Mecha anime is one of the biggest anime genres in the world. It has been around for decades and has spawned multiple shows, movies, toys, and video games. My experience with this long-running genre has mainly been with the Armored Core and Zone of the Enders video games and the ’90s series Mobile Fighter G Gundam. I remember coming home from school and rushing to the TV to catch episodes of G Gundam on Toonami. Those memories are precious to me, and even though I’ve never taken the deep dive into the genre, mecha media will always have a special place in my heart.
Super Robot Wars is a series that looks to take all of these beloved franchises and characters and create an original story that lets you create the ultimate team of mechs and pilots. While the latest game in the series, Super Robot Wars Y, is impressive for just how many mechs and characters it manages to cram into one game without feeling bloated, the production value and UI left me wanting more.
The Ultimate Mecha Team-Up
The overall plot of Super Robot Wars Y is fairly simple. You choose one of two options as your protagonist, siblings Cross and Forte, who are ninjas that show up on the birthday of Echika, an aristocratic young girl who is forced into action when her city is attacked by unknown assailants. Echika’s city is in reality a giant flying ship that becomes the hub for the remainder of the game. Throughout the story, you will have the chance to recruit pilots and their mechs to your side and battle against monsters and other mechs in grid-based tactical combat. The story is primarily told through visual novel-style cutscenes, with occasional animated sequences that break things up.
While the premise is serviceable, I never found myself really captured during my nearly fifty hours with Super Robot Wars Y. A lot of that has to do with the production value and presentation. The visual novel storytelling didn’t have enough flair or personality in its art style to connect me to these characters or the evolving narrative. Conversations often feel static, with characters sliding into frame and delivering long exchanges without much visual expression. When the plot does escalate into dramatic moments, the lack of energy in the presentation makes it hard to get invested.
Granted, I’m not the biggest visual novel fan, but the ones I have enjoyed were able to engage me with expressive character portraits, dynamic scene changes, or little animations that made their worlds feel alive. Super Robot Wars Y, by comparison, feels bare-bones. Considering the game is supposed to be a grand crossover event that brings together some of the most iconic robots and pilots in anime history, I expected more spectacle in how the story was told. Instead, it often felt like I was just clicking through dialogue boxes, waiting for the next battle.
Tactical Warfare
The actual gameplay of Super Robot Wars Y is based around its tactical turn-based combat. After recruiting a new pilot, you are able to add them to your roster and deploy them during combat missions. The tactics gameplay is passable, with every mech having its own unique move set and abilities that are fun to behold at times. These attacks and animations are clearly where most of the budget went during development, and it shows. It was always exciting to gain access to a new recruit and immediately throw them into the next skirmish just to see their flashy moves.
Thankfully, you can skip these animations at any time during combat once you’ve seen them, so you don’t have to sit through the same sequences over and over again. Still, the first few times you unleash a new pilot’s ultimate attack, there’s a real sense of satisfaction. This is the side of the game where the “super robot” spirit really shines through—big explosions, dramatic voice lines, and stylish finishing moves that capture the feel of classic anime battles.
Unfortunately, while the presentation of the attacks is fun, the gameplay surrounding them feels thin. Objectives rarely change in interesting ways, and maps themselves often feel plain compared to other strategy RPGs. The difficulty doesn’t help either. I played on Normal difficulty and only had one or two situations throughout the campaign where I felt genuinely tested. For most of the game, I was able to brute force my way through encounters by leveling a handful of mechs and letting them soak up damage on the frontlines. Enemies would pile in like lambs to the slaughter, making missions drag more from repetition than challenge. Higher difficulties are available, but Normal should still be balanced enough to keep the player thinking, especially in a tactics game.
It’s a shame, because the foundation is solid. The sheer variety of mechs and pilots, each with their own unique abilities, has the potential to create interesting team-building strategies. But when the enemy AI is predictable and the mission objectives are simple, that potential feels wasted. The result is a game that entertains with spectacle but rarely engages on a deeper tactical level.
Serviceable Fanfare
Where Super Robot Wars Y succeeds is in its fan service. Even when the story felt flat and the missions repetitive, I still found myself pushing forward just to unlock the next pilot or mech. The game does a great job of constantly giving you new toys to play with, and for longtime fans of mecha anime, that steady stream of characters will likely be enough to hold interest.
That said, the crossover aspect also feels a bit underutilized. For a game built around uniting legendary mechs and pilots, there aren’t as many memorable interactions as you might expect. Characters from different franchises fight side by side, but outside of a few lines of dialogue, the novelty wears thin. I wanted more moments where the personalities and worlds of these series clashed or meshed in unexpected ways. Instead, the game mostly treats them as interchangeable units to collect.
On a technical level, the production value doesn’t always rise to the occasion. Menus are functional but feel dated, with clunky navigation that slows down the pace of play. The hub city concept is neat in theory, but it rarely feels like more than a backdrop for dialogue and mission selection. These aren’t deal-breakers, but they contribute to the sense that Super Robot Wars Y is operating on a smaller budget than its ambitious crossover premise deserves.
Overall, Super Robot Wars Y didn’t blow me away, but it was able to keep me interested. As an entry point into this almost two-decade-old series, I think this game does just enough to pass. If the next game in the series is able to up the quality and try to engage the player more than I think it would go a long way towards increasing my excitement to try it out. But as it is now, I would say that only the most hardcore of mecha fans will get the most enjoyment out of Super Robot Wars Y.
Disclaimer: Bandai Namco provided a PlayStation 5 copy of Super Robot Wars Y for review purposes.
