The very nature of this game means you very well may be spoiled. If that is fine with you, by all means, continue reading.
The year is 2060, one year after the struggle between the Frontier Fleet and the Vajra. S.M.S. pilot Leon Sakaki is confronted by an unknown enemy, shot down from space.
After coming to, he is revealed to have been rescued by fellow S.M.S. pilot Aisha Blanchette, who is currently investigating the mysterious planet Ouroboros. The two soon come across a mysterious girl by the name of Mina Forte, who seems to have lost her memory. Meanwhile, a man named Ushio Todo, of the special N.U.N.S. team, "Havamal", has his own plans involving the planet.
All the while, various people across history are also being dragged across time to this location.
Released on the PS3 on Febuary 28, 2013, with fully-voiced cutscenes. Events and characters are included in Super Robot Wars BX.
Provides Examples Of:
- Ace Custom: A significant portion of the hangar spots are dedicated to these, each of which usually offer some advantage over the stock models. In addition, each wingman comes with their own.
- Ace Pilot: The majority from the series show up in some way or form. Roy Focker is noticeable in his absence.
- Action Girl: Kind of happens when a lot of your female cast are ace pilots. Even Mina can get in on it when she gets her VF-11C.
- Alien Sky: There are a number of extremely large moons, some with their own ring systems, in very close orbit to Ouroboros. While it does make for some stunning views, Aisha Lampshades that moons in that orbital position should be causing gravity anomalies making the planet unlivable, and yet, for some reason, they aren't. It's implied to be related to the space-time warping Ouroboros Aura phenomenon.
- Ambiguous Robot: The Dyaus Guardians. They launch missiles, use in-built cannons, and are programmed to defend Protoculture ruins. They also move like living things and are "born" from eggs laid by a Mother Dyaus.
- Arc Number:
30, of course. For example, Leon's own Original Generation craft as his Ace Custom, the YF-30 Chronos. - Attack Drone: Both Luca's RVF-25/RVF-171EX and the VF-27 Gamma (with Super Pack) can summon a trio of Ghost Drones for a limited time.
- Beach Episode: Leon convinces Aisha to take a breather from playing catchup with the badguys and take advantage of a local desert oasis.
- Big Bad: Ushio Todo.
- Big Good: Aisha Blanchette. Very, very much so.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: According the official site, the crews of of the Macross 7 and Macross Quarter are being put under this thanks to Sharon Apple. Likewise, hostile Vajra on the planet are revealed to have mind-controlling Implants, similar to what was seen in the Frontier movies. Some missions even involve defending non-Implanted Vajra from vengeful inhabitants who didn't get that memo.
- Broad Strokes:
- Quamzin has his TV series character design and personality, but all craft seen are from the DYRL continuity (most noticeable with the Nousjadeul-Ger and Striker Packs for the Valkyries). Minmei also has her DYRL outfit and sings "Do You Remember Love?", a movie-exclusive song.
- Isamu, Guld, and Myung from Macross Plus seem to have resolved their tangled backstory and are friends once more. However, in the show this happened mere minutes before Guld's death, yet here he is alive and well. Further, Sharon Apple has her mind-control powers, but still needs Myung to supply her emotions.
- All over the place with Frontier. Movie-only elements like Implants and Brera being Sheryl's bodyguard are mentioned, and Grace appears to have her softer movie personality rather than her more evil and calculating series personality. Movie-exclusive YF-29's also feature prominently. However, Brera acts closer to his series incarnation, and the Love Triangle between Alto, Sheryl, and Ranka does not appear to have been resolved.
- Crisis Crossover: Macross characters from all over the series band together to stop the new threat.
- David vs. Goliath: Leon's group vs the Macross Quarter. He even complains that there's not much a trio of Valkyries can realistically do against a battleship. In-game, however, the player is perfectly capable of killing battleships if they shoot them enough.
- Eldritch Abomination: Yurva Arga. It is massive, winged, and has eyes seemingly everywhere on its body. Its main power is the ability to warp space and time like silly putty, and is fought in a bizarre otherworldly dimension implied to be of its own creation. Also it shoots eyeball missiles.
- Enemy Mine: Shin Kudo is working alongside his old foes Nora and D.D. here, for some reason. Likewise, Grace, Brera, and Guld are assisting Havamal for their own objectives.
- Famed In-Story: Basically everyone who is not an Original Generation character. Justified in that the reason they are there is because they played pivotal roles in the series history. Minmei, Misa, and Hikaru arguably get this the most.
- Floating Continent: There are a large number of flying rock formations on Ouroboros. What's causing this isn't explained, but implied to be connected to the ruins and the Ouroboros Aura.
- Forgotten Friend, New Foe: It's mentioned Havamal pilot Rod Baltmar was Childhood Friends with Leon, who is, obviously, on opposing sides with him now.
- High-Speed Missile Dodge: Necessity considering how the Itano Circus is in full swing.
- I Have Your Wife: Or "I have your Love Interest", anyway. Havamal tries to pull this on Guld after he defects, pointing out that they still have Myung in their custody. Guld points out that she's integral to their plans so they're not about to do anything to harm her. There's a definite undertone of "and if she is hurt I will make you suffer" present in his voice when he says this, though.
- Lightning Bruiser: Most of the high end craft fall under this territory, especially if they are intended as bosses. The X-9 Ghost takes this to an extreme.
- Living MacGuffin: The "utahimes", or the girls with the ability to use Song Energy to power the ruins. Most of the story is centered around finding them and getting them to the right ruin.
- Love Triangle: It's Macross, there's going to be a love triangle. In addition to the already established triangles among the series' characters, original character Leon is in one with Mina and Aisha. It's somewhat downplayed though and rather unimportant to the story. The player's actions in the final battle will actually affect which girl Leon ends up with, and you can actually get an ending where he leaves with BOTH girls if you rescue them quick enough.
- Magikarp Power: Wingmen who pilot some of the older craft start out with lower stats, but have large tuning point limits which allow them to have stats on par with Macross 7 era craft.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The vast majority of the mecha are capable of doing this in some way or form.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Pretty much half the point of the game, and then it goes recursive when it appears in Super Robot Wars BX.
- Mecha Expansion Pack: Another Macross Staple. Most craft have them while the VF-1 and VF-25 have three different packs each.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Of course there's Leon's YF-30 Chronos, but some of the other characters get their own in-season upgrades as well, such as Alto's YF-29 and Gamlin's VF-22, and some characters even get unique upgrades of their own, such as Isamu Dyson and Ozma Lee getting their own customized YF-29s.
- Mildly Military: The SMS is rather lax in military protocol to begin with, and Aisha's not exactly a by-the-book CO.
- More Dakka: The YF-21/VF-22 do this by Dual Wielding its gunpods Gangsta Style. Some special attacks combine this with a Macross Missile Massacre.
- Oh, Crap!: When Mina finally remembers just what the Ouroboros ruins were built to contain: one of the Ehvil Series, the same type of creature the Protodeviln used as hosts, this is Aisha's response.
- Original Generation: All of the original characters and craft of course. The Mascot Mecha here is the YF-30 Chronos.
- Ouroboros: The name of the planet the game takes place on. Turns out to be prophetic, given all the timestream weirdness occurring.
- The Power of Rock: Needless to say this is a gameplay and story element, especially with the Fire Bomber mechs.
- Rock Beats Laser:
- A particularly egregious example is a quest where the player must take on a YF-29, the current most advanced fighter, when all they have access to is the VF-0 which was built with conventional jet fuel engines as opposed to the thermonuclear turbines which were standard on the VF-1. This is the equivalent of a WW2 piston fighter taking down a modern fighter.
- Characters from further back in the timeline get this as well. Hikaru Ichijo has his VF-1S, Shin Kudo has his VF-0A, and Nora Polyansky and DD Ivanov have their SV-51's, yet they are all able to keep up with and present a serious threat to people with machines fifty years more advanced. (Mylene's VF-1J may or may not count: it's a replica built with modern parts.)
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Location names tend to be taken from Norse Mythology. Fitting considering how Valkyries are important to the setting.
- Scenery Porn: The surface of Ouroboros looks spectacular, aided by such things as multiple large moons, some with rings, and a large number of inexplicably floating islands. Even the Sierra desert, one of the plainer areas, has some gorgeous rock formations. Lampshaded in-game, as Aisha states that part of the reason all the cities are mostly underground is to avoid spoiling the landscape.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Yurva Arga, a leftover Ehvil Series that did not get possessed by the Protodeviln, is what the Ouroboros Ruins are keeping under wraps. It isn't known to be evil itself, but given its power everyone agrees that letting it get unsealed would be a bad thing, even without Havamal trying to take control of it.
- Squee: Happens quite a bit. Mina does this when she meets Sheryl Nome and Mylene in short order. Sheryl herself does this when she finally meets Sara and Mao Nome. Mao squees right back, while Sara is more subdued.
- Super Prototype: Played with. The endgame variable fighters, YF-29 and YF-30, are limited production or experimental craft which are a cut above the other models. However, in previous craft production models generally outperform their prototypes so this trope will probably be averted if the production models roll around.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Can be triggered on demand if you have a singer in a support slot. Their songs usually grant a buff that can swing things in your favor. Especially pronounced in the Final Battle, with every singer belting out their most famous songs as you lay the smackdown on the Final Boss.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Quamzin. He shows up with a bunch of minions, lots of missiles, and a ship that can limit your mobility if you are not careful. He's also one of the earliest enemies to pull out a devastating special.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Todo tries to paint himself this was, saying that his goal is to undo Earth's destruction by the Zentraedi, which was the single largest loss of life in recorded human history. Leon retorts that while Earth's devastation was a very sad event, undoing that would also undo everything good that has happened since, particularly the cooperative alliance between humanity and the Zentraedi that has built a mostly peaceful and successful interstellar society. Also the fact that Todo's using brainwashing, harming the people of Ouroboros, and planning on wholesale slaughter of the Zentraedi kind of invalidates any claims of moral standing he has.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Macross itself makes a split-second, not easily visible appearance at the end of Chapter 6... and then never actually appears in-game. It's still on Ouroboros, since Misa's support skill involves a blast from the Macross Cannon from over the horizon, but why does it never take part in the battles? Sure would have been nice to have its firepower against some of those late-game foes.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The entire ending act is basically the rescue of Brunhildr by Sigurd Recycled In Space. Leon's Callsign "Siegfried 1" is a variation of Sigurd. Ushio Todo with his single eye piece is a stand in for Odin. Mina and Aisha both fulfill the role of Brunhildr as shield maidens who ride with Valkyries trapped in an insurmountable barrier.
- World Tree: One enormous tree exists in the Yulia Archipelago, for no apparent reason except as a shout out to Yggdrasil. It is in fact called "the world tree" in-game, but isn't important to the plot except as a landmark.
