Gundam Breaker is a game series based on the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. However, unlike most Gundam games, the player isn't piloting Mobile Suits (the in-universe name for the giant robots); instead the player controls "Gunpla" (a portmanteau of Gundam and Plastic Model).
The idea behind the series can be summed up by its tagline: "Break the huge Gundam and customise your own strongest Gundam". The player starts out with a basic machine (usually a variation of the original RX-78-2 Gundam), and fights through various levels against other machines. In the course of the levels, destroying enemies can cause them to drop parts that can be used to customise their own MS, creating any weird and wonderful designs the player can think of. A customisation system allows the player to repaint their MS, or even add decals and emblems hearkening back to various factions and characters from over the series' history.
Series Entries
- Gundam Breaker (ガンダムブレイカー) was released on the PlayStation 3 on June 27, 2013 and then on the Play Station Vita on October 31, 2013. An online cross play component allowed players to share save data between the PlayStation 3 and Vita versions. It was notable for 2 big factors: the fact that it was focused on Gunpla rather than a specific story, and the fact it allowed players to make up their own Mobile Suit via mixing and matching parts of various machines across the Gundam franchise.
- Gundam Breaker 2 (ガンダムブレイカー2) was released on December 18, 2014 on both the PS3 and PS Vita. Aside from improved gameplay, the game included an actual story. Unusually, it played like a fairly typical Gundam story, involving a space-based faction trying to seize control of the Earth Sphere...except everyone is apparently piloting gigantic Gunpla.
- Gundam Breaker 3 (ガンダムブレイカー3) was released in Japan on March 3, 2016 on both the Playstation 4 and Vita. Slightly later in late April an Asian version was released with English subtitles and menus. Later still in 2017, a Break Edition was released that included all DLC. It improved on Gundam Breaker 2 by taking into account complaints, plus including an extremely comprehensive customisation system. This system was further improved with the addition of Builder Parts, option parts that can improve a machine's stats, add on weapons, or be merely cosmetic.
- New Gundam Breaker (New ガンダムブレイカー) released in Japan on June 21, 2018 and elsewhere on the following day for the PS4 and PC via Steam. Set in a Lighter and Softer scenario in which you team up with various heroines to save Gunbre High School from the clutches of its villainous Absurdly Powerful Student Council, this entry is notable for attempting to revolutionize the franchise with a plethora of experimental new mechanics and team-based gameplay.
- Gundam Breaker Mobile (ガンダムブレイカーモバイル) released internationally on July 30, 2019 for iOS and Android devices. It adapts the Gundam Breaker franchise's gameplay to the format of a gacha, bringing a streamlined Gunpla experience to handheld devices with all of the action. The game was shut down on June 5, 2023.
- Gundam Breaker 4 (ガンダムブレイカー4) was announced on February 21, 2024 for a 2024 release on PS4, PlayStation 5, PC via Steam, and Nintendo Switch.
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Series in general
- Ace Custom: All of the named characters pilot distinctive, personalized designs which are associated with them specifically. Many are customized from five or six different sets of parts. If they are heavily based on an existing mobile suit, they will add a suffix to differentiate (such as Will's Hyaku Shiki Jaeger).
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Besides the gigantic Perfect Grade bosses (which are basically giant versions of certain MS like the RX-78-2 Gundam), there are also boss battles against Mobile Armours (which in their own series tend to tower over regular Mobile Suits).
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Misa attempts to invoke this when she first brings the protagonist to the Gunpla shophouse owned by her family. She tells her father, "There's someone I want you to meet," in the tone of voice that suggests she wants to introduce her first ever boyfriend to him...only for her father to cheerfully welcome the protagonist and apologizes for the fact his daughter is such a handful.
- Design-It-Yourself Equipment: Oh yes. Fully half of the gameplay involves fine-tuning your models for combat—tweaking their powers, statistics, and looks to achieve your goals.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: As summed up by the series' Tagline: Break the huge Gundam and customise your own strongest Gundam.
- Featureless Protagonist: The first game didn't really have a protagonist, but the AI player characters still address the player. Both the second and third games have a protagonist that is addressed by other characters, but in 2 the player in never seen outside of their MS while in 3 the visual novel sections are played like they're in first person view.
- Humongous Mecha: Played with in that the player is playing Gunpla rather than actual Mobile Suits. Furthermore, some levels in the games show that the Gunpla are gigantic while others have them scaled like the actual Gunpla they're based on (e.g. fighting on a desk covered with books, fast food cups and so on).
- The Perfect Grade bosses tower over the player's Gunpla, being fully capable of picking them up and throwing them with one hand.
- Limit Break: Awakening. Some battlers are able to tap into a personal reserve of energy and supercharge their Gunpla, increasing damage dealt, reaction speed, or repairing damage. 3 heavily implies that it requires a breathtaking level of determination or passion to activate; those who aren't driven, don't Awaken.
- Merchandise-Driven: Just about all the Gunpla that appear in the games are Gunpla that actually exist, meaning that a player could conceivably go out and buy model kits to create a real life version of their in-game machine.
- Pre-Character Customization Gameplay: It is tradition for the first mission to start with some kind of default Mobile Suit—denying the player customization by virtue of not having picked up any parts to customize with yet, or not being able to access the parts store with all those shiny, high end Gunpla.
Gundam Breaker
The one that started it all.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever:
- The Perfect Grades in this game are the RX-78-2 Gundam (the RX-78-1 Prototype Gundam is a Palette Swap), the Zeta Gundam and the Gundam Mk II (plus a Zeta Gundam in Amuro Ray's colours), the Nu Gundam (and an Nu Gundam in Titan colours), the Unicorn (in both Normal and NT-D Awakened modes), God and Master Gundams (in normal and in Hyper Modes), the Wing Zero Custom (along with an Original Generation black recolour), the Strike, Strike Rouge and Strike Freedom Gundams (plus a recolour of the Strike Freedom in Justice Gundam colours) and the 00 Raiser.
- The Mobile Armours in this game are the Apsalus II, the Shamblo (from Gundam Unicorn), the Gells-Ghe (from SEED) and the Grand Master Gundam (from G Gundam, also the Final Boss).
- No Plot? No Problem!: There's no story at all, just various stages. Several stages have AI players accompanying the player, but despite being voiced they don't do much other than yell out famous quotes.
- Real-Place Background: One level involves a battle with a PG RX-78-2 Gundam outside Diver City in Odaiba. The implication is that the player is fighting the Real-Life Gundam Statue that stands outside the shopping complex. Or rather stood outside, as the real-life statue was replaced by one of the Unicorn Gundam in 2017.
Gundam Breaker 2
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Like in the original game, bosses are split into the gigantic Perfect Grades and Mobile Armors. Some include the Big Zam (here referred to as Byg Zam), the GP-03D Dendrobium Orchis, the Rafflesia (along with the Bugs), the Divinidad, the Alvatore as well as its core machine the Alvaaron, and the Devil Gundam.
- Big Sister Instinct: Sina was very protective of her little sister Lea. To the point that she summoned the player to help protect Lea in her place.
- Cool Ship: The protagonists join forces with Captain Lulu Lutyens and Vice-Captain Maddock Hannigan aboard the Archangel.
- The Dominion (the Archangel's twin) and the Adrastea appear as bosses. The Adrastea doubles as a Cool Bike.
- Defector from Decadence:
- Lea Heisenberg fled after her older sister Sina died because of their father. She spends most of the game fighting against her father's forces.
- Einar Broman switches sides when Veronica Eisenstadt massacres his men using the Bugs, not caring whether the Bugs were attacking friend or foe.
- Forever War: There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason for there to be so much conflict; there just is.
- The Good Captain: Lulu may seem like she's too young and inexperienced to captain a warship, but she does her best. Once she's resolved to a course of action, she's much more confident.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Kalevi dies when he sacrifices himself to protect the Archangel from one of the Divinidads.
- When the Archangel is trying to make its way back into space, it comes under attack from an entire squad of Big Zams firing their main cannons. Fez Thea in her Shining Gundam leaps off the ship and brings one of them down with Shining Finger, then performs Heat End on the fallen Big Zam to destroy the remainder. She doesn't survive the resulting explosion.
- Improbable Age: Lulu at the very least looks like she's way, way too young to be captain of a ship like the Archangel. Her demeanor suggests she's also New Meat. Luckily, her Number Two Maddock is an Old Soldier who acts as the voice of experience, helping to calm her and offering suggestions as the situation warrants.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Both Kalevi and Fez bite it.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: As per the norm in a Gundam story.
- Lea starts out in the Gundam Exia, but later upgrades to the 00-Raiser during the midway point of the story. She later upgrades again to the 00-Qan[T] as her final mech. Shouma is first encountered piloting a Zeta Plus, but later upgrades to Burning Gundam which is the successor to his mentor Fez's Shining Gundam.
- Kalevi starts out in the Wing Gundam but later upgrades to the Wing Gundam Zero. His rival, Einar, is first encountered in the Tallgeese. When encountered later on, Einar has upgraded to the Gundam Epyon, the rival mech to the Wing Zero in Gundam Wing.
- Mythology Gag:
- In Mission 1's boss fight against the GP-03 Dendrobium Orchis, the player must first destroy its I-Field Generator in order to disable its I-Field and make it vulnerable to long range beam weaponry. Then its left weapons container is destroyed. The destruction of these parts mirrors the damage taken by the Dendrobium Orchis in the climax of Gundam 0083. Furthermore, in the cutscene the finishes the battle, the player's MS stabs the Dendrobium in a similar manner as how Amuro Ray stabbed the Big Zam to finish it off.
- The Rafflesia is destroyed by going for the cockpit, though in F91 the deed is done by Seabook blasting Iron Mask point-blank with the F91's VSBR cannons while here Einar stabs Veronica with a huge lance.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Veronica's stupid and petty massacre of Einar's troops leads him to defect and fight alongside the heroes soon afterwards and also results in her death.
- Posthumous Character: Lea's older sister Sina died before the game begins, and was one of the catalysts for her to now oppose her father Walter.
- Sacrificial Lion: Kalevi is a confident veteran soldier, and when he and the other heroes are attacked by a group of Divinidads he immediately recognizes that the Archangel has no Mobile Suits defending it. Sure enough, one Divinidad was on the verge of destroying the Archangel when he arrived. He destroys it at the cost of his own life.
- Shoot the Dangerous Minion: Walter Heisenberg cares nothing for Veronica's death, having grown tired of her petty and spiteful behaviour (in addition to her repeated failures).
- We Hardly Knew Ye: The trio of pilots in Jestas who befriend the protagonist after they crash-land on Earth are all killed before the end of the mission where they're introduced.
- The squad leader is Killed Mid-Sentence while informing them of their mission objective (the Orbital Elevator), the second pilot is killed during the mad dash for the Elevator and uses his last words to urge the others onwards, and the third dies Taking the Bullet for the protagonist.
- Whole-Plot Reference:
- The Divinidad turning out to be mass-produced, and the main villain not caring about his own daughter in pursuit of his goals of destroying/conquering Earth (even being willing to kill her without so much as blinking an eye) are plot points from Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam.
- The villains using the Rafflesia and Bugs to massacre people on a colony (and finding the Bugs more useful than piloted MS because Bugs are automated and have no pesky morality) is lifted right from Mobile Suit Gundam F91.
- Walter using Lea as the living core of the Devil Gundam as part of his Evil Plan (and using a colony as raw material) is pretty much the entire final arc of Mobile Fighter G Gundam where Domon had to rescue Rain from the same fate. The big difference is that Walter is in control of the Devil Gundam, whereas Ulube from G Gundam was basically possessed by the Devil Gundam.
- The twist that the player is actually someone playing a game at a big Gundam expo but whose actions are affecting an actual alternate (or even future) world is similar to Virtual-ON, where all the mechs are controlled by people in the past using games to control them in-universe.
Gundam Breaker 3
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: As before, both the Perfect Grades and Mobile Armors tower over the playable Gunpla.
- Bittersweet Ending: The finale of the final DLC mission has Robota put a stop to Nazirul's plans by disabling the Gundam he hijacked to try and destroy the space station with. However, doing so results in an explosion that causes Robota to be flung out into outer space with no way to track him. As he used up most of his energy in his last attack, his final thoughts are looking towards Earth and calling out for the Protagonist before shutting down. He's later found and reactivated by Info-chan, but she reveals that 30 years have passed since he disappeared. Luckily for Robota however everyone is still alive and waiting to meet him again.
- Canon Name: The protagonist is given the name Takuma Nagitsuji in the Gundam Breaker Battalogue ONA.
- Everyone Has Standards: Misa first meets the protagonist when he's being harassed by the local bully while playing on the Gunpla machine in the local arcade. She points out how pathetic it is said bully is talking so big despite picking on an obvious beginner.
- Implied Love Interest: In the final level Misa has a heart-to-heart with the protagonist (noting how glad she is that she went up and said hello the day they met at the arcade) and begins to ask if they'd like to go do something together after everything is settled. Alas, she is interrupted by her father trying to contact the pair.
- In their appearances in the Gundam Breaker Battalogue, it goes straight up to Ship Tease, with Misa being introduced being annoyed that the protagonist is talking all big about supporting the Ayato Shopping District despite leaving her all alone.
- Justified Tutorial: Tutorials are justified by the player character not being familiar with various systems or rules, especially once they join Misa in participating in Gunpla matches.
- Large Ham: Mr Gundam. This is understandable, considering he's meant to pump up the crowd.
- The Last DJ: Misa's family runs one of the few remaining shops in the shopping area, with many other family-owned stores having closed down (at least partially due to competition from the slick new shopping complex not far away).
- Naïve Newcomer: The player character is apparently new to the area, and also unfamiliar with how Gunpla matches are played.
- Retired Badass: Misa's father and the other notable shop owners were a team of skilled Gunpla fighters back in the day.
- Robot Girl: Info-chan, the robot who welcomes guests to the local arcade.
- Space Elevator: One has been completed and is viewed as being the start of a new future for humanity as a whole.
- Time Skip: The ending of the final DLC mission takes place over 30 years after the events of the base game. Since then, Info-chan reveals humanity has advanced enough to create actual Mobile Suits for commercial use and even created space colonies as well. Robota lampshades how absurd that is.
- The manga has an epilogue taking place one year later, where it's shown that Misa and the protagonist had a child together.
- Tournament Arc: Since winning the Gunpla Cup is the objective of the heroes, they participate in several tournaments.
- Turns Red: The giant Gunpla can become powered up as they take damage.
- In-universe, this is what Awakening does. The Gunpla using it will gain a red glow and greatly enhanced speed, endurance and firepower.
