Best Mecha in Gaming

[Maxim]

Inspired by a conversation I had in the "Anime..." thread. I was curious about what everyone's favorite Mecha/Powered Suits/Giant Robots were in videogames. To better organize this I will pose 3 questions.

What are your top 5 Videogame mechs.
They can be mechs that originated elsewhere as long as their exact model appeared in a game, i/e, I could choose the Buster Gundam, but not the Buster Gundam Verde, because it has never appeared in any games (sadly) I am not 100% sure how to deal with games like Steel Lancers, Armored Core, or Chromehounds where YOU choose the designation for your own Mechs, so just as a temporary rule until someone thinks of something better, if you really feel the need to put your custom mechs in your list, limit yourself to 1 from any game. i/e one of your mechs from Chromehounds, one from Armored Core etc. A mech must be piloted for it to be a mech, otherwise it is just a robot

What are your top 5 Powered Suits.
I wanted to separate these two categories because I feel that they do each deserve their own categories. Powered suits include Samus' vast array of armors or various incarnations of the Spartan Mjolnir armor, things along that line. I am not quite sure if Megaman's armor is considered a power suit because there is no sign of it enhancing his abilities or, in some cases, being anything more than an extension of a robotic body

Who are your top 5 Mech Pilots.
Another section I felt was needed because, where would mechs be without their pilots? For this section, I'd rather avoid pilots that originated elsewhere unless they have a game where you play them as the main pilot, i/e (I don't have a great example for this, but...) plenty of pre-existing pilots appear in Super Robot Wars, but none of them are really a primary character as much as they are just characters taken from elsewhere and put into the game for the sake of being in the game. Again, try not to take too many of your top 5 from the same game, just for the sake of variety

When listing your choices, be sure to clarify what game your choices are from.

[Magenta]

Sunflower will come into this topic and tear me a new anus. Oh boy oh boy.

I'm going to be a horrendous person and combine your questions into one because a mech is only as awesome as it's pilot. You can have the shittiest mech in the universe made cool by an ingenious and badass pilot, and so a fairly decent pilot can be brought to awesomeness by the addition of a fucking badass mech. Hence...

#5: Gundam Double X+G-Falcon (Pilots: Garrod Ran/Tifa Adil/Paula Cis)

Ah, the DX. Even if your acronym does look like a pained face. Anyway! Garrod Ran has always been one of my favourite Gundam protagonists for his inventive and neat uses of weaponry, managing to pull off some fucking crazy shit over the course of Gundam X. Whilst most mecha games haven't quite allowed you the freedom of control to do that kinda stuff, it's the thought that counts.

The Double X brings in three pilots - Garrod, his newtype assistant Tifa and the G-Falcon's pilot Paula. This fairly unique setup for a real robot adds some much-needed team dynamic to what is otherwise considered a fairly stuffy genre, as well as offering gameplay advantages in most of it's appearances - yet alone an absolute ENDLESS reportoire of weapons.

You can't mention the DX without bringing up the Satellite Cannon either. Possibly one of the coolest Real Robot finishers ever, a giant cannon powered using a cross-shaped energy absorber on the mech's back - hence the name Gundam "X" - absorbing power from a microwave beam sent from a facility on the Moon. This is then converted into a blast capable of taking out a small TOWN. Truly a fearsome weapon - and whilst later one-off Gundams would attempt to outdo it with things like the Moonlight Butterfly, X really did break the trend and pull off something seriously awesome.

[spoiler:c062845c76]<object width="480" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SBlGWcB252s&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color 2=0x9461ca&border=1&ap=%2526fmt%3D18"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SBlGWcB252s&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color 2=0x9461ca&border=1&ap=%2526fmt%3D18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="360"></embed></object>[/spoiler:c062845c76]

#4: Zombie Neith (Pilot: Viola)

Viola acts as a recurring antagonist throughout Zone of the Enders, constantly being a thorn in the players side - the very first antagonist shown to you, later resulting in a climactic showdown in a warehouse as you think you're entering the final stretch of the game. She overpowers you, but deus ex machina kicks in and you beat the shit out of her leaving the remains of her mech as you head onwards.

As you and your sister rendevous with the mandatory good guys and plan to get the hell out of Dodge, however, a badly wounded Viola pops up out of nowhere and shoots your sister. Oh great - she's alive, she's capable, and now her mech is running on her sheer fucking rage from being beaten that is somehow causing the SHATTERED FRAGMENTS OF HER ARMS to hang in fucking place. Yes.

An amazing boss fight - the final boss of the game - and what a way to cap it off. Viola is a memorable villain with good characterization and a fucking awesome mech. The sheer style with which they pulled her coming back - bloodied but not beaten, as were - made the wait for Zone of the Enders 2 simply unbearable.

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#3: Ridepod "Steve" (Pilot: Maximillian)

Dark Chronicle - released in America as "Dark Cloud 2" - was a rather overlooked little RPG considering how awesome Dark Cloud was. It was very different, which might have explained it, but it maintained the interesting design aesthetic, light fluffy outside with comparitively deep plot, and general awesome characters. One of the more interesting of these was the Ridepod - dubbed by it's creators as "Steve".

Steve functioned as a weapons platform for the main character, in essence - his own HP and EXP, and fully equippable with various different parts changing his weaponry, movement speed (and STYLE of movement), HP, running time and other factors. What compounded this was almost all the parts you would have to create using the game's invention system - taking photographs of items you find in the world and combining them to form new ideas for objects you could then go and create. Updating Steve and making him utterly broken before you were meant to was one of Dark Chronicle's guilty pleasures.

In addition from turning over the course of the game from a barrel with bowling ball hands to a crazy flying doomcannon machine, you could also get a voice addon for Steve - giving him a personality that'd let him comment on the enemies you were beating up, the areas you were doing it in and the stupid bastard sitting with the controller doing it. It was an awesome experience with all it's many layers, and a personal favourite of mine for it's sheer balls at the time.

And excuse the shitty video.

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#2: Gun Arc & Buster Arc (Pilots: Tak Kepford & Marina Carson)

Yes, I know, I'm cheating kinda badly here by putting the two under one flag, but they're so inseperable. The rivalry between Tak and Marina forms the basis for the original plotline of Another Century's Episode 2 - with Tak and Marina both acting as test pilots for the new line of Arc suits and their powerful satellite weaponry called the Guardian system. In the end, Marina seemingly abandons Tak - but actually taking on the role of Buster Arc's pilot for herself, aiming to play the very dangerous role of acting as the Guardian System's controller for the final strike against the Zentraedi herself. Yada yada, she's good-hearted but shows it by being a total bitch, yada yada.

Tak fights her Buster Arc numerous times throughout the game in his Gun Arc - technically a weaker unit, but your guys having the advantage of numbers. Throughout most of the game you're lucky to even make her break a sweat, and when the final showdown comes about at the end of the game before your last-ditch attempt to stop the Zentraedi it's the most nailbitingly tough fight in the whole game. Both units are by this point very powerful and able to call in immense strikes from the Guardian throughout, and any win you pull off will, without godlike skill, be hard-fought.

In the end she agrees to join you on the basis that her unit despite it's dangers will not be destroyed after all is over - her role with the Guardian System being something she considers too valuable. All works out in the end, and the plot in all honesty is kinda weak, but you still feel a lot for the characters throughout it. Marina somehow manages to be someone you sympathize with despite her dickery, and Tak maintains a strong head throughout. A very enjoyable pair to see in a game.

[spoiler:c062845c76]<object width="480" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/quiH8VGkjHI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color 2=0x9461ca&border=1&ap=%2526fmt%3D18"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/quiH8VGkjHI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color 2=0x9461ca&border=1&ap=%2526fmt%3D18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="360"></embed></object>[/spoiler:c062845c76]

#1: SR-01 SRX Altered Banpreios (Pilots: Ryuusei Date, Raidis F. Branstein, Aya Kobayashi, Mai Kobayashi)

Choosing my favourite Super Robot Wars original is always going to be something of a come-down. There's so many awesome choices, and by deliberately forcing myself to stick to one SRW character in the list I've made it so I'm always going to be leaving out someone awesome, and it took a bit of deliberation to really settle on a choice.

Astranagant? Certainly, Ingram is a very imposing and cool character, and the Astranagant pulled off some fucking cool animation for the PS1, but not enough appearance to really develop a bond with it. Compatible Kaiser, then? Eh, it's upgrade cut out a lot of what made it good but also added some cool new shit - neither would sate me as a choice. Hyperlion? Very nearly made it. But I settled in the end for this bundle of love, the Banpreios.

The SRX team - that's "Super Robot Type-X" for the uninitiated - is pretty much the flagship of Banpresto's Super Robot Wars series as far as original characters go. The various models all have faces shaped like the company's logo, and all fire beams from them that play the company jingle. Harmless self-referencing taken to another level by Banpreios' name, but it's all in good campy fun. The SRX ticks every mandatory super robot demographic. It's a combiner with a rookie carefree main pilot, a mandatory troubled love interest, a cynical and hard-faced veteran with a tragic past. It has swords, giant cannons, energy beams, psychic weaponry, everything one could probably expect a generic super robot to pull off. And what makes it awesome is that it knows it's generic and plays it to an immense strength.

The characterization amongst the team is added to and expanded with every appearance - new characters introduced and new mechs created with each additional game to strengthen their reportoire. From the triple-agent team instructor, Ingram - and his genderswapped clone Viletta, to Raidis' elder brother Elzam' whose theme over-rides any piece of music in the game, or Aya's younger sister who spent 7 years acting as an organic core for a psychic-powered mecha of an enemy invasion fleet. It's all hopelessly predictable but does it all with such panache.

What I love most about mecha are the awesomely cool attacks that make you feel like you're 8 years old again and watching your favourite show. Sure, they sometimes pull off the war drama aspect well, or a love story, but what attracts me to a show that has these aspects is almost always the mecha. If their design is cool, if their attacks are cool, even if their pilots are cool, then that's ENOUGH for me - I don't ask for more, but will happily take it if given. The SRX line strikes all 3 of these in a way that makes me go FUCK YEAH with every new trick they pull off.

The Banpreios takes it to a new level, uniting the auxiliary characters once more into the fold, giving everything a further layer of awesomeness and wrapping it up with a brand new piece of awesome theme music and a level of graphical polish that was simply amazing for the time of Super Robot Wars Alpha 3's release. Whilst this upgrade has yet to make it's way into any other of the SRW timelines, it's only a matter of time. And by then, we'll be able to see it on DS, or PS3, or whichever console they happen to continue down their merry path with.

RYUUSEI GIRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!

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[Chip]

Well the only Mechas i can think of is all The Metal Gears ........they count right?

[pocketmego]

AWESOME TOPIC!!!

I agree that the Metal Gears (ESPECIALLY the ONES IN MGS4) are VERY well designed and fluid in motion.

Mechs have come a long way since the HEIGHT of their popularity, which in my opinion was the late 1980's. They have gotten so streamlined that different designs tend to be more a matter of taste.

See, I don't like most Gundam designs after Gundam Wing, which I consider the high-point in that shows design history.

But, when discussing Mechs in games, it would be a crime not to discuss the various designs from the Mech Warior series of games. I always liked that they went for form and function over stylized features. You knew what every single part on an old MW Mech was for.

-Ray

[Shodan]

Here's my list of my favorate mechs. Sure, there's probibly better, but i don't care, these are the ones I like.

5. Vulture from Battletech. Pretty much the every-man's mech, because it can fit almost any role.


4. L5 Riesig from BF2142. It's slow, but it's dual machineguns chew infantry and light vehicles to peices.


3. Dreadnaught from Warhammer 40k. It has a flamethrower and a claw. Nuff said.


2. Mechagodzilla. It's like godzilla, only a mech. Awesome.


1. Random girl in a mech i found on google. Robots meet boobies.