Quinneapolis
I want to do a plurk real quick about Super Robot Wars, and a deep dive into the most unbelievably busted mech in the entire series's 30 year history
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that mech was in a little game called Super Robot Wars Alpha 3
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and it was a little mech called
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Ideon.
Ideon.
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Space Runaway Ideon is a Tomino series from 1980
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it's famously just the bleakest shit in the whole world
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children are dying, Earth is fucked
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in the series finale movie, literally everyone in the universe dies
mózhēngist
that's dark, but it also looks like transformer
Quinneapolis
yeah it's old school and kinda doofy
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but while most modern super robots are powered by determination and willpower
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Ideon is powered by despair
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the more hopeless the situation, the more powerful it gets
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this is represented in Alpha 3 with the Ide Gauge, which powers up as bad things happen on a map
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in its full-powered form, it becomes capable of using a little thing called the Ideon Gun
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the strongest form of the Ideon Gun is a MAP attack, meaning that instead of just picking one guy and shooting, it damages enemies on multiple spaces on the battle map
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usually map attacks will be like, maybe a 2-space radius diamond, or a few spaces long in a line
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the Ideon Gun is
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a 90-degree cone
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with INFINITE LENGTH
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if you put the Ideon in the middle of one edge of a square map, it will hit 75% of the map
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this is already absurd on its face, but clever players can make this even more obscene
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because in addition to being one of the most powerful weapons in the game just in terms of raw damage
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the Ideon has something that is always a game changer in SRW:
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multiple pilots
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every pilot has a pool of SP, which can be used to do Spirits
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which are like, valor overdrives? you spend some SP and get a temporary buff
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the total pool of pilots for the Ideon together have three important spirits
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1: Double the damage of your next attack
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2: Next attack won't kill any enemies, instead leaving them at 10 HP
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3: Take two turns in a row
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So, cheesing the Ideon Gun works like this
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the Ide Gauge goes up when bad shit happens and down when good shit happens
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I don't know all the specifics but
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- it is possible to abuse some shit to get the gauge maxed out pretty fast
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- the gauge goes back down as you kill enemies
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so, with that in mind
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you fill your robot with despair
Ken
God I was just thinking about this last night, chuckling at how quaint Cybaster’s MAP attack is in comparison
Quinneapolis
point it at the entire map
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give yourself two turns
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turn 1:
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Valor and Mercy, doubling damage but making it impossible to kill enemies
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Fire the Ideon Gun
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Every enemy takes 20,000 damage, but none of them die
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meaning the Ide Gauge doesn't go back down
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turn 2:
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Valor but no Mercy
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Every enemy takes 20,000 damage, including the ones who were left at 10 HP
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You just did 40,000 damage to every enemy on the field
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the mission is over
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there have been some amazing busted units in SRW - the Valzacard and Aquarion come to mind -
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but nothing has EVER touched the godlike all-consuming power of the Ideon
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the mecha that destroyed the universe
Rama
The best missions in Alpha 3 are the late game ones that give you effectively infinite fields of Space Monsters
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Ideon: (cocks ideon gun) I have depression, but
Rama
Because you can do this trick and it actually matters
ShootingXC
fun fact there's a new game plus only bonus ending where you do the ending the universe thing
ShootingXC
the worst ending is, yes, new game plus
Quinneapolis
that makes two SRW bad ends that are just the canonical end of one of the shows
Rama
Baldios isn't a Tomino show, but I'm pretty sure Tomino took some inspiration
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Baldios: The enemy is trying to create a worldwide killer apocalyptic flood! How will our heroes stop them?!
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Baldios: They won't. World ends. Roll credits
Rama
I just learned the actual final twist to that from the wikipedia page
Rama
The post-apocalyptic world that the bad guys were invading from was just Earth in the future, and the whole thing is a time loop
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brutal
ShootingXC
also their tv runs both ended like five days apart
ShootingXC
what a good week to be a mecha fan
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even some of the nicer late 70s super robot shows got like
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Trider G7 has an episode about a little girl that gets turned into a bomb by aliens
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she explodes
Rama
I thought that was Zanbot 3
Rama
...was it both
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I probably got them confused
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they're very similar
ShootingXC
Zambot is another Tomino too
Rama
I mostly remember Zanbot 3 for having the most adorable children in like the second most depressing Tomino show
Ken
“We could nerf Ideon to be actually balanced or we could REALLY lean in to what it actually is” is the choice they had and they made the right one
oh i'm scary
if someone says the word "balance" at Banpresto they get thrown out the window like the meme
ShootingXC
looks at Gunbuster
ShootingXC
yes indeed
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Banpresto knows what they're doing with SRW
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and it's not making nuanced, balanced SRPGs
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it's making games where the coolest robot is also the one that kicks the most ass
連続犬
this is why pretty much every game that has Shin Getter, Shin Getter is just a freight train made of pure fury
連続犬
i don't think there's been a single game in which Shin Getter Robo existed and wasn't in like the top 5 units
Quinneapolis
I'm excited in srw30 because I know getter robo is in but I don't know in what form
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like Armageddon already happened
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where the fuck are we going
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ShootingXC
Shin Getter is always at worst a massive heavy hitter that needs to spend SP to not be one of your squishier supers
oh i'm scary
alternatively: Ryoma has Counter and one-shots everything before it can attack
AzureChrysanthemum
Shin Getter is always amazing but like, usually there are better mechs
AzureChrysanthemum
BUT IT'S STILL A TIER EASILY
Ken
Counterpoint: other mechs don’t have Heats as a default song
Rama
It's pretty frequent that Shin Getter is top tier for single target damage, just not always everything else
Rama
Support Attack Stone Sunshine is the only way Alpha Gaiden Hard is even possible
Quinneapolis
the level of Shin Getter Dragon at the start of SRW30:
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I got a mission where Ryoma was on one end of the map and the rest of my team was on the other end
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each side dealt with about half the map
ShootingXC
Sounds about right
Ken
Yeah that was about my experience when I got him too
oh i'm scary
whoa do you just start with SGD
oh i'm scary
and skip Shin Getter
Quinneapolis
I guess
oh i'm scary
that's surprising
oh i'm scary
usually they keep upgrades as upgrades for a good long while
oh i'm scary
maybe it's a sign they're moving onto Arc next game
oh i'm scary
or New but they're never gonna do New again
oh i'm scary
because they hate me
oh i'm scary
and also because Arc is the new hotness
AzureChrysanthemum
Which Getter is Go from?
Quinneapolis
Armageddon