat both of those games back then. Metal Storm was one of my favs so I ended up getting it at a used game trade in store. I didn't know about Magmax though...I will have to go check that out.
Edit: Yes Metal Mech was the name! lol
I was about to say! Haha. Yeah it was Metal Mech! MagMax is way better though, just in fun alone.
@@KeiNova I'll try it tonight. Thanks !
Robotech? No. Super Dimension Fortress Macross? Yes! Yes, Macross had an NES game. So did Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta. In fact, there are a whole bunch of Japanese exclusive mecha titles on the original Famicom--most of them strategy games, and some even with English fan translations. To cut straight to the best of them, check out Mirai Senshi Lios (Future Soldier Lios).
Yes, a few more from the Japanese side of things! I was just covering NA games here. I want to see if there is interest in these types of videos so I might make a big Famicom one someday and get to those.
Wasn't the Macross game localized, but rebranded? That sounds familiar, but I could be completely mistaken, or thinking of something else entirely.
Does "Dynowarz: Destruction of Spondylus" count as a mech game? Because that's the only one we had at my local tiny video rental store...
I was suggested that twice now! I really need to check out that game. And it sort of does and doesn't. It's said to be a Powersuit in its materials, but its sort of a mech? Section Z had a similar Grey zone.
@@KeiNova Well, the guy in it might be wearing a powersuit, but he also jumps into a giant dinosaur robot for most levels.
Magmax I use to play all the time, tried to find it years ago but couldn't find it
It was really good, honestly. I loved it.
New Kei-Nova vid hell yeah.
Thank you. Hopefully, many more on the way.
really great video, could you do one for mech games on GB/GBC or GBA?
That would be pretty fun. I know there are a few NA ones I own; I can certainly try and muster something up.
@@KeiNova some of i know that many just ignore are Z.O.E Fist Of Mars e Super Robot Wars OG, both for the gba and really incredible strategy games with some great mechas
Metal Storm was my jam
Great choice! What would be your peanut butter?
@@KeiNova on the NES? Last Starfighter or MegaMan 2 I reckon
Of the three games I only played Metal Storm - yeah, it's an excellent game! And it's nice to see some clips of Robot Jox in the background - brought back childhood memories 😄
It was the closest to a Battletech movie we'll ever get! I watched it a lot when I was a kid too.
I don’t like the radio voice thing
Alright, duly noted.
I always thought Jaleco was pronounced like "Jah leak oh."
I've heard it said a million ways, so I couldn't pinpoint one.
Robo Warrior is somewhat of a Bomber Man copycat, but have you ever noticed Robo Warrior & Little Red Hood have almost identical gameplay & overhead view??
I've never played Little Red Robin Hood and now... I might just do that out of curiosity 🤔
@@KeiNova no-no , its Little Red Hood. Its, a spectacularly horrendous game LOL.
@@claudiasolomon1123 sorry that was my phone's auto-correct. Haha 😂 guess it should avoid it then?
@@KeiNova oh no, give it a try. Its an experience..
JApan LEisure COmpany, so it's more along the lines of "Jal - echo" for pronunciation.
Thank you, I was honestly struggling with that one. Makes sense to me!
@@KeiNova And to be honest, they may have used a hard e, or had the stress on another syllable.
All I know is that the twenty years I pronounced it as "Hal echo" were a mistake.
Oddly both Transformers and Robotech (Macross) had Famicom (Nes) games in Japan. They were very very bad games. The two Commodore 64 Transformers games were arguably better.
I'll have to check them out if I ever do a Famicom video. I know there was a handful more. It's weird a Transformers one didn't come this way though.
I think what couldve been the issue of poor mech representation in video games at the time might be due to a similar reason why mecha isnt very common in manga.
Mecha is first and foremost all about cool motion. a cool comic with a mech isnt as cool as an anime with a mech. all these old games that have mechs are nowhere close to presenting mecha in their glory, and thus i think kids were more interested in buying mech toys and playing with those instead.
the main mech series that helped translate mechs proper into video games are probably armored core and mechwarrior 2. the unfortunate thing about those games is that they are hard to get in to. both requiring awkward controls for the time, making sure they were only realy enjoyed by a niche audience.
at least that is my theory.
if you can add it your considerable backlog, i would suggest "shogo mobile armor division" (can be found on GOG). a western mech game made by weebs while imitating an anime mech setting (the first level crew quarters is filled to the brim with mecha anime references).
I have Shogo! It was a bucket list game, because I'd had a demo when I was a kid and a CD with a trailer on it. I remember hyping it up so much, good times.
It's a laundromat, not a "laundrymat."
That's how I've said it my entire life. I'm from rural Canada, we just say things in certain ways.
@@KeiNova Respect.