Super FamiComplete #53: SD Gundam Gaiden: Knight Gundam Monogatari: Ooinaru Isan

 

Title: SD Gundam Gaiden: Knight Gundam Monogatari: Ooinaru Isan

Translation (Roughly): The Legend of the Slightly Deformed Gundam: A Knight Gundam Story: The Great Lion (or Legendary Giant?)

Release Date: 12/21/1991 (JP Only)

Developer: Tose/Bandai

Publisher: Angel Studios

So here we have another Dragon Quest clone (and not the only one that we will see within the first 100 games); we all knew they were going to be coming eventually but who would have thought it would be so soon. Of course, it also had to be in the form of another SD Gundam game. We have almost had as many SD Gundam games as we have had baseball simulators on this blog so far (this is actually the third SD Gundam game, and the fourth Gundam game overall). Well...here goes a huge chunk of my gaming time. 

Background

As a reminder for our neophytes and veterans of this blog (which I think totals to just me and a couple diehards as of right now), the SD in front of Gundam stands for "super deformed." This is a form of Japanese pop aesthetic that makes well known franchise characters "super cute" or kawaii by making them more chibi or "of small proportions." Gundam, as a franchise, is known for its gritty depictions of war, humanity, and is by and large melodramatic. To help liven this up and make a show which is basically giant robots battling more accessible to kids, the "slightly deformed" and cutesy Gundams were created. Many other franchises have taken this approach as well, especially around this era, such as the Kamen Rider and Ultraman. You can still see this trend in today's media too, with the popularity of the Funko Pop dolls and even in games such as World of Final Fantasy which is pretty much a SD and chibi Final Fantasy games. Often, these games are treated as a celebration of the franchise rather than a true representation of them, which is very much the case in this game. 

This game actually had several predecessors before it for the Famicom, and is its own little separate series from the rest of the Gundam line. It even had its own anime adaptation as well. The story is relatively simple: the story is set in a mythical fantasy kingdom (shocker) called Lacroa. Here robots and humans live together, with robot knights protecting everyone. The main hero is known as "Knight Gundam" who is the RPG protagonist with "no memory of his past." Suddenly the kingdom comes under attack from "Satan Gundam" who leads a band of evil robots and monsters. Knight Gundam decides to go on the offensive and protect the kingdom from Satan Gundam and, along the way, learn more about his past.

Other than that, it is a standard RPG in the same vein as Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest, if you don't know, is the legendary console RPG line crafted by the development studio known as Enix. It pretty much set the bar for console RPGs, from such innovations as the job system, the grind/leveling system, and colorful and expressive characters, monsters, and bosses. While not known for the most groundbreaking stories (usually they boil down to evil bad monster/demon/god is causing a ruckus for the world and human kind and must be stopped by legendary hero), they really did lay the foundation for what is expected from a console RPG. Final Fantasy would not be Final Fantasy without Dragon Quest before it.

The developer in this case is the company Tose. Tose is well known company for taking on anime adaptations in video games, sports games, and even made the original Game and Watch games for Nintendo. Now the publisher is a bit of a toughie. I have been trying to research Angel Studios, but that is also the studio that would eventually become Rockstar San Diego. Is it one and the same? I am not sure. If I can find the answer I will update as need be.

Gameplay

If you like a good old fashioned RPG that is a literal rip of Dragon Quest, then this game is an interesting one to check out. It really doesn't do anything original, but it is a competent RPG and hits all the notes you would want: a genuine aesthetic, decent music, beautiful character and sprite art, and tough turn-based combat. This game is an old-fashioned grind-fest, for better or worse, as the difficulty spikes a good bit at about the four hour mark. You can tell, though, that a lot of TLC went into this work.  The sprite work and character art is superb. Out of battle the character models are really cute; inside of battle they are very detailed, expressive, and are all very cohesive as to the style. One of my favorites is this cute robot hydra. The game also does not overstay its welcome: it only is about 20-25 hours long, which is short for an RPG. 

Well if you were coming for the story, the story is pretty sparse. As well, there is no English translation made available for the game as of yet, or at least one that is complete or working, so the limited story is going to be very hard to follow for most. Overall, though, I was able to follow what to do with the help of some online walk-throughs.  The game is an old-school RPG and definitely suffers from the negative aspects of old school RPGs and Dragon Quest clones. The grind can be really terrible at times, but is very necessary to overcome the difficulty curve. The first fight with Satan Gundam, especially, can be really tough without a good bit of grinding. 

Music

As I mentioned, the music is actually pretty darn good!

Final Verdict

While there are not many versions of this game available online to view, I would watch a "Let's Play" of this game on youtube. It is worth checking out just to enjoy the sprite work and music. The walkthrough playthrough can be a bit tedious, but overall, it was still enjoyable.