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Video Game / Super Robot Wars X

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This is the cover art for the "Premium Anime Song & Sound Edition". Click here for the regular cover art

Awaken, o power of miracles!
— The first line of Hagane no Warriors

Super Robot Wars X is the installment succeeding Super Robot Wars V from the Super Robot Wars franchise released for the Sony PlayStation 4, and Sony PlayStation Vita simultaneously on March 29, 2018 in Japan, with a launch in Asia on April 26. Like its predecessor, X features multiple language options, including English; furthemore, the game was ported onto the Nintendo Switch and Steam on January 10, 2020.

Series included in X are (debuting series are rendered in bold):

Somewhere in the universe lies an alternate fantasy world known as 'Al-Warth', where the people and beasts live together and magic is involved. While the land is divided between the Land of Beasts, the Land of Mana and at the center of it, Mt. Soukai, observing them are the Keepers of Order, a group of mediating sorcerers that uphold order in the land, worshipping the God of Wisdom Ende. Al-Warth faces something of a crisis when many people from other worlds are summoned there and several evil forces from within such as Doakdar make their move to conquer the world, but the Keepers of Order remain an enigmatic force. At one point, one of the two sorcerers of the Order; either Iori Iolite or Amari Aquamarine awaken a magical creature that they christen with the name Hopes/Spero and an unused Autowarlock machine, the Xelguard, and depart from the Order to find out the truth about the Order and Al-Warth itself...

Similar to Crossbone Gundam in V, Super Robot Wars X brings long-absent Gundam F91 back to the fold, alongside returning entries from its predecessor; likewise, Dunbine, after stints on dedicated handheld installments. Notably, X marks the first console-based Super Robot Wars where the Getter Robo franchise is not present alongside fellow Long Runners Gundam and Mazinger.

See the first promotional trailer here, and the second promotional trailer here.

Super Robot Wars X provides the following tropes:

  • Ace Pilot: While the usual standards for grabbing the ace bonuses apply, people consider Amuro to be the greatest pilot among X-Cross in-universe.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: In its original series, Gargoyle never knew that he was never from Atlantis but just a regular human being. In X, he does manage to figure out before he disintegrates and warns Nemo about the Keepers of Order.
  • Adaptational Badass:
    • While Mazinkaiser was always a powerhouse, the Shin Mazinger influences allow him to be even more amazing with his attacks, with the machine firing its Turbo Smasher Punches while flying, Kyoshoryuku Beam, while not as flashy as Mazinger Z's, still outright melts its victim, and knocking his opponents skywards with an uppercut firing the Kaiser Nova attack at them. Oh, and let's not forget, he wrecks Mazinger ZERO's shit. Several times.
    • As is tradition for units coming from Aura Battler Dunbine, Hyper Mode is no longer a Deadly Upgrade which kills the user and all playable characters can use Hyper Attacks, including those who never went Hyper in the original show like Marvel.
  • Adaptational Heroism: Because of how the Muganns come down to Al-Warth are different, Rossiu doesn't hold any trial against Simon.
  • Admiring the Abomination: Inverted. Mazinger ZERO, the Eldritch Abomination, admires Wing Gundam Zero enough to call it an epitome of "design sophistication."
  • Adventure-Friendly World: The fantasy-like world of "Al-Warth", which, according to an interview with producer Terada, is centered around the world of "Soukaizan," featuring the main storyline of the first Wataru Series. It includes the Country of Beasts from Gurren Lagann and the Country of Mana from Cross Ange.
  • Aesop Amnesia: Show and Todd arrive in Al-Warth as each other's only company, and at first look like they're both going to be reasonable adults and bury the hatchet. However, piloting an Aura Machine is fundamentally unhealthy for Todd, and a few minutes in the cockpit is all it takes to get him to snap right back to his old bitterness.
  • Alliterative Name: Applies to both protagonists, Iori Iolite and Amari Aquamarine.
  • Alternate Universe: As far as Earths outside of Al-Warth are concerned, there are several universes:
    • "The World of War": Consisting of the Universal Century Gundam series. The Earthnoid members of Reconguista originally thought that they came from another universe, only to find out that the Reguild Century used to be the Universal Century.
    • "The World of Revolution": Contains Daitarn, Code Geass R2, Gundam Wing and Dunbine.
    • "The World of Peace": Made up of Might Gaine, Shin Mazinger, and Wataru
    • Others: Nadia and Buddy Complex. Masaki and Mazinger ZERO are also from other worlds, according to producer Terada
  • A Mech by Any Other Name: Autowarlocks, which are Magitek-based robots with magic amplifying abilities used by the Keepers of Order, the guardians of law and order in Al-Warth. The original protagonist unit, Xelguard, is one of them.
  • Anachronism Stew: This game combines several Universal Century Gundam series, spanning 50 years in its home canon, alongside far-flung sequel Gundam: Reconguista in G. (Which, like ∀ Gundam before it, is considered UC Gundam for pilot/unit-swapping purposes.) Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, and Mobile Suit Gundam F91 are combined in a more traditional SRW sense, with the events of F91 being shifted 30 years to coincide with Char's Rebellion from CCA and the Gundam Team from ZZ being involved, while Crossbone Gundam Steel 7 and G-Reco involve time travel shenanigans. A large part of Char's characterization in this game stems from learning that things are still crappy centuries later.
  • Anti-Magic: Subverted with the Norma. Mana is only a technology-driven substance that they developed an immunity to as a rare mutation. Actual magic and similar systems (Original Generation's Dogma, the Cybuster's magic attacks, Spiral Power, etc) affect them much like everyone and everything else. In fact, it's speculated that the Norma can also wield actual magic/Dogma if they tried, much to Salia's infatuation with her "secret hobby".
  • Ascended Fanboy: Like all kids of Nouvelle Tokyo City, Wataru Ikusabe is an In-Universe fan of The Brave Express Team, and claims he based his clay model of Ryujinmaru off of Might Gaine. Meeting with Might Senpuuji and his team is like meeting a superstar for Wataru. However, Ryujinmaru offers a rebuttal.
    Ryujinmaru: "You certainly need to work on your sense of proportion."
  • Back from the Dead: Sort of. Lelouch Lamperouge, Shou Zama, Marvel Frozen, and Todd Guinness were brought to Al-Warth after their deaths in their series.
  • Bait-and-Switch Boss: In Scenario 24: The Great Hero, it seems Count Brocken is the boss of the scenario. Suddenly, the Ghostfire V9 shows up and kills Brocken with ease. As it turns out, the Ghostfire V9 is possessed by the soul of a Mycenae Empire soldier. This soul wants Koji dead, resulting in a Hopeless Boss Fight for Koji and the others.
  • Bash Brothers: Heero and Dio form one in this game as one of the cross series interactions.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: Boss and his groupnote  are no longer alone as Wataru joins them in his final attack.
  • BFG: Naturally, there's a great number of robots who have one of these, but the big standout is the Hi-Nu Gundam's Hyper Mega Bazooka Launcher, a gun so big that it has to be connected by cable to a battleship offscreen. It used to be (and still is) a MAP attack, but now it also has a single-target version.
  • Big "NO!": Shibaraku screams this when Ende eats Al-Warth.
  • Body Surf: This is how Marriane vi Britannia survived her initial death, hiding within Anya's body. After Embryo's defeat, the power of his pocket dimension allows her to be fully reborn, complete with her own version of Anya's Mordred.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Unlike in the last game, DRAGON enemies will continue to fight you even after Salamandinay joins. However, this is explained that Gargoyle, with a little help of Embryo, brainwashed them into servitude. Which makes their death animations being 'teleporting away' making sense, since you don't kill them (although they will still explode during battle animations), you just de-brainwash them and port them back to DRAGONs home.
  • Break Out the Museum Piece: Pretty much every faction from the Reguild Century recreates old Mobile Suits from Universal Century-era blueprints in place of developing any new suits of their own (only the Capital Army's Catsith and Mass-Produced MacKnife, as well as Towasanga's Moran, make it in as grunts in the game). They are distributed as follows:
  • Boobs-and-Butt Pose: C.C.'s final cut-in has her doing this pose.
  • Call-Back: There are several instances relating to Super Robot Wars V:
  • Children Are Innocent: The reason Wataru is loved by even those among the Arzenal personnel. Ange herself admits that she only listens to nice kids without hesitation. Perhaps the additional reason she returns to Misurugi when Sylvia grows up herself.
  • Children Forced to Kill: Defied. The first time Wataru takes out a Mobile Suit, he realizes that they are piloted by humans; however, Ryujinmaru assures him that every manned unit that he's fighting has an Ejection Seat and that nobody actually dies.
  • Combination Attack: A series staple, although X adds a new twist to the usual rules: in this game, combination attacks can still be used even without all of the participants on the field, although using them this way greatly weakens the power of the attack:
    • The Coupling Modes for Luxon and Bradyon are represented as this, though the later Valiancer models are in a similar state by default, due to the development of the Stand Alone System. After upgrades are done, Aoba's Luxon NEXT has one with Hina's Karura, one with Dio's Bradyon NEXT, and one with both at the same time.
    • The Gunmarls, as usual, have a combination attack between them.
    • "Joint Dragon Fire" appears after being notably absent from Might Gaine's debut in V, only here, Black Might Gaine gets in on it too! It also follows a different rule than the rest that it can only be initiated by Great Might Gaine and only takes account on its stats, not the rest of the Brave Express Corps involved.
    • Mazinkaiser and Mazin Emperor G can perform the "Mazin Soukougeki"note .
  • Commonality Connection: Prior to her sneaking into the Misurugi Empire in an attempt to save her sister, Ange is quite touched when she receives unexpected support, in different ways, from Dio and Lelouch, two guys who also have little sisters bound to wheelchairs.
  • Competitive Balance:
    • Glass Cannon:
      • Until Wataru's "Hero"note  levels are high enough and gains access to Ryuoumaru, Wataru will not be charging in the front lines and live as his defensive options are limited to "Persist"note  and "Foresee"note  from Ryujinmaru. He does have some powerful attacks and transforming Ryujinmaru into Ryuoumaru gives him a free HP and EN refill.
      • Bellri, G-Self and its upgrades have one of the most powerful attacks in the game with Photon Torpedo having the highest MAP attack rating. Unfortunately, Bellri cannot dodge for his life even when he unlocks "Newtype"note , heavily relies on his barrier to mitigate the damage, and has a low starting "Potential"note  to his name.
    • Lightning Bruiser:
      • Even with little to no upgrades, Gurren Lagann is one with Simon's high level "Potential", "Spiral Power"note , the new "Resolve" spirit commandnote  and Viral's support commands, Gurren Lagann will firmly be at the top of player's kill counts, especially since Simon joins very early in the game. His weaknesses however are that the Gurren Lagann's only has a single Power Part slot by default and the Gurren Lagann is an EN guzzler with only two attacks that use ammo. The weaknesses go away once Simon has access to the Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
      • Great Might Gaine has both characters who can boost their morale to cap, both have damage buffs, and both have tanking options plus Might Gunner's Self Cannon allows them to save up their EN for stronger enemies.
  • Cool Big Sis: Ange ends up becoming one for both Wataru and Nadia. Interestingly, Lelouch goes on to serve as a Cool Big Brother to Ange, as he helps her in carrying out a whole operation, to rescue her sister Sylvia moments right after his reintroduction. The whole startup is an awesome moment for Lelouch, as it allows the former Holy Britiannian Emperor to show some serious Big Brother Instincts to a fellow Fallen Royal, Ange, by having him really stick his neck out for the former Misurugi Princess, while everyone else were either say "good luck" or try to stop her. The very proposition stuns Ange so much that she thanks him and everyone for their support. And this is not a typical sarcastic "thank you" she gives either, but a true expression of gratitude for everyone's help.
  • Crutch Character: A downplayed example but Dio Junyou Weinberg and his Bradyon is this for Aoba Watase in his Luxon as Aoba starts the game at a low level with zero kills on his belt and only has the "Persist"note  spirit command for a large portion of the early game while Dio has both "Focus"note  and "Flash"note  which both can share with the "Coupling"note  mecha ability. However later on, Aoba is able to build up morale on his own with the "Spirit"note  spirit command and can survive in the front lines while Dio will start to rely more on Aoba with Aoba's spirit commands and has a harder time to reach the morale thresholds needed for their Combination Attack plus his combination attacks aren't post movement unlike Aoba's.
  • Cultural Translation: The following adjustments are made for anglophones:
    • A sentence where Wataru figuratively claims that courage is his middle name is added to a battle quote where he introduces himself to an enemy. Japanese people don't even use middle names.
    • Various puns, like Wataru's mishearing of words or Ryujinmaru's gags, are replaced with puns that would make better sense to those who don't speak Japanese. See Hurricane of Puns below for more details.
    • Instead of playing up Ack Smoggle's Yakuza theme, he's written with traces of The Mafia instead and he uses its associated slangs like "fuggeddaboudit."
  • Cutting the Knot: When faced with the dragon statues of Mt. Sokai, which require "one man to place their hands in the mouths of both dragons", the rest of the cast simply get Aoba and Dio to do it while they're Coupled and thus count as one person.
  • Demoted to Extra: Shot Weapon is no longer a boss fight unlike previous appearances. Instead his role is reduced to spouting exposition to the other characters and is dealt with in a cutscene.
  • Developer's Foresight: Suzaku Kururugi's "Curse of Geass" skill which gives the same effect as Potential Level 9 (and a 10% increase in damage) does not stack if the player were to give Suzaku the Potential skill separately. However, the same cannot be said for Super Robot Wars 30 where it does stack if given together.
  • Disk One Nuke:
    • Gurren Lagann is available very early in the game and makes scenarios a breeze to get through, assuming you can get past his weaknesses of low movement and relatively poor energy efficiency; as the party's first proper super robot, his damage output and durability are both vastly superior to any other unit available at the time.
    • If you got him early through the pre-order DLC, the Cybaster is less powerful but far more versatile, especially with his post-movement, Friendly Fire Proof MAP attack that has double the range of Wing Zero's Rolling Buster Rifle.
  • Dragon Their Feet: Mazinger ZERO ends up the last foe among the Mazinger enemies to fight because the Mycenae Empire was defeated on the scenario before the last route split. He can join you on the IF route.
  • Elemental Powers:
    • Xelguard's attacks seem to be based on these.
    • Obviously, there is Cybuster, the Elemental Lord of the Wind.
  • 11th-Hour Ranger: The titular Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann appears at the start of the second-to-last stage on both routes. On the true ending route, halfway through the same stage you can unlock Kouji inside Mazinger ZERO.
  • The Empire: The Empire of Misurugi becomes a straight example in comparison to its canon series. Under Julio (and indirectly Embryo), it uses its allies and automated weapons to dominate multiple worlds including Al-Warth through military force and kill off all non-Mana users who don't obey them. This changes in the IF Route once the Empire of Misurugi is destroyed and Julio/Embryo are overthrown. The royal sisters reunite and work together to rebuild it into something more benevolent.
  • Enemy Mine: Char, once he defects to X-Cross, makes it clear that he's only cooperating with them until he returns to his world so he can settle things with Amuro.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • During his time under Misurugi's employment, Mask snarks over protecting the Empire's worthless leadership who only got their power through nepotism.
    • Nestor may have gone along Dr. Hahn brainwashing Ple into thinking that Nestor was her big brother, but he wasn't comfortable with the whole thing. After a brief moment of shock when X-Cross broke the brainwashing, he admits to himself that they should've never used those methods to start. Having his own little sister (according to the Buddy Complex mobile game) might have something to do with that.
    • Members of the BD Alliance do their villain thing as normal. But the moment Purple decided to execute Sally, Relena and Ciela solely to piss Maito and the X-Cross off, and the chance that they have to do the deed, all of them are not pleased at all and if it wasn't for Purple's sheer power, they would've bowed out of the operation.
    Chinja: I mean, nefarious schemes for money is one thing, but THIS...
  • Everyone Has Standards: Klim Nick doesn’t like Julio at all, calling him a “sheer bundle of incompetence.”
  • Everybody Knew Already: In the Normal Route version of the final battle, Spero let all members of X-Cross, minus Iori and Amari, in on what Ende truly was, which led both protagonists in utter disbelief and disgust towards Spero.
  • Evil Is Petty: Once again, Embryo shows the height of this even further. He already has set his eyes on Ange, but after he saw the relationship between Aoba and Hina, he couldn't help but to feel jealous at their harmonious relations and ruined it, initiating the whole plot of Buddy Complex, despite having no plans to include Hina into his harem. It's a little different than Bizon and Evgeni's kind of jealousy, since Embryo's motivation is basically less about winning Hina but more like he couldn't stand it when others can get into a harmonious relationship when he couldn't.
  • Evil Versus Evil: Evgeni hates Embryo only slightly less than Aoba and Hina, and makes it clear that Embryo is next on his hitlist once the X-Cross is taken care of. Of course, he never gets that far as he is killed and his superweapon destroyed by the heroes.
  • Expy: The Empire of Misurugi has developed into something akin to the Holy Britannian Empire. Parallels include war crimes, inhumane treatment of people based on race even from its civilians, and world ambitions in military conquest.
  • Faking Amnesia: Tobia fakes amnesia to avoid explaining his situation to the others, being from the future but close enough to the other Universal Century characters' era to potentially cause serious damage. Amuro and later Char are in on the act and agree that it's for the best.
  • Fauxshadow: Kurama has hints of this in the story and his sample voice lines in his biography. His reasoning for tagging along with the group imply that he will be forced to betray Wataru and fight them, having sample voice lines for summoning his Mashin Kujinmaru which appears as a map sprite several times. In the end, Kurama is never fought while Kujinmaru does not appear in any proper battles in any capacity, being replaced by Kuohmaru by the time Kurama starts fighting as part of X-Cross.
  • The Fettered: Lelouch, surprisingly enough. Part of his Establishing Character Moment has him declare that he has no intention to use his Geass ever again. He only breaks this vow once, to ensure that Marianne won't be a threat anymore.
  • Fisher King: The Empire of Misurugi has an unusual example. Under Jurai and Sophia, it used to be a peaceful nation despite its persecution of the Norma that promoted art and sports. When Julio launched his coup and exiled Ange, he turned the Empire into an aggressive military state that sought to take over multiple worlds and kill not only the Normas but all other unallied non-Mana users as well. And that's not counting the fact the people persecuted the Norma because of Embryo, who governs all of Mana from the shadows.
    • After Julio and Embryo are killed and the Light of Mana is shut off, Sylvia and Ange lead the survivors on healing the damage and rebuilding Misurugi into something more benevolent.
    • Al-Warth itself turns out to be an even bigger one, with Ende's decision to recognize it as existing being all that sustains Al-Warth's existence. When he stops caring about it, the universe begins to literally come apart at the seams.
  • Fix Fic: A few, including:
    • Buddy Complex:
      • Due to being cancelled, the original series had their second season condensed down into two episodes, resulting in a lot of rushed plot resolutions, character developments, and a rather ambiguous ending about whether or not the time-loop that trapped one of the main characters was finally broken. In-game, it's revealed that Embryo was the cause of the time-loop and had manipulated both sides of the conflict for both experimentation and personal amusement. Neither side are happy about this reveal, with Evgeni promising to come after Embryo once he's done killing the protagonists. The heroes stick around beyond the end of their own story, and are intentionally sent back to their respective timelines with no fear of the time-loop now that Embryo is dead.
    • Cross Ange: Wataru and Lelouch play roles in smoothing out the plotline. Ange and the other Arzenal residents end up defrosting because of them with their involvement altering some plot points: a more proper rescue mission for Sylvia is carried out, Salamandinay does not attack Arzenal, and Ange spends more time outside the island prison to not grow attached to it. The IF Ending also fixes the Broken Aesop by having Ange return to Misurugi, reconnect with Sylvia into help deal with the remaining unruly citizens, and invites everyone back to the Empire once the dust settles.
    • Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water:
    • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
  • Friendly Fireproof: Cybuster's Cyflash is this as usual, though it's now joined by the New Nautilus' Homing Laser MAP and the Nightingale's Funnel MAP.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the opening cutscene of Stage 7, there's an error involving character portraits for Buddy Complex. Bizon is seen wearing a pilot suit for Zogilia's Nation Defence Force. However, as shown on Stage 37, he should have switched to the pilot suit he received after transferring to Zogilia's Adminburo.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation:
    • If Kerbes fights pretty much any soldier, he sometimes spout a line about said soldier/group "teaming up with the (Capital) Army." While the line fits for a good chunk of the game, it makes no sense if said towards the Towasangan soliders during Stages 19 and 20, since they haven't allied with the Army at this point. In fact, it's actually the opposite in the former stage, as Towasanga outright wipes out most of the Army's units, forcing their ace Mask to team up with X-Cross to combat them.
    • Gaine retains his in-battle line about avenging Maito's parents. However, given that it's never mentioned whether or not Exev was behind their deaths in this version of events, this statement comes straight out of left field.
    • Hilda's designated "Final Boss line" about "not letting them have their way with Ange or the Earth" is kept from V, even though it doesn't make as much sense in this setting.Explanation
  • Greater-Scope Villain:
    • Embryo is this for the Buddy Complex plot, as he is responsible for their world becoming a time paradox, as well as being the root cause of Bizon becoming Evgeni.
    • Likewise, Black Noir was responsible for creating Embryo.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: Provided the player has unlocked the requirements to recruit Bizon, then Alfried in his Alsiel joins in the fight against Evgeni and leaves after finishing the stage. Meanwhile, Kittan sticks around for several stages before pulling off his Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Harder Than Hard: X introduces the Expert Mode right off the bat and it turns the game into an Early Game Hell where enemies get more upgrades that players can keep up for the most part. Be prepared to reload the game over and over due to Random Number God being terrible to players.
  • Heal the Cutie: Ange pretty much undergoes this to a degree thanks to the presence of Wataru and Lelouch. Hilda ends up the same way, especially after Wataru comments how she and Ange aren't so different. Grandis lampshades how they rely so much on Wataru as a Morality Chain to pick themselves up.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Starting off as an enemy unit allied with Towasanga, Char Aznable eventually defects to the side of X-Cross in scenario 33.
  • Heel Realization: Zigzagged by Catherine Vuitton in the DLC Beautiful Blue Water, after she kidnaps Marie and learns her tragic backstory. In one breath she wonders how she can possibly be holding such an innocent child hostage like this, and then in the next declares that even if she does have a conscience, she's still going to do anything to get what she wants!
  • Heroic Lineage: The Seven Dragon Gods created the song "El Ragna" and spread this gift of knowledge to three powerful maidens. Two of them just happened to be named Freya and Ikaruga, the maiden name of Ange and her mother and Sala's clan name respectively.
  • Hero-Worshipper:
    • Wataru is a fan of Kouji, Might, and even the Boss Borot.
    • On a more hilarious note, Salamandinay towards Wataru. If she fawned over him any more, she'd grow antlers, as Ange puts it.
  • Hurricane of Puns: In the English version of the "Ryujinmaru's Secret" DLC stage, Ryujinmaru pulls out a whole lot of them as a sort of cultural translation for his ability to speak in every regional dialect of Soukaizan (which is heard as regional dialects of Japan).
  • I Choose to Stay: In the endings of both the normal and IF routes, Lelouch (Due to him wanting to lay low after Zero Requiem) along with both protagonists choose to stay in Al-Warth rather than return to their respective worlds.
  • I Never Told You My Name: In Scenario 14A, Arzenal Reunited, Captain Nemo calls Jill Alektra, indicating that he knows more that he lets on. As a result, Jill feels that Nemo is someone she can trust. Jill, thus, gives Nemo access to the first Para-Mail squadron.
  • In-Series Nickname: Due to the Arsenal members seeing Ange and Lelouch as being similar, some of them decide to refer to him "Boy-Ange." Incidentally, they call Ange herself "Girl-Lelouch" at least once.
  • Insult to Rocks: To put an emphasis of how depraved Julio is, Lelouch did say that his plan to trap Ange was evil... but that would insult every other evils out there.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: 9 year-old Wataru ends up striking a meaningful friendship with Ange, who's 16. 18 year-old Lelouch practically becomes the Cool Big Brother Mentor that Ange needs and deserves to have.
  • Leitmotif: Tetsuya Tsurugi once he gets Mazin Emperor G has his theme changed to Mazinkaiser's theme, despite Tetsuya being from Shin Mazinger while Mazin Emperor G itself is a Banpresto Original and does not have any associated theme.
  • Let's Split Up, Gang!: Route splits have been a staple of the franchise for the longest time, but X is notable in that, for once, the cast distribution is always the same on every route: the Gundam and Buddy Complex characters on one side, everyone else on the other.
  • Let X Be the Unknown: The game's name, chosen to reflect the otherworldly, uncharted atmosphere of Al-Warth compared to prior Super Robot Wars games.
  • Level Drain: Possibly a bug in the game but in stage 36, if Wataru has too many levels before destroying Ersha's Ragna-Mail, then Wataru reverts to a much lower level than the players had him before.
  • Lighter and Softer: This game is mostly designed for younger audiences, especially with Mashin Hero Wataru Series on the headline, hence taking place in a much more Adventure-Friendly World and series with darker influences, had their darkness and bleak setting toned down. Chief examples to this are how Lelouch and Ange eventually became a bit kinder thanks to Wataru, Bizon being able to pull a Heel–Face Turn out of disgust of his older self or how Mazinger ZERO is reimagined as a mere 'darker side of Mazinkaiser', rather than the original reality-destroying abomination. This may also be why Gurren Lagann is present instead of series mainstay Getter Robo. DRAGON enemies are also always shown to flee battle rather than die, preventing Wataru from accidentally turning out to have killed dozens of transformed humans. They still explode in their battle animations before retreating on the field, but plenty of bosses do that too.
  • Magic Knight: Xelguard, the Original Generation mech, uses Instant Runes to summon its attacks and either get close to the enemy or blast them from afar.
  • Master Swordsman: Shibaraku as usual in his series, though he oversees both Suzaku and Shou's training in this game as well.
  • Me's a Crowd: During the Cross Ange finale, Embryo clones 20 of himself inside Hysterica (technically 21 but Ange kills one in a cutscene beforehand). Fortunately, they aren't difficult and can be a really great source for money and experience for characters lagging behind.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade:
    • Kouji goes from Mazinger to Mazinkaiser and if unlocked, Mazinger ZERO. Meanwhile, Tetsuya goes from Great Mazinger to Mazin Emperor G.
    • Wataru goes from Ryujinmaru to Ryuoumaru, Shibaraku goes from Senjinmaru to Senohmaru, and Genryusai goes from Genjinmaru to Genohmaru.
    • Amuro goes from Nu Gundam to Hi-Nu Gundam and if unlocked, Char goes from Sazabi to Nightingale.
    • Judau goes from Zeta Gundam to ZZ Gundam.
    • Tobia goes from his X-1 Kai Kai to the X-1 Full Cloth.
    • Bellri obtains the Space Pack and later on, the Perfect Pack.
    • Aoba goes from Luxon to Luxon Next and Dio goes from Bradyon to Bradyon Next.
    • Shou goes from Dunbine, to Billbine, to Sirbine, then back to Billbine, with the Aura Shoot secret attack if it's unlocked.
    • Might goes from Might Gaine to Might Kaiser, and finally to Great Might Gaine.
    • Ange subverts this but played straight with Hilda going from a Glaive, to an Arquebus, and finally Theodora. Salia meanwhile goes from her Arquebus to Cleopatra.
    • Simon goes from his Gurren Lagann, to Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann, and finally Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann though the latter two are more of an 11th-Hour Superpower.
    • Xelguard subverts it in the same fashion as Ange: while it goes through no physical changes, all of its stats go up and all of its existing moves get stronger every time it learns a new move, which happens three times and a fourth time during the True Final Boss fight without learning a new move.
  • Mission-Pack Sequel: The storyline is new, and there are new units, but the gameplay mechanics and interface are identical to V. While Super Robot Wars games tend not to deviate too much from game to game, this is one of the few entries that use the same engine and UI as its predecessor.
  • Morality Pet: Wataru becomes one for both Lelouch and Ange. The Latter even says more than once that she just can't say no to him.
  • Multiple Endings: Similar to V, there are two decisions for the final stages that have different endings.
  • My Future Self and Me: Taking a page from the Buddy Complex mobile game, 20 year-old Bizon and his 90 year-old self, Evgeni, manage to exist in the same time period at the same time (explained in this game as a result of Embryo's interference). If the secret conditions are met, Bizon, disgusted with Evgeni and determined to change himself for the better, will join X-Cross to defeat his potential future self.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • The Hi-Nu Gundam sports a few:
      • The beam saber attack ends with it stabbing the enemy behind it in a nod to its Alpha Gaiden animation.
      • The beam rifle attack has it replicating the pose from its High Grade box art.
      • Its usage of its Hyper Mega Bazooka Launcher, with the Fin Funnels forming Deflector Shields before firing is similar to its EX Burst in Gundam Vs Series.
      • Throughout its animations its eyes glow pink and yellow similarly to the original RX-78-2.
    • The beginning of stage 24 is basically a remake of the climactic fight of the original Mazinger Z VS. The Great General of Darkness, with Kouji facing off against an army of Mycenae Empire enemies and having the odds stacked against him until Tetsuya arrives in Great Mazinger to save Kouji, with the rest of X-Cross coming right afterwards.
    • Mazinkaiser's Mazin Power activation during its Kaiser Nova animation reveals it has seven boxes inside it laid in the same 7 Chakras locations as Mazinger ZERO's.
    • The combination attack between Mazinkaiser and Mazin Emperor G is largely based on the Thunder Break and Photon Beam combination attack used by Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger in the final chapter of the Shin Mazinger ZERO vs. Great General of Darkness manga.
    • Bellri awakening the Newtype skill is a nod to the OVA made exclusively for Gundam Front Tokyo, in which during a fight with Mask who is piloting a replica of the Phenex and activated NT-Dnote  mode which implied that Bellri has dormant Newtype potential.
    • Paired with Character Exaggeration in the case of Exev: since Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is in the game, Exev's dislike of the drill mounted on Goryu and his Ironic Echo of the sentiment when it was how he met his demise in the show are exaggerated into an obsessive hatred of all things drill-related.
    • One of Wataru's battle quotes in the English version is pragmatically translated to include the sentence "Courage is my middle name." The 1988 Mashin Hero Wataru game was localized for North America as the Pragmatic Adaptation Keith Courage in Alpha Zones.
    • Mazinkaiser has gone back to its original design, which was last seen way back in Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden.
    • When contacting Bellri to make sure the G-Self is equipped with a Reflector Pack, Heero starts by saying "Let me confirm."
  • Nerf: Just like in V, there are gameplay mechanics that were nerfed from the previous entries.
    • Wing Gundam Zero Custom's Rolling Buster Rifle is still post-movement, but only has a 1-2 range rather than its 2-5 range it had in the previous Z games.
    • Lelouch's "Tactical Command"note  is no longer post-movement and must be done on that turn. Getting his ace bonus however allows him to use it after movement.
    • Vilkiss' base evasion is no longer the highest in the game at 130 compared to V at 140. It also no longer has the Charge attack, a fairly weak move but one which involved Ange getting out of the cockpit to shoot the enemy herself...even on space maps, with Ange not wearing a spacesuit.
    • Parameter-increasing Skill Programs more than doubled in cost compared to V, now costing 250 TacP instead of 100. The Skill Program that provides Potential now costs 100 per level instead of 50.
    • X has the lowest amount of characters having the "Zeal"note  spirit command, two of which are on sub pilots. The game does make up for it with the "Resolve" spirit command.
  • Never Trust a Trailer:
    • In the Taipei Game Show demo, which showed the second stage of the game, Shou Zama fought alongside Wataru and Shibaraku. In the official gameplay footage of the second stage, however, Shou is nowhere to be seen, and the original protagonist takes his place. This implies that Shou from the demo was only a placeholder for the then-unrevealed original protagonist.
    • The initial PV had Amuro's Hi-Nu Gundam destroying a Geara Doga piloted by a Neo Zeon soldier (though if you look closely, it just uses the portrait from Z3 with some eyes edited on). In the actual game, there are no Neo Zeon mooks, with their machines being used by either Towasanga or the G-IT Corps. Incidentally, said Neo-Zeon soldier's voice clip was actually used in game by the Capital Army soldiers.
  • New Work, Recycled Graphics: X reuses a lot from V, mostly art assets and voice clips; likewise, elements from the Third Super Robot Wars Z duology are also reused.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Palette Swap:
    • Despite Unicorn not being in the cast, the Zeon Remnant's Dwadge and Neo-Zeon's Gaza-D, Zssa, and Dreissen are still reused from V, only changed to their original coloring (and some of their original sound effects) from ZZ.
    • The Jegan mobile suit and the cutscene-only Musaka-class ship also go back to their original coloring used in Z3, after it had been changed in V.
  • Peninsula of Power Leveling: Stage 36 features a phase in which Chris will get back up an infinite number of times after being shot down, with full boss rewards each time she's beaten. The stage is on a time limit to prevent this from being an infinite farm, but skilled players can easily shoot her down a few dozen times to rack up enormous amounts of money and TacP.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: Wataru might beat Chirico with his magnum and Ange with her machine gun when Wataru's final attack involves him slashing the enemy with his sword on foot. And yes, it can be done in space.
  • Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: When the Misurugi sisters reunite in the IF ending, Sylvia offers her head for her betrayal and sentenced execution. Ange declines after seeing that she’s already grown up; she instead offers a hand to her sister to rebuild the nation while establishing Cafe Ange on one of its shores.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Resident butt monkeys Shibaraku with his unit, Senjinmaru are as plucky as ever. Go ahead and let them receive some punches, we doubt if their animated responses won’t put a laugh on your face.
  • Post-Script Season: Daitarn 3, Dunbine, Gundam Wing Endless Waltz, Code Geass R2, and all of the UC Gundam series have finished by the start of the game's plot.
  • Pretender Diss: Both Duo Maxwell and Death God take offense to someone else stealing their schtick.
  • Purposely Overpowered: Simon's Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann are the most powerful machines that players have access to. It's also only available in the final stages of the game.
  • Put on a Bus: Meta-example - this is the first game since Super Robot Wars NEO to not feature any one of Macross Frontier, Dancougar Nova and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny; it also excludes Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and any form of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 for the first time since their respective debuts. Furthermore, Zambot 3, who is usually seen together with Daitarn 3, is noticeably absent. Most shockingly, X is the first console Super Robot Wars to put Getter Robo aside.
  • Razor Wind: Xelguard's attacks are wind based.
  • Secret Character: Char's Nightingalenote , Alpha Azieru, Todd in a Vierres, earlier access to Camouflage Billbine which later unlocks the Aura Road attack for Shou only, earlier access to Kouji and Tetsuya's Combination Attack, Shin Mazinger Zero, Mashmyre Cello in the Zaku III Custom, Glemmy Toto in the Queen Mansa, Bizon in the Nergal, Rockpie Geti in the Gaitrash, Kia Mbeki in the Gaeon, Mask in the Kabakali, Manny Ambassada in the G-Rach, and Barara Peol in the Yggdrasilnote .
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: In-universe, after Lelouch enacts his Zero Requiem in his world, rather than the world obtaining peace, the Mariemeia army rises up and makes another attempt to go to war.
  • Shaming the Mob: Even after they lose horribly to X-Cross and with their Mana gone, the Misurugi people continue to preach anti-Norma sentiment in front of their faces. Ange fires upon in response and tells them they must open their eyes and face reality no matter how painful it is. And if they insist not to open their eyes... she considered using some bullets to the heads as a substitute of forcing. They ran off in fear as a result.
  • Shared Universe:
  • Shed the Family Name: Lelouch does this when he geasses Marianne.
    Lelouch: Lelouch vi Britannia-Nay, a boy named merely Lelouch commands you! Marianne vi Britannia! Cast aside every single memory you have pertaining to Charles zi Britannia!
  • Shock and Awe: What the Deenbell, the mech used by the Order of Mages, uses to attack its enemies.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Simple, yet Awesome: The Nightingale with Char piloting only has three attacks and a map attack compared to the Sazabi which has more but that is all it needs to be a stronger unit. The Nightingale has excellent stats and very high range compounded with Char's high pilot stats while its map attack is friendly fire proof. Even its only disadvantage being only one post-movement attack is not an issue as Char's innate "Hit & Run"note  skill cancels out this disadvantage.
  • Spared By Adaptation:
    • Both Nia and Lordgenome (as a head) are guaranteed to live for at least a decent human lifespan (approximate 80 years) after the finale of TTGL thanks to Nadia's Blue Water. Averted with Kittan who still dies just like his canon.
    • Black Might Gaine lives. Only this time, he doesn’t do any stupid sacrifices and takes out his brainwash through pure heroic willpower.
    • Jill survives by default this time with no secrets needed. Meanwhile, Irma and Tanya, pilots of the Eirene and Victora, also survive. However, their machines are destroyed during their escape from Embryo and thus unplayable.
    • Surprisingly for a debut entry, Bizon will live even if you don't fulfill the conditions to recruit him.
    • Provided the players fulfill the requirements, Todd, Glemy, Rockpie, Kia, and Mashmyre live.
  • Supporting Protagonist: With the fairly explicit goal of X-Cross being to defeat Doakudar, the original protagonist is this to Wataru.
  • Survival Through Self-Sacrifice: While Julio begs for his life when Ange comes to kill him, Sylvia offers her older sister to take her life in atonement for her betrayal this time around. Julio is killed (though by Embryo) and Ange offers to help Sylvia rebuild the Empire.
  • Take Over the World: Julio's goal in Al-Warth, using the Misurugi Empire's army and allies to exterminate non-Mana populations on the land.
  • The Team Benefactor:
    • Might Senpuuji brings back his V perks card, continuing to perform his President skill usage of earning extra Tac points just by deploying him. Along with his entire district surrounding his Senpuuji Railroad Aoidou Division plant transported to the world of Al-Warth, his plant serves as the oasis for unit repairs and upgrades, along with some sanity for pilots who were homesick for some contemporary stuff. Might lampshades his gratitude with this outcome, otherwise, it’ll be hard for his employees to survive in the primitive world such as Al-Warth.
    • Banjo, as usual, will provide the team 30,000G of money if you aced and deploy him.
  • Theme Naming: Iolite, Aquamarine, and Obsidian are names of crystals.
  • They Killed Kenny Again: Just like in Z3: Jigoku-hen, Kittan cannot be saved from his Heroic Sacrifice before the fight against the Anti Spiral.
  • Throwing Your Sword Always Works: The Zeta Gundam's "Long Beam Saber" has been re-tooled from its animation from Tengoku-hen and V to employ this trope, by tossing the beam saber affixed to the beam rifle as a harpoon.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Ange's interactions with Wataru play a role in making her character more benevolent and reasonable, leading her to practically being a Cool Big Sis to Nadia, another on-off beligerent princess that she also eventually became more reasonable quicker. Her in interactions with Lelouch further helped strengthen the process, as the former Holy Britannian Emperor helped her realise that even in a seemingly cruel and uncaring universe Justice can be achieved So much that when she finds Sylvia walking on her own, she offers her a hand to restore order to Misurugi and establish Cafe Ange in her old home.
  • True Companions: Aoba and Bellri form a pretty fast bond, in large part due to their similarly optimistic personalities. Because of this, they are often seen supporting each other, such as when Bellri coaches Aoba in piloting, or when Aoba stops Bellri from going too far when the latter is having an episode after learning his origins.
  • The Unfought: Shot Weapon isn't fought in this game and is dealt with in a cutscene by Silky.
  • Villain Respect: Professor Wolfgang is quite happy when the mind control device used on Black Might Gaine is destroyed, and thanks the X-Cross for reminding him of something important.
    Professor Wolfgang: Heh...Mwahaha! Mwahahaha!
    Ich: Wh-What's the matter, Professor Wolfgang?
    Professor Wolfgang: A broken machine can be repaired, but there's no replacement for a person's life...I never expected them to teach me that lesson. Maito Senpuji, X-Cross, thank you for this invaluable lesson! As a man of science, I believe that scientific research is the best way to search for truth! But I understand there are some walls that science can never help you climb! Thank you for reminding me of that today! And I know just how to express that gratitude! I'll give you the honor of being crushed by my cutting-edge robot army!
  • Villain Team-Up: There are 2 villain alliances that fall under Al Warth's most notable powers: the Misurugi Empire and Doakudar's army:
    • For the former, they manage to get Zogilia, the Captial Army, remnants of the Mariemaia army, and Neo Atlantis to ally with them. Then Towasanga's Dorette Fleet, which has recruited Char, and the G-IT Corps, which has done the same with Yazan, Rakan and Glemmy, join under Misurugi as well. Marianne vi Britannia and Shot Weapon are later revealed to be working alongside the true rulers of Misurugi and Neo-Atlantis, Embryo and Gargoyle.
    • For the latter, Todd and a bunch of Byston Well soldiers (presumably survivors of Drake and Bishot's armies), Viral and his Beastman subordinates, Dr. Hell's forces, and all of the Nouvelle Tokyo criminals, who calls themselves the "BD (Black Diamond) Alliance"note  this time around, are all recruited. Jeremiah and Anya also cooperate with them against their former allies Kallen and Suzaku, but quickly join back up with them once Lelouch comes back. Finally, Olympus, aka the Mycenae Empire, are allied with Doakudar as part of their "Ancient Contract," with Mazinger Zero joining in on the fun.
    • Later in the game, the 2 alliances feature some changes. For the former, Zogillia seems to have more or less left the Misurugi forces after Stage 30, choosing to operate on its own. Meanwhile, after Misurugi falls (taking the Mariemaia army with it), the Capital Army, Towasanga, and the G-IT Corps stay together to form the "Reconguista army," joining under the Order of Mages in order to return home. Incidentally, Glemmy decides to leave the G-IT Corps and take over Char's former position in Towasanga. Finally, Carozzo "Iron Mask" Ronah had joined up with the Capital Army's Cumpa at some point, but after Cumpa dies and the Reconguista army is beat, he shows up as the game's final Gundam boss, using Pyrethroids in place of the Bugs.
    • For the latter, Exev and his forces team up with the Anti-Spiral's army. Near the endgame, the Order of Mages are also revealed to have more or less the same goal, so they're effectively teaming up with them against the heroes.
    • The Holy Britannian Empire under Lelouch and Drake's army did this prior to the game's events. However, as both stories are finished by the time the plot starts, that's all done with.
  • War from Another World: The Empire of Misurugi exploits this trope by dragging conflicts from several different worlds into Al-Warth and using the antagonistic sides as their personal army.
  • Year X: The earth Iori and Amari are from is dated as 20XX.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: Xelgard's final attack involves both protagonists casting their dogma together to create this effect.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: Subverted for the Norma. Ange returns to Misurugi to help Sylvia and establish her cafe with Tusk.
  • Your Size May Vary: Invoked for how the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann units can fight on the same scale as everyone else: by the time the Anti-Spiral's main force shows up, Al-Warth's collapsing natural laws have started to include things like any objective measurement of how big something is.

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