That Time I Loved a Crappy Gundam Game

[tofulove]

in my mind zeonic front will always be the best gundam game, and will always have a place in my heart. I am not sure how well it will live up to nostalgia though ;p

I can still watch the game intro all day long


p.s. the intro gets good at 1 min 30 seconds, so skip ahead to the sauce ;p

 

[rgrekejin]

Ah, PS2 Gundam games... they sure were crappy. I loved Gundam then (and still do now... I have three recently-assembled model kits sitting in my library), but even when I was playing them I realized these games were crap. I had four on the PS2: Journey to Jaburo, Zeonic Front, Federation vs. Zeon, and Encounters in Space. As desperately in love with Gundam as I was then, these games *still* seemed crappy to me, and the only one I ever ended up sinking any time into was "Encounters in Space", a 3D space shooter of variable quality and negligible difficulty. I also owned the two "Gundam Battle Assualt" games on PS1, which were crappy 2-D fighting games with Gundams for some reason.

To date, the only good Gundam game I've ever played in America was "Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise from the Ashes", the only game from the much-beloved "Gundam Side Story" series to ever see a state-side release. A mech simulator on the Dreamcast with an inside-the-cockpit viewpoint, you could choose both your machine, its armaments, and the machines of your squadmates. As the war progressed, you unlocked new available suits and weapons as Federation technology advanced. It was set in Australia in the aftermath of Operation British (the time Zeon dropped an entire space colony on Sydney). Literally the only complaint I had about it was that it was too damn short. The game was fantastic, and remains pretty much the only reason I still own my Dreamcast.

Edit: A lot of people here seemed to have really enjoyed "Zeonic Front". That game may be better than I remmeber - I didn't play it long because I had a hard time understanding how the controls were supposed to work.

 

[StewShearerOld]

Ah, PS2 Gundam games... they sure were crappy. I loved Gundam then (and still do now... I have three recently-assembled model kits sitting in my library), but even when I was playing them I realized these games were crap. I had four on the PS2: Journey to Jaburo, Zeonic Front, Federation vs. Zeon, and Encounters in Space. As desperately in love with Gundam as I was then, these games *still* seemed crappy to me, and the only one I ever ended up sinking any time into was "Encounters in Space", a 3D space shooter of variable quality and negligible difficulty. I also owned the two "Gundam Battle Assualt" games on PS1, which were crappy 2-D fighting games with Gundams for some reason.

To date, the only good Gundam game I've ever played in America was "Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise from the Ashes", the only game from the much-beloved "Gundam Side Story" series to ever see a state-side release. A mech simulator on the Dreamcast with an inside-the-cockpit viewpoint, you could choose both your machine, its armaments, and the machines of your squadmates. As the war progressed, you unlocked new available suits and weapons as Federation technology advanced. It was set in Australia in the aftermath of Operation British (the time Zeon dropped an entire space colony on Sydney). Literally the only complaint I had about it was that it was too damn short. The game was fantastic, and remains pretty much the only reason I still own my Dreamcast.

Edit: A lot of people here seemed to have really enjoyed "Zeonic Front". That game may be better than I remmeber - I didn't play it long because I had a hard time understanding how the controls were supposed to work.

I had a lot of fun with Federation vs Zeon, though thinking back on it there were elements of it that I think would seriously annoy me today.

Encounters in Space was also a good time for what it was. I liked being able to play through some of the side story narratives (0083 ftw!) and the versus mode was fun just because it let me pilot Wing Zero Custom.

The praise everyone's giving Zeonic Front though really makes me think I need to play it. I have a copy on my shelf but it's one of the ones I never got around to trying when I was younger.

 

[RicoADF]

I wonder if it's less a case of the younger self ignoring bad gameplay due to loving the source material so much and more of a case of your older self being spoilt with newer, smoother and better control schemes that the game now feels dated. It probably felt fast and fluid back then but now it's controls are feeling dated. I've noticed C&C suffer that abit, which Open RA resolved by simply including some of the newer features/systems (such as building tabs). It's not that the older games are bad, their just looking dated compared to newer and better systems we've developed since then.

 

[Artaneius]

Zeonic Front is hands down the best Gundam game on the PS2.

 

[StewShearerOld]

That Time I Loved a Crappy Gundam Game

Sometimes the games you remember the most are the ones best suited for the bargain bin. This week, we take a look at a not-so-classic mecha game and examine how the rose-tinted glasses of fandom can transform a turd into a triumph.

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Are you 100% sure the PS3 version didn't just suck compared to the PS2 version? That happens a lot these days with remakes, you know. Remember Conker? Silent Hill 2? Turtles in Time?

You're wise not to trust your Nostalgia Goggles, but hunt down a PS2 sometime. Play through the old game, with the old controller. See if it's still AS bad. Sometimes it's the subtlest of details that kills an experience, especially if it was originally crafted to make the most of a limited platform.

I was playing a PS2 copy. I have a 60GB PS3 with backwards compatibility.

 

[ryukage_sama]

I was spoiled by the Dreamcast Gundam Side Stories game, so moving to Journey to Jaburo was a huge step back. Not that I didn't spend far too much time playing those PS2 Gundam games. I actually played Gundam vs Zeta Gundam through to 300% completion. My roommates thought I was nuts.

Did anybody play the supposed direct sequel, Encounters in Space?

 

[Jak2364]

Oddly enough, I'm having the exact opposite happen to me. As I've gotten older, I've been able to revisit games that were too complex for me at the time and enjoy them a lot more. Pretty much every game I disliked as a kid I'm loving now. Darksiders is a good example of this, I was terrible at puzzles when I was younger, so games with them would take me forever. But now I'm getting through it at a good pace and it's much more enjoyable.

 

[Deimir]

Gundam Zeonic Front is my #1 non-JRPG title on any Playstation system. I remember playing that game for hundreds of hours, perfecting every simulation and unlocking every last mobile suit and weapon in the game. Unfortunately I believe my disc was misplaced when I moved about six years ago.

 

[Tohuvabohu]

snip

*reads title* It's going to be Journey to Jaburo isn't it?

...

Yup, I knew it.

You know, it's funny, because I really liked this game too. Although at the time, I still knew it sucked. Sure, I was younger then and the PS2 was brand new, and a lot of games were going through a discovery process. That's fine and all, but the problem with Journey to Jaburo is that it just didn't work.

The controls were beyond clunky, they were broken. Often times, the Gundam would get stuck running if you try to nudge yourself forward once. Sometimes I'd mash the attack button 15 times only for the Gundam to produce 2 sword swings, pause for 2 seconds, then swing once. Trying to play this game felt like trying to play with my elbows.

And honestly, the game was actually quite challenging, made even moreso by the completely broken controls. Some of the enemy Zakus were ridiculously tough. A fight with one could be going well, but one fuckup and you eat a whole axe combo and lose half your life (which never regenerates through the whole mission) Also the fact that you can't defend yourself endlessly, since your shield will explode if you block too much. So you can't stand there blocking forever. So you need be on the offensive pushing the attack. But your attacks won't come out for some reason so you try dodging. But the dodge doesn't work because the controls are fucking satanic!

Beyond combat, some of the mission parameters were a load of bollocks. Many of them involve protecting white base against some bullshit, and if you're not on the ball 100%, it WILL get destroyed. That on top of fighting off Zakus and the like.

Another thing that grinds my shit were all the "secret" commands, abilities, actions, and prompts that the game (afaik) makes no attempt to explain. The game doesn't tell you about your extra beam sword abilities. Nor does it tell you how to use your Gundam's headcannons, which is super useful taking out the swarms of jets (Which are next to impossible to destroy effectively otherwise without the beam weapon, so GG if you loaded out without it(The jets also do practically nothing to you, but damage white base heavily)), the game also doesn't tell you about the ability to command your partners.

And yet, even with all this, I still kindof liked the game. And I can't really put my finger on why. It's a mess, it doesn't work, it's painful to play... but I still kindof liked it. For some reason.

 

[The Deadpool]

I miss MS Saga: A New Dawn...

 

[sageoftruth]

It's starting to make sense, thinking back. As a kid, all your are gifts from mom and dad. That alone makes them so special that you refuse to believe they are crap. After all, what are you going to do? Send it back and get a new one? No. This was what you were stuck with and it's fun, dammit. It's like using denial as a coping mechanism.
It's not until you get the ability to pick and choose your own games that you're willing to admit that games in your library are crappy.

 

[K9]

I recognize the sentiment about the "unfiltered way" you bought and played video games in your youth. I was the same way, especially with film and television. I didn't even understand the concept that some movies were better than others. It didn't work that way in my childish brain. If it was playing on television, it was just as good or as valid as any other movie. I had no idea how things got to television. In fact, I figured I was watching new episodes of Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and The Jetsons, because that's what played on television. My siblings and I never realized that a movie like Mac and Me was really an advertisement for McDonalds, either. If you had asked me, I would have figured Citizen Kane also had a Ronald McDonald dancing sequence in it.

One positive of this simpler era of media consumption for me and many others is that we made our own decisions about whether something was worth playing/worth watching or not. It was what you and your siblings and/or friends liked, not what you read up about how others felt about the product. I question how much my likes and dislikes are now influenced by other people.