YMMV / Super Robot Wars T

• Alternative Character Interpretation: During the final scenario, in the IF scenario, Ame Presbund returns to pilot the Dygaian-2, whereas in the normal route, he's really Killed Off for Real by Dyma Goldwin. Which brings to question on how Dyma was characterized about his plan. Perhaps he did plan to run his plan together with Ame, but in the normal route, Ame threatened to kill a defenseless Mikoto Utsugi after she was restored from being Zonuda in order to make sure she won't become a threat to humanity any further. Could it be that the attempt to kill Mikoto was a line Dyma wouldn't cross, so that he had a last minute change of plan and moved in for the kill instead of moving in to destroy Ame's mecha so he could get into Dygaian-2?
• Anti-Climax Boss: Any fight in which a character fights solo, such as Domon Kasshu's numerous Gundam Fights, are balanced with the assumption that the player has invested no resources in the unit that has to fight alone to keep the game from becoming unwinnable. Players who do invest in Domon and level him up properly can thus win those fights in a single turn.
• Awesome Music: The first Anime Theme Song for Magic Knight Rayearth, "Yuzurenai Negai", has an an instrumental rendition wherein the vocal parts of the song are turned into a rich, powerful guitar instrumentation. Given its reception as one of the most beloved examples of Anime Theme Song, Bandai Namco Entertainment has done it right.
• Broken Base: See here for details.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Many players recommend to use characters that have the "Wall"^note Decrease damage taken by 75% for one turn. spirit command when playing on Expert/Super Expert Mode to save up on the unit's SP.
• Escapist Character: X already had shades of this, where the player character was an Ordinary High-School Student who had latent magical power in another dimension, but T absolutely runs with it, starring a salaryman who is incredibly proud of his position and role of an Office Lady who's incredibly competent. The game clearly wants to make the idea of a salaryman/office lady as awesome as possible, knowing exactly who's likely playing. Moreso when you account into the finale: The Final Boss was their former Big Good who apparently has never been a Salaryman in his life, thus he became egotistical and self-aggrandizing and had to be taken down, giving the message that a salaryman/office lady isn't a lame loser job as many other stories portray them to be, which may be what many gamers who end up being a salaryman/office lady would like to think formerly.
• Game-Breaker: See here for details.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Per Word of God, T was designed to cater to the international base more than domestic players in Japan; this explains the appearances of G Gundam, GaoGaiGar and GUN×SWORD, which had lots of fans outside of Japan, as well as the addition of internationally beloved series to serve as debuts (Arcadia of my Youth: Endless Orbit SSX, Magic Knight Rayearth and Cowboy Bebop^note The Gateway Series of Anime for Western audiences and one of the biggest contributors to its shift from niche to mainstream). The result was the overseas version outselling the Japanese version within a month post-release.
• Good Bad Bug: In the PlayStation 4 version, if players entered the Secret Scenario involving The Cameo of the X Original Generation and picked Amari Aquamarine as the protagonist, this character's portrait and voiceover dialogue won't load, but replaced by generic Gardim Mooks. When a patch was released, this bug was the first issue addressed; in addition, Bandai Namco also handed bonus in-game items for free as an apology to players who preferred Amari over Iori Iolite. To some, while it lasted, Amari as a bot proved to be a rather amusing sight.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • The epilogue of X features Show Zama relinquishing ownership of the Sirbine to Silky Mau, stating she'll find the one truly meant to pilot the Aura Battler someday, even though the latter is sure Show is exactly that (which is Metaphorically True). With Shion Zaba from New Story of Aura Battle Dunbine appearing in T, this might have been Production Foreshadowing.
  • Yuzurenai Negai translates to "Unyielding Wish", evocative of how some Super Robot Wars fans have finally gotten their wish for Magic Knight Rayearth to be in the franchise.
• Hilarious in Hindsight
  • The plot of the Cowboy Bebop PlayStation 2 video game features the crew of the Bebop on a hunt for the lost treasure of a legendary Space Pirate named "Captain H." It appears there's no need for a "pirated" version as the characters are meeting the real deal in T.
  • Several regarding Magic Knight Rayearth.
    • Ferio, initially an enemy to the Magic Knights, piloted an insect-like Rune God that could pass for an Aura Battler in the Rayearth OVA. In this game, Byston Well (the setting of Aura Battler Dunbine) is combined with Cephiro (the world of Rayearth).
    • The Nasuverse pastiche Fan Game Battle Moon Wars has an Original Generation enemy unit called "Raikiri," a white wolf with Shock and Awe, predating the debut of Inova's Elemental Beast form in Super Robot Wars by several years. Their respective melee attacks are even similar: both gather electricity around themselves first, then rush towards their targets by turning into a bolt of lightning.
  • The game features both The Brave Express Might Gaine and GaoGaiGar , whose main leads are named Might Senpuuji and Guy Shishiou respectively; you know, Might Guy. Extra hilarity in a meta-sense since the final boss, Dyma Goldwin, is voiced by Masashi Ebara, who voiced Might Guy, and both Guy and this guy are both... might(ty) guys.^note Better yet: Might and Guy, two mighty guys, face on against Dyma Goldwin, another mighty guy, who is voiced by the same guy who voiced Might Guy. Get it? ^note Even moreso! Dyma, at least in Normal route, started his villainous reveal by appearing out of nowhere and then moving lightning fast to strike and kill Ame. The aforementioned Might Guy named a trope out of that, or in case of Dyma, can we instead just say 'DYMANIC ENTRY'?
• Magikarp Power: Angela is this in spades. When you first get her, she’s barely on par with secondary characters from other series, much less main characters, that you have access to. When Angela gets her new mech halfway through the game, her moveset doubles in size and is extremely powerful, she gets some of the highest natural evasion and sight stats, and she gets a ton of ammo for all her moves. In short, she becomes one of the best real robots in the game.
• Magnificent Bastard: Vicious is Spike Spiegel's pitiless but brilliant best friend-turned-enemy as in his home series. Having tracked the disappeared Spike for years, Vicious plots to lure him to Hong Kong and force him to join Vicious in taking over the Red Dragon Syndicate. When Spike refuses, Vicious nearly kills him in combat, leveling the playing field by having his underlings fight alongside him and Spike is only saved by the intervention of an enemy of Vicious' business partner. Revealed to be selling Orphee flowers to the clawed man to bankroll his coup on the Red Dragon, Vicious' influence ultimately draws Spike back for the final battle he desires.
• Memetic Mutation: See here for details.
• More Popular Replacement:
  • Invincible Robo Tryder G7 is generally seen as a substitute for Daitarn 3 in this game, and despite it being another unit reused from the Third Super Robot Wars Z duology, it's hard to imagine many fans being upset at the latter's inexplicable Grandfather Clause being ignored for once, given it has been in nearly every Super Robot Wars installment since its debut.
  • Mazinger Z: Infinity is a refreshing change of pace for fans who have grown weary of the multiple attempts to expand Shin Mazinger: up to T, the latter had only missed out on Super Robot Wars UX since its debut.
  • Similarly, many fans are quite happy that Getter Robo got something new with Shin Getter Dragon, with Armageddon and Shin Getter being overused since Z2.
• Most Wonderful Sound: Van and his shout of "CHEEESTOOH!!", which is said all the time whenever he uses Dann of Thursday's "Machete" attack. While other attacks from Dann may also have him say "CHEEESTOOH!!", they are percentage-based.
• Narm:
  • Similar to how Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Moon Dwellers rendered the Kiai of Sanger Zonvolt from "CHEEEESTOOOO!!" into "CHEEEST!!", Van also uses it. While the official translations for Super Robot Wars has been improving overall, what is meant to be an archaic Japanese Battle Cry shouldn't be a direct translation about a person's chest area. At this point, the localization may be running out of options for this particular word (ironically, the Gun X Sword dub modified it into "SEEEI-YAAAHHHH!!"). Ultimately Subverted - Van says "CHEEST!" and sometimes, he does say "Chestoh!"
  • Angela Balzac being quarantined by DEVA: in the original movie, it's supposed to show how Angela has been wrongly accused by a Knight Templar system, with her being justifiably sad over it. T decides to alter her appearance into a blocky Super-Deformed Moe version of herself that looked like a child's doodling mixed with a Minecraft model; contrast the Anime where she's rendered in normal size. Instead of feeling sorry for her predicament, players may end up being distracted by her cute visage.
• Older than You Think:
  • This may be the Super Robot Wars debut of Cowboy Bebop, but it's not the first time the developers included it for a Crossover with fellow Sunrise Anime series - that belongs to Sunrise Eiyuutan, specifically the second installment Sunrise Eiyuutan R on the PlayStation 2. This also means Spike Spiegel and co. have already fought alongside the casts from Universal Century Gundam, G Gundam, Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Dunbine and GaoGaiGar.
  • Similar to Bebop, in spite of the excitement for the Rune Gods from Magic Knight Rayearth coming to Earth, T wouldn't be the first time - it happened earlier in the Rayearth OVA Alternate Continuity where the world of Cephiro invades Earth. Also, if Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- counts^note It contains characters, weapons, nations, and worlds from different CLAMP series, Rayearth, Celes, and Windam appeared as the "Kudan" of Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai D. Flowright, respectively, in the Hanshin Republic (a Fictional Country in that dimension's Earth) Story Arc in their animal forms, but not as Humongous Mecha.
• Player Punch:
  • Players are forced to kill off Zagato and Princess Emeraude; just like Kamina and Neil Dylandy/Lockon Stratos I beforehand, there is no way to avert this due to the former's impact to the overall Rayearth plot. And just like in the original manga and show, the Magic Knights take it every bit as hard as you'd expect.
  • The deaths of Carossa and Melissa, who are literally kids, are repeated like its source material; like the above example, there is no way to save them.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Primera was disliked in her original series for being nothing more than a Moment Killer for Hikaru and Lantis and being a Clingy Jealous Girl. She's much more well received in the scope of this game, because she received a minor Adaptational Badass, while she's not directly fighting, she contributes in battles with her Spirit Command pools, an essential part that turns Lantis into a godlike unit, and her interactions with fellow fair folks like Chum and Silkie were an appreciated distraction from getting in the way between Hikaru and Lantis. And in the epilogue, she proves herself capable of being cordial, friendly and supportive to Hikaru, despite both her and Lantis going home to Cephiro together leaving Hikaru.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Pilot-exclusive attacks are already widely disliked, as they defeat the purpose of allowing units to change pilots, but T has perhaps the most flagrant use of the rule by locking the Bellvine's "Hyper Aura Slash" to Show. Because the latter already has an exclusive attack with the Billbine's "Aura Shoot", this means it's impossible to simultaneously sortie the Billbine and Bellvine without one of them missing their finisher. While Aura Shoot is an extra attack on top of the Billbine's already larger-than-average moveset, Hyper Aura Slash is a standard attack for every non-Mook Aura Battler, including every other Aura Battler in this game. There's also the question of why a scrapped unit from New Story of Aura Battler Dunbine has an attack locked to Show instead of actual New Story protagonist Shion. There is little reason gameplay-wise why one or both finishers couldn't be locked behind Aura Power level instead, as older Super Robot Wars games did in order to deny immediate access to Hyper Aura Slash.
• Shocking Moments: The fandom was given a massive one on the pre-release announcement alone, be they the return of many series (GaoGaiGar, G Gundam, Gun X Sword), the combo of newcomers (Cowboy Bebop, Arcadia of My Youth, Rayearth) and the use of Canon Foreigners as Unexpected Characters (Bellvine and Shin Getter Dragon), on top of a localization.
• That One Boss: The climax boss of the Magic Knight Rayearth, Emeraude, is this in spades. She may have only one attack, but she has roughly double the HP of the previous boss of the stage, Zagato, comes in with the "Supreme", "Pressure Level 4" and "Triple Action" skills on top of a high "potential" ranking. If you do not take her out quickly, you will lose the fight. To put it in perspective, she can nearly one-shot battleships and Gunbuster. Also, she will make a beeline towards Hikaru, focusing completely on her and can easily one-shot her, resulting a Game Over.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Queen Emeraldas is a staunch ally to Captain Harlock, is involved whenever the plot concerns him and spends most of her time on-screen having the same level of reputation as he does In-Universe; hell, her battleship even has its own map sprite during scenarios! Despite all this, she remains a Non-Player Character in T. However, Justified because this is consistent with her being a Hero of Another Story in Endless Orbit SSX.
  • While the dramatic meeting between Show and Shion for the first time in the franchise is played up for what it's worth, the same cannot be said about Bern Bunnings and Rabaan Zaramand. On the other hand, T mitigates this by having Rabaan develop a split personality based on Bern's memories, yet it still comes across as a lost opportunity when Show Hayami voices both characters.
  • Vicious is the Big Bad of his series, but is Demoted to Extra, appearing in one cutscene, despite having fought Spike and Gren in an Old School Dog Fight in "Jupiter Jazz Part 2." Even without access to a fighter craft he used in Cowboy Bebop, Super Robot Wars has precedence of putting a character into a mecha of another series, but he isn't given such a treatment; narratively, Vicious also could have been made to be on the UND's recruitment list or take over the Asian Mafia due to sharing similar themes; even Lin appears in a cutscene via Downloadable Content involving Hoi Kow Lou being targeted by AI-controlled Asian Mafia mecha. Sadly, B.B Studio did none of those for Vicious.
  • A rare example with generic enemy characters: the DEVA Security Agents. They have a massive number of special dialogue against most of the main characters, who also have special dialogue against them. And given DEVA's role in the story, it makes perfect sense to have them appear more often in the game. Yet they only appear in a single stage, and not even a climactic final fight like in the movie.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Having Harlock and Fasalina fight in Scenario 41 triggers a special dialogue that toys with the idea of the latter potentially making a Heel–Face Turn. Despite that, Fasalina and Michael are unrecruitable in this game, unlike their previous appearance in Super Robot Wars K.
  • With the Expansion Pack involving the return of the original characters from V and X, some players think that it would've been even better if the series exclusive to those games also made a return to increase the scale of the expansion's Crisis Crossover storyline.
• Unexpected Character: With the exception of Expelled From Paradise, the rest of the debuts come out of left field.
  • For years, many fans had hoped for Cowboy Bebop to be included in these games, but felt it was more of a pipe dream, as the Anime is more known for its ground-based, character-driven adventure despite its Science Fiction setting. However, Spike did pilot the Swordfish II in the show proper, hence the go-ahead by Bandai Namco Entertainment (also see Older than You Think). Similarly, the most standout feature from Arcadia of My Youth was Captain Harlock's ship.
  • Magic Knight Rayearth for several reasons: CLAMP is known for its defensive position on its properties^note Unlike Code Geass which is co-developed with Sunrise, Rayearth is a 100% CLAMP production, though not to the extent as Ouji Hiroi with Sakura Wars and the Mashin Hero Wataru Series (given both have already made it into the franchise). Unlike many series included in Super Robot Wars, Rayearth has no form of a command center or battleship to utilize^note The closest equivalent would be Eagle Vision's NSX, except he's an antagonist, albeit a sympathetic one; contrast this with Dunbine, which has the latter in lieu of its Medieval European Fantasy setting and used by the protagonist. Hilariously, the NSX becomes the fourth battleship players can use while the one in Dunbine isn't in the game and, like Cowboy Bebop, focused more on land-based escapades, saving the Humongous Mecha action primarily for its season one finale and second season. Despite these difficulties, it made it into Super Robot Wars proper after topping fan request lists for decades.
  • Following the recent trend of licensed-Super Robot Wars titles bringing old-school Original Generation units onto its roster (Grungust and Huckebein for V, Cybuster for X), fans deduced Terra would do the same. Instead, the Guest Fighter is a black-colored Gespenst and used by whomever players didn't select as the protagonist. This is unexpected because the Gespenst is an old mechanical design (up there with the Cybuster) and fans believed a Shin Super Robot Wars/Super Robot Wars Alpha-era unit was a likelier candidate. Furthermore, that a black Gespenst is used by this game's Original Generation is surprising when it has a history to it^note Gilliam Yeager is synonymous with the machine in all Super Robot Wars appearances, including his debut game Hero Senki: Project Olympus when he wore it as Powered Armor.
  • The Shin Getter Dragon, the "Shin" version of the Getter Robo G from an obscure 1999 PlayStation game Getter Robo Daikessen!: part of the surprise is Daikessen wasn't included on the series line-up the same way the developers usually list "unit only" series like Beltorchika's Children and Spin Offs of Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam and VOTOMS. Furthermore, the Premium Anisong version features the Daikessen theme song "Can't Stop."
  • Few people guessed the "Bellvine" would become Shion's unit, especially when the machine existed as sketches in an obscure artbook for New Story of Aura Battler Dunbine and never turned up in the show proper. Played with when B.B. Studio admitted it was added into T due to an upcoming plastic model figure based on it^NoteAmusingly, they also stated the studio had difficulty animating it since no rear illustrations of the Bellvine exist.
  • When Lantis joins the roster, he's not using a small unit that fights on-foot like the series proper, but rather brings a copy of Zagato's Rune God that Zagato made for him in this continuity, a surprising twist since, in the original show, Lantis was briefly seen piloting Geo Metro's GTO, but only via Flashback.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: A lot of the attack animations have beautifully-animated cutscenes - "Bebop Formation" faithfully recreates the opening to Cowboy Bebop, Mazinger Z's Rocket Punch shows Lisa gathering all of Photon Power on the planet for Mazinger Z to use, and "Combined Rayearth: Sword of the Flash" seems like B.B. Studio yanked the machine from the Anime itself!
• Woolseyism: Inverted - the save-quit skit about Joe losing the uniqueness of his "Ace" nickname return and unlike V and X, it's re-written to look closer to what he's saying.
  • Old:
    Maito: "How's that sound, Joe?"
    Joe: "Actually, quite annoying!"
  • New:
    Maito: "And that's how it is, Joe!"
    Joe: "Why does this piss me off so much...?"