Game Introduction

"Surviving Mobile Suit Battle: The Moment of Truth!"

Thanks to the popularity of Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network, Bandai brought over a second Gundam game from Japan to the states. Known as Gundam the Battle Master 2 in Japan, Gundam Battle Assault is a fighter that pits various mobile suits throughout Gundam history in an all out 2-D Street Fighter like brawl.

East vs. West

We often see games undergo changes, from the slight to significant, when hey make the transition from Japan to the U.S. Battle Assault is no exception. There are some inexplicable spell changes: Acguy became Accguy and Hygog became Hy-Gogg, for example. However there are things missing from our version of Battle Master and somethings the Japanese gamers didn’t get.

First, in Battle Master 2 the Story Mode followed a female Mobile Suit pilot and her younger sidekick. Whereas in Battle Assault you take the role of Heero Yuy. Heero was probably added in as the main character, over all other Gundam pilots, due to his status in Gundam Wing. The more kids that know him, the better the game sales would be.

In Battle Master you can play as the H-Hamma, sadly, the suit was removed from Battle Assault and replaced by the more recognizable Wing Gundam. Sure Wing Gundam plays like a Z Gundam clone, but its pretty neat to get a character that was not in the original game…sort of a bittersweet victory.

The code to play as Char’s Red Zaku was changed from the original, but do not worry, the code is listed in the Cheats section. Lastly, the pilots of the Mobile Suits are different, this is a very good addition since Battle Master 2 had unknown characters. Now, Gundam Battle Assault has the main characters piloting their actual Mobile Suits (This is true except in a few occasions). Also, this allows the dialogue between characters to be based more on the major storyline's of each Gundam anime series that has characters included in this game.