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Mr. Nash

March 29, 2006

Good ol' giant robots.  A staple in anime, and possibly the answer to many problems that modern society faces, these massive machines have entrenched themselves in gamers' minds.  This week we look at the best examples in giant robots to grace the world of gaming from the early days to present.

Number 10: Shogo: Mobile Armor Division

While this may have been a first person shooter in giant robot clothing, there was a lot of fun to be had in this game.  The pace was great, the story light, fluffy, and not overbearing, and it was very accessible.  Most people who own Shogo will have plenty of fond memories of this title, thanks to its wonderful pick up and play je ne sais quoi.

Number 9: Tech Romancer

As the Dreamcast hit its stride, there were tons of fighting games being released for it, with everything from Street Fighter to Soul Calibur to SNK titles showing up on the thing.  However, as wonderful as all of this was to fighting game fans, there was this overwhelming deluge of muscular, bad assed characters as far as the eye could see.  Tech Romancer offered a wonderful counterpoint to all of this, showcasing a unique array of giant robots ready for a few rounds of fisticuffs.  Take into account the light-hearted sense of humor in the game, and its impossible not to include Tech Romancer on this list.

Number 8: Super Robot Taisen

Man, for the better part of fifteen years Westerns couldn’t even enjoy this series, as it never left Japan, but what a series Super Robot Taisen has been.  It started out as an interesting giant robot game, and has slowly morphed into a lovefest for fans of a small army of anime franchises.  We’ll be seeing the first two games in the series come out on the GBA later this year, but if you feel like learning Japanese, you may be able to play latter installments with a few years of study.

Number 7: Gundam

The Gundam series was bound to show up on this list sooner or later.  Given that it’s one of the most popular giant robot franchises out there, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that there’s a whole lot of crap out there baring the Gundam name.  Thankfully, there have been some surprisingly decent outings to pop up over the years, helping to ensure this franchise a place on our top 10.

Number 6: Xenogears

You’d be hard pressed to find a game that does a better job of drawing unfettered elitism out of gamers.  Either they’re expounding Xenogears as an epic that brilliantly discusses religion, and human nature, or they’re writing it off as psuedo-intellectual pap.  In either case, it hard to ignore the mark that this game has left on the gaming landscape.  In any event, the robots were pretty darn nifty, and the battle system wasn’t half bad.  Weeeeeee!

Number 5: Zone of the Enders

While the first game in the series was a tad so-so, the second Zone of the Enders was absolutely amazing.  From it’s anime look, to how refined the action was, to a story with a hero that was actually quite interesting, and not whiny like the moron in the first game, it’s not hard to be at least a little infatuated with ZOE 2.  It’s downright criminal, though, how low of a production run this game saw in North America.

Number 4: Virtual On

Twin Sticks, baby!  Twin Sticks!  This alone was good enough reason for some gamers to run out and get this game.  Not only did the Virtual On games have a unique control scheme that made it feel like you were really controlling a mech, but the pace of the game was quick, and the robots memorable.  Now, if only those special Twin Sticks for the home versions of the games weren't so bloody hard to find...

Number 3: MechWarrior

Early on in the series, it was damn hard to find a better giant robot game on the PC.  The sheer ability to customize one’s mech, combined with cool weapons, a decent story, and robots that actually felt large and lumbering was great.  It’s just too bad that this series has fallen on the wayside in favor of Mech Assault in recent years.

Number 2: BattleTech

Back in the 80s this was THE robot game to get.  Forget about all of the other similar titles on the market, if you didn’t have at least one copy of BattleTech somewhere, you might as well have been a leper for all the love you’d get from other gamers.  By today’s standards, the game is pretty archaic, but running around blowing stuff up in a huge war mech was downright novel back then.  The huge BattleTech center that was opened up in Chicago during the late 80s / early 90s is a testament to just how popular this franchise was.  It’s too bad that BattleTech has more or less fallen off the side of the Earth in recent years.

Number 1: Armored Core

For some of the younger gamers out there that don’t realize there were consoles before the PlayStation, Armored Core was probably their introduction into the world of giant robot games.  While other games were busy going for a more arcade feel, Armored Core has always leaned more towards being a simulation.  Building up a robot for speed, or brute force was always fun, and players could chose between doing missions, or beating down their buddies in the arena.  The play modes went a long way toward breathing new life into the realm of mech games.