Characters / Tech Romancer

Characters who appear in the mecha fighting game Tech Romancer.

Armor Knight G (Grand) Kaiser a.k.a. Kikaioh

A Mazinger Z Shout-Out, meaning it comes with a paired Rocket Punch, a Chest Blaster, and a navel-launched bomb. Its Final Attack involves a BFS and a lot of spinning. Known as Kikaioh in Japan, thus the title character of the series. Piloted by the Hot-Blooded Junpei Todoroki (voiced by Koichi Tochika)

• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Saori. They bicker, but she's clearly his love interest through and through.
• Breakout Character: While still by no means well known, G. Kaiser is the only unit introduced in the game to appear in pretty much anything else.
• Captain Ersatz: Clearly based on Mazinger, with his English name making the connection even more obvious (a shout out to Mazinkaiser). This makes Junpei an ersatz version of Koji Kabuto, what with being a hot-blooded teen piloting the mecha built by his grandfather and all.
• Falling into the Cockpit: Junpei didn't intend on becoming K. Kaiser's pilot and being Earth's greatest champion, it just sort of happened.
• Hot-Blooded: Junpei is incredibly hot blooded, he'd fit in in a super robot show, of course.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Junpei can be very rash and prone to tempered outbursts when provoked, but he does have a good heart and truly seeks to protect both his family and friends.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Shadow Red is his father in most routes. Depending on the route, he's either a Trickster Mentor or Brainwashed and Crazy.
• Pointless Band-Aid: Junpei apparently has one on the bridge of his nose.
• Super Robot Genre: Junpei and G. Kaiser take clear inspiration from the genre, in terms of design, attitude, and, well, everything.
• Unwanted Harem: Junpei unintentionally gets one from within Pollin's Bolon Route A scenario, with the members themselves being:
  • Magical Girl: Pollin
  • Superhero: Reika
  • Human Aliens: Kei
  • Ridiculously Human Robot: Yale

The Messenger of Beauty and Justice Diana-17

The sole Fem Bot in a field awash with Real Robots, giant aliens, and Super Prototypes. It's fast, equally comfortable fighting on the ground or in mid-air, and can hurl a very damaging Energy Ball to finish its nasty ground to air or air to air combos. Bonus points for its control system and the combat suit of its pilot Reika Amamiya (voiced by Michiko Neya), which seem to be a nod to G Gundam.

• Fembot: Diana-17 is the most overtly feminine mecha in the game, down to heart shaped attacks and beam ribbons.
• Fragile Speedster: Very fast, has a Double Jump, but relatively light armor and weak attacks.
• Motion-Capture Mecha: Diana-17's control system is a reference to The Mobile Trace System from Mobile Fighter G Gundam.
• Large Ham: "The messenger of beauty and love, Diana 17!"
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Reika's Diana-17 Route A scenario involves this with the members being:
  • The Leader: Reika herself (Diana-17)
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Nakato (Dixen)
  • Hot-Blooded: Junpei (G. Kaiser)
  • Tagalong Kid: The Yumeno siblings (Twinzam V)
• Shout-Out: Diana-17 is based on an obscure mecha, ARIEL. The mecha's design/weapons, pilot and control system are references to G Gundam. It's Story Mode Route A seems to take inspiration from Super Robot Wars where she gathers a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits to help her fight Goldibus.
• Super Robot Genre: She's a messenger of beauty and love! Of course Diana 17 falls into the Super Robot Genre rather than the more grounded Real Robot Genre.

Magical Patched Robot Bolon

It's the kind of giant robot you'd least expect a Magical Girl to pilot. Possibly based on the Boss Borot from Mazinger Z, this robot appears to be cobbled together from a water tank (torso), a power shovel (right arm), a wrecking ball (left arm), a boat and what appears to be a bus (feet), and a house for the head, among other things. The odd assortment of parts doesn't detract from its ability to fight, though. Piloted by the Magical Girl Polliam "Pollin" de Pollinten (voiced by Satomi Koorogi), who has a huge crush on Junpei, and is perfectly willing to fight the other female pilots over him... whether they're interested in him or not.

• Becoming the Mask: In Pollin's Bolon Route A scenario, it's revealed near the end of the route that Pollin was sent by her father, Goldibus to distract Junpei and the others so that his forces could easily invade Earth with little to no resistance. However, Pollin confesses to Goldibus that she had truly fell in love with Junpei and because of this, she sides with Junpei and the others against her father.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: In her storyline, she clings to Junpei like glue. Somewhat subverted in she doesn't actually seem worried about other women vying for Junpei's affection.
• Fighting Clown: Bolon's design and weapons are extremely silly and it has a freaking boat for a foot. Still perfectly deadly, though.
• Giant Scrap Robot: Being based off of the original Boss Borot…
• Magical Girl: Pollin's motif. She even has a "young" and "teenage" form via her sizeshifting magical powers.
• The Reveal: In several routes, Pollin is in fact Goldibus' daughter.
• Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Much to Junpei's dismay, Pollin has loudly and repeatedly declared herself his girlfriend. She sticks to him like blue, but she's not a Clingy Jealous Girl since she has no fear of any other girl taking Junpei. Including his actual girlfriend, Saori who doesn't take kindly to this strange girl calling Junpei her lover.

Strategic Variable Fighter Rafaga

A Macross Variable Fighter in all but name. Armed primarily in its humanoid form with a beam rifle that doubles as a club, missiles, and a punching super move that sinks its fist deep into an enemy's torso, it can optionally equip 2 shoulder-mounted energy weapons and a heavy projectile cannon. Its alt forms give it 2 extra supers: bombs from above and a multi-hit tackle. Rafaga's main pilot character is Simon Harvard (a Composite Expy of Roy Focker and Max Jenius, voiced by Takehito Koyasu), although Simon's wingwoman Amuritta (Expy of Claudia La Salle, voiced by Rica Matsumoto) is available as a secret character.

• Captain Ersatz: It's a Valkyrie from Macross, with its modes, transformation, and attacks being blatantly lifted from the series.
• Ladykiller in Love: Simon is shown to be The Casanova (or at least a Casanova Wannabe), but he falls hard for Yale.
• Official Kiss: Simon and Yale in Simon's Rafaga Route A ending.
• Real Robot Genre: The Rafaga is a piece of (extremely advanced) military hardware and Simon is a soldier, putting them firmly into the Real Robot Genre, even if they face otherworldly threats (unlike Nakoto's Dixen whose storyline is entirely Earth-based).
• Transforming Mecha: Has three modes, a humanoid mode, a jet form, and a GERWALK-style form in between that's maneuverable but doesn't have the robot mode's attack capabilities.

Super Defense Armour Dixen

A mixed Gundam Shout-Out, it has a Laser Blade, a beam rifle, bazooka, shield, a shoulder-mounted BFG, and remote-controlled beam cannons. A certain power up allows Dixen to pelt the enemy with homing lasers. Can be piloted by either Nakato Farland (voiced by Shigeru Nakahara), whose story is a Gundam pastiche, or by Halma Frockheart (voiced by Yoshino Takamori), whose storyline is more like the mix of Gunbuster and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. A variant piloted by Shadow Red is available as a secret character.

• Attack Drone: Like the Nu Gundam, it has funnels that can be used for attacking or creating a beam barrier.
• Captain Ersatz: Dixen itself is an Ersatz Gundam, and looks like it's straight from any given Gundam series and most of its weapons are direct lifts of various Gundams' armaments. Nakato is an ersatz of Amuro Ray.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Nakato's storyline sees him attempt to be a normal soldier despite his lineage.
• No Final Boss for You: Nakato is the only one who never has to face Goldibus in his Story Mode.
• Real Robot Genre: As a result of being a Gundam-clone, both Nakato and Halma's storylines are chock full of Real Robot tropes.
• Shout-Out: On top of Dixen and Natako being refugees from the Gundam metaverse, Dixen's Final Attack ends with a recreation of Mobile Suit Gundam's famous "Last Shooting," the final shot ever taken by the original Gundam.
• Super Prototype: The variant "Dixen Experimental" piloted by Shadow Red is the Super Prototype to the Dixen. Gameplay-wise it's more or less the same, but In-Universe it's explained to be superior. It's basically the Gundam to Dixen's GM, a fact made apparent by it having two eyes like a Gundam while Dixen has a visor like a GM.

Fighting Force Pulsion

What's an Ultraman clone doing in a Humongous Mecha fighting game? Proving to players that you don't need to be mechanical to kick robot ass, that's what. Armed with punches, kicks, energy rays, and the ability to ignore the laws of physics, Pulsion manages to Shout-Out to Neon Genesis Evangelion as well, with its possible arsenal of double-bladed sword, thrown lance, and a combat knife. Let's add the fact that it can go all out in a bestial manner... Pulsion's civilian identity is either the male human alien Kai Kaines (voiced by Takehito Koyasu) or the female human alien Kei Keirum (voiced by Miki Nagasawa). A variant called Dark Pulsion, controlled by an evil Kai, is available as a secret character.

• Captain Ersatz: Pulsion's storyline and attacks are blatantly cloned from Ultraman, including identical poses for flight, attacks, and a similar transformation.
• Human Aliens: Both Kai and Kei are identical to humans and live amongst the human population.
• Henshin Hero: Being an Ultraman expy, Kai and Kei can transform into their Pulsion form.
• Shout-Out: Despite being essentially Ultraman, Pulsion's weapons and bestial Super Mode are actually inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Phantasm Unit Twinzam V

Getter Robo minus the tracked, heavily armored, underwater combat form. To make up for it, it is given 3 super moves, one for its Fire Formation, another for its Plasma Formation, and one that acts as its Transformation Sequence. That's right, it changes tactics and weapons to the tune of a damaging Pillar of Light. It has two different finishing moves, one of them a Shout-Out to Voltes V and the other one possibly to Combattler V. Piloted by the Yumeno siblings, Daichi Yumeno (voiced by Rica Matsumoto) and Sora Yumeno (voiced by Mayumi Iizuka).

• All Just a Dream: In their campaign, Twinzam and their adventures are a dream the kids are having.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In Reika's Diana-17 Route A scenario, the sibling are being brainwashed into destroying things.
• Dope Slap: While not seen on-screen, it's heavily implied via a sound effect that after Bolon's fight against Twinzam V from within Pollin's Bolon Route A scenario, Sora does this to Daichi after the latter makes a witty comment about the entire situation.
• Expy: Daichi and Sora are basically Ash and Misty (Satoshi and Kasumi in Japanese) from Pokemon, right down to having the same Japanese seiyuu.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Daichi is a hot-headed boy while his sister Sora is cool-headed and calm. It's no accident that their color schemes (both in costume and mecha) match these colors.
• Shout-Out: Twinzam V is essentially Getter Robo minus Getter 3: it's a combination of jets that have multiple forms, and said forms' weapons correspond to the weapons of the various Getter forms.
• Super Robot Genre: As a Captain Ersatz of the Getter Robo (and like most robots piloted by yelling children), the Twinzam V is firmly on the "super robot" side of things.
• This Is a Drill: The Plasma Formation's primary weapon are a pair of drills that pop out of its wrists. This homages Getter 2's own drills.

Heavy Armour Tank Wise Duck

While this mecha looks to be inspired by western mecha as seen from MechWarrior and Metal Gear, Word of God states that this tank with arms and legs is a nod to the HWR-00-Mk. II "MAC-II / Monster" Destroid from Macross. It is equipped with a claw on one hand, a pile bunker/BFG in the other, missile launchers on its shoulders and more on its back, and a three-barrelled autocannon mounted between the legs. It can lay mines, equip flamethrowers and artillery, keep an enemy at bay with ranged attacks or lay down a punishing barrage of melee attacks. The one thing it can't do is jump. The Wise Duck is piloted by a crew of five: Sergeant Gonzales (Commander, voiced by Daisuke Gōri), Arvin Clauford (Combat, voiced by Shigeru Nakahara), Ricky (Gunner, voiced by Koichi Tochika), Thomas (Pilot, voiced by Takehito Koyasu), and Herman (Sonar/Communications, voiced by Shūichi Ikeda). A variant (complete with Zeon-style commander's antenna) piloted by Shadow Red is available as a secret character.

• Bittersweet Ending: One of Wise Duck's endings sees an elderly Arvin returning to Wise Duck's rusted out remains. The war was won, but the rest of the crew has since passed away and no one knows why Goldibus attacked. That's the happy ending.
• Downer Ending: The Wise Duck crew has two possible endings. One is a Bittersweet Ending at best. The other ending reveals Arvin was shot and killed for insubordination early on, and most of the campaign was a Dying Dream. The saddest part is he was killed because he refused to kill an innocent village girl... which was actually a Secret Test of Character since the crew wasn't going to hurt her anyway.
• Genre Shift: While the game is all over the place genre-wise, Wise Duck's War Is Hell campaign is noticeably darker than any other in the game.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: There's a red Wise Duck variant that is ostensibly a Commander version. It can even jump!
• Macross Missile Massacre: Will spam missiles just as much as it spams every other form of ordinance.
• Mighty Glacier: The Wise Duck is slow, ponderous, heavily armored, and heavily armed. It's the only mecha in the game that can't jump.
• More Dakka: And more missiles, and more mines, and more explosives... basically, Wise Duck exists to put a LOT of ammunition in the air.
• Real Robot Genre: Likely the realest robot in the game, it's a piece of military hardware operated by a crew of men (more like a tank than a jet fighter) and slow, ponderous, and cannot jump.
• War Is Hell: Wise Duck's story mode is mostly concerned with how tragic and terrible war is.

Maryou Shogun Gourai

Your basic Ace Custom mecha for The Dragon: blood-red, BFS, and the fact that it holds a strong assortment of sub-weapons and brutal fighting techniques. Piloted by the masked Shadow Red (voiced by Shūichi Ikeda), whose real identity is Mamoru Todoroki.

• Brainwashed and Crazy: In some routes, he doesn't know who he truly is and serves Goldibus only because he has been fully brainwashed.
• Everything's Better with Samurai: Shadow Red and Gourai are both stylized with a samurai aesthetic. This is entirely superficial as Shadow Red has no bushido code or anything, but looks the part nonetheless.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Shadow Red is... well, red and most of his units are as well. And he's generally the most dangerous opponent other than Goldbus himself.

Variant Armor Blodia II Custom

The only secret character that's not a Palette Swap, this Guest Fighter comes from Capcom's Armored Warriors/Powered Gear and Cyberbots games. Piloted by Jin Saotome (voiced by Yuji Ueda), whom most western gamers may recognize from Marvel vs. Capcom.

• Calling Your Attacks: Jin screams out most of his attacks. "BLODIA KIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!"
• Guest Fighter: Jin and Blodia come from another franchise (and incidentally the only character in the game to appear in a later Capcom game), and don't have a story mode.
• Hot-Blooded: More like Hot-Blodiaed! In seriousness, he's a screaming warrior who charges in with his custom mecha. Since he has no story mode, his characterization is more-or-less limited to "Hot-Blooded."

Gamda

A one-eyed yellow brick castle-like golem. (In)famous for its sweeping Eye Beams, and the fact that its basic melee attacks hurt a lot. Piloted by the Egyptian-themed alien Arekshim (voiced by Ryūsei Nakao).

• Amazing Technicolor Population: The only indication Arekshim isn't human is his green skin
• Ancient Egypt: Gamda and Arekshim are both themed around ancient Egypt, with Gamda looking for all the world like it was built out of pyramid stones.
• Mighty Glacier: Slow, ponderous, hits like a tank, and doesn't have armor to break.
• Stripperiffic: Arekshim's appearance consists of nothing more than a gold thong, a pair of gold bracelets on his wrists and ankles, and a big gold Egyptian-esque hat. That's quite an outfit, there.

Quvearl

A huge, floating weapon of obviously alien origins. Piloted by the android girl Yale (voiced by Yoshino Takamori).

• Official Kiss: Simon and Yale in Simon's Rafaga Route A ending.
• Robosexual: Yale's relationship with Simon.
• Robot Girl: Yale, the pilot of the Quverarl, is a girl-shaped android.
• Theme Naming: Yale is the love interest to Simon Harvard, two American colleges known for having a major rivalry.

Goldibus (voiced by Chikao Ohtsuka)

The Big Bad of most of the characters' Story Modes. That's right, not the mecha piloted by the Big Bad — the Big Bad.

• Belly Mouth: His second form reveals his entire torso is a head, with a cavernous maw.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: A gigantic, teleporting, transforming other-dimensional thing and... can also apparently have a daughter who looks like a normal human girl (albeit one who can transform from a little girl to a teenager at will.
• Gender Reveal: In one of Polin's routes, it's revealed that Goldibus is, in fact, Polin's mother. Note that this likely doesn't ring true for any other route, since Goldibus is otherwise referred to as male.
• Heel–Face Turn: In one route, specifically Pollin's Bolon Route A ending, Goldibus reforms and decides to befriend Junpei and company, valuing his daughter's happiness over world domination.
• Power Gives You Wings: Goldbus' second form, in addition to being much more powerful, grows a pair of very wicked looking wings.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: His second form goes from being mostly white to being black with red highlights.
• Sizeshifter: Goldibus seems to have this special technique, given the fact that in Pollin's Bolon Route A ending, he's able to talk and speak to Junpei in his home while being in normal human size. When fighting, he can easily grow and become the same huge size as the mecha robots themselves.
• SNK Boss: Okay, the teleporting is kind of tough. But other than that, he's not tha- wait, what's this? He has a second form, effectively doubling his healthbar while the player doesn't get any healing? And this form has a new attack that can do half a lifebar of damage? Oh.
• Teleport Spam: One of his favored tactics. He can teleport all over the place