Shortly after the July 1997 release of the first Armored Core, From Software were quick to capitalise on the then new series’ initial success. So in December of the same year, a scant five months later, another Armored Core game was released with the subtitle of Project Phantasma. Following the player after the events of the first game and their unearthing of a sinister project within the Wednesday Corporation. It also featured much more overt characterisation, with the main antagonist by the name of Stinger being voiced by none other than Sho Hayami. However, despite the strong foundation of the previous game the painfully short development cycle did take its toll.

It finally seems that Solatorobo will be given a Western release. Though weirdly it appears to be only in Europe at present, specifically for July 1st. In addition, Nintendo are handling the European release rather than Namco Bandai, who published the game in Japan. From what we played at last year’s TGS, the game was really interesting. We’re just glad it’s finally getting localised. The official English trailer is shown below.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent the 1/35 AS-5E3 Leynos kit from Assault Suit Leynos. Our review is also of the kit in its unpainted form, followed by painted pictures after. In addition, to help give the kit some context, we’ve also included some video footage of it from the original MegaDrive game at the end of the review.

The rather brilliant and much anticipated Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury has hit XBLA today. For only 800 MSP you can spew missiles at teeny enemies to your hearts content. This new game also sports online co-op, which is a pretty cool addition really. In any case, we’re just glad the game is finally out as we loved it at last year’s TGS. Again, if you’re at all curious about the Bangai-O games then make sure to check out our feature on the very subject.

The next in the Composite Ver Ka toy line will be the wonderful Cybuster from Super Robot Wars. Unlike the other Ver Ka figures, this one lacks the overt decals and seems to keep more traditional proportions. Whether the Super Robot Chogokin toy of the Cybuster will still surface after this remains to be seen however. The Ver Ka Cybuster is planned for a Jully release at 5,800 yen and You can preorder the toy here.

Over at GA Graphic they’ve uncovered that Kotobukiya are running a limited edition campaign for various Armored Core kit parts (molded in a gun metal colouring) as well as a clear version of Nineball Seraph. The campaign starts today and the items can only be acquired via their online shop. However, if you ask people like Tokyo Hunter to help out we’re sure they’ll be able to lend a hand. As a rule , Kotobukiya’s kits are normally excellent and each kit’s sculpt is often similarly exemplary.

Back in 1991 a small and fairly unassuming GameBoy game inadvertently started a franchise of games that have now reached their 20th Anniversary. It pitted all manner of super and real robots in a turn based strategy framework, allowing super robots with suitably preposterous abilities to high five with more rational mecha. This functional disparity is one of the many aspects that has made Super Robot Wars such a loved and cherished gaming heirloom over the years.

Cue the initial sequel to 2008’s Super Robot Wars Z, featuring pristine animation and above all insanely powerful super robots from Gurren Lagann to Final Dancouga all of which fist bumping the grittiest of all the real robots; the sturdy little Scopedog. On fan service alone, Z2 technically goes up to eleven but what’s more impressive is how the game has been functionally distilled into a fiendishly compelling strategy game.

The live demo event for Armored Core V originally planned in March, that was obviously delayed on account of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11th, is now back on. Scheduled for the 13th May at 9pm (Japan time, obviously), Famitsu will also be hosting a live stream of the event too. In addition, the official Armored Core site is now also hosting a new questionnaire for fans of the series to fill in.

The upcoming PSP game Gundam Memories received its first trailer recently which shows some gameplay footage. It’s clear already that this game will not be akin to Artdink’s Gundam Battle series but instead far closer to Yuke’s Gundam 00 Meisters game. Specifically in the way that combat is on a relatively fixed horizontal plane and the use of somewhat odious quick time events (which are now being called “Special Triggers”). Whilst it’s technically impressive what they’re getting out of the PSP, the game itself has us less interested than it did before. Plus, there’s also the unfortunate association with the ill conceived PS2 swansong Gundam Climax UC as the game operated similarly. There’s also a new write up over on 4Gamer as well, with some new screenshots.

Say it ain’t so, Irem. First it was a rumor, and then that rumor was confirmed. Irem, the game’s developer, was perhaps the hardest hit of any game company by Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, for they cancelled their big game release for this year, Disaster Report 4, because of the obvious similarity of the game’s hypothetical scenario and the very real nightmare that Japan was currently living. Having their big budget game pulled out from under them at the last second likely caused Irem to reassess their financial situation, and continuing work on Bumpy Trot 2, or as it is known in the West, Steambot Chronicles 2, probably seemed impossible – especially given its vaporware nature, being first shown at Tokyo Game Show 2006 and only sporadically talked about since.