Super Robot Wars Y

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This review has been directly sponsored by a kind donation from Jamie and His Cats. Thanks again for your generous contribution!)

Since its first release on the original Game Boy in 1991, the Super Robot Wars franchise has been one of the biggest crossover franchises in videogames, and it is largely due to this reason that we have rarely seen it release outside of Japan. Featuring characters and mechs from numerous anime franchises, it has often been deemed too expensive to license the thing outside of Japan.

There have been occasional exceptions: Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 1 and 2 on Game Boy Advance both released in North America, Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier on Nintendo DS released in North America, Super Robot Wars T released in the larger Asian region, and Super Robot Wars 30 released both in Asia as well as in Europe and North America (but only the Steam version of the game). And… that’s it. Nearly 60 separate games released over the last 34 years, not including remakes and re-releases, and outside of Japan we have only seen a small handful of these games.

So I think it’s fair to say that Super Robot Wars Y being the first worldwide release in the entire franchise across all platforms, that’s a huge deal. Releasing in 2025 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, this is a massive hallmark for this franchise, and a huge event for mech fans.

And it’s… okay.

To be fair, if you’re a fan of mech anime, this is sure to be a delight. Featuring mechs from animes that include multiple entries in the popular Gundam and Macross franchises, as well as more obscure and cult classic franchises, it’s a safe bet that if you’re a fan of mech anime, you’ll probably be familiar with at least a few of the 21 different anime releases represented here (27 if you include paid DLC). And seeing these mechs fight together and their characters interact is a part of the joy of this franchise. This is a series that knows its audience, and is focused on catering to that audience with plenty of fan service so said fans can repeatedly do the Captain America “I understood that reference” meme.

Everyone else? You’ll be left feeling cold, wondering who all these people are and why you should care about them. To be fair, this game’s protagonists and its story focus are on wholly original characters, with the licensed characters acting in support. But we’re given little introduction to these new characters, and little reason to empathize with them. They all just really want peace and hate fighting, so… they’re going to fight to stop the fighting. Sure, why not.

There’s backstory about alien invaders, fighting between Earthbound humans and colonial humans, an evil emperor slain before he can start a massive war that no one wants, and then a mysterious group of terrorists who are starting trouble now for nebulous reasons, and a city-sized ship containing an energy source capable of powering a “galaxy memory”… er… thing. I’ve gotta’ be honest, it was difficult for me to feel invested in any of it, but I suppose it gave this game its excuse to get everyone strapped into their mechs and screaming out as they do their super-moves, which is probably the important part.

To the game’s credit, we have some gorgeous anime-style 2D character artwork for both characters and their mechs, with animation during battles that does a great job replicating the style of mech fight scenes in anime, giving every missile barrage and massive beam weapon the appropriate amount of “oomph” to keep combat exciting, at least until you’ve seen it for the umpteenth time and decide to skip it and just see the combat results. This is joined by thematically-suitable but unmemorable anime-style music, and Japanese voice-over clips during some story bits and fight scenes, though not throughout the story, which there is a lot of.

As for the combat itself, this is mostly standard Strategy-RPG fare, with a “morale” system that locks away your characters’ abilities until reaching a certain threshold of battle accomplishments, a “spirit” system that gives characters a boost at a pivotal moment, and an “assist” system that further boosts your fighters with the help of secondary characters. It’s not very well-explained, and I didn’t feel like this did much to transform the strategy of the genre, but I suppose this keeps battles from being a simple matter of attacking enemies and then getting attacked back.

Super Robot Wars Y game lacks much of the customization you often look for in mech games, with the focus on progression being largely on where you spend your limited resources to upgrade units you think need it most. And in addition to combat and upgrades you’ll have various long cutscenes of characters chatting with each other. Again, nothing I felt truly transformed the genre or brought something special into the mix.

If you’re a huge mech fan and feel like I haven’t given Super Robot Wars Y a fair shake, I apologize. I try to look at every game both in the way it appeals to its core audience and how it may or may not appeal to the average player. And while Super Robot Wars Y brings plenty to please the very specific niche of mech fans, it does little outside of that, even for fans of the Strategy-RPG genre. So unless you follow the franchises this game features, I suggest you pass on this game.

tl;dr – Super Robot Wars Y is a Turn-Based Strategy-RPG featuring a crossover of characters and mechs from numerous popular anime franchises, such as Gundam and Macross. There’s plenty of fan service for fans of those franchises, but as a Strategy-RPG, this is largely unremarkable fare. And I would argue that unless you’re one of said fans, you have much better options in this genre.

Grade: C

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