Summary
I’ve never considered myself to be a ‘giant robots’ kind of guy. Sure, I had someTransformersas a kid. But when it came to anime, the furthest I could make it into the mecha genre was the subversion ofNeon Genesis Evangelion. So consider my surprise when I came across a list of the top-grossing mobile games recently and saw the isekai light-novel-like titleSD Gundam G Generation Eternalright at the top.
A Gundam game? Top grossing? Over gacha titles featuring waifus, Gokus, and Raid: Shadow Legends? Call it intrigue or morbid fascination.
Maybe I was bored. Recently unemployed and stuck at home with nothing to do, I was searching for hobbies to keep me busy.
Little did I know that downloading SD Gundam G Generation Eternal would lead me right down a neverending rabbit hole of gunpla, alternate timelines, and thinking way too much about Char Aznable.
Start the theme song; we have Gundam to discuss.
SD Gundam G Generation Eternal A Gundam Deep-Dive
It’s safe to say that I was out of my league booting up this gacha game for the first time. I’m at least an anime fan, so I know a little bit about Gundam from a purely historical level. How could I not? Not only is it one of the originals in the mecha genre, but Gundam was also one of the first breakthrough anime successes in the West. But I’d be lying if I said that knowledge extended past knowing what the OG RX-78-2 looks like.
This feels like jumping into the deep end of the pool. Color me shocked, but SD Gundam G Generation Eternal actually cares about giving new fans like me a history lesson.
After making it through the game’s tutorial, you finally get some options and all the trappings that come along with opening a mobile game for the first time. What I played is an engaging, albeit not always heady, tactics RPG where you’ll move chibi versions of each mobile suit around a grid. With explosions, long cutscenes, and plenty of fan service.
It is based on an anime, after all.
After the tutorial wraps up you’re dropped into the main meat of SD Gundam G Generation Eternal. The game’s focus lands on its timeline-based story mode, in which players dive deep into each entry in the Gundam series one at a time.
By the way, I had no idea Gundam had a whole alternate timeline thing going on. Luckily, the Main Stage mode makes this evidently clear and lore bombs the player in a way I wish more games would. Upon selecting your era, you’re given a number of vignettes explaining the story, all while voice, music, and clips from each show set the stage.
As a novice in the world of Gundam, it did a great job of getting me interested to learn more. All the while, it made me realize I had misconceptions about Gundam – I had always assumed that due to it coming out in the late 1970s that it was some kind of cheap toy cash-in in the vein of G.I. Joe or Transformers.
Nope. It’s the horrors of war, all the way down. Cue up the ‘COOL! GIANT ROBOT!” meme.
Giant Robot 101: War–And Gundam–Never Changes
One of the many things that SD Gundam G Generation Eternal does so well is get across the personalities of not only its big robots, but the eras each suit is from. Ultimate attacks from the SSR rarity suits are lengthy and full of splendor, not unlikea summon from Final Fantasy.
And you know what? I love a big explosion. Followed by several other unnecessary but just as rad explosions. As you make your way through each show’s chunk of the story mode, you’ll get plenty of them–along with pathos to boot.
Realizing that the tropes and jokes about the giant robot genre came from somewhere made a lot of things click into place for me. Much like when you go back and watchDragon Ball Zonly to realize that so much of the shōnen genre stems from Goku’s adventures, so too does that realization dawn upon meeting the OG Gundam protagonist,Amuro Ray.
Huh. I guessShinji Ikariwasn’t just an annoying little nerd with daddy issues.
As I continued down the Gundam path in the game’s story mode, I realized something dark.
Oh, god. Is Gundam cool? Gundam is cool. I need to tell the world. Clearly, I’m the first person to ever discover this. It wouldn’t be more than a few days after my first foray into SD Gundam G Generation Eternal that the real addiction began… buying gunpla.
Build The Giant Robot, Shinji
I grew up building model stock cars, so maybe the jump into building Gundam mobile suits wasn’t the biggest leap. That said, the day I found myself at Barnes & Noble looking at a gigantic wall of Gundam model robot kits felt like a continuation of my childhood. Nervous about picking something too difficult, I went with one I recognized: the Aerial suit from Gundam: The Witch From Mercury–a robot I pulled from a gacha in-game just the night before.
Synergy is wonderful sometimes.
I stumbled, cut my fingers, and swore at the all-Japanese instructions, but in a few days I had a finished model. But it wasn’t enough. I compared my work to other models built by far more experienced fans on Reddit and found my Aerial… lacking.
Don’t cheap out on nippers if you’re building gunpla kits. Trust me.
Suddenly it’s 2 a.m. and I’m on Amazon looking at panel lining markers and wondering how quickly spray cans of top coat will arrive at my house. A new hobby had taken over my life, all because I downloaded a mobile game about robots.
I now have thoughts about feelings about theRG Sazabiand whether or not water slide decals are worth the effort (they aren’t).
I know what theSaikoro Gundamis… And that’s the final sign that there’s no going back. There’s no going back once you understand the implications of a giant robot head attached to an even bigger six-sided dice.
Sing The Theme Song! Fly! Gundam! Fly!
Never would I have expected to develop a love for an almost fifty year old franchise, all from downloading a mobile game during a bout of boredom. But that’s also what I love about the discovery of new hobbies and interests as I get older.
Would the version of me from ten years ago care about Gundam? What about 20 years ago? Will I care in the next ten? Who knows. But I’m grateful for SD Gundam G Generation Eternal for providing an open door into a world I knew nothing about a mere six months ago.
Now, if you’ll excuse me… I need to convince my local gunpla merchant to hold the upcomingMobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuXkits before they all sell out.
