Important Importables: A brief look at Gundam games
by at February 26, 2010 9:29 am
Sections: 2D, 3D, Action, Columns, Consoles, Consoles-Other, DS & DSi & DSi XL, Exclusives, Features, Fighting, GameCube, GBA, Genres, Handhelds, Japanese Imports, Lists, Originals, PS1, PS2, PS3, PSP & PSPgo, Shooter, Strategy, Wii, Xbox-360
|
Mecha anime and manga series are popular around the world. Gundam is the best known among all the series, and even helped kick off all mecha animes. All of the series feature humans piloting huge mechanized suits in the future, battling against one another.
Gundam first began as an animated TV show back in 1979 called Mobile Suit Gundam, and was originally created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise. Since then, there have been movies, animated tv shows, ovas and movies, mangas, novels, light novels, trading card game and tons of video games all based on the series. Japan’s even used Gundam as a cultural mascot, creating stamps featuring the mechanized units, creating a RX-78 monument at the Kamiigusa Station, using it as a nickname for Japan Self-Defense for equipment and even using Gundam mechas as promotional tools.
So this week, let’s take a brief look at all the Gundam animated series out there and some games that are available. If you decide to get interested in the series, prepare to do a lot of research, as there are multiple timelines and things can get quite complicated unless you’re really paying attention to the characters and situations.
A brief look at the Gundam series.
The Gundam series is somewhat notorious for being quite involved, and often complicated. While the Gundam games often have their own storylines, and just feature mechas from the anime series, familiar characters may also appear and certain wars or political altercations are often referenced. The best way to learn about these is to sit down and actually watch the anime. Sure, you can try just sitting and reading some viewers’ reports online, but those could get a bit dry and you may get factions and dates mixed up.
So here’s a list of all of the main anime series. Be aware that the first four series are all related and take part in the same timeline. (There are multiple timelines, so you may find it difficult to keep track unless you take notes between series or reference and online site. Even I have trouble figuring it all out and keeping it straight.) If you decide to start watching these series, make sure you have a lot of free time! Many of the series have 40-50 episodes, so becoming a fan requires quite an investment.
Notable Gundam games released in Japan.
There have been tons of GundamGundam games released, or they’re on region free systems. I tried to do my best to also look into which Gundam anime series each game corresponds to, but since I haven’t had the opportunity to watch much Gundam aside from the occasional Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed episode.
NotableGundam games released outside of Japan
Fortunately, since Gundam is such a popular series, many of the video game entries have been released outside of Japan. In case you’re looking to experience the Gundam world in a whole new way, here are some of the more recent entries you can easily find in your local game store or at your favorite online retailer. Again, I’ve also tried to mention, when possible, which anime series each game corresponds to, in case there’s a particular Gundam series you love and want a game that is related to it.
Hope you all learned something today, and maybe you’ll want to consider looking into the Gundam series and becoming a fan. I know I learned something – never decide to write a column on a series when you’ve only seen two segments (Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed), and haven’t watched one of them since high school. Ha ha. I’m not kidding.
COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables looks at notable fan translation projects.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables reviewed Poupee Girl DS.
Site [Gundam.info (Japanese)] Site [GundamOfficial.com] Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX] Site [Himeya Shop] Site [Strapya World]
Related Posts