What's Gundam, Exactly?

It won’t come as a shock to you when I mention that I like Japanese media and there is one piece of media I have grown quite fond of in the past years and that is the Gundam franchise. As this blog caters for those who don’t share my fandoms I shall attempt to give you a brief rundown of what exactly Gundam is.

Mobile Suit Gundam started out as an animation series back in 1979 and now is one of Japans major media exports. In the animation the main theme is that after expanding to the stars the human race is divided by those seeking independence from planet Earth and those who wish for Earth to still be the ruling body of all mankind. This theme runs throughout most of the television series’ and while not always sticking to the letter of what I described; it is still the most accurate basic storyline within the Gunam universe. The Gundam franchise doesn’t just cover animation but also Gunpla (made up from the two words ‘Gundam’ and ‘Play’), which is a form of model making along with Novels, Mangas and Video Games. Since 1979 there have been over 20 series’ spanning several universes including UC (Universal Century), CE (Cosmic Era), AW (After War), AC (After Colony) and with its latest incarnation, a depiction of our current timeline, in 2307. With its rich and vast library of robots, storylines and characters including it’s absolutely bizarre incarnations, of which I speak solely of G-Gundam and SD Gundam, after 30 years of success in Japan how come so little is known about the series in the west?

The problem with any fandom from Japan is that those willing to explore Japanese anime will already have seen one or two Gundam series and if they have enjoyed it have bought or made some Gunpla models. But what if you aren’t into anime, how else would you come to know about Gundam?

In 2000 I had a brief bout with Gundam Wing, a series which was shown on Cartoon Network after Dragonball Z and I enjoyed it, even though most of the criticisms aimed at the show where it’s mostly talkative and slow moving plot line but this was the first time I’d seen a well animated giant robot animation since Battletech and I wondered if there would be any games based on the series. I spent some of my time in the evenings searching for games containing the words Gundam which were available in the UK, sadly most of the games I’d classify as decent aren’t coming to our shores and the ones which have are utter disappointments.

The first was Gundam: Battle Assault for the Playstation, a 2D beat ‘em up featuring Gundam characters from Gundam Wing, which wasn’t the case for the original Japanese release. Due to Gundam Wing being shown in the US, Bandai modified the game (which only included characters from Zeta Gundam) to include characters from Gundam Wing, which was then later released in Japan. Since then there have been very limited exposure of Gundam video games in the west and in the UK specifically as it would be another six years before I came across another Gundam title.

Tokyo's 1:1 Scale Statue

Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire was released on PS3 in November 2006 in Japan and America and didn’t hit EU stores until March 2007. Crossfire received some vastly different review scores based on where you were at the time. The Japanese magazine Famitsu scored Crossfire, 32 out of 40 with each panellist scoring the game 8 out of 10. In the West however the game received less than favourable results with reviews ranging from 1 to 5 out of 10. Reviews wrote that the game suffered from a variety of issues most prominent of which were the bland, outdated graphics, an underdeveloped story, bad voice acting, clumsy gameplay, and a slew of technical issues including (but not limited to) constant framerate issues, collision bugs, and frequent malfunctions of allied and even enemy AI. Most reviewers agreed that the game was by far the worst launch title for the PS3.

Since then the only two Gundam games that have graced the UK have been Dynasty Warriors: Gundam (in 2007) and its sequel in 2009. However the Dynasty Warriors series is not the most innovative of games and while the game can be entertaining if the action is present and fast-flowing the sequel felt more like a chore. With a slight increase in graphics came what appeared to be a slowdown in gameplay.

Gundam games have always fallen short in the UK while in Japan the series has been flourishing on a majority of home systems although most of these titles are home ports of arcade games which I have encountered in two visits to Japan. In 2008 I and some friends travelled to Japan on a two week holiday. On more than one occasion we spent an afternoon or two in some of the famous Akihabara arcades, one of which was full of Gundam arcade games, ranging from Gundam vs Gundam and the Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna simulator. The Senjou no Kizuna game is a four vs four cockpit simulation game, were you take control of a Gundam using controls you’d likely to find in an actual Gundam cockpit and was one of the most fun gaming experiences I’ve had for many years and the aforementioned Gundam vs Gundam game is one of the best arcade based PSP games I’ve had the chance of playing and its sequel even more so.

The problem with the public perception of the Gundam series is something only the Japanese are truly devoted too (so much so that a 1:1 scale model of the original Gundam was constructed) and while some fans outside of Japan are devoted enough to pay through the teeth for import Gunpla models at conventions, not everyone will be so enthused. The average gamer who has dabbled in the Gundam franchise in gaming alone won’t feel so sympathetic to its almost unfair coverage outside of Japan, with Mech games in the west belonging to the nostalgic memories of Mechwarrior, Mobile Suit Gundam will remain a failed series in the UK outside of Anime until a video game is released which erases all previous Gundam titles and reinvigorates the giant robot genre although sadly I feel that achievement will go to the upcoming Mechwarrior game.

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