Shin Super Robot Wars is the first
Super Robot Wars title released on the
PlayStation. In a similar vein to
Masou Kishin: The Lord of Elemental, the game eschews the
Super-Deformed formula from previous
SRWs and renders the
Humongous Mecha into full-sized. Although
Shin is largely forgotten, the protagonists and their
Combining Mecha "SRX" (
Super
Robot Type-
X), not to mention their antagonists, the Balmar Empire, would be a precursor to the overarching storyline present in the later
Super Robot Wars Alpha series.
Shin Super Robot Wars provides the following series (debuts are highlighted in bold):
Shin Super Robot Wars contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Heroism: In his home series, Fonse Kagatie is a Hate Sink who aims to Take Over the World no matter how many he must kill or, as demonstrated by the creation of Angel Halo, mentally cripple for it. Here, he is defeated and imprisoned offscreen thanks to an alien attack and Tassilo's treachery. When the heroes rescue him and explain that Zanscare is still active, he realizes Char took control and, increasingly panicked, tells the party they must stop Char before he achieves his misguided goal of robbing all mankind of its emotions, creating obedient soldiers as the aliens want.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: When the Devil Gundam returns as the True Final Boss, it becomes much stronger even though it requires an unwilling female pilot in order to reach its full strength.
- Adapted Out: The other Shuffle Alliance members and the other Gundam Wing pilots don't show up in Shin. This is odd, as the Shuffle Alliance's evil counterparts, the four heavenly kings are in Shin. Also, Gundam Epyon and Wing Zero don't show up.
- Ancient Astronauts/One Myth to Explain Them All: In the back story of Shin, a certain race fled their homeworld under the threat of the Ze Balmary Empire. Split into different factions with different leaders, they attempted to flee. One group fell beneath Balmar's shadow, while another fled to the safety of the Dug. Finally, one staked their lives on traveling to an unknown, distant region of space. This faction formed the Mu culture.
- Animal Motifs: In Shin, Aya Kobayashi is a natural enemy to Ryusei Date - a cat to a mouse. Aya figures that if she's a cat, she should at least be a Persian.
- Animate Dead: The Devil Gundam can use its nanomachines to reanimate corpses, turning them into zombies to pilot the Death Army mobile suits.
- Anticlimax: After the final scenario, Ryusei speaks for all when he hopes that this really is the end, and you're not going to hear the beep of another message calling you to battle. You do hear a beeping, but it's just Watta Takeo's watch reminding him it's teatime. Ryusei gives him a mostly good-natured hit on the head, which Watta's butler responds to in kind.
- Anti-Frustration Features: The seishin search menu, first added in SRW Gaiden, now lets you select multiple pilots with the same seishin and activate them all at once. This is a big improvement over past SRW games where you could only activate one seishin at a time.
- Armor Is Useless: Shin places a heavier emphasis on dodging capability, thus armor-related parts are useless because they reduce maneuverability.
- Ascended Fanboy: Ryusei is a Humongous Mecha otaku who pilots the machines he's admired so much.
- Atlantis: Mu.
- Attack Drones: Funnels and fin funnels. The R-3 Powered's Strike Shields are notable in that they are entirely unarmed, with no guns or blades to speak of. They're just giant blunt bits of metal that Aya psychically smashes into enemy units.
- The Atoner: Prince Heinel, available as a Secret Character
- Awesome, yet Impractical: The SRX's engine can only last for three minutes until it threatens to melt down. For Gameplay and Story Integration, this means the SRX can only stay combined for three turns, and once the pilots separate their units again, they won't be able to recombine that battle.
- Back from the Dead: Schwartz Bruder reappears in the final scenario leading to the True Final Boss. Given he's just a copy of Kyouji Kasshu, along with his memories as a Cyborg, it's not implausible he could reappear.
- BFS: SRX's Z.O Sword, Voltes V's Tenkuuken and Dancouga's Dankuuken
- Big Bad: Commander Laodecia Judecca Gozzo
- Bootstrapped Leitmotif: "Psychic Energy" was originally a map-based BGM in Shin. It became Aya's Leitmotif in later SRWs.
- Brick Joke: Boss is about the only one whose machine wasn't handed down by the family, but Kouji observes that the Boss Borot is mainly just in the way. Boss takes offense at this, but with his lackeys in tow, he plans to one day build the Boss Borot into something great. Later on in Shin, Mucha shows up piloting the Borot, claiming he's taken it without telling Boss, entitled by all the hard work he put in. He's not too worried about reprisals from Boss, who is unlikely to be able to follow all the way to space, and has even installed a MAP-based weapon. It also turns out the Boss Borot's new attack, though powerful, is nearly impossible to hit anything.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: during his introduction in scenario 5, Ryusei quickly establishes himself as some kind of crazed super robot otaku, and Prof. Hamaguchi confides to Akira that as a pilot, Ryusei is first rate.
- Calling Your Attacks: Although just about everyone does it, Ryusei has a particular joy for doing this, even when simply letting off a couple shots in a real robot, to the point where he initially gets some funny looks from allied characters.
- Came Back Wrong: After the final scenario, Kouji is disgusted the Devil Gundam would revive the dead as zombies, and the psychological effect of doing so is plainly visible on Eiji, as he remembers Ahmos Gale.
- Captain Ersatz: Each of the "R-Units" of the SRX are one to a Universal Century mobile suit - R-1 to the Zeta Gundam, R-2 Powered to the Guncannon and R-3 to the GP-03 Dendrobium Stamen, especially when you compare the R-3 Powered to the Dendrobium Orchis. Additionally, the R-Units and the SRX are done by famed Gundam mechanical designer Hajime Katoki.
- Characterization Marches On:
- Ryusei is a bigger jerk in Shin. Almost all his lines when an enemy misses are basically "wow, give up already loser". In fact, they used Shin!Ryusei's personality for Tenzan Nakajima in the OG series to show off how bad Ryusei could've been if he focused too much on video games.
- Ryusei and Rai never stop being colossal jerks to each other in Shin. In later games, the writers tone done the vitriol Rai and Ryusei have towards each other.
- Chest Blaster: Mazinger Z's Breast Fire and Gaiking's Hydro Blazer
- Chick Magnet: In the scene where the Londo Bell meets Ryusei during the Space Route in Shin, he manages to make Kouji Kabuto jealous of Sayaka Yumi for once instead of the reverse.
- Combining Mecha: SRX, Shin Getter Robo and Dancougar
- Comically Serious: Even during humorous scenes, Rai keeps up his stoic disposition.
- Cruel Mercy: According to Ryusei in a Yonkoma, this trope is the reason behind the "Mercy" Spirit Command note If the pilot's skill stat is higher than the enemy pilot's skill stat by a certain number of points, the enemy unit will not be destroyed if HP hits zero; instead, render HP to 10 in SRW.
- Damsel in Distress: Professor Eri Anzai is kidnapped by Ze Balmary Empire to locate the Mu, using her vast knowledge of ancient history.
- Demoted to Extra: Shin Getter Robo, Dancougar, and Tryder G7 have no plot relevance in Shin, while Gundam Wing and G Gundam get the bare minimum of its characters. In fact, Heero Yuy is a Secret Character in this game.
- Doomed by Canon: Gale has to die because the V-Max event is reenacted in Shin.
- Diving Kick: SRX's Blade Kick
- Dragon-in-Chief: Lu Cain gives orders to the Ze Balmary Empire, but gets his orders from Laodecia. In fact, Laodecia never makes an appearance in the Earth Route.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Shin's engine occupies an evolutionary slot somewhere between the original Famicom mechanics and the "modern" 2-D engine used in the Complete Box and turbocharged for F/F Final. Its "classic" features include:
- Individually-upgradable weapons, which is annoying for a series that encourages the player to see as many combat animations as possible. This quickly degenerates into using one (hopefully free) regular-duty P weapon, and one "big gun" for dispatching bosses or other heavies.
- Single-instance transformable mecha during Intermission. This is a very strange arrangement where you must explicitly "transform" or "combine" units to see what their different capabilities are. This is more than a mere annoyance when you see that it impacts how units sortie - if a unit is transformed to flying mode on a map precluding flying-only vehicles, it will be unsortiable. Moreover, combinable units have a separate set of equipment slots from their constituent units, so beware!
- Old-school magical mechanics. While the spell list is considerable expanded over most of the "original" chronology games, spells like "Encourage" only work on adjacent units instead of allowing arbitrary selection. The most telltale sign is that "Luck" confers both double money and double experience.
- Secret Items. Slightly averted as they are still present in future games.
- Ryusei and Rai's relationship was way more antagonistic in this game. At one point Ryusei goes around telling the other members of the crew that Rai is gay; when Rai finds out, he responds by beating the shit out of Ryusei, which instantly convinces everyone that he's straight. Try imagining THAT happening in Original Generation.
- This game is the only one where the Wing Gundam's claw-like appendages on its arms in Bird Mode is a usable attack.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: Schwartz, Julia Asuka, Zechs Marquise (if you unlocked Heero), and Heinel (if you unlocked him) all join the party during the final scenario leading to the true ending.
- The Empire: The Ze Balmary Empire and the Zanscare Empire
- Expy: Aside from the Hermodr battleship and Zyflud, none of the Balmarian mecha in Shin reappear in future SRWs. However, the Zadoc and Cees are most likely the base designs of the Zechariah and Megillot from Alpha.
- Eye Beams: The SRX's Gaun Genocider, Mazinger Z's Koshiryoku Beam, and Gaiking's Zaul Geyser
- Fantastic Racism: Lu Cain and the Ze Balmary Empire towards the Earthlings. Eiji asks why Lu Cain persecutes the Earthlings in an Earth Route scenario when Lu Cain is only after the Tronium. Lu Cain replies he's free to dispose of cosmic garbage like the Earthlings however he sees fit.
- Final Boss: Laodecia (Space Route) or the Devil Gundam (Earth Route)
- Finger Firearms: SRX's Hi-Finger Launcher.
- First-Name Basis: Professor Anzai gets called Eri by Professor Daimonji, to indicate that they're becoming a couple.
- Foreshadowing: During the last scenario of the Earth Route, the Daikyu Maryu team arrives in time to see Gosterro get eaten by the Devil Gundam. In the true final scenario, Gosterro is the pilot of the Devil Gundam.
- Freudian Trio
- Godzilla Threshold: Ryouma Nagare, for his part, is rather reluctant to invoke the potentially catastrophic might of the Shin Getter, but will admit the aliens pose an even greater threat.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: During a Space Route scenario, Hathaway Noa is chatting with Quess Pariya, who wants to know what Amuro is like. Hathaway, confused, says that Amuro is totally normal. Quess says that she's studying yoga, hoping to gain the ability to know what people are like even without talking to them - much like the fabled Newtypes can.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Eiji and Julia is this, thanks to a "genetic equalizer" device and a woman into Interspecies Romance among the "Boazan empire" folk who rescued their Earthling father from deep space.
- Handwave: Ryusei wants to know why Dancouga is combined instead of being split into its constituent Battle Beasts. Masato meanly asks Shinobu to explain, and the others finally say that Shinobu did something careless, and they've been ordered not to separate.
- The Heavy: Char Aznable takes on a heavy role in Shin's storyline because he is responsible for the Char's Counterattack, Victory Gundam and G Gundam plots.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Heero Yuy works for Char Aznable at first because he rescued Heero from a harsh life at the hands of the Zanscare Empire. Later on, Chief Oka gives Heero new orders from Doctor J to stop Char himself. However, he couldn't follow these new orders until he discovers Char siding with the aliens. Heero can join the Londo Bell as a Secret Character.
- Hero of Another Story: Shin has a route split that covers the majority of the game; in fact, some characters are exclusive to each route. The only time they get to meet is in the True Final Boss scenario.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Shakti Kareen is convinced by Char Aznable that operating Angel Halo will bring peace and put her mother at ease.
- Human Aliens: The Balmarians look exactly like humans, which becomes a plot point.
- Humans Are Warriors: Discussed between Laodecia and Lu Cain in a Space Route scenario. Laodecia says that Lu Cain's father, Gresco has been proved right - the humans' fighting ability is beyond reckoning. What's more, the tougher the challenge, the more humanity stands up to it. In short, the aliens are just making the humans stronger.
- Hypothetical Fight Debate: While Domon Kasshu is busy chasing Master Asia and the Devil Gundam in Scenario 33 of the Earth Route, the rest of the group lightly place bets on whether the God Gundam could kick the R-1's butt.
- In-Series Nickname: "Ryu" for Ryusei and "Rai" for Raidiese.
- I Owe You My Life: Heero and Zechs work for Neo Zeon because Char had saved their lives.
- Jumped at the Call: In Ryusei's first appearance in Shin, he jumps at the chance to pilot the experimental R-1 and pushes the machine to its limits, earning him an earful from Professor Hamaguchi.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: If the player destroys the first enemy unit in Scenario 22 of the Earth Route, the enemy will use a Spirit Command. Of course, Emperor Zuhl's "galactic" genius is not matched by his assistant, who rapidly starts pushing the wrong buttons. After a while of this (culminating in Tekagen), Zuhl furiously orders his subordinate not to use any more Spirit Commands.
- Leitmotif: "Everywhere You Go" for the SRX Team
- Let's You and Him Fight: Domon Kasshu encounters Heero in Scenario 8 and asks him a few questions. Heero remains quiet and attempts to exterminate Domon, kickstarting the Gundam fight.
- Love Makes You Crazy: If Usso Evin fights Laodecia in the final Space Scenario, Fuala Griffon will appear, vowing to pay back the debt she owes Laodecia. When Usso protests, she tells the boy to shut up, saying only a strong man like Laodecia can satisfy her - and Tassilo Vago wasn't up to the task.
- Love Triangle: In a Space Route scenario, Amuro and Aya start complimenting each other on how swift they are in combat, and she's clearly interested in him. Chen continues glaring at the two of them from her place in hiding. In another Space Route scenario, Chen is pleasantly surprised when Amuro invites her to accompany him to the city.
- Mecha Expansion Pack: "Plus" parts for the R-2 Powered and R-3 Powered
- During a Space Route scenario, Kouji and Astonaige Medoz are both a tad baffled how to use whatever the new gadget on the Mazinger Z is. It claims to be some type of energy charger, yet it doesn't have any visible controls. Astonaige figures it will probably just..."do whatever it does" when the time comes.
- Mind Rape: To prevent other humans from following the resistance's lead, Char is having the Angel Halo, a giant brain wave amplifier, built in Side 2 and aimed at the Earth. The idea is to amplify Queen Maria's brain waves and bend the Earthlings under mind control, or at the very least, pacify them. Even Laodecia is astounded that this feat is possible, and tells Char to go ahead with this plan.
- Mistaken for Gay: It turns out what Lu Cain was after was in the university database, which Ryusei plays off as just minor trespassing. Rai lambasts Ryusei's foolishness, and when Sanshiro Tsuwabuki weakly agrees, the dialogue awkwardly comes out that Ryusei has implied that Rai prefers men.
- Mo Cap Mecha: Shining Gundam, Nobel Gundam, Rising Gundam and the God Gundam
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Hell has already killed several humans in the process of perfecting the technique of creating obedient soldiers, or rather, mutilating them horribly enough that death would be preferable.
- Mutually Exclusive Party Members: In Scenario 28 of the Earth Route, Domon is willing to settle the score with Allenby Beardsley, and not just as a game, but Rain Mikamura isn't buying it and storms off. Domon can either follow Allenby or Rain - the former is the first step towards recruiting Allenby, while the latter is a trigger for getting Rain in the Rising Gundam.
- Mutually Exclusive Power Ups: If the player allows the Daikuu Maryuu to be attacked by the Shiki Death Squad in Scenario 25 of the Earth Route, the Fortified Layzner will be available in Scenario 33 of the Earth Route. Otherwise, it'll be the Layzner MK II.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Master Asia first met Domon when he was building the Devil Gundam with Professor Kasshu, and immediately felt an overwhelming sense of warrior kinship. To test Domon's potential, he began the process of training him, realizing too late that Domon proved not all humans were dangerous. Unfortunately, it was too late to prevent the completion of the Devil Gundam, which took Kyouji prisoner and survived its plunge to Earth. When the Balmar fleet arrived, Master Asia saw little chance of escaping or mankind surviving. He then realized he could use the Devil Gundam to blow away one or two of the enemy capital ships, and has been working hard at that ever since. However, he realized another mistake - Earthlings are far more resilient than he expected. For his grave error and all the trouble stemming from it, he offered his life as an apology to Domon.
- The New Adventures: Shin is an application of this trope because "shin" is Japanese for "new"
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After a scuffle with Lu Cain and his Demon Death Platoon and a duel with Master Asia, the cave fell apart as a result of the fighting. Professor Anzai nearly faints, totally unable to comprehend how the hotheaded Domon and Ryusei could ignore the cultural value of whatever was in that cave.
- Not Drawn to Scale: Although Shin is one SRW where sprites are not Super-Deformed, they still manage to fall under this trope.
- Not His Sled: Master Asia is an agent of the Dug Interstellar Republic, sent in response to report intelligent life on the planet. Also, Heinel does not learn that he's the Go brothers' half-brother, and Zechs does not reveal that he's Relena's long lost brother.
- Not So Above It All: In Scenario 11 in the Earth Route of Shin, Rai introduces himself formally after the battle, saying that the aliens have been up to abducting people. Sanshirou has been eyeing Rai, wondering if he's another weirdo like Ryusei. Rai stiffly asks him not to liken him to Ryusei, the shame of the SRX Team. Sanshirou tells Rai about Ryusei's "self-proclaimed genius pilot" line, which Rai allows after a moment is pretty much true. The others realize that Rai, too, is somewhat off his rocker.
- Oddball in the Series:
- This is the only license-based, traditional gameplay Super Robot Wars that does not use Super-Deformed sprites.
- This is the only Super Robot Wars to use Char's Counterattack without Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
- This is the only time in the series that Voltes V is present without Combattler V.
- Oh, Crap!: During Scenario 30 in the Space Route, Dr. Hell and Baron Ashura get this reaction when they are about to be destroyed by the SRX. They also wonder if Zechs Merquise can provide some backup.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Gosterro wants to be the only one to beat Eiji. During one scenario, Gosterro appears and smacks the supercharged Zakarl out of the way because the Layzner is his prey. Gosterro has made himself an enemy out of his own allies, and the SRX Team realize they've only got one chance to defeat Lu Cain, something that hasn't succeeded until now, but likely won't succeed yet, causing Daimonji to sortie the rest of the crew, including the Shin Getter Robo.
- Orcus on His Throne: Laodecia does little to drive the plot in Shin. Lu Cain drives the plot in the Earth Route, with Master Asia and the Devil Gundam interfering here and there. Char Aznable drives the Space Route plot until he is defeated. When Laodecia steps up to fight the Londo Bell in the Space Route, it turns out the Zyflud has the most HP of any of the bosses on that route and can put a hurting on the SRX.
- Original Generation: The SRX Team (only the core SRX pilots) and Laodecia
- Overly Long Fighting Animation: Shin adds Super Move Portrait Attacks and long cutscenes to attack animations. This turns out to be a double-edged sword because like older SRWs pre-Alpha, animations are unskippable. When running at default speed, the load times and animations are long. Much of the poor reputation of the game stems from its slow loading frequencies and absurdly long, unskippable animations.
- Pet the Dog: After a Space Route scenario, Laodecia finds a capsule with a weakened Earthling floating inside. She manages to say that her name is Fuala before losing consciousness, and Laodecia orders her tended to. This act causes Fuala to become loyal to the Balmarians' cause.
- Pixel Hunt: Shin contains various secrets hidden in certain spots during various scenarios.
- Psychic Powers: In addition to "Newtypes", Aya is an esper that telekinetically combines the SRX.
- Power Fist: The R-1's T-Link Knuckle, Shining Gundam's Shining Finger, and the God Gundam's God Finger.
- Precursors: The Mu
- Retired Badass: The Getter Team. They act as mentors for the protagonists' group and join up with Shin Getter late in the game.
- Rings of Death: R-2 Powered's Beam Chakram
- Rocket Punch: Mazinger Z's Rocket Punch
- Rookie Red Ranger: Ryusei is the last member to join the SRX Team and the protagonist of Shin. He's pretty much the de facto leader of the group, mostly because the R-1 is the head of the SRX.
- The Quisling: Neo Zeon jumped at the chance to help the Balmarians, as the one and only means to ensure a future for mankind.
- Secret Legacy: The Mu are in fact Domon's ancestors.
- Sequel Hook: At the end of the Space Route, Char sends a message to Londo Bell, whom he expects to be in a festive mood, yet unjustified by what Char is convinced has been a horrific mistake for mankind. He reckons they got lucky with this victory, and points out that Balmar is sure to send a second, or third fleet to Earth, without any shortage of firepower. Just how far will Londo Bell's efforts last, he muses, ostentatiously checking himself and claiming sarcastically that sour grapes weren't the intent of the message.
- Serial Escalation: Devil Gundam's True Final Boss form is an original design for Shin.
- Shoulder Cannon: R-2 Powered's Hi-Zol Launchers
- Solo Sequence: In Scenario 34 of the Earth Route, Domon has to pursue Master Asia all by himself.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Heinel, Master Asia, Amuro, Char, and Julia
- Spikes of Villainy: Laodecia's Zyflud is covered with spike-like Zyflud crystals
- The Starscream: Tassilo Vago, just like in his home series. Unlike in his home series, he does manages to overthrow Kagatie, but only because the aliens and Char helped him. However, the aliens allow Char to become the new leader of Zanscare, with Tassilo being stuck in pretty much the same position he had before. This allows Fuala to tempt him into pulling this trope again, this time on Char.
- Stay with the Aliens: Char leaves to join the aliens, entrusting Londo Bell with all the alien technology he has been able to amass.
- The Stoic: Rai often keeps a low profile amongst Ascended Fanboy teammate Ryusei.
- This Is a Drill: Gaiking's Miracle Drill, Shin Getter-2
- Those Were Only Their Scouts: The heroes manage to defeat the Balmarian fleet by the end of Shin. However, the Ze Balmary Empire is not deterred as they plan on sending another fleet or two at Earth.
- Transforming Mecha: R-1, Tryder G7, Raideen, Layzner and Shin Getter Robo
- True Final Boss: Devil Gundam
- Units Not to Scale: Shin subverts this, like the Fighting Game Spin-Off Super Robot Spirits, by giving the robots the correct proportions as they appeared in their own anime but not in relation to how they compare with robots from other seriesnote If they were to scale, the larger Super Robots like Voltes V and Raideen would be about three times taller than mobile suits.
- Unobtainium: "Tronium" only exists on the planet Tron; unfortunately, Tron vanished due to a meteor impact long ago. This caused the value of Tronium scattered throughout space to skyrocket, especially since it's needed for every warp-capable ship the feuding parts of the Ze Balmary Empire want to send into battle. According to Eiji, a rice-grain sized piece of Tronium is capable of powering over thirty battleships.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: It is possible to kill Jangyal in Scenario 19 of the Earth Route, who is worth a lot of money and earns the burning enmity of Heinel. But this is not advisable if you want to recruit Heinel later, so...
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: During the second-to-last scenario of the Earth Route, The Daikyuu Maryuu team beats up Lu Cain and the Demon Death squadron to the point where they're forced to retreat to the mothership. To find out what happened to those guys, You have to play through the Space Route and fight them in the last scenario in that Route.
- Villainous Breakdown: Laodecia melts down during the final Space Route scenario, right before being vaporized
- Voodoo Shark: The scenario writer for this game came up with the infamous "Master Asia is an alien" idea after watching Mobile Fighter G Gundam and thinking "No way a human can do all that!" Completely glossing over how pretty much every Gundam Fighter in G is capable of super human feats, most notably Domon himself, yet he's not revealed to be a non-human.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Wing Gundam's Buster Rifle, the Cairas Gree and the Hermodr's laser cannon, which destroyed a group of space colonies and acts the primary obstacle in the final scenario of the Space Route.
- We Need a Distraction: Before Scenario 29 of the Space Route in Shin, Londo Bell concocts a plan: create a diversion to let their forces sneak inside. The diversionary squad includes Ryusei, for whom making a big scene is a specialty.
