Super Robot Wars Teisen (W, specifically)
 

How easy are the non-English translated ones to play for someone who doesn't speak Japanese? I know a lot of Japanese games are actually fairly simple to play provided they're not too text-heavy, with a few minor translations.

I'm nostly interested in W, specifically, because of the inclusion of Tekkaman Blade and TB2 + Golion (The cartoon Voltron's based offa).

Never played any import versions, I can tell you that if they're anything like the Original Generation games where the entire story is told in mountains of text, you're gonna have a hard time following the plot, but you should be ok playing the game itself.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/game/925600.html

The first FAQ seems to have translations of the menu and battle screens. Hope that helps.

Also, fuck, I wish people would quit being such assholes about licensing and let people bring these crossover games to the west. So much awesome shit we are missing out on. :'(

I've played Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 and it's pretty simple to play. Getting through the text is tedious but if you've got a plot guide handy and a menu guide it's fairly simple.

Cool. I noticed that they have a couple of translation guides out there.

And Funk, yeah. When you consider the number of licenses brought together in these games in Japan. I think one of the main reasons it won't is because of the precious Gundam Licenses. How they can be so anal and still attach themselves to shitty games is beyond me.

till, since the DS can play games from multiple regions, I can import the games, so long as they're not too tough. Which is cool, because I love the Tekkaman series. And, of course, GoLion is GoLion. Voltron is one of the primary influences on anime's appeal in this country.

If only all the different license holders could come together and let it happen... :'(

Yeah, never gonna happen though.

Shame that it won't because they are pretty solid games and if you're a giant robot fan then it's a dream game. Out of interest, what exactly is the Tekkaman series KK? I'm not really familiar with the name but with it being Mecha i'm interested to learn more.

Tekkaman Blade's a reboot of sorts of a series from the late 70s called Tekkaman, the Space Knight. The series' full title is something like "Star Knight Tekkaman Blade," And features a hero known as D-Boy (He claims to have no memory of his past). The Tekkamen are humans who have been augmented by the Radam so they can transform, gaining powerful armor and weapons. Blade (D-Boy) is the only one not fighting on their side, instead he's out to destroy the Radam and enemy Tekkamen.

D-Boy (The D's short for Dangerous, BTW) finds himself aligned with a scientific group called the Space Knights, though he distances himself from them and insists he is the only one who can fight the Radam. The military wants D-Boy to use him.

Blade starts off relatively alone, but his allies slowly become more important. When the crystal that allows him to transform is shattered, the Space Knights develop a robot that allows him to transform and serves as a battle partner (Named Pegas; this is a nod to the original series, in which the hero used a robot named Pegas to transform). The military figures out how to at least mimick Blade;s abilities, which leads to the creation of two "Sol Tekkaman" armors (They're more like traditional mecha deals), and at some point, the Blue Earth (The Spae Knights ship) gets upgraded with weapons capable of dealing with the Radam, though the Tekkamen are another story.

The real fun comes in in the interplay between Blade and his primary nemesis, Tekkaman Evil (Yeah, it's a lame name, but still). Evil is Blade's twin, and the stronger of the two.

There's a sequel OAV, Tekkaman Blade 2, in which they've managed to create their own Tekkamen through reverse engineering of the Radam's technology. This time, though, the primary enemy isn't Radam Tekkamen, but one of their own with a horrible past.

It's out on DVD in three collections. The collections have some beautiful artwork on them, a look at the creation of Tekkaman Blade, and some extras like OAVs done by the team who did Tekkaman Blade 2. There's also the English version, Teknoman, though unless you REALLY hate subtitles, I'd go with the Original. If for no other reason than the fact that the sound and picture are total ass on the Teknoman version.

Also, my avatar is of Blade.

You ever play the OG series? Hella fun.

Nah, I should. Just haven't.