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Super Robot Wars 30
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Super Robot Wars 30 (Video Game)

30 years on, the battle for our world's future continues.
— The line in the first trailer after all the franchises were revealed.

Super Robot Wars 30 is a Turn-Based Strategy video game of the Super Robot Wars franchise and was released simultaneously on the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Steam on October 28, 2021. A demo of the game was released on October 15th that ends at Chapter 4 with data porting to the full game. Like most of the Super Robot Wars games released in the latter 2010s, the game was translated into English; not only were all versions sold in Southeast Asia as usual, the Steam version was released worldwide, making 30 the first ever license-based Super Robot Wars to be sold outside of Asia.

The game takes place in an Earth Sphere already ravaged by war, where over a decade of nearly nonstop war and a series of scandals have left the Earth Federation a shell of its former glory and on the brink of collapse. In a final desperate bid to keep the peace and prevent the system from falling into chaos, the Federation forms the "Dreikreuz", an autonomous peacekeeping force made up of the system's greatest and brightest mech and fighter pilots. Under the command of the young Mitsuba Greyvalley, it falls to Dreikreuz to defend the Earth Sphere from any and all threats. As the Dreikreuz fights various threats, an enigmatic alien army known as the Quaestors begins to approach Earth, having their own dark plans for humanity...

Series included in 30 are (debuting series are rendered in bold):

Series added via DLC1:

Series added via DLC2:

Series added via the Expansion Pack:

Taking inspiration from the "Free Route System" in Super Robot Wars Compact and its successors, 30 introduces "Tactical Area Selection", where the player can choose and play missions in a specific area on a map, which will alter the story's development and the order where new characters and units can be acquired. The game also features an "Auto Mode Strategy" mechanic, where an allied unit's movement and combat turn can be performed automatically without the player's input.

30 received Downloadable Content, adding in new missions and units (four of them come from Super Robot Wars: Original Generation) in the form of a season pass and side-missions that depict what happens during breaks in the game's narrative.

Just so we're clear: the "30" in the game's title is because it was made to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Super Robot Wars. It is not the 30th entry in the series.In case you're curious...

The first trailer can be found here, alongside a message from series producer Takanobu Terada and this game's producer Shohei Mogami, the second trailer here, a trailer for the first wave of Downloadable Content and the game's demo here, the second Downloadable Content pack here and the final trailer here.

Tropes appearing in this game:

  • 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Among others, most Quaestor grunt units, the Phenex and Huckebein 30th are very clearly stitched-together 3D stills in some animations.
  • Acceptable Breaks from Reality:
    • Some pilots trade up to more powerful robots over the course of the story (for instance, Koji Kabuto starts with a mass-produced copy of Mazinger Z, gets the real Mazinger Z out of mothballs later, then eventually starts piloting Mazinkaiser). Somehow, the stat boosts you bought the earlier ones carry over to the new machines when that happens. If they didn't, a Mid-Season Upgrade could end up looking more like an downgrade from the previous machine if the player sufficiently invested in it.
    • Like with the Rune Gods in the previous game (and repeated with them in this one), it's not quite clear it makes sense to give mechanical upgrades or attach robot parts to Gridman, since he's a digital being that manifests for each mission and disappears in between. Game mechanics just treat him like another robot, and the game never asks you to think too hard about it, as not allowing him to hold parts would make him pretty impractical as an unit.
  • Ace Custom: Koji's Ichinana is this, outfitted with a Mazinger Blade, Breast Fire and a repair module. Shiro's Ichinana is almost identical except that it doesn't have a repair module; it does however sport the Mazinger color scheme, something he takes great pride in.
  • Actor Allusion:
    • One of Bitool's quotes when he's fighting Gundams has him claim that he's going to sell said Gundam. This is a reference to a line (and episode title) uttered by After War Gundam X protagonist Garrod Ran, who is also voiced by Wataru Takagi.
    • Asahi promises he'll rescue Tetsuya soon if he fights Infinity while Great Mazinger is being used as its Pilder. Kenji Akabane previously voiced an alternate version of Koji.
    • It has been noted that the Getter One from Devolution bears a resemblance to the Red Dragon Scale Mail. Yuki Kaji, Issei's seiyuu, plays the role of Ryoma in a nod to this.
  • Adaptational Angst Downgrade: While it hasn't been completely eliminated, there is less focus on the more introspective parts of Brave Police J-Decker, which deal with themes of Just a Machine and What Measure Is a Non-Human?. The focus is on the easier-to-adapt action-oriented parts. The main instances of the former themes being preserved is where they overtly intersect with the action, like in the Shadowmaru/Kagero conflict. This results in changes to characters like Azuma and Regina, whose antagonism was frequently the source of more introspective conflicts (see Adaptational Nice Guy below).
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade: This game brought back one existing element that existed in the original series, featured in several Super Robot Wars installments, but absent in the movie or the previous game: Tetsuya was still pretty hung up on indirectly causing the death of Kenzo Kabuto and ruining the Kabuto family life due to his jealousy issues and thought it was pretty hypocritical that after all he's done, he's Happily Married and forming a family with Jun. This became one of the factors why Dr. Hell chose him as a pilot candidate for Infinity due to detecting that particular angst/darkness within him. Of course, in true Super Robot Wars fashion, Kouji, Shiro and the rest of the Dreikreuz told him that they didn't think of him less because of that, he deserved happiness after all the good things he's done.
  • Adaptational Badass: Jona Basta is considered an average pilot at best in his source material, who makes no real improvements over the course of the story and spends the entire film being used and manipulated by everyone around him. Much like Shinji Ikari before him, being surrounded by a team who treat him with respect and want him to improve leads Jona to become much more capable as a pilot and much more willing to stand up for himself. By the time of his second encounter with Zoltan, his simulator ranking has risen to A-, which is noted to put him in the same ballpark as the best of the best.
    • Technically there isn't any proof it doesn't apply to the source, but there's really nothing in GUN×SWORD to suggest that the Claw would be able to No-Sell a Geass. Though that's more likely due to the game's continuity having him as a former member of the Geass Order.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance:
    • Due to the player having the ability to choose the order in which they play certain missions, it's possible for characters to appear earlier than they would in their respective source materials. For example, Autozam and Chizeta, factions introduced in the second story arc of Rayearth, can show up before the first arc's finale.
    • The version of Kusuha and Bullet that appear in SRW 30 are implied to have been displaced by the DBD from the original SRW Alpha. Various character traits they display, like Kusuha being a former nurse-in-training and her Gargle Blaster, were created for their SRW OG incarnations and retconned as applying to the Alpha versions as well when Alpha 2 made Kusuha the canon Alpha 1 protagonist. Therefore, this is Alpha 1 Kusuha and Bullet displaying traits they didn't actually display until Alpha 2 or later.
    • In Magical Knight Rayearth, Nova doesn't form until the Magic Knights return to Cephiro several months after season 1. Here, she forms almost immediately after Zagato and Emeraude's deaths. Given Nova's true nature and origins, it seems that Hikaru's guilt was simply that huge.
  • Adaptation Expansion:
    • Mazinger Z: Infinity adds in the Mazinkaiser, who was designed as part of a "What If?" dream novel series.
    • The Gekkouei-Sui is the complete version of the Gekkouei from Lelouch of the Re:Surrection (the original didn't have legs), created by Sunrise at the request of series producer Terada.
    • The Dancougar in the final pack of DLC is Ultimate Dancougar, a form that literally hasn't been seen before.
    • When you recruit the Gridman Alliance, the Dreisstrager is pulled into a strange fog after a mysterious signal takes over the ship's controls, and they bundle Junk and Gridman's supposed support team into the ship before leaving again, Akane and Alexis Kerib following through unknown means. This completely hides the fact they're not even the real versions of those people...
  • Adaptational Heroism: In the original, shortly before her death, Alcyone was already in a miserably apathetic state, no longer caring whatever happens to her or Cephiro, her helping the Magic Knights were just coincidental. In the expansion pack, she agreed to help Mayvy, Lelouch and Sayoko to consciously try to re-summon Debonair so the Dreikreuz can beat the crap out of her and open the path leading to Cyclaminos, knowing full well that she would get killed after being Spared by the Adaptation in the vanilla version, on the grounds that she came to realize that she has to protect whatever noble intentions Zagato tried to fight for and paid with his life, no matter how misguided, which was to say both Cephiro and Earth (the place he intended for the Cephirans to migrate to just in case Cephiro really crumbled due to his actions), as a proof of her love for him.
  • Adaptational Late Appearance:
    • In GaoGaiGar vs. Betterman the Conqueror King has been an object of concern for Mamoru and Kaidou for a decade, since in its original context, the phrase referred to a sinister image of Genesic GaoGaiGar hanging in the sky since the apocalyptic "Invisible Burst". The Invisible Burst throws the world into chaos and delays any attempt at Project Z until Mamoru and Kaidou are in their 20s, facilitating the novel's Time Skip. SRW 30's world is sufficiently chaotic to preoccupy Mamoru and Kaidou for a decade without needing the Invisible Burst as a plot device, so they instead first hear about the Conqueror King, far later than they originally would have, from cryptic remarks by Lamia.
    • Because of the sweeping changes to the Armageddon plot, no one on the Getter team is clued in about the existence of Emperor throughout the entire main story. It eventually takes the Devolution team pointing it out to their face for the subject to come up. Stinger and Cohen's fused form are also pushed back to the Devolution endgame.
  • Adaptation Name Change: The Armageddon version of Shin Getter Dragon is referred to in this game as "Shin Dragon True Form," presumably to differentiate it from the Daikessen version, which is a separate unit in this game rather than a transformation like it was in T. The kanji used for "True Form" is identical to that used in Z3 for the state of enhanced cosmic awareness that played a major role in that game's plot.
  • Adaptational Nationality: As with T, most of GUN×SWORD's cast, who were from the Planet Endless Illusion in their home series, are Earthlings born on a terraformed Mars in the game.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy:
    • SRW 30 omits some of the more questionable personality of Regina from Brave Police J-Decker. She originally was an over-demanding girl who gave Duke Knight ridiculously perfectionist standards, without any care for his welfare (a reason why she's divisive amongst the fandom). In this game, this is downplayed, though it's not entirely absent— Guy Shishioh notices her perfectionism and demandingness and helps her talk through the underlying issues before it becomes a bigger problem. Thus, Regina in the game is an initially flawed character who quickly experiences Character Development— rather than secondary antagonist of an extended story arc which tries to redeem her by the end, as she was in the show. She accordingly spends far less time scolding Yuta.
    • Also from J-Decker, and similar to Regina, Azuma spends significantly less time treating the Brave Police with skepticism, admitting he was wrong about them relatively early on, and doesn't waste his time trying to get Yuta fired.
  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In Majestic Prince proper, Asagi had a one-sided crush on Kei. This is not shown at all in the game, as the story instead chose to emphasize his relationship with Izuru.
  • Adapted Out:
    • Similar to the Alpha games, the Gengaozo doesn't appear, leaving Fuala to continue piloting the Zanneck.
    • Due to the changes listed under Demoted to Extra, the Gutsy Galaxy Guard's Super AI robots don't get their Ruin versions in 30. Even worse, however, are their successors from the Gutsy Global Guard, who aren't even mentioned as existing here. This gets a Hand Wave as Super AI research was forbidden after GGG left Earth until the Brave Police were formed.
    • Deus flat out does not exist here, despite the novel giving him an important role in kidnapping Sakura and putting her inside of Conquering King Genesic. Practically speaking— his conflict with the Somniums centered on the very specific rules of Temporal Mutability of the GaoGaiGar setting, and without this conflict would have little to do; however, the game also adapts several settings that use different ideas about time travel and parallel timelines (such as Mazinger Z: Infinity or Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative), so something needed to be cut to make the crossover work.
    • Despite her role in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection, Nina Einstein is completely absent here.
    • Cohen and Stinger are completely cut from 30's rendition of the Getter Robo Armageddon plot, apparently because Ryoma thwarted their plans by stopping the deuteron missile from hitting Shin Dragon. However, this is averted in the Expansion Pack as they become the main villains of the Getter Robo Devolution plot.
    • While Rahda and Lumes had their own Mobile Weapons in the source material, both are stuck in Wulgaru Warships here.
    • Powered Zenon does not appear in the game, as the Neon Genesis Junior High Students are too busy expanding the movesets of Gridman and Gridknight.
    • The Downloadable Content mostly omits any support structure for the new units, which hits hardest with series like Sakura Wars and Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion, who are depicted normally with several allies and a massive support team, all of which do not appear. (The one exception is the Iron-Blooded Orphans content in DLC 2, which adds Orga, Atra and Kudelia as supporters).
    • Shinkalion really gets the worst of it as the movie involved alternate universe versions of characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vocaloid and Godzilla, forcing the team to trim it down to two characters.
    • Most of the Majestic Prince movie's content was excluded from its debut in this game, including all of Team Forn, Instructor Sugita, and White Zero, the last of which ended up getting replaced with Blue One's Full Burst Mode in "Rabbits Formation Plus."
  • Ambiguously Human: Lisa is the first to notice something's wrong with the Gridman Alliance in-universe, as she isn't even able to confirm that they're proper humans as well and assumes they're some kind of organic technology like she is. To a point, she's right.
  • All Your Powers Combined:
    • The Huckebein 30 and its upgrade combine traits of virtually every previous Huckebeinnote .
    • Slimiarly, the New Scopedog combines all of the strongest armaments from Chirico's previous Scopedogs.
  • Alone Among the Couples: Lampshaded with the Getter Team in regards to them and their close friends. Amuro, Koji, and Gai all have girlfriends and Tetsuya is already married and with a child on the way. In contrast, the Getter Team are all still single which gets brought up for humor from time to time.
  • Alternative Calendar: 30 takes place in the New Space Era calendar. The One Year War, Hell Uprising and Mycenae War, Lunar Conflict, and Primeval War occur in NSE 90, the first contact with the Wulgaru occurs in NSE 92, the Gryps and First Neo Zeon Wars alongside the rise of the Holy Britannian Empire occur in NSE 97, the Second Neo Zeon War and assassination of Emperor Lelouch occur in NSE 99, and after a year of peace dubbed the "Miraculous Year", the Laplace's Box Incident and rise of the Zanscare occur in NSE 100.
  • Anachronism Stew: 30 mixes together several In-Universe years of the Universal Century Gundam timeline per series tradition; the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Victory Gundam are canonically the earliest (UC 0079) and latest (UC 0153) wars set within Universal Century, but take place within ten years of each other here. However, 30 has a particularly notable example with the RX-78-2 - it has a unique pilot cut-in for its Beam Rifle attack where Char's Counterattack-era Amuro Ray, hailing from a time where mobile suits have fully-panoramic cockpit views and targeting systems, has to reach for the original Gundam's primitive, binocular-esque targeting sight. Though considering this was a replica that he built in his spare time, this might have been intentional, with the addition of muscle memory.
    • The DLC escalates the anachronism stew by adding party members to the Dreikreuz who are treated as coming from elsewhere in the multiverse, and who use technology radically unlike anything established in the base game. Particularly notable are the literally Steampunk Sakura Wars mechs, which vent steam during their animations and were originally designed to fit into a fictional version of the 1920s. The players can deploy them IN SPACE— with the only consequence being having to deal with their C-rank space terrain adaptivity.
  • And the Adventure Continues:
    • Both endings feature Dreikreuz preparing themselves for the coming battle against the "old weapons" of Aos, dubbed "Etrangers" by the Federation, that the Final Boss warned them about.
    • The Golden Ending has the DLC heroes returning to their universes to finish the stories that were interrupted by the DBD.
  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • The game gives a brief explanation of each option on the intermission menu so that new players don't get confused or lost.
    • Until 30, all actions for allied units during the player's turn must be performed by the player, but the new Auto Mode Strategy mechanic finally allows the ability to set each allied unit's behavior, then leave the rest to the AI.
    • The battle forecast now includes each unit's chance of scoring a critical hit. Additionally, the "shoot down" indicator will highlight a support attacker instead of the main pilot if an enemy can be shot down, but shooting them down requires both a normal and support attack to hit.
    • Combination Attacks are easier to perform: in addition to the improvement in T where units could use combination attacks with units not present on the map, although with a damage penalty, 30 allows units that are deployed but aren't adjacent to use their combination attacks with the same penalty.
    • Pressing F10 in the Steam version restarts the game without saving, preventing the hassle of having to manually quit and reboot the game back up if players intend on Save Scumming or pulling out of difficult optional missions. Players using a controller attached to their PC can also use the same input of holding the shoulder and Start buttons to reset the game that console users can.
    • If you fail a mission, your units retain any experience they earned before the game over, enabling you to retain something from the failure.
    • Front Missions typically refresh after 2-3 other missions are cleared, meaning that if you pay attention to when and where you do them, there will always be at least one Front Mission available for you to grind up your units, credits or Aos points if a particular mission is giving you trouble.
  • Arc Number: 30, appropriate for the 30th anniversary title.
    • The protagonist's Original Generation mech is the Huckebein 30, which later gets a Mid-Season Upgrade to the Huckebein 30th. They were developed under the Xenogenic X-Factor X-Type Project, or for short, XXX, 30 in Roman numerals.
    • They serve aboard the battleship Dreisstrager, short for "Dreißig Super Roboter Flugzeugträger", 30 Super Robot Aircraft Carrier, crewed by students from Military Academy 30.
    • The Dreisstrager is the core of the unit Dreikreuz, German for "Three Crosses", or again, XXX.
    • The Earth is the 30th inhabited world attacked by the Quaestors.
    • Prior to taking the fight to Quaestors, Mitsuba states that it's taken them thirty major decisions to get to this point.
    • One special bonus mission reveals that 30 years before the events of the game, there was a major war known as "the Super Robot Wars".
  • Arc Words:
    • "Doing what one can" (or some variation, of such): essentially, everyone can do something to improve the world, even if it's the smallest of actions.
    • "Don't let the dead consume you" is a recurring warning throughout the Gundam narrative, a reference to both the metaphorical sense that many Gundam characters obsess over the past to the detriment of the present, and the literal sense that a powerful Newtype or Cyber-Newtype can become a vessel for the souls of the dead at the cost of their own sanity, or even worse, become possessed by their own regrets and anger.
    • "Magine" is a moniker given to any machine that can alter reality, allowing its user to perform miracles. It's distinct from "Majin", which Kouji notes when Baron Ashura drops the word in relation to the Mazinger Z and thinks Ashura is just slurring it. Gridman, the Rune Gods, Getter Robo, and the Psychoframe-equipped Gundams also receive the title. With enough power, a Magine can even bring things across the karmic cycles that divide the different Super Robot Wars timelines.
    • "Truth irrefutable" is this for the game's final act due to it being the basis for Magister and the justification for his Evil Plans.
  • Artificial Stupidity: Thanks to the fact the game offers autoplay, this can now work against the player. The player AI will just try to do a kill shot whenever possible, even if it's extraordinary overkill (i.e. it will use its strongest attack on the enemy in range with the least HP), can't use Spirits, and doesn't know how to balance moving and attacking in the same turn. Even the in-game tutorial doesn't give it a vote of confidence.
    Auto may be convenient for you, but it's not smart enough to use positioning or Spirit Commands.
  • Artistic License – Geography: In Victory Gundam, the city of Woowig is shown in-universe to simply be future Prague. Tactical Area Selection allows the player to go to Prague, with some late-game story missions also taking place there, with Prague somehow co-existing with Woowig. Woowig exists but is never shown, and it's not clear where it is, given its usual location is occupied by another version of the same city.
  • Ascended Extra:
    • The Bal-Bad, a B-Class Heavy Metal that never appeared in previous Super Robot Wars games, gets to be the standard Mook unit for the Posaydal Army in place of the usual Arorne and Graia, both of which are absent in 30.
    • The Mass-Production Nu Gundam is generally given to side characters when it appears in Super Robot Wars, but 30 hands it to Amuro as a Mid-Season Upgrade from his extremely outdated RX-78-2 Gundam, which he uses for a considerable portion of the game before he gets the original Nu Gundam back.
    • Full Armor Gundam Mk-II, an extremely obscure Z-MSV mobile suit that almost never appears in any media, makes its SRW debut in this game.
    • Likewise, the Full Armor Hyaku Shiki Kai from the Z-MSV - having previously appeared in a few SRW titles as an unlockable extra unit and half-step towards the Sazabi for Char, here it is featured as his main unit and replacement for the Sazabi.
    • Doktor Gauss plays a greatly expanded role in the story of the Brave Police. Originally, he was the first of many Villians of the Week, mostly notable for tying into Deckerd's origin story and being Deckerd's first arrest. He is now one of the Brave Police's most recurring archnemeses, with close connections to their primary antagonists— the various criminals associated with Excellent Incorporated. His similarly one-off Death Magnet becomes an extremely frequently recurring enemy unit.
    • Excellent Incorporated, the corporation, are a case of this too. While they were always a common denominator to the Brave Police's most dangerous villains, their ascent to fill the void left by Anaheim Electronics has made them virtually untouchable and one of the most powerful organizations in SRW 30's setting, which was never suggested in their home setting. That someone within the organization has a connection to robot crime is far more blatant than in the original show, where the criminals connected to the company are relatively low-key and conspiratorial. Justified because an untouchable Excellent Inc. associated with more brazen robot crime can more readily confront the player with problems to be addressed with tactics RPG gameplay than the Cop Show or Detective Drama elements of the original show sometimes would allow.
  • Ascended Meme: Done through an invoked Woolseyism, but during the DLC scenario "The Lights of Amuro's Life", Beltorchika says that Amuro needs a new source of strength, which Chan wonders if she means a new Mobile Suit or herself. Beltorchika, in turn, replies with the "Why not both?" meme◊ as though it were an old saying◊. In its original Spanish, no less.
  • The Atoner: Post CCA Char Aznable/Quattro Bajeena, for real this time.
  • Balance Buff:
    • Supporters in general. While still having a Support Command, now all Supporters have a passive ability that is constantly active (in the vein of Tacticians from the 3DS games) and can provide good bonuses. There are also now a lot more ways to fill up the supporter SP and upgrades for it, making it a much more useful system.
    • Umi and Fuu can now use the Spiral Flash combination attack with Hikaru, rather than it only being usable by Hikaru alone. This means they can now produce the same damage output normally reserved for main characters, while retaining their powerful support skills. Additionally, Fuu's Emerald Cyclone can now be used post-movement, making Fuu more mobile.
    • Mecha terrains in general are now based off of the mech instead of both the mech and pilot terrain stats which get rounded down starting from the Z games. This is due to the developers removing the pilot terrain stats. This means that any mech that has a "S" rank terrain stays as a "S" rank instead of having a mech or a pilot having a "S" rank and the other an "A" rank and the overall rank of the unit would be an "A".
  • Big "WHAT?!": This is Bright's reaction to finding out that the pilot that Luio & Co. located for the Dreikreuz is none other than Char Aznable, who was thought to have died in the Axis Shock.
  • Big "SHUT UP!": Facing down the True Final Boss Cyclaminos as Sangar has the villain gloating about how she's doing to crush his samurai spirit before he tells her to shut up and he gives his Badass Boast.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The initial, non-DLC ending. Although neither ending can be construed as "happy", they're not entirely bleak, either.
    • In the normal ending, Magister is defeated, and Dreikreuz miraculously escapes Subspace and return to Earth, but Caruleum is cruelly murdered by his former master, and Magister warns Dreikreuz that the "old weapons" of Aos are making their way to Earth, meaning they still have battles ahead to ensure Earth's future.
    • Both versions of the IF ending: If Caruleum is invited to join Dreikreuz, then he ends up sacrificing himself to weaken Magister, devastating Edge/Az. If Caruleum was not invited to join Dreikreuz, he still helps them defeat Magister, but then takes control of the Ultim Fini and forces Dreikreuz to kill him in order to both prove they can protect Earth's future and to bring a permanent end to the Quaestors. In either event, Dreikreuz are able to return to Earth and prepare for the "old weapons" of Aos, with Edge/Az vowing to continue to fight for humanity in Caruleum's memory.
  • Bootstrapped Leitmotif: Neither "Heats" nor "Can't Stop" are available as themes in the base game, so the only theme for Getter Robo Armageddon available to Ryoma, Hayato, and Benkei is the theme to Stoner Sunshine, despite that move being exclusive to the Shin Getter and therefor not available to use in the game at all.note 
  • Break Out the Museum Piece:
    • When Amuro is first revealed to be alive, he is secluded in an old military base, with his only company being Chan and a replica of the classic RX-78-2 Gundam, that he built in his spare time and has fun tinkering with. Sure enough, the base is attacked by both Kikaiju and Neo Zeon, forcing Amuro to use his long-outdated pal to defend the base. He promptly puts on a spectacular performance despite the tech gap, impressing the Dreikreuz crew and getting Koji to reminisce about their teenage years. After joining, he keeps the Gundam until they manage to get him a Nu model back.
    • One optional mission sees a group of Zeon loyalists launching a terrorist attack on the Federation capital of Dakar using One Year War-era Z'Goks.
    • Gai gets a few of them over the course of his story. When he's rescued from Conquering King Genesic, it's in the Prototype Phantom Gao and using the Fighting Gao Machines to form GaoFighGar. Later on, a Galeon from 12 years in the past is sent into the future and updated versions of the original Gao Machines are launched to reform GaoGaiGar.
    • The Etrangers are an incredibly ancient stockpile of old weapons from Aos's reserves. The last time any of them saw action, it was fighting Z-BLUE over 120 million years ago.
  • Call-Forward: At one point, McGillis says "Bael is a certainly a powerful machine, but I'm not so foolish as to believe that a single unit can defeat my enemies". In his series of origin, he attempts to take over Gjallarhorn by controlling Bael. This backfires on him spectacularly and leads the Downer Ending as the rest of Gjallarhorn refuses to acknowledge his authority, leading to his coup failing and him and most of Tekkadan getting killed. Though given his time in Dreikreuz, its implied that by the time him and Tekkadan are returned to their universe that he will not go forward with his original plan, leading to the possibility that they will survive their canon deaths.
  • Canon Welding:
    • Deckerd and the Brave Police were built with help from Kosuke and Koji and using data from GGG's own Super AI line, which was banned after the team's disappearance. As well, Build Tiger's chest plate isn't just "because it's cool", it's in honor of Kotaro Taiga of the Gutsy Galaxy Guard.
    • Akane Shinjo immediately takes a dislike to the Brave Police Department (since she really doesn't like A.I.s that do things they're not supposed to), and spends just as much time messing with their heads as she does the Gridman Alliance.
    • Tetsuya and Ryoma were the ones who trained the Combattler team, with Hyoma getting the worst of it from Ryoma.
    • Koji, Ryoma, Hayato and Musashi all fought in the One Year War aboard the White Base and are old friends of Amuro and Bright. Similarly, Shiro and Genki were classmates and Childhood Friends with Mamoru, Kaidou, Hana, and Sueo.
    • The AEUG and the Black Knights fought together against the Titans, who were under the thumb of Britannia. The likes of Kallen, Kamille, and Fa having been comrades in arms ever since then.
    • Immediately following the One Year War, Amuro was placed in a research facility that also happened to be running tests on Keita and Hinoki, with Amuro mentioning that Keita's devotion to Hinoki helped him cope during his own seclusion.
    • The Eldora Team, being the oldest still active mecha pilots, have a lot of connections. Not only did they help during the aforementioned White Base adventures, they're also old buddies with a number of important people, including police superintendant Saejima and Professor Nanbara. In fact, it's slightly implied that Chizuru Nanbara might have been named after the Eldora Team's Chizuru, as opposed to real life where it's the other way around.
    • When Deckard is introduced to Yuta Tomonaga's family, his sister Kurumi says she can't wait to tell Hikaru about it. Turns out the Hikaru she mentioned is Hikaru Shidou and she's friends with Yuta and Kurumi.
    • The Wulgaru had a run-in with the Invaders, who eventually got bored and left once they realized that the Wulgaru were a dying race. Since the Invaders go after strong races, the Wulgaru used the Invaders' movement to locate the intelligent life that they had previously planted across outer space, with Earth's victory against the Invaders directly resulting in the Wulgaru attacking the Earth Sphere in hopes of harvesting humankind's genetic material. The Wulgaru seeding numerous planets with life is also implied to be responsible for most if not all of the other Human Aliens that show up, such as the Pentagonians and Campbellians.
    • The MJP Project was originally a Federation-backed project meant to create Cyber-Newtypes that got repurposed when the Wulgaru arrived.
    • The country of Cephiro takes place in the same world as the Fremmevira Kingdom, etc.
    • The Rune Gods, Mazingers, Getter Robo, Gridman, and psychoframe-equipped Gundams are all referred to as Magine, machines that can grant the pilot's wishes.
    • Ernie immediately recognizes Akane Shinjo as someone from his original world before his reincarnation. Both of them are implied to be from our world, whose residents can observe and exert minor influence on the 30 world.
    • Fonse Kagatie is one of the devotees of the Claw, while the Claw himself is a rogue Highjussian as well as a former member of the Geass Order.
    • Triple Zero and the Getter Rays are treated as antithetical cosmic principles, the former promoting cosmic law and the cycle of birth/death of universes even at the expense of the existence of life, the latter promoting evolution and life even at the expense of universes.
    • During the final battle of the base game, the leader of the Quaestors describes Triple Zero as another manifestation of the Origin Law from the SRW Z saga's OG content.
    • The DLC reveals Gridman and Alexis Kerib, as multiversal travelers, to have already been well aware of Ultras. If the Ultramen are recruited, in the final fight with Alexis Kerib, he's eager to fight the Dreikreuz not just to defeat Gridman but to strike a blow against the Giants of Light.note 
    • The DLC also reveals Alexis Kerib (or, he claims, maybe an associate) to have interfered behind the scenes with the events of Getter Robo Devolution, specifically entering and attacking some of Dr. Saotome's simulated versions of the Getter universe before they reached their usual end with the appearance of the Getter Emperor.
    • Several scenes from the final arc of Getter Robo Devolution are adapted nearly line-for-line, where the teenage Getter Team teams up with older versions of themselves from another universe, even though this older Getter Team doesn't appear. The latter characters are replaced with the Armageddon version of the Getter Team from the base game, rather than Devolution's "original" adult Ryoma, Hayato and Benkei.
    • Surprisingly averted by Combattler V and Voltes V, however. While many SRW games give them common origins as part of the same alien defense project, such as Super Robot Wars J, since Voltes was only added later as DLC it is instead presented as Combattler's counterpart from a parallel universe.
  • Can't Catch Up: Narrative Gundam starts as a pretty solid mech, outdoing most other Gundam mechs at the start of the game. However, after acquiring the Nu Gundam and Zeta, as well as Üso getting the V2, the Narrative starts becoming difficult to justify bringing if it isn't in its highly specialized A-packs setup (which can't be used when on a planetoid, even the Moon). Averted when the climax of the Narrative storyline hits and it not only gets the C-packs, which give it a very beefy attack, but also when you acquired Unicorn Gundam Phenex, in all its gold-and-blue NT-D glory.
  • Character Development:
    • Much of Char's storyline in this game involves him coming to terms with his past actions and moving on.
    • Through the course of his storyline, Jona learns to accept the pain in life and his past mistakes with the help of the other UC Gundam characters.
    • Of all people, Komine gets a dose of this. He starts out as a Dirty Coward who hides behind the Dreikreuz and takes credit for their victories. However, if you repeat the L3 Front mission enough times, Mitsuba encourages him to hold the line for the sake of humanity. He later shows up as part of The Cavalry during the penultimate mission and is shown to be a much braver commander when fighting the Etrangers during the post-game.
  • Character Exaggeration: The majority of Banagher's lines and conversations contain his memetic "but even so" interjection at least once.
  • Character Select Forcing: The Dreisstrager must be deployed in order to make use of the active effects of Supporters. While this isn't an issue the large majority of the time since the ship is often force deployed, it will be those times when you are given the option not to bring it along. Strangely, their passive effects will still be active regardless (even in the absence of any ship!).
  • Chekhov's Gun: Upon first boarding the 30, your protagonist will point out that the main engine is sealed off and they'll have to rely on a backup generator. Anyone who knows a thing or two about Huckebeins can probably see where this is going, but in-game it isn't unlocked until the Mid-Season Upgrade halfway through the story. It also ties into the pilots themselves, who also have a lot more power than they're currently willing to use.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Surprisingly enough, despite Zeta and CCA both being present, Judau and pals are nowhere to be seen. Though the First Neo Zeon War was still said to have happened in the timeline, none of the UC Gundam characters even mention Judau, making his fate completely unknown.
  • Commonality Connection:
    • Ernie and Keita form a friendship thanks to their shared love of Humongous Mecha.
    • Quattro and Lelouch bond over their status as competitors to the title of worst person in history, and all the underlying reasons they had to get there.
    • Similar to the source series, once Akane Shinjo is freed from Alexis Kerib, she's just as bad a Tokusatsu geek as the rest of the Gridman Alliance, right down to geeking out over Ultraman literally appearing out of nowhere.
    • From the Expansion Pack: Chirico's storyline in this game, set just after the Uoodo arc, primarily involves Van, who's normally not interested in others, taking him under his wing. Chirico recently found more in life than just fighting to survive after his encounter with Fyana, just as a young Van once learned there's more in life than just fighting to survive after his encounter with Elena— and so, Van tries to give Chirico advice, in hopes his story turns out better.
    • Averted with the SRW OG characters, who, not actually being from the OG timeline but instead from various previous SRW crossover titles, struggle to recognize themselves as having anything in common, as much as a player is likely to lump them together. In a postgame mission focused specifically on these characters, which puts together most of the main cast of the OG games, they explicitly perceive themselves as a random grab-bag of pilots who are strangers to each other, and can barely remember each others' names. Justified by these characters worrying about creating a time paradox by interacting with others displaced by DBDs, so they've intentionally avoided socializing enough to even find commonalities— a reasonable worry, since while a majority of these characters are from the Alpha universe and most are from Alpha 1, Sanger and Ratsel are from Alpha 2 or 3.
  • Company Cross-References: Sanger Zonvolt and Erica Fontaine reference a moment from Project X Zone, where Erica shouts "CHESTO!" and Sanger responds by stating that the most important thing about it is to put your spirit into it. (The versions of Sanger and Erica are not the same ones here, as the Sanger from this game is from Super Robot Wars Alpha. Meanwhile, the Sanger in Project X Zone is from the OG universe, with Erica being from an alternate Project X Zone Earth.)
  • Composite Character: Just like Hayato in D, Mineva is one of the people who make up Jinn Generham.
  • Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: Spend too much time before certain Key Missions and they will be declared an emergency, preventing the player from doing anything else until they are cleared. Whenever this happens, the heroes will lampshade this by complaining how they're supposed to be autonomous, yet the Federation's still dragging them around.
  • Cool Ship:
    • The Dreisstrager is one of the few Original Generation battleships that appear in a license-based installment. Helping it out is not only its massive size* in comparison to other battleships, but it also serves as Mission Control as well as other features that can be unlocked with "MxP" (Mission Experience Points).
    • Series staple Ra Cailum joins the group under the command of Captain Bright Noa.
    • In a surprising twist, the Reinforce Junior makes its grand return to the series.
    • The Godinion also joins the Dreikreuz, headed by Rin Suzukaze.
    • The NSX returns to join the heroes as well, headed by Geo and Eagle Vision.
  • Crapsack World: While most Super Robot Wars stories start with the world in a bad state, 30 begins with an exceptionally bloody recent history, as ten of the past eleven years, the first of which has the One Year War, The Hell Uprising, The Mycenae War, The Lunar Conflict, and The Primeval War all happening one after another in the same year, have been an ongoing spree of wars, invasions, and attempts at world domination. With the solitary year of peace broken by the events of Gundam Unicorn shattering public trust in The Federation, the Dreikreuz are quite literally the last thing standing between the Federation and total collapse. That being said however, the world of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans still has it beat by such a wide margin that the members of Tekkadan still find it to be something of a vacation compared to theirs.
  • Critical Status Buff: The Juria System, in addition to increasing damage, critical rate, and Defensive Shield strength based on morale, increases a AHSMB's mobility by 30 when the unit has less than 30% HP.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!: In some previous games, pressing the start button (or the equivalent) would mark a tile on the map. In 30, this is instead done by pressing in the left stick. The old button instead activates autoplay without any sort of confirmation. Even if it's immediately canceled, one move will still go through. Given the Artificial Stupidity mentioned above, this can be annoying at best or create a problem at worst.
  • Death or Glory Attack: Mikazuki's Barbatos Lupus Rex unlocks a command late in the game called "Limiter OFF"note  where he gets bonus damage on par with Ryoma's ace bonusnote  for two turns and gives him the "Zeal" command after Mikazuki gains his ace bonus. However, after two turns are up, he loses all of the bonus and his morale drops down to 50.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: When Dreikreuz meets the new Gutsy Global Guard, Mamoru and Hana's marriage ends up being revealed by Shiro. When Mitsuba puts two and two together and realized they got married as kids, both Mamoru and Kaidou admit their alien heritages and point out such things really don't mesh well with Earth-bound customs. Besides, it isn't written anywhere official, so no one's asking.
  • Demoted to Extra:
    • The only playable members of the Shrike Team are Junko, Cony, Juca, and their leader Oliver, with the others being reduced to cameos in the Gun Blasters' Shrike Team Assault attack. Likewise, the only playable member of Team Doberman is Randy.
    • Kyao was playable in a number of prior Super Robot Wars games but is reduced to a Supporter here.
    • Almost all of the Super-AI robots from the Gutsy Galaxy Guard have been cut out of 30, with the in-universe reason for their absence being that their Super AI are too damaged, performing a hard shutdown to prevent Triple Zero from possessing them. The only one active is Goldymarg, who becomes GoldyDoubleMarg and provides gear for Gai.
    • Chandi's role as the one who stole the Kakuseijin V2 and gave it to Keita was given to Go and Ryoma respectively, meaning that, aside from being referenced in some of Keita's in-battle dialogue, she's been Adapted Out of the story. Also, owing to their roles in GaoGaiGar vs. Betterman, Sakura Akamatsu and her father respectively go from playable pilot and sub-pilot in Super Robot Wars Compact 3 to Supporter and NPC here. Inverted with Lamia, however, who used to be unplayable in the last game despite his role importance in the series, he's now fully playable.
    • The Invaders' role in the story is extremely limited in the story due to Cohen and Stinger being gone, abruptly disappearing from the game without so much as a boss fight. However, this is averted in the Expansion Pack as they become the main villains of the Getter Robo Devolution plot.
    • As this is the first game featuring Code Geass to use Lelouch of the Resurrection, Jeremiah Gottwald and Anya Alstreim are demoted to Supporter status after their playable appearance in Super Robot Wars X.
    • Fahren and Chizeta make their Super Robot Wars debut after being Adapted Out of T, but only the former gets to actively participate in combat; the latter is stuck in the NPC position.
    • Even worse than Chizeta, though, is Presea, who technically shows up as a Supporter alongside the other Cephiran allies, but still borders on Adapted Out due to her existence not getting acknowledged by the story or characters at all.
    • Mazinger Z: Infinity supporting characters Boss, Nuke, and Mucha have once again been demoted to Supporters, despite Boss Borot's appearance in the film. Unlike the previous game, however, by fulfilling a certain condition, Boss and his friends can stay as Supporter permanently instead of leaving after the stage they're in.
    • After being playable in T, Musashi from Getter Robo Armageddon ends up being reduced to an NPC in 30. Taking it even further, he only appears during the East Asian Frontline mission and has no major role in the Getter Robo storyline of the game unlike in the previous one. On the bright side, this means he doesn't die.
    • Speaking of Armageddon, the revisions to the story have it so that Professor Saotome actually did die in the backstory instead of faking it like he did in the OVA.
    • Among the ASHMB's pit crews, only the ones assigned to Red Five show up in person, with the others only alluded to.
    • Invoked by Bright Noa, who immediately shuts down Mitsuba's plan to put him in charge (as he is in countless Super Robot Wars games) by stating that he will only join if he is not the leader.
    • Robot manufacturer Anaheim Electronics, staple of the UC Gundam timeline and which normally remains a major player by the time of Victory Gundam, is here a shadow of its former self and largely replaced by Excellent Inc.
  • Developer's Foresight:
    • Since the DLC missions can be completed at almost any point in the game, a lot of care went into fitting them in the story no matter when you played them. For stories that can take place only at certain points in the story, the mission is framed as a flashback if you're past that point. In particular, if you save the Beach Episode mission until after you recruited Akane, she'll actually apologize for sending kaijus after the team.
    • As well, since their missions actually show up around the same time as the finale, many of the second season Rayearth characters, including Princess Aska and Sang Yung if you recruited them, will react to the events of the season one finale should you finish those missions before that finale.
  • Didn't Think This Through:
    • In one DLC mission, Yuta asks Mamoru for help in inspiring the Brave Police. Mamoru tells them they should get inspiration from their predecessors in the old GGG. However, his advice ultimately boiled down to having them imitate members of the old GGG based on superficial similarities, causing the Brave Police to start acting OOC (Gunmax, especially, was utterly humiliated at the idea he should be like Mic Sounders the 13th). In the end, Mamoru has to apologize and tell them to just be themselves again.
    • The mission "Dark Invitation" sees Dreisstrager unable to launch their mechas due to Nova launching a surprise assault with her bug monster army, intending to get the drop on them when they're all out of their mechas. Seems like a great plan... if not for the fact that Dreikreuz crew happens to consist of multiple characters more than capable of defending themselves without their mechas. The Magic Knight trio are capable of fending for themselves, especially as a team (since they receive their Rune Gods near the end of the first season) along with Lantis' support. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, as The Protaganist, Ryoma, Koji, Tetsuya, Hyoma, Emrys, Max, Amuro, Kaidoh, Mamoru, Guy, Ernie, Kid, Addy, Daba, Van, Ogami, Sakurai, Gemini, Taiga, Sanger, Erica, Ratsel, Lelouch and the Ultraman trio (who's armors are human sized, letting them fight at full power) all make quick work of the mooks.
  • Dies Differently in the Adaptation: At the end of the plot of Magic Knight Rayearth in the base game, Alcyone ends up not being executed by Debonair. But then in the Extra Chapter she makes Debonair materialize due to feeding on Cyclaminos' hatred, and she gets killed like in the original show, though it's written as a planned Heroic Sacrifice instead of a suddenly abrupt death.
  • Dirty Coward: In the various "Front" missions, there's always a commander and their team getting their butts handed to them when Dreikreuz drops in to save the day, they're usually Defiant to the End before the team arrives. Not Komine at the L3 Front, who is only seen in a Ra Cailum-class flanked by three Clop-classes, quickly runs away the second Dreikreuz drops in and returns to take the glory once it's all said and done, though he eventually gets better (see Character Development above).
  • Disk One Nuke: If you got the pre-order bonuses or the Expansion Pack, then Cybaster and the SRX are this.
    • Cybaster is the first Real Robot-type you get if you start the game on Earth outside of the Huckebein 30 as everyone you get are Super Robots. Combined with his speed and long-range attacks, it helps make short work of its attackers if not weaken them enough for the Super Robots to finish them off.
    • SRX is the first Super Robot-type you get if you start in Space as everyone there are Real Robots. Being a massive hunk of metal with a barrier combined with high-powered attacks, you can easily be a shield for your squishy Gundams.
  • Diving Kick:
    • The Silver Bullet Suppressor gains an original melee attack in this game that consists of it hitting the enemy with a diving kick from behind, then stabbing them in the head with a saber while its bootheel is still dug into their armor.
    • A Dynamic Kill with Battle Tract Max will have Gridman follow up with the Super Lightning Kick, another example of the trope.
  • Downer Beginning: At the start of the game, Earth and its surrounding space has already had to endure an entire decade of nearly nonstop war, and Federation is on its last legs due to both the constant fighting and public opinion and support being at an all time low due to its darkest secrets being exposed from the opening of the Laplace Box. Filkes states outright that Dreikreuz is the Federation's absolute last chance to preserve the Earth Sphere's peace.
  • Dramatic Irony: At the very end of the Expansion Pack, while the otherworlders along with everyone displaced by the DBDs are preparing to return to their homes, Kamille silently wishes for Mika to not die. Anyone who's watched to the end of the latter's source material knows that Kamille's words are in vain.
  • Drama-Preserving Handicap: In the novel, GaoGaiGo's Hell and Heaven is much more powerful than the regular version, since it involves Mamoru's G-Stone and Kaidou's J-Jewel resonating with one another. In the game, however, GaoGaiGo starts with the regular Hell and Heaven, with the resonance version only being unlocked late into the game.
  • Dual Boss: The final showdowns with Eva and Lady Debonair both occur in the same stage, with the same applying to the final battles with Zanscare and Zoltan. Depending on the order you do the Key Missions, the Claw will also show up in either of those.
  • Dub Name Change: Keeping consistent with its English localization, the nickname of the main character from Knight's & Magic, Ernesti Echivalier, was changed to Ernie, when it was Eru in the original Japanese.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Banagher first shows up in Stage 4 of the space route, piloting the Silver Bullet Suppressor, as a temporary ally. Though his name and face are not shown.
  • End-Game Results Screen: One was added in an update that celebrated the game's first anniversary. It shows various pieces of information that's viewable from the Records tab on the Intermission screen, such as the player's top three pilots with the most kills, most used Spirit Commands, and most used Supporters.
  • Epic Fail: The Rin-Rin Gum Drops, the failed attempt at an idol group from the DLC mission “Operation: Federation Idol”. Led by Rin "Rin-Rin" Suzukaze and comprised of Captain Mitsuba, Wendy, Kallen, Tamaki, and Ernie, they completely bomb their presser, can’t sing, have poor teamwork, and ultimately the Federation decides to have the entire thing scuttled after one mission.
  • The Faceless: Keeping with his appearance in Narrative, Banagher spends the entire game with his face obscured by his helmet.
  • Failed a Spot Check: While something of a Late-Arrival Spoiler for anyone who has watched SSSS.GRIDMɅN but one of the first things that make it clear something is wrong with the Gridman Alliance is that they don't recognize the Famed in Story heroes like Koji Kabuto or Ryoma Nagare. Or rather, they know they are famous, but they have no reaction upon actually meeting them.
  • Famed in Story: Many of the heroes, such as Koji Kabuto, Amuro Ray and Gai Shishioh, are treated as this due to their exploits in the previous wars. Which, as mentioned in the above trope, sticks out severely with the Gridman Alliance.
  • Fanservice: The gratuitous closeups of Tamaki Irie's chest and butt are retained from her source anime.
  • Fish out of Water: Due to coming from a world of mostly Medieval-level technology, the Knights and Magic cast (sans Ernie, naturally), initially find themselves flabbergasted by the Earth Sphere's relatively advanced aspects, most notably space travel.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing: During the final mission, the unit profiles for the El Millennium mention that they were recovered by "Quaestor" as opposed to "the Quaestors". Not long after, the Magister reveals that he is Quaestor, as the rest of the Quaestors, including Caruleum, are all his clones.
  • Flower Motif: What we see of the Aos has one. The three named characters related to them (Orchidacea, Iris, and Cyclaminos) have names derived from flowers (orchid, iris, and cyclamen respectively), and their original unit that isn’t a reused Sidereal unit is the Stamen Bitol, which goes even further in that its AI is depicted as a virtual flower even.
  • Foreshadowing: Quite a bit regarding Orchidacea and her influence over Dreikreuz.
    • When Kusuha and Bullet are recruited, Kusuha is struck by overwhelming dread that affects her piloting of the RyuKoOh. The feeling of dread increases when she meets Mitsuba foreshadowing Orchidacea.
    • If the Ultimate Dancouga is recruited early in the game, Shinobu will also immediately sense something "off" about Mitsuba.
    • Whenever the Quaestors show up, with or without Caruleum, Mitsuba, who is normally cool under pressure even in the most dire situations, suddenly flies into a rage and furiously orders Dreikreuz to attack the enemy forces. Not only that, but after the battles are won, she has no memory of getting so angry or why she would...
  • Fragile Speedster: Due to their small size, rated as 1S by the game mechanics and just under 2 meters in height by their official stats, the Ultraman characters are noted to be this, their small size gifting them an evasion bonus against larger enemies while suffering a damage penalty. Luckily, there are many ways of mitigating this such as the "Ignore Size" skill.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration:
    • In Knight's & Magic, Ernie's modifications to the Ikaruga resulted in even the most basic of attacks guzzling too much energy for it to even function; rather than optimize the systems, Ernie settled to replace its energy source with something that could bear the load. In-game, this is reflected by the stats for the Ikaruga's weapons being very energy-inefficient despite their mediocre damage, but are balanced out by heaps of EN regeneration and deep reserves that get extra bonuses from upgrades.
    • During Ernie's introductory chapter, he will gush over the Dreikreuz' units as they move to aid him. As part of this, the game will randomly point to two of the mechs deployed for a couple seconds. However, the cursor will never go to one of the Rune Gods during this scene. He's seen them before, after all. Zig-zagging this, if they are the only mechs deployed; the game will only very briefly point at the Dreisstrager before he reacts to the "cool" robots anyway.
    • In the Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection finale, after Shamna dies and activates her Geass, the stage rewinds back to the beginning, complete with the stage title playing again and the exact same introduction cutscene. This happens multiple times in this stage.
    • When The Claw shows up during the battle at Angel Halo, Van's Will rises all the way to 300.
    • Speaking of Van, in one of the DLC missions that primarily involve Bullet and Kusuha, Van drinks the latter's Dubious Health Drink in the story cutscene which does put him to sleep (As one way to interpret it). But sortie him out, and he'll start the level with MAX MORALE.
    • Ultraman stands out in a group filled with Gundams and other mechs by just being an average man in (admittedly highly advanced) power armor. This translates ingame to him being a Glass Cannon with very low health and defense, but very high damage output and speed to compensate for it.
    • The Private Disc and Dating Guide parts increase max morale by 20 and give +2 per turn to male and female pilots respectively. Ange, being of Ambiguous Gender, cannot use either part. The parts also won't work on the Brave Police due to them being robots.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation:
    • As with previous titles, the official sizes of certain units don't always match with their in-game designations. For example, Kakuseijin V2 is listed as Size 1L, yet at a height of 20 meters, is shorter than the Nu Gundam, a Size M unit.
    • Also like in previous titles, the pre-battle exchanges a specific character can have, such as when fighting a boss character, might be the polar opposite of their in-battle dialogue. An infamous example involves both Ogami and Masaki against Zagato. The pre-battle dialogue has both of them seemingly deduce that Zagato isn't as evil as the team was led to believe. This is in stark contrast to their special in-battle dialogue for him, which portrays them as fully on-board with seeing him as a vile villain.
    • In one cutscene, Horacio scoffs at the idea of being interested in Cephiro's Rune Gods, claiming that they're little more than special Silhouette Knights that will be nothing but flies compared to what he has in store. Despite this, should the Wyver battle against the Magic Knights, his special dialogue has him talk about how fascinating the Rune Gods are.
    • Some of Mamoru and Kaidou's in-battle lines have them refer to themselves as members of "GGG Blue" as soon as they can be deployed, even though the Gutsy Global Guard doesn't come to be known as GGG Blue until Gai (and thus the original Gutsy Galaxy Guard, nicknamed "GGG Green") comes back to our solar system a number of stages later.
    • Gai's in-battle line of "Don't worry, I'm a cyborg" was kept in this game, even though he hasn't been a cyborg for over a year by the time the game starts.
    • Keita has an in-battle line referencing how Chandi gave him Kakuseijin V2, even though 1. Ryoma gave it to him in this version of the events, and 2. Chandi never shows up during the entire story.
    • Suruga's flirty Support Attack quotes for female characters also trigger on his teammates Kei and Tamaki, despite him not being interested in either.
    • During the Beach Episode, Kei's dialogue during Izuru's battles is left intact even before she makes it back to Purple Two. However, her portrait for said dialogue will always show her in her pilot suit, even when she's still in her swimsuit.
    • Even after Izuru returns to normal during "Heroic Awakening," his special dialogue for Rabbits Formation exclusive to this stage can still be heard if the player uses the attack with a different character before Izuru has a chance to attack post-event.
    • Units possessed by Triple-Zero turn a solid orange and are perpetually on fire. However, the game only shows this with units that get affected in the original story, specifically Genesic GaoGaiGar and King J-Der, and units from other series that get possessed when the Conquerer's Thralls start enacting their plans don't have this appearance.
    • Klein calls Izuru "Plegazus's lamata" even if you have Izuru fight him before encountering Jiart.
    • Hilariously enough, Tetsuya can show up in team conversations like nothing's wrong even after he's been kidnapped by Dr. Hell.
    • Equally hilariously is a stage where J and Renais can help try to capture Victim in "What the Heart Dictates." What makes it weird is if this stage is played before playing "The Lion Revived -PHOENIX-," where the two are still under 000's control as Thralls.
    • Supporters will provide their passive effects even in the absence of the Dreisstrager, up to and including for characters who haven't met the crew.
  • Gargle Blaster: Kusuha's arrival in the first DLC includes her iconic health drink. Koji and Kenichi kindly pass on it, Taiga and Ogami argue over who should drink it, and Erica and Gemini are more than certain it'll kill them. The one who does drink it? Van, who declares it delicious before passing out.
  • Game-Breaking Bug: Prior to the update that added the Report Card feature, on the stage "To a Future Filled With Light", attacking Debonair with Shin Getter Robo would instantly cause a game over for no discernable reason.
  • Gecko Ending: King of Kings: GaoGaiGar vs. Betterman did not have its last chapter or epilogue written when SRW 30 was written, which would leave the game's GaoGaiGar vs. Betterman plotline unresolved. The SRW developers did manage to include some things which would appear in this last chapter, particularly Final GaoGaiGar and its attacks; like much of the GaoGaiGar vs. Betterman content in the game, this mech is animated for the first time here. However, the climax becomes a single mission that bears no resemblance to the novel's climax, which involves an elaborate Zero-Approval Gambit on the part of the Bettermen, an upgrade of Betterman Cataphract to Betterman Cataphract Kai (unseen in the game), and a Face–Heel Turn on Guy's part as he becomes a Conqueror's Thrall before being purified subsequent to Final GaoGaiGar's loss to Cataphract Kai. Instead of this, in SRW 30 Final GaoGaiGar fights Betterman Cataphract and wins, and Lamia declares that he gives up their fight and his hopes of bringing about the Age of Patria. (He can get a line that suggests he hasn't completely given up, which is the only thing that prevents this from being an Accidental Downer Ending). SRW 30's ending to this plotline has many plot threads Left Hanging— most conspicuously, why the Bettermen think Guy is the "source of evil", and what the "Age of Patria" even is.
  • Generation Xerox: The events preceding the game were fought pretty much similar to a mini-Super Robot Wars game in their own right, with the White Base, the Mazinger, Getter, and Combattler teams, and GGG working together to protect the world. This is also taken a little more directly, when Mamoru's introduction to Yuta(Tomori) plays out very similar to how he met Gai, right down to the Mister Shock moment.
  • The Goomba: The Quaestor Osculusus Drone is one of the most common and basic enemies in the game, possessing relatively low health and armor and only having a simple laser attack as offense.
  • Goomba Stomp: One of the Silver Bullet Suppressor's attacks is flying around and landing on his opponent's head before stabbing them with a beam saber.
  • Gratuitous German:
    • The "Dreisstrager" is actually a portmanteau coming from Dreißig Super Roboter Flugzeugträger which roughly translated means "Thirty Super Robot Aircraft Carrier".
    • The protagonists default battle group name is "Dreikreuz", or Three Crosses.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Akane sics some Kaiju on Kei and Tamaki out of jealousy of their friendship with Rikka. The two girls would've been done for if not for Gridman and Red 5.
  • Guest Fighter:
  • Guns Akimbo: Early in the game, the Huckebein 30 gains the ability to dual-wield two Graviton Rifles, even being able to combine them into an even bigger gun. Not even the EX-Exbein was able to pull that off, and the other Exbein models needed the Gunner support unit to fire multiple guns at once.
  • Harder Than Hard:
    • Super Expert difficulty was added to the game post-launch, granting even more enemy upgrades and higher enemy levels.
    • The Expansion Pack adds Super Expert Plus difficulty, which unlike the other difficulty levels is more than Numerical Hard and thus can only be selected at the start of a playthrough. It takes eight times more EXP to gain a level and almost all methods of Level Grinding have been eliminated, including EXP for Repair/Resupply, EXP retention for Game Overs, repeatable missions, and map events. Money and AOS prices see a massive spike, and skill programs that directly modify a pilot's stats cannot be crafted. While the player can still cast spirits during the enemy turn, only the unit being targeted can use SP, locking out spirits like Foresee that other units would be able to cast on a targeted unit. Oh, and losing any unit at all is a failure condition. The only consolation is that the game starts the player on Expert stats before quickly switching to Super Expert, and the mode has exclusive items.
  • Heel–Face Turn: At the end of the game, the surviving remnants of the Zanscare Empire ally with the Federation to combat the Quaestors, and later on in the post-game, the Etrangers. In particular, Duker Iq is seen leading the charge in the fight against the Etrangers in the post-game DLC 1 missions.
  • Heel Realization: Downplayed; Kei finally realizes just how bad her cakes are due to the fact that Van, with his horrifyingly skewed taste buds, eats her cake without any condiments, and is the only one person to call it delicious.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: The original GGG is a subversion. The Federation has officially branded them as traitors after they left Earth without authorization to deal with the events of GaoGaiGar FINAL, to the point the Super AI tech was pretty much banned until the creation of the Brave Police a whole decade later. Where is the subversion, then? Simple: this is only the Federation's official stance. On the ground level, everyone speaks of the GGG with the utmost respect. It's stated that Prime Minister Yumi is working to fix that so that their status is overturned officially.
  • History Repeats:
    • Just like the timeframe between the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Amuro is kept under the watchful eye of the Federation following the Axis Shock and is happy to spend the rest of his life working on machines in near-solitude. Unlike Zeta, it doesn't take much to spurn him back into action, jumping into the RX-78 that he was gifted to repel an attack on the Federation's Cheyenne base and then joining Dreikreuz.
    • In the postgame, if the player recruited Katejina, there will be instances of dialogue concerning Zansacre units and "witnessing the light of the Angel Halo", very heavily parallelling dialogue that some Zeon characters have earlier in the game in Quattro's storyline about having witnessed the light of the Axis Shock. This suggests that the climax of Victory Gundam is coming to be viewed as a "Second Axis Shock" in-universe— something the original anime never suggested.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • When Quattro appears, Suruga throws in a jab at his needlessly blingy Hyaku Shiki. Naturally, it's immediately pointed out that as the pilot of Gold 4, he really has no room to talk.
    • A number of the crew are shocked to learn that stoic manly-man Tetsuya is actually a married man expecting a child, prompting Koji to give a little speech about how the pursuit of love is a normal thing for anyone... at which point he's chewed out by all of his friends over his inability to make any progress with Sayaka in over a decade.
  • Inconsistent Spelling:
  • Interface Spoiler: Unfortunately, in the demo, it seems the developers didn't learn their lesson from T and characters, while hidden in the main game, can be spoiled in the library. This was thankfully fixed in the final release.
    • Jona is affected by Newtype-specific effects long before the story is supposed to reveal it.
    • It is possible for Banagher Links to appear in the Total Data section of the player's records long before his formal introduction in the story, due to his early cameo in the space route.
  • Karma Meter: The Golden Ending for this game is locked behind a number of ethical questions Caruleum and his goons ask Mitsuba over the course of the game. All responses that cause him to say the "scale tips to the left" contribute towards unlocking the route, while the opposite answers go towards locking it out. However, the scale is less a spectrum of good vs evil, and more humanity's danger vs. foolishness. Tip the scales right to foolishness, and the Quaestors decide humanity must be taken over. Tip the scales left to danger, and they decide that humanity is too dangerous to the universe to be left alive.
  • Lampshade Hanging:
    • Lancelot siN and Guren Type Special's frame coats aren't in the game. A quit-game skit has Kallen and Suzaku complain that they aren't used to fighting with them.
    • In an interrupt skit Suzaku draws attention to the fact the plush C.C. has in Lelouch of the Re;surrection, named "Mocochee", isn't the same character as the plush she used to carry in the original show. This was done since Code Geass is no longer sponsored by Pizza Hut, so could no longer use a plush of their mascot Cheese-kun, but the change was never previously acknowledged by the characters.
    • When Ernie refers to the various military weapons as "Real Robots", a confused Keita points out that, not only is that term weird (as any robot that actually exists would therefore qualify as "real"), but Earth's military weapons should probably qualify as "Fantasy-types" from Ernie's perspective, a point the later concedes to.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: The initial announcement for the 3rd wave of DLC wastes no time in showing that the pilot of Devolution's Getter-3 is named Benkei. Said character was going by the name "Musashi" for a decent chunk the of source material's beginning chapters, with his true name serving as a fairly major reveal.
    • The first appearance of the Devolution characters in-game quickly spoils an even bigger reveal than the above connected to them— That they're a simulated Getter Team that escapes their simulation into the "real world"— which occurs at the end of volume 4 of their 5 volume series. This is particularly odd given the game's efforts not to give away the nearly-identical spoilers about the Gridman cast.
    • The Iron-Blooded Orphans characters were pulled through the DBD from somewhere from very late in their show's canon and as a result inevitably spoil that Mikazuki at some point becomes completely paralyzed in one half of his body when not piloting as soon as he's recruited. Interrupt messages can also mention Biscuit's death.
  • Later-Installment Weirdness:
    • 30 is the first license-based game in the series to come to North America and Europe.
    • Related to featured series and their implementation:
    • Related to gameplay mechanics:
      • This game introduces a numerical rating system for units based on a combination of their stats, skills, upgrades, and equipped parts.
      • Because of the Tactical Area Select system, none of the mission titles have the "scenario x" prefix attached to them.
      • Excluding remakes and the Masou Kishin spinoff series, 30 is the first 2D console SRW since Super Robot Wars MX to lack SR Points. This also means that the Golden Ending is instead locked behind a Karma Meter dependent on choices made by Mitsuba, i.e. the player.
      • Pilot terrain rankings are completely done away with, meaning that terrain compatability is based solely on each mecha's terrain rating.
      • Relative to the other International Era games, the "Tactical Area Selection" system offers a significant gameplay change from the traditional Super Robot Wars story format, while X and T fall heavily into Mission-Pack Sequel territory relative to V.
      • Also relative to the International Era games, in 30's DLC missions, units are affected by upgrades and skills given to them during the intermission and can level up and gain kill counts that add up to their total.
    • Related to graphics and audio:
      • The protagonists have vocal themes even in the standard version of the game.
      • While the idea of units having different battle intros akin to sister series SD Gundam G Generation was already toyed with in Super Robot Wars DD, this game goes all in on it. As a side-effect, the game fades to black between first- and counter-attack animations instead of seamlessly transitioning between them.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
    (game randomly points to two of your character mechs)
    Ernie: There's no way people controlling robots that cool are the bad guys!
    Kid: Yep, sound logic there.
    • The grand reappearance of Mazinger Z prompts a lot of comments from Dreikreuz members, and a few of them feel... quite meta, praising Mazinger not as a great warrior, but as the first Super Robot and hero of their childhood. Once again, especially Ernie.
      Ernie: This feels like... the start of everything!
    • Magister makes a similar meta comment, about how humanity's first experiences with Magine (reality-warping tech) were, indeed, the "Big Three" mainstays of the series, the three franchises that made up the first Super Robot Wars 1.
      Magister: Amuro Ray, the Newtype. Koji Kabuto, who encountered Photon Power energy. And of course Ryoma Nagare, chosen of the Getter Rays... Everything began with you three.
    • In the leadup to recruiting Ange, a discussion regarding manga styles comes up, and it quickly becomes very meta as the Magic Knight Rayearth characters discuss common Shoujo qualities like the big eyes and long limbs, while Ernie (again) brings up how one could just forgo the visual medium and write a light novel.
    • In the DLC mission where Taiga and Gemini are recruited, if the player uses their (baseball-themed) combination attack, Umi immediately questions if the sudden bizarre change in costume and setting literally happened or if everyone just sees Taiga and Gemini's subjective thoughts when they do that attack for some reason. She's waved off with the excuse "they're actors".
    • In the Expansion Pack, the visual difference between the Armageddon and Devolution Getter teams is acknowledged, with Koji likening each version of Ryoma to the same character being drawn by two different artists, each with their own unique style.
  • Lethal Joke Character: The Giant Sang Yung which is literally just a giant hand-drawn image of Sang Yung. It only has one attack, which is simply firing its laser from its mouth. It also just happens to have three part slots by default which means any weakness it has can easily be covered, its custom bonus inflicts -10 morale to enemies whenever it attacks which only costs 10 EN with a decent attack power, and the fact that it's a 2L size coupled with Aska having the "Wall" spirit command allows it to tank in the front lines. Aska's ace bonus makes it even stronger by giving it a permanent 20% damage boost, literally the same as Mazin Power. It's also a two-seater with Sang Yung being the subpilot with decent support skills, and is also equipped with a resupply module to support its allies. It's the closest comparison with the currently absent series-wide Lethal Joke Character Boss Borot.
    • The Extra Arms X and Omega parts from maxing out certain systems of the Dreisstrager enable this to a comedic extent by having a simple, single line of text: "Increases the power of the mech's strongest weapon to 8000 unless it's already higher". It doesn't have to be a big, super attacks like Shin Getter Dragon's Getter Shine, or the Huckebein's Double Graviton Beam, it can be any weapon, so long as it qualifies as the strongest weapon in the mech's basic selection - including the Giant Sang Yung's Mystery Beam or the Methuss's Arm Beam. Slap one of these two parts onto either, or any other mech with an easily spammable weapon loadout like Eagles's FTO, and you'll dominate any fight other than perhaps the Optional Boss.
  • Lethal Joke Item: The Tem Ray Circuit part, which used to cripple units it was installed on in previous games as a reference to the original Circuit being a pile of junk Tem mistakenly thought would power up the RX-78, now functions near identically to the high-end Haro partnote . Justified in the DLC when Amuro acquires the Hi-Nu Gundam— Tem Ray is revealed to have at some point recovered his mental prowess in this universe (Amuro was completely unaware of this, as they had become estranged), and to have continued researching learning computers for mobile suits, starting, apparently, with his infamous Circuit and culminating in the on-board computer of the Hi-Nu. Amuro expresses regret in dismissing the Tem Ray Circuit as junk all those years ago.
  • Level Scaling: Enemies tend to scale out with the level of the player's group.
  • Let's Split Up, Gang!: One of the few aversions in the franchise's history, as there are zero route splits aside from choosing between the Earth and Space routes at the start of a new game due to the non-linear mission structure.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: The first DLC Bonus Mission reveals that the first meeting between the Magic Knights and the Silver Phoenix knights turned into one of these due to Umi and Kid's tempers going off.
  • Lighter and Softer: King of Kings: GaoGaiGar vs. Betterman, being a crossover work between a non-horror anime and horror anime, tried to strike a balance in tone between GaoGaiGar and Betterman— not excluding the bio-horror of the latter, but intermingling it with the hotblooded super robot action of the former. The horror elements often involved people on Orbit Base going murderously insane due to Algernon, or occurred from the Somniums' point of view. SRW 30, for obvious practical reasons emphasizes the parts with robots, which are usually neither of the former (even though Betterman Cataphract is a playable unit, the Somniums can't be in the same place as Guy for long due to the logic of a Versus Title, so they join fairly late). The end result is an adaptation with a lot less dark, scary parts than the original work.
  • Logical Weakness: The Heavy Metals from Heavy Metal L-Gaim all have built-in beam resistance due to their Zimmerlit coating, meaning that most space-proficient mechs like Gundams and most of Team Rabbits will struggle to do full damage against them. However, because this is a problem that also arises when fighting mechs with Nanolaminate Armor, all of the Tekkadan Gundams use nothing but kinetic weapons, making them perfect for fighting Posaydal forces.
  • Manchild: Amuro, who then proceeds to lampshade it after griping that no one decided to come with him to pick up the MP Nu-Gundam, that he's acting like he did when he ran away from White Base all those years ago during the One Year War. He's not exactly pleased with the revalation.
  • Marathon Boss: The tougher bosses can get like this on the higher difficulties thanks to their absurdly high health pools.
  • Mass Monster-Slaughter Sidequest: A variation of this trope is used where certain weapons and units can only be unlocked by reaching a certain kill count, which opens up a mission where the player obtains the unlockable. While generally optional, there are a number of them that are required to move the story along.
  • MegaCorp: Excellent Incorporated, which has supplemented Anaheim after the Laplace Incident. They're supposedly behind the evil AI attacks and BioNet's actions, but no one has proof at the start. Not only that but their status as a N.G.O. Superpower is such that even when the Earth Federation had a better political sway, the latter still couldn't touch the former.
  • Megaton Punch: If the SRX's Zyne Knuckle attack doesn't kill the enemy, the animation will show said enemy being sent flying into the sky.
  • Mildly Military: Despite the fact that nearly everyone onboard the Dreisstrager was a student at a military academy until it's destruction, the hastily commissioned students of Dreikreuz are subject to this as they have difficulty keeping military bearing. Mitsuba actually invokes this by saying that they will use a slightly informal way of speaking until they can learn the ropes.
  • Military Academy: Military Academy 30, the stage for the compulsory first mission, is a Traditional Military Academy type as everyone, other than Az who is 16, seems to be over the age of 18.
  • Morton's Fork: No matter whether you choose the humanitarian or the utilitarian answers to Caruleum's questions, the Quaestors will always choose to invade Earth at the story's climax. Choose the humanitarian options (Normal route)? Magister deems humanity "foolish" and thus requiring the Quaestors to rule them. Choose the utilitarian options (IF route)? Magister deems humanity too dangerous to be left alone and marks them for extermination.
  • The Multiverse: Though Alpha, Z, and OGs all established that every game in the franchise plus some of Banpresto's older works are set in a multiverse that permits travel between them, 30 solidifies this aspect by giving a proper terminology for a single game world (called a "Karmic Horizon") and showing how, with the proper strength and competence, the thin boundaries can easily be exploited beyond just dumping individual characters into other games through convenient accidents, as demonstrated when the Quaestors get their hands on some mothballed Sidereal units and the Angels' Artificial Intelligence programs. A fully-upgraded AOS is also able to mass-produce technologies from other games, notably Orgone, the Infinity +1 Sword parts from past installments, and the Timeflow Engines.
    • Also used as a plot device to add content to the base game through "Dimensional Boundary Distortions", or "DBDs"— particularly DLC. Characters not from SRW 30's universe have been appearing out of DBDs, and the Dreikreuz is tasked with rescuing these displaced persons and finding a way to return them to their home universes. This is how series are added with DLC without the need to integrate the new characters into the established universe.
  • Musical Nod: Being a celebration of 30 years of Super Robot Wars, 30 references older games in the series (especially Super Robot Wars 3) via music:
    • The anniversary logo uses a brand new composition of the original Banpresto logo sting, first heard in Super Robot Wars 3.
    • The BGM that plays on each mission title is the first part of the stage intro theme from Super Robot Wars 3.
    • The intermission BGM is a mix of the Super Robot Wars 3 and Super Robot Wars 4 intermission themes.
    • The enemy reinforcement theme mixes the recurring reinforcement theme that originated in Super Robot Wars 3 with the reinforcement theme from Super Robot Wars Impact.
    • The game uses a remix of Toki wo Koete, the recurring theme of the classic series games, when the player deploys their forces onto the map.
    • The map BGM for the "Spirit of Steel" DLC scenario features remixed music from Shin Super Robot Wars, the SRX Team's debut game.
    • The game includes fully orchestrated versions of several themes from across the Super Robot Wars history.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • The Infinity version of Mazinger Z, Shin Getter Dragon and Nu Gundam's poses on the box art are based off of the respective poses of the original Mazinger Z, Getter-1, and RX-78-2 Gundam's poses on the cover of the franchise's first game. Similarly, the shared backstory in 30 of Amuro, Kouji and the Getter Team fighting in the One Year War together aboard the White Base also hails from the same game, which consisted of only those three series.
    • In the DLC stage "A Return to Jaburo", Koji mentions that Getter-2 had a "drill-off" with a prototype Zeon mobile suit, most likely referencing the Agg, an MSV mobile suit with drill arms, designed to burrow into Jaburo.
    • All of Mazinkaiser INFINITISM's attack animations, much like its design, draw their inspiration from its Original Video Animation incarnation. To list:
      • Rust Tornado's shot is based on the climax of the third episode's fight.
      • The "Turbo Smasher Punch" causes tremendous recoil on the unit and leaves a tornado trail behind it, much like its Original Video Animation incarnation in its first couple of episodes.
      • Its Photon Beam splits the enemy in half in similar fashion to the climax of the OVA's second episode.
      • Fire Blaster melts the enemy before they bubble up and burst into a massive explosion, much like how the Garadoubla MK01 is dealt with in the last episode of the OVA series.
      • The Final Kaiser Blade animation is heavily based on its animation from Super Robot Wars L.
    • In one of the skits when suspending a game, Uso Ewin mentions that it's been a long time since he and the player met and it might be the first time for some. Uso's last voiced appearance in Super Robot Wars with fourth wall-breaking skits was in Alpha Gaiden in 2001note .
    • Dialogue from Masaki's recruitment missions suggests that this game's version of Masaki comes from the Alpha saga, as he mentions the Aerogaters and Jupiter, while noting how he knows of another, younger version of Koji Kabuto. Something similar also happens if Uso talks to Masaki, as the latter also recognizes him. Likewise, the SRX Team knows of Uso and Londo Bell, suggesting they too are from the Alpha games.
    • Dialogue from Gilliam's recruitment missions suggest that Gilliam was pulled from Super Robot Wars 4, mentioning the Guest and that he was part of the AEUG. This is further backed by the Gespenst used by Gilliam, which is just referred to as "Gespenst" with no other titles and only armed with Split Missiles, Neutron Beam, Plasma Cutter and Slash Ripper.
    • While never directly brought up or Lampshaded, the Huckebein 30th is, for all intent and purposes, the Huckebein 008L, the very first Huckebein that was introduced in Super Robot Wars 4.
    • Once Keita is recruited, he relaxes and chats with Amuro, bringing up numerous Gundam references, such as Amuro punching out a monitor screen after hearing Gihren Zabi's speech (from the infamous Bouken Ou manga adaptation), Amuro supposedly hating the twin-eye design of the Gundam (from the novels) to the infamous "good luck charm among White Base pilots" (also from the novels).
    • Gridman's last Spirit Command is "Awaken" (覚醒), which is also the title of the anime's final episode. As well, Powered Gridman's ultimate attack is "Gridman, the Hyper Agent", which was the title of his original tokusatsu series.
    • During the simulator mission where Sky Gridman is first unlocked, Mayvy forces Gridman's hand by calling in a Genocider F9, aka the exact opponent against which the Jet Scrander was first unveiled in the original Mazinger Z. It was Koji's idea, even!
    • When it is explained how Akane was able to create Tsutsujidai, the explanation uses almost the exact same words as Sanada when he explained how Black Noir interfered with the world in Super Robot Wars V.
    • V2 Assault Buster's final attack has it activating its Wings of Light and its forearm mounted beam shields, with the latter guiding the former's movements. In the final episode of his home series, Uso used this method not as an attack, but as a defensive move to block Gottrlatan's beam cannon.
    • In the Hi-Nu Gundam recruitment stage, it's explained that the Hi-Nu Gundam was incredibly compatible with Amuro because it was based on the learning computer developed by Tem Ray after he suffered oxygen deprivation. This may have been a reference to the manga Zeta Gundam Define, in which Amuro lamented that even though he piloted many advanced mobile suits following the One Year War, he was unable to feel the same passion his father poured into the RX-78-2 Gundam. The idea that useful information was salvaged from Tem Ray's Side 6 home may be a reference to the manga Mobile Suit Gundam Bandiera, in which a Federation soldier salvaged an intact Gundam blueprint from the junk pile in his home.
    • DLC character Gilliam Jaegar's acknowledgement of Ultraman and Amuro Ray could be seen as a nod to his debuting game Hero Senki, a game that crosses over the Ultraman, Mobile Suit Gundam and Kamen Rider series. Gilliam is one of the game's headlining protagonists.
    • While discussing C.C.'s immortality, the adjutant at the Wailing Prison asks if she can die in lava.
    • During the J-Decker final battle, most of the characters are heated up against Eva Fahrzeug and her awful treatment of Super AIs, but Hyouma in particular is fulminating, as Victim's situation (being an android unaware of his condition, used and abused by the one who should be his mother) reminds him all too much of his old rival Garuda. After the battle is over, one of the freshly-heel-turned Black Chieftains asks for a name, and Hyouma names him after Garuda.
    • After beating the Final Boss, Van confirms that he'll be staying to fight with the Dreikreuz. Wendy admits that she was really woried that he would just say something like "my battle is over", walk away and disappear to parts unknown... also known as how GUN×SWORD actually ends.
    • Just like in the source material, Utsumi frequently brings up the Ultra Series, which became Hilarious in Hindsight once Ultraman was announced for the second wave of DLC.
    • The Huckebein 30's Double Graviton Rifle bears an uncanny resemblance to the Twin Buster Rifle.
    • Support attacking one of the Ultras with Gridman has Utsumi asking Yuta to "Cover the Ultraman!", a famous stock line used by the Ultra Series Defense Teams.
    • Ultimate Dancouga's strongest attack, "Dancou Shinken," is clearly based on Dancouga Nova Max God's "Dancou Dangaiken."
    • During cutscenes involving the male Sakura Wars protagonists, Ogami and Taiga, the player sometimes is given dialogue choices for their responses to others. During these moments, sound effects will play from Sakura Wars as if SRW 30 were implementing the other franchise's LIPS mechanics.
    • Hayato and Yuta become close friends and at some point the former suggests ideas to the latter for new Brave robots to add to the Brave Police, obviously fixating on the idea of a shinkansen-themed Brave. He ends up drawing/describing Might Gaine and his various allies, and even says he feels like he's met the Braves he just described in other other-worldly adventures that have since been wiped from his memory; this is an allusion to an SRW X-Ω event that featured a Might Gaine and Shinkalion crossover.
    • With the DLC, the Getter Robo Devolution version of Hayato Jin claims he's seen a being that resembles Alexis Kerib end alternate versions of the universe thanks to Doctor Saotome's simulated universes instead of the usual Getter Emperor. Alexis Kerib is designed by Shigeto Koyama, best known as the mech designer of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and quite overtly looks similar to a TTGL mech. TTGL heavily pays tribute to Getter Robo and also involves possible bad futures where the protagonists bring about the end of the universe— the central focus of Devolution's story— so Hayato is easily read as heavily implying he's seen some universes end due to the Spiral Nemesis rather than the Getter Emperor, as much as he can without TTGL being literally part of the game. (Alexis Kerib is happy to take credit for the end of those universes but admits it might not literally have been him).
    • Maxing out the AOS System's updates nets you a variety of parts themed after other Super Robot Wars games.
      • Completing the Bridge portion unlocks Battle Armor B, U, and X. Battle Armors B and U can combine with X for different bonuses. These are related to Super Robot Wars BX and Super Robot Wars UX.
      • Completing the Hangar portion unlocks the EG Armor, Timeflow Engine and Res Arcana. EG Armor is from Super Robot Wars A as part of Soulgain's armor, the Timeflow Engine hails from Super Robot Wars R as the engine used by the Excellence and the Res Arcana hails from Super Robot Wars D as the engine used from the various heroes' machines.
      • Completing the Engine Room portion unlocks the Impact Stake, Ignition Blaze and Crystal Heart. Impact Stake references Super Robot Wars Compact 2's remake Super Robot Wars IMPACT (The 'Stake' part comes from the signature weapon main original machine of the game (Alt Eisen), the Revolving Stake) and Ignition Blaze references the two Mid-Season Upgrade from Super Robot Wars MX, Cerberus Ignite and Garmraid Blaze. The Crystal Heart refers to the power source of the original mechs from Super Robot Wars K.
      • Completing the Training Room portion unlocks Extra Arm X, Extra Arm Omega and the Winds of La Gias. Extra Arm X and Omega references Super Robot Wars X-Ω while the Winds of La Gias references the Lord of Elemental series.
      • Completing the Quarters portion unlocks Archaeonis Wing, Database Link and Orgone Cloud. Archaeonis Wing refers to Rushbird and Straybird's combination attack from Super Robot Wars L, Mode Archaeonis. The Orgone Cloud is a special barrier used by the units in Super Robot Wars J, while the Database Link refers to the original villains of Super Robot Wars W, The Database.
      • Completing the Lab unlocks the Medal of Alpha, Crest of Z and VXT Crystal. The Medal of Alpha references the Super Robot Wars Alpha series, the Crest of Z is a double reference to the Super Robot Wars Z saga and JAM Project's theme for its first game and the VXT Crystal references the previous three games, Super Robot Wars V, Super Robot Wars X and Super Robot Wars T.
    • Similarly to the unique parts from completing the AOS System, many of the unique parts from Super Expert Mode are also references to previous Super Robot Wars entries, such as the ERS-99 being a reference to Super Robot Wars V.
  • Nerf:
    • All Extra Actions on non-battleship units and the Restore Action Extra-Order on battleships cost one more ExC than they do in the VTX Trilogy, though they can be returned to their original costs by spending MxP.
    • Zigzagged with the Potential skill, which gives stat increases the lower the unit's HP is. While it still provides the same hit/evade and critical rate buffs as in previous games, its damage reduction was changed from a +45% bonus to the unit's base Armor to 90% damage reduction at critical health. This makes the skill better than before for real robots, for whom 90% less damage is a better deal, much worse than before for super robots, who could previously raise their Armor so high that the old bonus reduced all incoming damage to chip damage, and vastly better for bosses due to Health/Damage Asymmetry. It's also spectacularly broken for Suzaku in particular, whose Curse of Geass gives him a second copy of Potential and thus 99% damage reduction.
    • Zigzagged with Dual Kind. The pilot skill gave much higher attack and EN boosts in Super Robot Wars Compact 3 than it does here, but gives Mobility and Sight upgrades to make up for it. The change is Justified by the fact that super robot pilots have access to the skill in 30, whereas the Kakuseijin No.1 and Tyran, which fall squarely into "real robot" territory, were the only units to have pilots with the skill in Compact 3.
      • More played straight with King J-Der. Due to Kaidou being a possible pilot of GaoGaiGo and Renais becoming a pilot of a spare GaoFighGar and both of them becoming subpilot of Final GaoGaiGar, that means King J-Der lost not only two subpilots, but also its original strongest attack, J-Phoenix.
    • Battleships can no longer access the Extra Action menu to prevent battleships from dominating the field, especially since Mitsuba has access to the "Resolve"note  spirit command.
    • Played straight with Char who dons his Quattro persona. Unlike in X and T, his spirit command loadout and his default pilot skills no longer allow him to dominate the field due to him losing the "Resolve"note  spirit command.
    • Lelouch's special ability, "Tactical Command", can no longer be used post-movement. Unlike in X where getting him to ace status allowed him to move and use this ability, 30 made sure that "Tactical Command" has to be used with Lelouch not taking any turns. To compensate however, Lelouch's new ace bonus is to provide a little bit of morale and one level of ExC gauge to whoever is in the area of effect in addition to giving out more SP for C.C. Speaking of her, she no longer has access to the "SP Recovery"note  pilot skill even though she did in previous games.
    • The L-Gaim and Novel D-sserd no longer have Buster Launchers like they did in GC and OE.
  • New Work, Recycled Graphics: Some assets from Third Z and the VXT trilogy are reused, though comparatively not as much as said trilogy. There is a more justified reason for Third Z original units being recycled, though: said units are remnants from the Z timeline being reused by the Quaestors.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!:
    • In the game's backstory, the opening of the Laplace's Box, instead of inspiring any positive change within the Federation, completely destroyed its credibility and allowed the despotic, genocidal Zanscare Empire to rise. As well, the Federation was so pissed off by Londo Bell allowing this to happen that they dissolved the group in all but name.
    • GGG, being trapped in the Trinary Solar System, poked around Genesic GaoGaiGar and found a program called "Galeoria Road", hoping to bring them back to Earth. Instead, it shot them into "the Orange Zone" and lead to the Conqueror King taking over nearly everyone. When Dreikreuz goes to initiate Project Z, they end up allowing the threat to appear in the solar system. The source material eventually explains this sequence of events as the result of GGG being sabotaged by Takashi Saginomiya, a vengeful Mauve Shirt left for dead during GGG's first battle at Jupiter in GaoGaiGar, who further sabotages the new GGG by contacting his brother Kamuy at Orbital Base; without Takashi's interference, it's implied GGG would have successfully made a Heroic Sacrifice to prevent Triple Zero from escaping into Earth's universe. Because the Saginomiya brothers are Adapted Out, this adaptation of the story plays this trope straighter than the original novel.
    • Debonair’s rise to power came from Amuro and Char’s final fight on Axis.
  • No Ontological Inertia: In GaoGaiGar vs Betterman, during the protagonists' first encounter with Triple Zero, the planet Jupiter is compressed below its Schwarzchild radius and turned into a black hole. This process is implied to have taken at least a decade. The same happens in this game— except the compression takes place far quicker, and upon the player's defeat of Conqueror King Genesic in this stage, Jupiter NEAR INSTANTANEOUSLY decompresses from black hole to its normal size— with no consequence other than the heroes speculating that it's because they beat the Load-Bearing Boss.
  • Non-Indicative Name: The various DLC Original Generation characters are all listed as being from Super Robot Wars: Original Generation. However, as it turns out, none of the DLC characters are actually from the OG-verse, instead being the versions of those characters from Non-OG titles. Masaki, the SRX Team, Kusuha, Bullet, Sanger, and Ratsel are from the Super Robot Wars Alpha universe (Sanger and Ratsel from a later point in the timeline than everyone else, who don't recognize them), Gilliam Jeager and Irmgard Kazahara are from Super Robot Wars 4, and Kyosuke and Excellen are from Super Robot Wars Compact 2
  • Non-Standard Character Design:
    • While wildly different character designs are a staple of the franchise (it's a crossover, after all), a case of it gets noticed even In-Universe: Akane's kaiju, that are meant to evoke a completely different genre from the rest of the cast. In particular, super robot pilots like the Mazinger and Combattler crews, who are used to dealing with "real" monsters, are utterly confused by what are obviously oversized People in Rubber Suits right out of a low-budget movie.
    • Downplayed with Combattler V, whose attack animations so extensively utilize fully-proportioned cut-ins that it's perhaps more difficult to spot where it actually appears at the usual Super Robot Wars scale.
  • Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: The Astragius bounty hunters refuse to even consider joining up with Dreikruez because, in their eyes, they're "top of the food chain" in the new Earth they've found themselves on, their fairly standard combat abilities in their former galaxy being top-tier here by comparison. Unfortunately for them, Dreikruez itself is just a bigger fish, and they've now just confirmed that they're working for a terrorist organization.
  • One-Steve Limit:
    • Averted and lampshaded early in the game when Utsumi asks Yuta Hibiki (Gridman) a question, only to get answered by Yuta Tomonaga (J-Decker) who just happened to be walking by.
    • Equally averted with DLC 3, which includes the Devolution versions of Ryouma, Hayato and Musashi. And that's not even getting into the Hayato from Shinkalion.
    • Averted for laughs when Patrick is trying to confess his feelings for Tamaki, and of all characters, after almost every use of "Tamaki" in the entire game meaning the Majestic Prince character, Shinichiro Tamaki the former Black Knight from Code Geass responds to the name "Tamaki" instead.
  • Optional Boss: Saint Advent of Happiness and the Supreme God Z return as an optional fight once the player's team gets strong enough. Humiliatingly, this boss is reduced to a punching bag as the fight can be repeated again and again after hitting extra Combat Power milestones for extra loot.
  • Original Generation:
    • The main hero and heroine of the game are Edge and Az Sainklaus, pilots of the mysterious "Huckebein 30", a machine built for the "XXX (or "Xenogenic X-Factor X-Type") Project". Joining them is the humongous battleship Dreisstrager which has a coincidental design resemblance with Huckebein's Super Robot partner, the Grungust, with the crews consisting the captain being a young girl named Mitsuba Greyvalley, the vice captain being her former instructor at the military academy, Reynold Hardin and the operator being the unrelated mood maker Liane Umbard.
    • The third DLC pack includes two never-before-seen original units for liscenced entries: a new Scopedog and "Ultimate Dancouga."
  • Palette Swap:
    • The Z'Gok sprite used in the Third Super Robot Wars Z and V returns, but uses its coloration from the original Mobile Suit Gundam instead of its Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn paint job.
    • The Lancelot Albion Zero takes the Lancelot Albion sprite from X (with a few altered proportions to match some of the newer KMFs) and turns the white body to black and the green wings to purple.
  • Permanently Missable Content:
    • Averted with the pre-order bonuses. When initially released, it was uncertain if they would be added in at a later date or just ignored, though a FAQ for the game stated that there was the possibility of them being offered that way. With the inclusion of the Expansion Pack, Cybaster, the SRX and the items offered are now available to all.
    • Doing certain missions locks you out of playing other certain missions on that playthrough. Most units that you would obtain from those locked out missions end up joining in certain later Key Missions instead. Sometimes an alternative to a "missed" mission is immediately unlocked, approximating the function of different routes in previous SRW games. This is not always the case, however— recruiting a character who performs a Heel–Face Turn (such as Anti/Gridknight) can simply lock off missions that character would have been fought in, even when those missions otherwise have plot threads that don't involve the recuited character.
  • Pet the Dog: The DLC makes a point of giving the normally abrasive Anti-Hero Michele Luio such a moment. Word gets out on the Dreisstrager she's a fortune-teller, and a large part of the cast starts regularly consulting her. Jona, who is aware of both her Phony Psychic status and how she leverages Luio & Co.'s status as a sponsor of Dreikreuz to manipulate others and get her way, assumes she's scamming people out of money and considers reporting her. It turns out she's offering no charge for her services and is just using her "fortune telling" as dressing to help others work through their problems, acting as something like a ship counsellor.
  • Point of No Return: A number of star missions advance the plot in ways that prevent you from playing side missions set before them, meaning you're locked out of those missions once you advance. The mission "Heaven & World" is a noteworthy instance, as once it starts, the next several consecutive missions are forced, meaning you can't even go to the other star missions that appeared alongside it until you've finished the entire chain of events.
    • If you have the third DLC pack, the mission "The Black-Haired Woman's Retribution" is this; it starts a chain of six missions that locks you out of mission selection, and the game even warns you that once you finish the chain, you'll only be able to save a New Game Plus file.
  • Post-End Game Content: After defeating the Final Boss, you can continue to play Front Missions and any Relic missions you may have missed. The DLC goes further by adding an "epilogue" campaign concerning closing the Pillars of Light leftover from the Quaestors' invasion.
  • Post-Script Season: Of titles listed as included in the game, the events of Combattler V, Gundam, Zeta Gundam, Char's Counterattack, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion III – Glorification and GaoGaiGar FINAL have already been wrapped up in the game's backstory. Further, while Gundam Unicorn is not a listed entry, in practice it gets "post-script season material" to facilitate the Adaptation Expansion of its epilogue movie, Gundam Narrative.
    • Among the DLC units, dialogue suggests the Voltes V, Sakura Wars and Dancouga units had finished their canon adventures by the time they were swept up by the DBD— though the Sakura Wars characters are still from some point prior to their series' soft reboot. The remaining non-OG DLC units (and some of the OG units) have dialogue that place them as pulled out of the middle of their canon adventures.
  • Power-Up Letdown: The XP Modifier for starting a New Game Plus sounds like a wonderful idea - make it so your main units leapfrog ahead and your less-used units can catch up faster. However, because the game has Level Scaling that ramps up in relation to your highest character levels, regardless of how fast they gain those levels, it just means the gulf between your main units and your less-or-never used units is considerably larger with relatively little payoff. Averted if the player starts on a Super Expert/Super Expert Plus difficulty as enemies will always be twenty levels higher than the highest leveled character, making the power-up far more useful. Especially since Super Expert Plus doesn't allow any repair grinding abuse.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation:
    • Uso is known for being a crafty, highly-evasive Combat Pragmatist, and his signature tactic of ejecting the Victory Gundam's Boots or Hanger as emergency projectiles was included in the Alpha games as well as D. This requires drawing multiple versions of the Victory Gundam, which would be much more time- and budget-consuming in HD than it was on the Game Boy Advance and the original PlayStation, so the gimmick is omitted in 30. Instead, Uso's combat prowess is represented by an Ace Bonus that gives him a flat 40% chance to evade any attack independent of the standard accuracy determination.
    • In line with the modern Super Robot Wars trend of eliminating most transformation modes whenever possible, the Kakuseijin V2 consolidates the mech's Active and Accept modes. It appears in Accept mode by default, and it can Resupply as a nod to the Kakuseijin No. 1's Accept mode having both Repair and Resupply in Compact 3, but its attacks all show the unit switching into Active mode.
    • Dioluna was only ever heard speaking in the Wulgaru's language in the movie proper, with subtitles being provided to understand her. However, this would be incredibly impractical for Super Robot Wars, so the developers just went having her speak regular Japanese during battles.
  • Recursive Canon:
    • In one scenario, Yuta buys a game called "Super Robot Wars 300" in G Island City, implying that the series ran for three hundred years in-universe.
    • The DLC resulted in Ultraman's canonical adventures being interrupted so he can spend time with a bunch of characters who consider the Ultra Series a series of fictional TV shows— particularly the SSSS.GRIDMɅN cast. The Multiverse of SRW 30's setting allows some handwaving about the plot logic of this, and no character ever claims to have seen Shinjiro's specific show, just others in the same franchise; but like "classic" instances of this trope, it quickly gets unclear how accurate a depiction the in-universe version of Ultraman is to the "real" adventures of Shinjiro's father. Shinjiro successfully hides that his father was the original Ultraman from Utsumi, who wants to know what's special about Shinjiro that lets him be Ultraman; Utsumi never considers a family connection, despite Shinjiro being open about his real family name, "Hayata", which is the same as the protagonist of the original show. Neither does anyone draw any connection between Dan Moroboshi and Ultraseven, even as Utsumi references getting chased by a jeep by ''someone'' as a form of training (one of the most notorious actions of the original Dan Moroboshi).
  • Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: As the events of Char's Counterattack already happened in the game's backstory, Amuro, Chan and Char are all reported dead at the start of the game, but have all survived, with Char taking up his "Quattro Bajeena" alias once more.
  • Revisiting the Roots: After several games where Go's Shin Dragon/Shin Getter Dragon (True Form) was classified as a battleship unit with deployment capabilities whenever Getter Robo Armageddon was included, this game rendered it as a normal non-battleship unit, just like during its debut.
  • Running Gag: Any time Ernie shows familiarity to Earth concepts that shouldn't be known in his world, expect the other characters to point out how weird that is (as they're all Locked Out of the Loop in regards to his origins).
  • Secret Identity: As far as most of the Dreikreuz know, the Gridman Alliance is merely Gridman's support crew, with the topic of Yuta and the students turning into Gridman and his Assist Weapons kept under wraps. Why? Because that's how they do things in the Ultra Series, and Utsumi won't have it any other way. In the final Gridman stage, it's revealed that pretty much everyone in the Dreikreuz had pieced together Yuta and Gridman's connection long before their secret was revealed.
    • Which gets a hilarious call-back with Ultraman himself, when Utsumi berates Mitsuba for revealing his identity, for the commander and Ultraman to come to an acceptable compromise on how to handle the fact it must remain secret.
  • Single Malt Vision: Referenced by the Eldora Five if you deploy Voltes V (here strangers from a parallel universe) alongside Combattler V (whose story is tied into the Eldora Team's story in this canon) during the Eldora Five/Priscilla recruitment mission. Two Combattlers!
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Giwaza, due to Always a Bigger Fish being in heavy effect here. While in his home series, a relatively grounded Real Robot Genre series, his duplicitous scheming and backstabbing nature made him part of the Big Bad Duumvirate, here among villains from far more brutal Real Robot series, Super Robot Genre villains and universe scale threats like Triple Zero and The Quaestors he's pathetically low on the totem pole of danger. This does not stop him from acting like he's the main threat to the Dreikreuz and that his victory is assured. The fact that he surrounds himself with ass-kissing minions doesn't help him.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise.
  • Stable Time Loop: Mazinkaiser comes out of one of these. In the present day, Koji's barely even drafted the design for the ultimate Mazin, but then the real deal appears, pulled from the timestream to help take down Dr Hell and the Infinity for good. Koji's main theory is that his future self sent it back so he could save the world and live long enough to actually build the thing, though with Photon Power's tendancy to mess with the multiverse it could also "merely" have been pulled from an alternate world.
  • Stealth Sequel: The game's post-plot is actually a continuation of the Super Robot Wars Z trilogy, with Earth under attack by the remnants of the various militias from Z3 and their benefactors, the Angels, after the Idon controlling them breaks out of Aos's stockpiles and crosses the Karmic Horizons.
  • Story Branching: One of the main features of the game is the "Tactical Area Selection" system where players are allowed to choose which missions to complete that causes the story to develop in different ways and changes which units a character receives first.
    • In addition, This is the first game in the series where the IF route has two variations: one where Caruleum is recruited to Dreikreuz when the route officially begins, and one where he's not. The main difference between each route is who the True Final Boss ends up being.
  • Suicide Mission: In the endgame, Dreikreuz is told that while there is a way to get to Subspace, where Magister's base is, there's no known way to get back to Earth, meaning that even if they defeat Magister, they will be trapped there for the rest of their lives. Dreikreuz unanimously accepts this if it means saving Earth. Ultimately subverted as the Final Boss uses the last of the Ultim Fini's power to send Dreikreuz back to Earth.
  • Super-Deformed: Unlike the previous game, the Rayearth characters are never depicted in this form in the base game— however, the DLC again provides a mission about them ending up in peril due to getting stuck in that form. This time it's the result of an evil experiment by Alexis Kerib, and the overall experience mostly serves to humiliate him (and Gridman).
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
    • Orga and Mikazuki of Iron-Blooded Orphans can be recruited very early in Chapter 1. Mikazuki is his typical very quiet self, but Orga very quickly decides he does not like Captain Mitsuba or anyone in Dreikreuz, and even blows off their offers for a wheelchair for Mikazuki— or even for normal suitsnote . Orga joins with Dreikreuz solely as a job and as a means to finding a way back to his world. He and Mikazuki have very little dialogue in the first four chapters of the game which isn't with each other. In chapter 5, in the mission where Akihiro and Shino are recruited, the Dreikreuz members discuss how standoffish Orga and Mika are. Orga gets angry at the protagonist for "acting like we're friends" and Mika suggests if he's that unhappy he should consider leaving Dreikreuz. Orga begins to soften when he reunites with Akihiro and Shino and hears Shino's perspective— even if they're stuck in another world, being there has given them opportunities to change people's lives for the better that they'd never had in their own world. He only comes to consider Dreikreuz anything more than a business relationship after they rescue Mikazuki from a Post-Disaster timeline Mobile Armor which appears through a DBD.
    • Shinobu, similar to Kusuha, has a strange feeling when looking at Captain Mitsuba when he's recruited, which he (unlike Kusuha) immediately translates to dislike and distrust, though none of the rest of his team understand what's going on with him. Similar to Orga, he's along for the ride to find a way home, though unlike Orga, he gets along fine with everyone else in Dreikreuz— his issue is with Mitsuba specifically.
  • The Needs of the Many: Discussed. Caruleum introduces himself by asking Mitsuba an exaggerated version of the trolley problem with an asteroid about to kill a city of one billion people and a colony of one hundred million people that it could be redirected to. In this case, the non-utilitarian answer (leaving the asteroid be) contributes towards the Golden Ending's unlock requirements.
  • This Is Reality: Ernie laments that the mecha trope of replacing a wrecked robot with a shiny new one would do nothing in real life to downplay the immense sorrow caused by losing the original after Duke Fire is forced to replace J-Decker after Victim shuts hims down and hauls away his lifeless body.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Many characters, but not all, explicitly evoke this and have in-battle dialogue suggesting they take great strides to avoid hitting the cockpits of manned enemy mechs. This is particularly common with characters whose central motivations involve protecting humanity, e.g. the Combattler V team, which was assembled to save humanity from the Campbellians, or Gridman, who seeks to protect humans from kaiju. Even more characters comment on there being no reason to hold back against unmanned machines. Interestingly, Guy Shishioh alone (rather than any of the playable robot characters) mentions trying to spare AI mechs by avoiding the destruction of their AI block (something GGG would put a lot of effort into doing in the source material for their plot in this game, but which is by and large Adapted Out).
  • Throwing Your Gun at the Enemy: RX-78-2's strongest attack has the mech fire everything towards the enemy, with the bazooka on the left hand thrown at the enemy, before the Gundam fires the beam rifle with its iconic pose to shoot the enemy.
  • Too Dumb to Fool: Van powers through Qujappat's Geass by being incredibly stupid and saves Kallen and Sayoko by accident.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Downplayed with Renais Cardiff Shishioh. In her usual SRW appearances, she has always been badass, but she's usually either stuck as an assist character for the GGG's Dragon Sisters or be a subpilot for King J-Der. Due to what happens in the most recent source which is used in this game, Renais is now a full fledged pilot capable of piloting GaoFighGar, can attach herself with various pilot skills and stat ups, have her own Ace Bonus and enjoy other full fledged pilot benefits and strength (Though she goes back into a subpilot once Final GaoGaiGar is achieved, the player can just put her back into GaoFighGar, and raising her there will benefit her with more SP when she becomes subpilot).
  • A Truce While We Gawk: Whenever the mysterious Quaestors appear, any nearby combatants will decide to patiently wait for the Dreikreuz to talk to them, if only out of supreme caution, since the Quaestors make a habit of attacking everybody on the battlefield when they appear, regardless of faction or affiliation.
  • Turn the Other Cheek:
    • Katejina's recruitment storyline. While her previous recruitable appearance downplayed or cut her worst actions in the anime, her portrayal in this game arguably made her look even worse: not only did many of her infamous scenes play out exactly the same way, but she insisted on fighting the Dreikreuz even as Zoltan threatened to destroy the world using Angel Halo. She joins immediately after that stage, with no explanation for her change of heart other than the light of Angel Halo inspired her. As if acknowledging this, the game actually provided an option to make her Killed Off for Real even after her recruitment conditions have been met, something not present for any other secrets, simply because her actions are that divisive.
    • Even though Fasalina and Michael can join in this game, they don't actually think that what the Claw did was wrong, and only joined to see his dream come to fruition. Neither Van nor Ray actually mind, but it can leave a bitter taste in the player's mouth.
    • Akane Shinjo, similar to her source series, can be freed from the influence of Alexis Kerib and actually joins the Gridman Alliance as a Supporter, with unique dialogue where she apologizes for what she did with several missions.
  • Units Not to Scale: A frequent hallmark of the series, but the Dreistrager is an especially egregious case, being over two kilometers long according to the lore, yet capable landing neatly on a typical two-lane street in the Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Chiyoda wards of Tokyo without disturbing the skyscrapers one bit.
  • Vagueness Is Coming: In the mission you recruit Kusuha and Bullet, Kusuha is hit with a massive amount of dread that pours into the Choukijin and she can't figure out why. It's hit even worse when she looks at Mitsuba which foreshadows Orchidacea's influence over the latter.
  • Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Most of the time, defeating an enemy boss mech results in them ditching the battlefield rather than dying. Mostly because they're in locations where them dying would diverge the plot adaptations too much, or because of the SRW giving them more to do with the overarching plot. Once the story starts nearing the final battle with the Quaestors, this ceases to be an option for them and many of them are Killed Off for Real.
  • Villain Team-Up:
    • The Zanscare Empire and the remnants of Neo Zeon have teamed up, despite the good guys being skeptical of the very idea due to the opposing ideologies of the groups in question. Not long after, Posaydal's army would go on to add their forces to the alliance. There turns out to be a practical reason for this team-up that overrides any ideological differences— each of these groups want to accumulate as much psycho-frame as possible: Zeon as part of their pursuit of the Phenex Gundam, Zanscare to construct the Angel's Halo, and Posaydal because its similarity to Pentagona's bio-relation system means it could be used to strengthen it— and the heroes' skepticism that these groups could get along was justified as they bicker and backstab each other. Finally, late in the storylines of these groups, both Giwaza and Tassilo decide to ally their forces together when they split off from Posaydal and Zanscare respectively.
    • The Claw's gang gives assistance to the Kingdom of Zilkistan in their climactic battle against the Black Knights. After said battle, remnants of their army, including Shalio and Bitool, help bolster the Claw's forces.
    • Zagato's forces have entered an alliance with the Zaloudek Empire. After Zagato's defeat, both Autozam and Debonair's forces take his place in the alliance, though Autozam pulls a Heel–Face Turn soon enough.
    • Akane Shinjo works alongside the various forces of Excellent Incorporated, attempting to influence the Super AI to turn against the Brave Police or convince Yuta to disregard their emotions. Granted, it's more because she wants to mess with the robots than any real alliance. In one scenario, she can leave Doctor Gauss behind should he be defeated before her Kaiju are.
    • While not an official alliance, Alexis Kerib will occasionally drop in Kaiju to assist the faction(s) Dreikreuz is currently fighting in order to "spice things up".
    • In the Expansion Pack, Cyclaminos resurrects several of Dreikreuz's old enemies, including Lady Debonair and Emperor Poseidal, to serve as her minions.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: In the DLC, when Voltes V is first recruited, Hyoma seems to take an instant disliking towards Kenichi due to Combattler and Voltes being near-identical, immediately declaring the latter his rival. Kenichi is initially confused but starts dishing it out in return, doing things like taunting Hyoma's fear of Tetsuya's training methods. It soon becomes clear there's no real animosity between the two and what's actually happening is an embryonic version of this trope. Even after they've explicitly declared each other close friends, the rest of Dreikreuz can't tell any difference from when everyone thought they hated each other.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: An instance added by the Expansion Pack. If the player chooses to follow the Shinkalion plot as its missions become available, the fight with Valdor in Chapter 4 will be far and away harder than other enemies that can be encountered by that point, and it will require more turns and thought to take him down.
  • Welcome Back, Traitor: As is common in the franchise, there are instances where a character who turned against other party characters are accepted as allies again, with varying degrees of hard feelings:
    • Downplayed with Quattro; he's technically accepted into the ranks of the Dreikreuz despite turning on his previous allies and attempting to drop Axis on Earth as Char, but due to most of the team either distrusting or outright despising him, his welcome is clearly not with open arms. Koji and Ryoma in particularnote  read him the riot act for his betrayal. When you recruit Kamille, his first action is to punch him.
    • Played straight with Caruleum in the Expansion Pack. Even if you previously attained the version of the IF ending where he betrays the party to become the True Final Boss, nobody in the Dreikreuz hold it against him, since by then they've realized what his motives for fighting them were, allowing his return to the group to be welcoming.
  • What Could Have Been: In-Universe, had Gridman not found Yuta, he would've most likely made Izuru his host instead due to the latter's sense of justice thanks to his undying dream to become a hero.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: As a side effect of Nina being Adapted Out, Swaile Qujappat completely disappears from the plot after his initial appearance, with no mention as to what happened to him.
  • Withholding Their Name: While it's clearly displayed during Intermissions, Banagher chooses not to divulge his name to anyone, even when asked for it. As such, the party is forced to address him as just "you."
  • Woman Scorned: If the conditions are met to recruit her, then Nei joins the Dreikreuz in the hopes of killing Giwaza for throwing away their love.
  • The Worf Effect: When you go to recruit the Getter Team an army of Metal Beasts have already taken down Shin Getter and injured Hayato and Benkei, forcing Ryoma to pilot Shin Getter Dragon. While Hayato and Benkei return later, Shin Getter is never playable.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: A lot of the Gundam Narrative storyline sees our heroes, especially Amuro, Kamille and Char, fighting to keep Jona's head above water as Michele constantly pushes him around in her insane quest for immortality. The end result is a Jona who's far more willing to push back against Michele's orders.

 
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Buying Super Robot Wars 300

Yuta Tomonaga heads to G-Island's Electronics Quarters to get the latest video game, Super Robot Wars 300.

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Buying Super Robot Wars 300

Yuta Tomonaga heads to G-Island's Electronics Quarters to get the latest video game, Super Robot Wars 300.

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