Why certain series didn't get in SRW?

[AU_Gundam MK II]

If this is meant to be in the games section, please move. Now, for the past 3 decades, we have seen the ever large mecha super genre expand exponantially. Now, at the start of the last decade, a crossover game called Super Robot Wars was created and the basic premise was to have several of series of this grand genre merged into the unity of one game. However, recent research has revealed (And it's quite obvious) that several members of this genre have not been included.

The purpose of this thread? To discuss why certain series have not come to SRW, why some did, and to question the viability of some the series already included.

As a query, I'd like to ask why Vandread wasn't included. It's got the makings for inclusion. Sure, there's that whole separate planet crap with men vs women and that Earth was trashed, but SRW has had a habit of modifying the stories to certain extents. I mean, they could just say that the planet they came from was like earth, but not Earth.

[Mark064]

They just don't feel like adding it I assume and some legal issues for a few. There is a ton of robot series that have been abscent in SRW games for ages, in order to fit them all Banpresto would have to be constantly filling SRW games with a high percentage of new series to fit them all. But Banpresto only puts in a few every time and these games aren't exacty released at 5 a year either. And there is over 50 different series absent from SRW games as is, just do the math.

[AU_Gundam MK II]

Yes, I know that. But I'm asking for details on particular series, such as Zoids and Vandread.

[Kuruni]

You need to have Terada join Mecha Talk then .

[Mark064]

Pretty much as that's the only way you're going to find out. There is no specific reason as far as we know of why Banpresto doesn't chose certain series and choses others. The process is probably a lot more complicated then we think.

[AmuroNT1]

They can only include so many series in each game; typically they seem to include four to six new series per game. Given the number of mecha series coming out each year, and the fact that we get about two SRWs per year, it's naturally going to be a little slow. But give them time; I don't think BP is intentionally shafting the things that haven't shown yet. After all, it took them how long to finally include Golion?

[codename:v]

SRW is not like regular beat-em-up games where characters of all sorts can mix up into a blender. The one thing that SRW do emphasizes on would be how stories crossovers can match with each other on a same plane or reality. Since not everyone has the ability to jump across paralell dimensions like Cobray do, each storylines must correspond with each other in order to ensure a smooth general plot flow which all the mecha storylines can go with, just like a movie script needs a theme and concept to go with.
As every SRW players know, SRW is more on the Gundam sides (UC timelines mixed with alternate timelines) and you can find gundams in every SRW franchises. Not to mention the Mazinger series and Getta series which pay homage to the man himself-Ichiro Mizuki whose songs help popularize the animes itself. Banpresto also ropes in VirtualON game mechs into its SRW franchise.
Although it's fun to see mechs and robots of all sorts to playing in one game, there is a downside to the SRW games and that is having no identity of its own, why? Because it's an amalgamation of robot anime series in one and only recently, Banpresto released the OG franchises which uses only their own created player mechs.
So you see, you can't just throw in any mechanimes randomly at your own pleasure. It's the storyplot that matters the most and each stories has to get along with others, or else SRW would ended up as a crappy, garbage game. Who likes to eat garbage?

[Ascension]

It's the storyplot that matters the most and each stories has to get along with others, or else SRW would ended up as a crappy, garbage game. Who likes to eat garbage?

There are a lot of people who would probably disagree with you on that reasoning. As long as it's flashy and "cool" looking, they don't care about little things like logic.

Going back to the original post, I would say that licensing would be an issue as well. I'm sure there have been series they've wanted to include but have been unable to, at least early on in the series before they achieved their current level of acclaim.

[Kurando]

It costs money and takes time to add series. So waiting is all you can do

I really do wish Yuusha Commander Dagwon got into srw.. also gurren lagann will no doubt be in srw

I mean.. there is always a chance. Detonator orgun got into srw w.. and that was very unexpected

[Wingnut]

Well Zoids is off on its own planet and aside from a select few, don't work in space at all.

Vandread would take a lot of tweaking of the story to even get them in a plausible scenario, even by Banpresto's standards.
Even going the "group of heroes gets tossed into the alternate dark future" route like Alpha Gaiden and R, Vandread would be the only series that would be in that future where in other games there were several series that were set in a post apocalyptic setting that make an appearance in the games.

Personally having seen Vandread recently myself, I feel the characters and mechs would work great in a SRW setting, but all the things that would need to happen to make them work with everyone else we see in the average game would be too much to practically do for a game.

[Yuusha Tokkyu Might Gaine]

That didn't stop them from using Golion though, nor did it stop them from using Arm Slaves in space.

But I do agree, I see Vandread having more of a chance of being in SRW then Zoids

[Wingnut]

I suppose they could play around with the dimensional jump technology again like they did with the Shadow Mirror and have the original enemies or even the protagonists end up accidentally dragging the Nirvana into the normal universe of the game.
Or even instead of that wormhole sending them across their own galaxy, have be the dimensional rift that ends up bringing them into the universe the game is set in.
Though it would be virtually impossible to have the Harvesters as an enemy force in either case (unless everyone went back with them to help defeat them), thus one of the many problems with having Vandread in an SRW game.

[Mark064]

Stuff like this is easy to do for creators of SRW games. For Vandread why does it have to be an alternate dimension... all they have to do is it have it in a far off corner of space somewhere. A simple scenario is having a ship such as the Macross fold out somewhere in space and run into a battle and then run into the ship. They learn about Vandread past and fight the enemies for a while before folding away with the Vandread cast joining them. And seeing as that the original enemy is often a unifing force for at least some enemy factions attach the Harvesters to them to further their goals.

Lots of series are set in different planets and is once again easy to fix with journeys across space or through other methods. See SRW GC/XO which included the story lines of Baxingar, Daihoja, L-Gaim, and Sasuraiger which brought us to many planets.

Of course for units that are so set on ground they can always do another ground based SRW if they see fit which was the case of Compact 3 for the Wonderswan which included Betterman and Escaflowne (we also saw Acrobunch and Mechander Robo both which would be fine in space).

An important thing to note however is the mix of series. The creators need an appropriate mix of series storylines. If you have series with mixes of intergalatic travel it's best to include storylines that mend together with that.

[Shinji103]

About the whole "can't work in space" thing....Evangelions? ^^b lol

If those can work in space, then there is absolutely no problem getting Zoids or other non-space-faring mechs to work in space, and as YTMG said, they put Arm Slaves in space too.

I think (and I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people who agree with me on this one) that one of the main reasons a series does or doesn't get in an SRW is plain and simple popularity. Just look at SEED in @3. Originally it wasn't even supposed to be in there, but major fan demand got it a slot.

[Mark064]

There are always mecha that can't work in space though like Escaflowne. The problem of something like Zoids is the series seems to be so ground combat based and it'd just be silly if you had a bunch of units running through space every time. Apposed to Arm Slaves which have a more humanoid appearance and can be easily space use.

I have to disagree with the popularity bit. While undoubtly popularity plays a role in putting series in I'm not sure if we can say the opposite that it keeps series out. Especailly when you look at some of the series present in Super Robot games the question of why comes to mind, else you look at something that should be semi-popular at least which gets ignored for a long time.

[Shinji103]

There are always mecha that can't work in space though like Escaflowne. The problem of something like Zoids is the series seems to be so ground combat based and it'd just be silly if you had a bunch of units running through space every time. Apposed to Arm Slaves which have a more humanoid appearance and can be easily space use.

The problem of space-apability isn't whether they're humanoid or not, it's whether or not they have propulsion. Evangelions and Arm Slaves, like Zoids, have no propulsion systems whatsoever, yet are useable in space in SRW. (the first time I played an SRW with Evas and used them in space, I was like "WTF?!", lol) Thus, there is no reason why Zoids can't be space-capable in an SRW if Arm Slaves and Evas are.

[Mark064]

I am aware of that however this is a game where things look good given their given material. You put an Arm Slave or Evangelion in space do you really have a large difference given what it is? Ignore things like propulsion, thrusters or anything else, these are easily written away in the story. Units like Zoids would loose some of their appeal running through space as the series is more ground based and the mecha are heavily designed around ground based fight as apposed to Arm Slaves or Evangelion which isn't going to see a huge difference in space or ground combat. It's the 4-legged asspect vs 2-legged asspect really.

[Shinji103]

I am aware of that however this is a game where things look good given their given material. You put an Arm Slave or Evangelion in space do you really have a large difference given what it is? Ignore things like propulsion, thrusters or anything else, these are easily written away in the story. Units like Zoids would loose some of their appeal running through space as the series is more ground based and the mecha are heavily designed around ground based fight as apposed to Arm Slaves or Evangelion which isn't going to see a huge difference in space or ground combat. It's the 4-legged asspect vs 2-legged asspect really.

a. I am perfectly aware of writing away thngs like propulaion and stuff for the sake of tha game. That was my whole point in my previous post. If Evas and AS's can get their hindrances in space "written off", so can Zoids.
b. Have you ever played SRW MX or @3? What do you think the Evas did? They ran across the screen towards the opponent as if they were on the ground, regardless of the terrain you were on. So Zoids wouldn't lose any more appeal than Evas.
c. Eva and FMP are completely ground-based series-es, the same as Zoids, so I don't see how Zoids is any different here.
d. (follow-up-ish of c.) Evas and AS's are less ground-based than Zoids? How in the world do you figure that? Neither of the first two mechs were designed in any way for space combat.

If Evas' and ASs' lack of space-capability can be "written off" to be useable in space, there's absolutely no reason Zoids can't be treated the same. Now then, we should get back on topic before a mod locks the thread.

[Recon 5]

About Vandread being included- IIRC Earth is the Harvesters' stronghold (their main base) so making them the enemies would prevent the game from having any 'defend the Earth' missions- which are pretty much the bulk of most SRW games to date. Also, I can't imagine a majority (close to 80% actually) of the characters in SRW coming from a Planet of Men or a Planet of Women (or anywhere outside Earth) so where in the world would an SRW Vandread game start?

About the impossibility of running in space- Bandai doesn't really care about that stuff. Their very own Tiger Dragon King is proof of that. Reality and commonsense kind of get thrown out the window with SRW. I mean, Dygenguard (Daizengar ) can create cliffs out of nothing...

I'd say that series selection is determined by licensing and popularity more than anything else.

Something licensed but not in? Its not popular enough.

Something popular not in? They couldn't get the license.

Simple as that.

[Yuusha Tokkyu Might Gaine]

If I remember right, the Bacues from SEED couldn't be used in space though so that would probably severly limit the stages and appearances of ZOIDS characters and such