Hello! Thank you for visiting SwitchWatch.co.uk. Jordan over at SwitchWatchTV took upon himself to review some Super Robot Wars X on the Nintendo Switch. He spent a pretty penny to make this happen, so give his video a view or check out the script below.
Super Robot Wars, baby!
Don’t you just love that sweet smell of over-the-top anime mech attacks? Well, I do. Super Robot Wars has quickly become one of my favorite series after stumbling upon it last year with the series’ most recent entry Super Robot Wars T. This release, X, is a slightly older title originally on the PlayStation Vita and PS4 and is the second most recent entry. Let’s find out how it holds up on the Switch and if the port was worth it or not.
STORY
The story for this one is set in Another World, a mystery, hence the X nomenclature in the title, meaning Unknown. And it also stands for Cross. They couldn’t make their minds up, but anyways. You are an original character plonked into this anime crossover bonanza. You can choose between a male or female protagonist and they take the role of a mage on the other worldly Al-Warth.
Your character is there to protect the savior of this world who is transported to this region in order to restore a sacred mountain to its former glory. In Classic anime fashion, this savior is a 4th grader who rides a dragon-powered mech. Yeah. He’s not the only one to be transported, however, as dozens of famous anime series are dumped into the world too in order to help out and perhaps hinder.
The plot is all over the place. Literally you go here, there, get sidetracked here and everywhere, but I really enjoy this stuff. I actually love the otherworldly feel present through most of this one. It makes a difference from the normal. A place where there’s magic and wonder intertwined with the mech action. I really like it, and it may be my favorite of the series so far.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay remains as familiar as ever. If you’ve been keeping up with my reviews of the series thus far, you’ll know that these games are turn-based strategy RPGs with more style than anything else out there.
It pans out in a similar fashion to the Fire Emblem-style of strategy games. Whereby you move all your units first, do all your business, end the turn, and then the enemy team has their go. I’ve always said that’s not my favorite kind. I find a strat based approach to turns more tactical, but it’s a minor point. When you attack an enemy unit you have to be careful since they will most likely retaliate with a counter attack. I really enjoy this style of attack because it’s always quite risky. If your unit is low on health, it may be wise not to get a cheeky attack in before someone else finishes them off since you’ll probably go down with the ship.
While each unit has a handful of attacks, there are also lots of skills you’ll be wanting to use. Before the face-off between two units, you may want to use some of them which are called spirits. They can be from the unit who’s going to fight or be passed on by some passive units out on the field. They can range from giving you 100% accuracy for one turn, boosting your defense against 1 attack, or even healing a unit beforehand. Despite the game being easy, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of these as much as possible. Especially against the boss enemies who are always much beefier than any single unit you have and will hit you hard and accurately.
Battling
Battles are long and drawn out. There are dozens of characters on the field, each battle often with multiple stages. You think you’ve almost won until enemy reinforcements come along. Battles also have two goals. 1 standard which is to complete the mission, usually by wiping out the enemy. And a secondary goal which may be something slightly more obscure like one of your allies gets 5 kills in the battle. They are mostly easy enough to accomplish, but you definitely have to keep an eye out for things more. Generally you do a bit more planning which always adds an extra layer of depth.
These are long games. With around 50 chapters, depending on how committed you are to the story. If you skip battle animations, then you’ll be at around 40-50 hours of play time just on the story mode. Obviously if you start skipping or speeding stuff up, then it will drastically decrease but then there’s a special place in hell for those people. Joking aside. Considering this also comes with 20 bonus missions already on the cartridge, add another 10 hours on top of that, you’ve got yourself a meaty game.
RPG Elements
There are RPG elements within, too. Between the long missions you can upgrade your mechs with money and improve their pilots skills. It kind of looks complicated, and I feel it’s glossed over a bit too much by the game in terms of explanation. Like, what are the benefits and such, but as long as you roll with it, upgrade a bit of this, a bit of that, you’ll be golden. The skill tree especially, in how it links up with learning abilities and then the use of tactical points makes it slightly unintuitive, but you will get accustomed to it after you’ve asked yourself why it’s laid out so weirdly a few times.
Overall, the gameplay has always been more style over substance. It’s simplistic enough, despite the numbers and stats being often thrown into your face. But you’ll be having such a great time smashing through the easy levels, watching the awesome attacks, meeting new characters, and so on, you’ll forget how much of a cake walk it is. Yes, there are numbers like morale, SP, EN, ammo, support attacks, and their accuracy, but you can mostly just forget that and enjoy the ride. Saying that though, we highly advise you turning the difficulty up to max. Whatever little difference that makes.
Also, just a side note, if you do want a similar style game with more of a challenge, then I highly recommend checking out my review of SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays. While it lacks the amazing style and focus of Super Robot Wars, it will definitely put up a fight and give you more of a challenging strategy experience.
VISUALS & PERFORMANCE
Visually, this is where the game shines for me. Obviously, it’s pretty limited in certain areas, like the battlefield where you move your troops. But the incredible attack animations will always blow me away. It’s style exemplified to the point where you really feel like you’re watching an episode of your favorite anime show. Except with all the best bits and none of the fluff. Well, if you ignore the endless amounts of story between battles.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it a thousand times, Nintendo needs to hire these guys to do attack animations for Fire Emblem or a new Advance Wars. That would honestly be a dream come true for me. Fire Emblem Three Houses looks cool and all, but this style is just so much better.
Attacks are wonderfully over the top, overly long, and oozing with anime hype. I could see the same attacks over and over again without being bored. Of course, if you’re a heathen you can skip them. Another thing, like in the other games, you can actually speed up the attack animation which is slightly more acceptable, because that can actually make it an extra layer of awesome.
A lot of the environment work is the kind of stuff we’ve seen before in both the previous game and the sequel. It’s disappointing to see things being re-used constantly, but it’s a minor gripe.
And I do want to state that this looks absolutely wonderful in handheld mode. Yes it looks great on the big screen too, but when some sprites get really stretched it can be a bit distorted once in a while. But when it’s in the palm of you hands, I could stare at it all day. Bright, colorful, in your face, and full of awesome anime action.
AUDIO
The audio is equally excellent throughout. No doubt thanks to most of the music tracks being taken from the respective anime series found within the game. When a character from a certain series begins their attack, their theme music will play and it’s just incredible. It truly gets you pumped up. The variety is insane too. With some of the older anime series, you obviously have some cheesy, but oh so delicious saxophone jazzing off. The more modern series have great guitar solos, and you even have some poppy stuff thrown in there. It works incredibly well.
Sadly, voice acting is minus, only popping up during attack animations. It’s a shame, considering there is just tonnes and tonnes of dialogue. But then again, that’s probably why it’s kept so rationed. They’d probably have needed to pay a fortune for the voice actors.
VALUE & PRICING
Super Robot Wars X is thankfully available in English, both digitally and physically. There are two versions of the game you can buy from the Japanese eShop. The Standard Edition is priced at ¥8,360, which is £59, $77, and €69. The Premium Sound Edition comes in at a whopping ¥12,760, which is a massive £90, €106, and $118. Yeah, that’s not worth it. Stick with the standard edition. If you want to purchase digitally, you’ll need some Japanese eShop credit. You can find those links below.
Although, an interesting alternative download option may be from the newly established Hong Kong eShop. It is $449HK, which is a more reasonable $57US or £44. That’s if you can find out how to purchase from the Hong Kong eShop. Not the easiest if you’re outside of Hong Kong or China, that’s for sure. It’s also a place you can now get Super Robot Wars T with English as a download. That was previously only available via a physical copy.
Anyways, yes, Super Robot Wars X is also available physically for a very delicious import with English on the cartridge. If you want to pick that up, please do so using our links below. If you buy from those links, we will get a small cut, which helps support the show massively and funds the reviews for those import games you all love. All the links below have the game with English on the cartridge. Just be wary of any import fees that may be added on when the game arrives on your doorstep. Sometimes that shocks people, but it sadly comes with the territory.
Play Asia Links
2. Super Robot Wars X (Japanese)
3. Super Robot Wars X (Chinese)
It ain’t cheap, but these games never are. Bandai must have to pay massive license fees to all the different anime studios involved. Plus the music rights, plus it’s a niche genre. If you want this kind of awesomeness, you have to pay the price, and I have for all of them and don’t regret it one bit. But I fully realize I may be a mental case.
I personally think it is worth it. It’s worth it to at least buy one of these games. Three like me may be slightly over the top due to their similarities. But if you’re a fan, of course it’s worth an import.
OVERALL
Overall, well you guys kind of know what I think of Super Robot Wars in general. I love them, and I can’t get enough. And if you’ve been in a similar situation, Super Robot Wars X is another must-have. If you’ve tried one and felt you’d had your fill, then this isn’t going to be one you’ll need to be adding to your collection. But for me, this stands alongside Robot Wars T as my favorite in the series so for. Great animation, amazing music, intriguing story and an all-round great time for fans of mechs and anime, and even for those who aren’t. Another excellent addition to the Switch’s library and one of the essential imports of 2020 – 9/10
Thank you for stopping by and reading Jordan’s review! Hope you enjoyed. Happy gaming, everyone.
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