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Emulating the existence of something fantastical is a common lure for people within any creative medium. When something is pandemically popular though, you often get multiple viewpoints on the same premise.
In 1953 a budding manga artist by the name of Misuteru Yokoyama published the seminal mecha work Tetsujin 28-go. The ramifications of his efforts there can now still be seen over half a century later.
The pop-cultural phenomenon that surrounds mecha in Japan is an oddly fervent one. It’s been estimated that more Gundam model kits have been sold than the number of people who live in Japan, and that doesn’t take into account toys, let alone any other merchandise from competing TV series and/or movies. As such, it was and is inevitable that game developers would try to make games about playing as the mecha themselves.
The interesting thing about mecha games is that they all try a different approach on how to emulate the experience. After all, each developer will have a different perspective on what these things are, how they move, how tall they are, what they’re made of, and of course how you control them. The latter is an important point in regards to Sega’s oft-overlooked mecha gaming franchise, Virtual On.
Virtual On approached innovated in the mecha game field on two fronts; the first was the way the player controlled their Virtuaroid (or VR) with a pair of twinsticks and the second was how it moved in a three dimensional space.
The last point is probably the most relevant in terms of gaming, simply because the team at Sega managed to create a combat game mechanic that could be transplanted to anything (something that a doujin PC game called “Silver Troopers Bachan On” proved by replacing the robots with aged pensioners).
What made Virtual On’s combat unique was the manner in which it was linked into fixed vectors of attack. Initiating a dash in a direction would commit the player along that trajectory until the dash finished, in this time the player could let off a salvo of weapon fire. However, whether the player’s shots would connect or miss was determined by their position relative to their opponent, who was most probably also dashing as well.
This intricate ballet of plasma spewing carnage was dubbed thrust vectoring, and made up a sizeable portion of the gameplay. The other main element was how thrust vectoring segued into melee combat.
Upon reaching a short enough distance from your opponent, the targeting reticule would double up and allow you to initiate close combat moves. Naturally, these attacks were very powerful - but more interesting was the means in which you could circle strafe your enemy. By moving the twinsticks either left or right as you started your attack, you could spin around your enemy and slice them in the back, thus negating their guard. This function was also subtle in its control, and the speed at which you circled your target was also controllable.
Aside from the subtle combat elements, the main reason behind the series’ longevity in Japan was down to how the players could break the game’s rules, and pull off gaming feats of almost Newtype-esque skill. Unsurprisingly, the games didn’t do that well outside of Japan, mainly due to the series’ strong connection with the Japanese mecha mythos. What follows is a breakdown of each game in the series, each with its unique characteristics and iterations.
Next: Dennou Senki Virtual On
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