The second entry of the Wonderswan series of
Super Robot Wars, the
Super Robot Wars Compact 2 story was
so big it had to be separated into three parts:
Earth Crisis,
Cosmoquake and
Galaxy Showdown. The story deals with the battle between Earth's forces and the extraterrestrial Einst, who seek to restart the world they deem too corrupted. The key to Einst's success or defeat lies within two cadets in the Earth Federation's forces, serving as the game's
Original Generation.
Arguably one of the more famous SRW entries, despite the obscure handheld system it started out on. It was later
remade using the
Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden engine as
Super Robot Wars Impact, the series' first entry on the Sony
PlayStation 2, with all three games compiled onto one disc. In addition to introducing a new original character named Einst Alfimi,
Impact adds two new series to the game:
Mobile Fighter G Gundam and
Martian Successor Nadesico. Like the preceding
Super Robot Wars Compact,
Compact 2 and
Impact features the "Free Route System": rather than following a linear plot, the games allow the player to choose the order to play certain scenarios in. This may affect the storyline or give the player an opportunity to unlock
hidden units and/or characters.
Series included in the Super Robot Wars Compact 2 trilogy/Impact (debuts are in bold)
Associated tropes for the trilogy and remake:
- The Ace: Haran Banjou and Rom Stol
- Ace Pilot: Kyosuke is a "Steamroller" and Excellen's a "Sniper", though when fighting alongside him, she steers towards "Bushwacker."
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Particularly notable in Galaxy Showdown, where the headcount limit is actually lower than the previous games at many points. For reference, the final stage of Earth Crisis has Gandor + 15, while Stage 30 of Galaxy Showdown, the Neue Regisseur stage, has Elshank, Kyosuke, Excellen + 8.
- Ascended Extra: Meganoid Generals Benmel, Cross, Mileena and Neros (who only appears in the Impact remake) only show up for one episode each, yet are more prominent in this game/series than other SRW Daitarn 3 appearances.
- Back from the Dead: Emperor Muge Zorbados and Shapiro Keats, the Meganoids, Dr. Hell (as the Grand Marshall of Hell), Baron Ashura and Count Brocken all return from the previous war.
- Badass in Distress: Excellen gets kidnapped by the Einst.
- Badass Normal: While most of his other companions are pilots with powerful psychic abilities or pilots who pilot Super Robots (Kouji, Tetsuya, Duke, Getter Robo Team, Akira, Combattler V Team, Rom, Domon, the Zambot 3 Team, Banjou) a Kyousuke manages to kick-ass & win battles solely by his insane skills & crazy amount of battle experience behind the cockpit(He IS the only person that can pilot the Alt Eisen/Alt Eisen Riese.) The only thing thats abnormal about him is his insane luck giving him the capability to survive injuries that can kill any other man/woman.
- Beam Spam: Specialty of the Weiss and Rein Weiss
- Big Bad: Neue Regisseur
- Big Damn Heroes: Tobikage and Rom Stoll
- Blade on a Stick: It should also be mentioned the BFG of Excellen's Weiss Ritter is named after the Oxtongue spear
- Boisterous Bruiser: Excellen's a rare female protagonist example, though she slightly overlaps this with...
- Boss Rush: Scenario 99 in IMPACT.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Excellen in Part 3
- Char Clone: Taken to logical conclusion when Anavel Gato is convinced into your group in IMPACT, he joins Char in his Colony Drop of Axis
- Chest Blaster: Mazinger Z's Breast Fire, Great Mazinger's Breast Burn, Grendizer's Hanjuuryoku/Anti-Gravity Storm
- Cloning Blues: Alfimi in the Impact remake
- Cool Big Sis: Excellen
- The Collector: Benmel
- Combination Attack: Impact marks the Rampage Ghost's first appearance
- Aura Battler Dunbine: Double Hyper Aura Giri (performed by Dunbine and Bilbine)
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam: Double God Finger (performed by God Gundam and Nobel Gundam), Double Sekiha Tenkyoken (performed by God Gundam and Master Gundam) and Love Love Finger (performed by God Gundam and Shining Gundam)
- Machine Robo: Double Kamaitachi (performed by Vaikungfu and Blue Jet) and Inazuma Cyclone Ganban Wari (performed by Vaikungfu and Road Drill)
- Martian Successor Nadesico: Buttercup Formation (performed by Aestivalis-Ryoko, Aestivalis-Hikaru, and Aestivalis-Izumi) and Double Gekigan Flare (performed by Aestivalis-Akito and Aestivalis-Gai)
- Mazinger Series: Double Burning Fire (performed by Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger), Triple Mazinger Punch (performed by Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger and Grendizer) and Triple Mazinger Blade (also performed by Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger and Grendizer)
- Ninja Senshi Tobikage: Beast Machine Combination (performed by Black Lion, Burst Dragon, and Thunder Eagle), and Zanzou Sappou (performed by Tobikage and Zerokage).
- Combining Mecha: Getter Robo, Dancougar, Dangaioh and Combattler V
- Tobikage also combines with one of the three Mecha from its series when their Will is high enough
- Deadpan Snarker: Ruri Hoshino (Impact only)
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu??: Don Zauser, Demon Emperor Barao, Gadess, Emperor Muge Zorbados, the Devil Gundam, Neue Regisseur
- Disc One Final Boss: Einst Regisseur in Part 1. Part 2 has the player near-simultaneously fending off Dancougar, Machine Robo, and Einst enemies while under a time limit.
- Doomed Hometown: Mars for the Tobikage characters, Nadesico characters and Banjou Haran.
- The Dragon: The resurrected Emperor Muge Zorbados serves this role to the Einst Collective.
- Early Installment Weirdness: Though in many ways a "transitional" game, Compact 2 still has several traits typical of early SRWs.
- Support Attack/Defense runs off of one stat (Support). If a unit can Support another unit, they will, with no option for the player to opt out of it.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Einst
- Everything's Better with Princesses: Princess Romina
- Evil Knockoff: Fake Daitarn 3s, Gildeens, Mass Production Great Mazingers, Einst Eisen
- Face–Heel Turn: Char and Gato in the true ending.
- Fix Fic: Bernie Wiseman (as a result of retconning his death in Gundam 0080), Norris Packard, Master Asia, Schwarz Bruder, Puru and Puru 2 get to live
- Flash Step: F91 Gundam Formula 91
- Gorn: Surprisingly, given the genre. Alfimi's Limit Break, Mabuigurinote Soul Gouger? had her send her familiars to hold the target in place. And she makes her way, draw her katana, and repeatedly impale, gouge and make a bloody mess of her target.
- Gratuitous German: The names of Kyosuke and Excellen's mecha; similarly, all the names and attacks of Einst units and characters.
- Guide Dang It: Typical of Super Robot Wars, though Anavel Gato is especially notable as recruiting him requires specific actions in all three games.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Kyosuke's Alteisen is a massively armored mech whose main weapons are a stake driver and a pair of humongous claymores. By comparison, Excellen's Weissritter is a speedy, lightly-armored machine armed with a large rifle.
- Hive King: Neue Regisseur
- Half-Human Hybrid: Excellen
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl, with a mix of The Pollyanna: Excellen loves her alcohol, but she doesn't need it to become the latter: it's part of her nature, because her sunny disposition is what really cheers the cast up during the downer moments.
- Human Aliens: Duke and Maria Fleed, The Zambot Team members, 3/4s of the Dangaioh team, and the Zaboom and Rodarians.
- Humanity on Trial: The Einst are disturbed by how warlike the Earthlings are and seek to Kill 'em All and replace them with a new species in an Adam and Eve Plot, using Kyosuke and Alfimi as its Adam and Eve
- Improbable Weapon User: Kyosuke's Alt Eisen uses a pile bunker and mecha-sized titanium ball bearings as weapons. When it's upgraded to the Riese, it can't even move with the extra armor: who in the right mind would want to use this machine?? Fortunately, he's the only one who can ever use it and factor in his ungodly luck, here's a true example of a weapon not fit for anyone but him
- Interface Spoiler: In Compact 2, you are given the option to view Kyosuke's and/or Excellen's stats before starting the game. In Galaxy Showdown, Kyosuke's stats are shown at Level 15; Excellen, on the other hand, is at Level 36. Guess who's unavailable for most of the game?
- Karmic Death: Gil Berg and Garimos from Dangaioh finally get it, after being Karma Houdinis in the series proper
- Don't forget Kusakabe either. You finally get to blow up the bastard in Impact!
- Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: In a setting where most Humongous Mecha are powered by Applied Phlebotinum, tinkered by Cosmic Horrors, shoot Frickin' Laser Beams and Spheres Of Destruction and other unworldly powers, the Real Robot Alt Eisen uses solely solid-based weapons. Unfortunately, it's an Awesome, but Impractical unit, due to its specifications and difficulty in handling in-story. However, it functions on Rule of Cool, due to its pilot having been Born Lucky and in his hands, is able to take it to a point where it rivals Super Robots in damage capabilities.
- Loads and Loads of Loading: Impact is kinda infamous for how poorly optimized the coding in the game is, leading to everything taking forever to happen. The argument of the game being slow has less to do with the game actually being slow-paced and more that all of the loading makes everything take longer than it should.
- Luck-Based Mission: Like its predecessor, Compact 2 randomizes every character's Spirit Command list based on the player's WonderSwan bios information. One infamous casualty of this system is Dangaioh, who receives exactly one (very expensive) accuracy-raising command across all four pilots if the bios information is left blank.
- MacGuffin: The Star of La Mu.
- Magikarp Power: The infamous V-Up item, known for turning weak units with three or four items slots into walking death machines, shows up in Compact 2. One noteworthy candidate is NT-1 Alex, which is arguably a Disc One Nuke in the hands of Amuro or Kamille.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: God Voice, which is unlocked after performing a sequence of events.
- Meta Mecha: Vikungfu and GP-03
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Alt Eisen Reise, Getter Robo G, GP-03, Billbine, God Gundam, Shin Getter Robo and Rein Weiss Ritter. Unfortunately, you can't have the latter and Shin Getter at the same time
- Multicolored Hair: Gold and brown for Kyosuke
- Nerf: Compared to the first Compact:
- Compact 2 removed natural double-movement from the player's units.
- The game no longer gives out EXP for having unused Spirit Points at the end of a map.
- Spirit Command progression is tweaked, so that pilots typically start with fewer Spirit Commands and learn them at a slower pace.
- Additionally, Impact is known for finally nerfing Aura Battlers into oblivion.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Ninja Senshi Tobikage and Mobile Fighter G Gundam units (Impact only)
- Nintendo Hard: Both the Wonderswan trilogy and Impact; Galaxy Showdown in particular is considered by some to be the hardest game in the entire franchise.
- It's even worse if the player is aiming for the True Final Boss: Compact 2 requires a turn count of 777 or lower across all 92 stages of the trilogy, while Impact requires 50 or more Skill Points.
- Old Save Bonus: The Compact 2 games are mostly self-contained; players use the WonderSwan's internal memory to carry event flags and other data between the games in the trilogy. This is not the case for Impact, which is one continuous game.
- One Game For The Price Of Three: The first two games are basically branches of one giant route split, while the third game brings all of the characters together.
- No One Could Survive That!: Subverted: Excellen didn't survive the shuttle accident; the meddling Einsts brought her Back from the Dead
- Official Couple: Kyosuke x Excellen, of course
- Overly Long Fighting Animation
- Overrated And Underleveled: In the Wonderswan games, Alt Eisen plays up the Awesome, but Impractical angle a bit too well; bad mobility, unimpressive armor, and its strongest weapon "Square Claymore" is an awkward range 1-2 non-post-movement attack (and the Spirit Command to make every weapon post-movement-capable hadn't been invented yet). Forget to tinker with your Wonderswan's nickname, and you'll also be greeted with a Kyousuke bearing abysmal attack stats and accuracy/evasion on the level of third-rate Mobile Suit pilots.
- Perky Female Minion: Alfimi
- The Power of Love: Which grants Kyosuke and Excellen their Combination Attack, complete with witty banter
- Also slightly played at the same time: Excellen only ever calls it the "Love Love Attack"
- The original attack even shows up. The only difference is that Rain pilots the Shining Gundam for Impact.
- Put on a Bus: The only characters from Mobile Fighter G Gundam brought over for Impact are Allenby Beardsley, Domon Kasshu, Dr. Kasshu, Dr. Mikamura, Kyoji Kasshu, Rain Mikamura, Schwarz Bruder, Master Asia and Ulube Ishikawa.
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Cold REALLY REALLY COLORFUL Sniper: Excellen - Robeast: Mechanical Beasts, Fossil Beasts, Warrior Beasts, Slave Beasts, Mecha Boosts
- Rocket Punch: Mazinger Z's Rocket Punch, Great Mazinger's Atomic Punch and Drill Pressure Punch, Grendizer's Screw Crusher Punch, Dangaioh's Boost Knuckle and Spiral Knuckle
- Sequel Difficulty Spike: Compact 1 to the Compact 2 trilogy AND Earth Crisis to Cosmoquake to Galaxy Showdown qualify.
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear: In the WonderSwan games, at least. Hope you know who ends up on Earth and who ends up in space!
- One cross-game secret even forces the player to upgrade a robot who leaves for good almost immediately.
- Spell My Name with an "S": Is it Alfimi or Alchemie?
- Taking the Bullet: Compact 2's claim to fame, aside from its originals and sheer length, is the fact that it introduced the Support system.
- A Taste of Power: Galaxy Showdown lets the player use both the Earth and Space teams for a few missions before pulling a Let's Split Up, Gang.
- Took a Level in Badass: The GP01-Fb, compared to the first Compact. Enabling its Beam Rifle to be used after moving changes it from a generic Gundam unit to one of the most mobile attackers in the game. Especially notable as the other Mobile Suits were hit hard by the double-movement nerf.
- True Final Boss: Char Aznable
- Video Game Remake/Adaptation Expansion: Impact combines the three Compact 2 games together and mixes fan favorites Mobile Fighter G Gundam and Martian Successor Nadesico in.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Alfimi, even when her origin is an orange-blonde Ms. Fanservice...
- Zerg Rush
