Super Robot Wars 30 4Gamer Interview

The following interview is translated from 4gamer.net.
Original URL: https://www.4gamer.net/games/579/G057907/20210803079/

Super Robot Wars 30 Interview: What Came Before, and What Comes Next

Super Robot Wars 30 (SRW30) is being released on PC, PS4, and Switch on October 28, 2021. This entry celebrates the 30th anniversary of Bandai-Namco Entertainment's Super Robot Wars (SRW) franchise.

SRW is a series of tactical crossover RPGs that feature robots and pilots from a wide range of media. It got its start with Super Robot Wars on the Game Boy in 1991, and since then, it has grown with each iteration and become a front-runner in the genre of mecha games.
There are also many examples of times when older robot anime featured in SRW enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, resulting in reprints, novelizations, new models/figures, and more. This isn't simply a licensed game series that coasts on the popularity of its licenses; it also serves to spread an appreciation for robot anime subculture to a wider audience.

Super Robot Wars 30, the latest entry in this franchise, places an emphasis on celebrating their past 30 years. Go Nagai, the creator of the very first piloted super robot, Mazinger Z, designed the game's title logo himself.
But it isn't simply a celebration of the past; SRW30 also adds new gameplay features for a more modern playstyle, such as Autobattle and Tactical Area Select. The circumstances and context surrounding video games and robot anime have changed greatly over the past thirty years. To discuss what this latest entry will be like, and what comes next for this franchise celebrating its 30th year, we sat down with SRW series producer Takanobu Terada and SRW30 producer Shohei Mogami.

[Caption]
Left: Super Robot Wars series producer Takanobu Terada (B.B. Studio)
Right: Super Robot Wars 30 producer Shohei Mogami (Bandai-Namco Entertainment)

By no means smooth sailing: SRW got its start on the Game Boy before becoming a massive project

4Gamer:
Thank you for joining us today. Could we start by hearing your thoughts on the SRW series hitting the thirty-year milestone?

Terada:
I'm immensely grateful to the IP license-holders and associates, as well as the fans who have supported us for thirty years. It was by no means smooth sailing getting here. We had our fair share of challenges. SRW is first and foremost a character game, so it takes more than just game developers for an SRW game to truly take shape. We wouldn't have made it this far without a lot of cooperation and support, for which I am eternally grateful.

4Gamer:
You mentioned challenges. What would you say has been your biggest challenge over the past 30 years working on SRW?

Terada:
It's always been a challenge evolving while maintaining the quality of our story and battle animations.
SRW's battle animations improve in quality year over year, and this has an enormous impact on our production costs and schedules. Writing the story is demanding work because it requires crossing over multiple IPs while having a solid understanding of the original material, which makes the process a battle against time. If we could pull those off easily, all we'd have to worry about would be the gameplay systems. Players can always skip story segments and turn off battle animations, but we still have to provide them as the creators regardless.

4Gamer:
Skippable or not, both of those things are core to what defines SRW. You definitely can't cut corners there.

Terada:
Actually, there was a time when we sent out a survey asking players how much of the story they read. We were surprised at how many responders didn't read it. Then we put out a game with less emphasis on story content, and we got a bunch of complaints from players about THAT, so we ended up going back to our original text volume.

4Gamer:
Which SRW titles do you feel personal attachment for?

Terada:
For me, it would be the first games in Alpha, Z, and V, the whole OG series, and MX, which was a very rough stand-alone experience. I've generally left the portable phone games to the younger staff.

4Gamer:
How was MX a rough experience?

Terada:
It was the first stand-alone title I'd worked on in quite a while, and I ended up doing brush-up work on around 80-90% of the scenario text. That was hard. The events that would play out were already finalized, so it was a real challenge to retool the story text without disrupting the events being worked in, and I remember not being able to put as much time and energy into the portrayal of the original characters as I would've liked.
It was originally supposed to be a sequel to SRW Impact, but it got reworked into a stand-alone title for a number of reasons, which resulted in a lot of the development staff's work being rendered irrelevant. It was a serious disservice to the development staff.

4Gamer:
Which titles are the most popular with players?

Terada:
It changes with each survey we collect, and tastes have changed over generations of players. Leaving out original titles like OG, I'd say the answers are Alpha, W, V, A, and D. There's no particular titles that stand out as exceptionally high or low in the polls.
Personally, I'm not a fan of popularity polls to start with. My stance is that the best game is and will always be the one that has a special place in your heart. If I was a player, it would be painful for me to see my favorite game ranking low in the polls.

4Gamer:
I imagine you've had a wide range of fans over 30 years. Terada, do you get the sense that your fanbase has had a generational shift over that time frame?

Terada:
I do, yes. Back in the day, fans used to say, "I'm playing SRW!" As time went on, though, I saw more people saying "I played that as a kid!" And nowadays, some people even say "My parents played it, so now I am too!" I've also been told by game developers overseas that SRW was their inspiration for getting into game dev.

4Gamer:
Could you tell us the average age and gender ratio of the SRW playerbase?

Terada:
According to our survey sampling statistics, the most prevalent age bracket is early thirties, and the playerbase's gender ratio skews overwhelmingly male—95%.

4Gamer:
Would players in their thirties be the generation that got their start in SRW around the time of Alpha, Impact, and OG?

Terada:
Yes, I'd say so. Especially OG—There's been a lot of model kits and figures being made for OG robots lately, and the people in charge of those projects are highly knowledgeable about them, which suggests to me that they're from that generation. Previous OG model kit and action figure lines have resulted in around 50 product releases over the years. That's pretty uncommon for video game-based robot merchandise, I think.

4Gamer:
The players are 95% male? That's kind of surprising. I thought women would make up a larger proportion than that.

Terada:
I don't know what we'd have to do to attract more female players. Maybe change up our approach and offer romance with 15 male pilots? (laugh) And if we did that, the males would gripe about how that's not what they want.

4Gamer:
Y'know, I'd kinda like to see an SRW otome game. (laugh) You've been releasing your games abroad ever since OG Moon Dwellers. How has the games' reception been outside of Japan?

Terada:
Prices differ by country so I can't make any broad generalizations, but demand from Asian countries like Taiwan is at the point where it definitely can't be ignored. The fanbase abroad is every bit as passionate as the one in Japan, too.

Mogami:
I can't share specific numbers, but I think you would all be surprised at how high our ratio of non-domestic players is. Non-domestic preorders for the Steam version of SRW30 are also turning out quite well.

4Gamer:
People all over the world enjoy SRW. Terada, did you think the series would last as long as it has?

Terada:
No, not at all. SRW4 was supposed to be the last game in the series.

4Gamer:
Wow, really?

Terada:
SRW2 didn't sell very well. SRW3 did, and we put out EX soon after, but it didn't do so hot.

4Gamer:
That's a surprise to me. I've always had the impression this series has maintained a steady upward trend of sales. What the players see is a lot different from what the developers see, huh?

Terada:
From what I understand, EX's price went dirt cheap, which made it an entry point for a lot of people. We were going to wrap up the series with SRW4 after that, and the development staff put their heart into making it. They wanted to end things on a high note.

4Gamer:
SRW4 was definitely a culmination in a lot of ways. It gave robot anime fans the wish-fulfillment experience of creating their own protagonist and having them join the Londo Bell's fighting roster.

Terada:
The development staff was meant to transition to work on Masoukishin after finishing SRW4, and for my part, I was already working out plans to create a tokusatsu game. Then SRW4 sold well, and we got told to make a sequel to it.
After that, we continued the series by porting SRW4 to PlayStation as SRW4S and making Shin SRW, a game that featured full-sized robots rather than superdeformed (SD) ones.

4Gamer:
SRW4S was the first game in the series to feature voiced battle scenes, right?

Terada: At the time, we had no idea how to handle voice recording. It was a lot of nerve-wracking trial and error.

4Gamer:
I take it there's no trial and error now. Has your workflow changed from the old days?

Terada:
Oh, absolutely. It used to be that I'd wear a lot of hats—I'd have meetings with rights-holders, get back to the company, get on the phone with development staff and issue instructions for the game, proofread magazine articles, fax them to the publisher, you name it.
Nowdays I have dedicated staff, so I don't have to handle everything myself. I wish I could tell myself from 30 years ago, "You're going to get a lot of people helping you out. Don't worry, it gets better." (laugh)

4Gamer:
Just negotiating with all of those rights-holders alone sounds daunting enough, and you were overseeing the whole operation on your own on top of that? That would definitely be hard to imagine today.

Terada:
The amount of work that needs doing is also radically different now than it used to be.
I remember in the old development days, burning a sample ROM was extremely time-consuming. The Super Famicom's EPROM(*) has a 4-megabit capacity, and burning a single one took an hour. SRW4 had a 24-megabit capacity, so we'd have to burn 6 EPROMs for that, and we only had four burners in our offices. "Terada, make 50 sample ROMs by tomorrow morning," my boss would tell me, and I'd be like, "Well, guess I'm not going home tonight." (laugh)

(*) EPROM was the type of storage used at the time. Regular ROMs don't allow for altering data once it's been written, but EPROM allows for deletions, making it a storage type used internally by game developers.

4Gamer:
So the sample games issued to the media and other associates were personally made by you.

Terada:
Nowadays, making a sample is much easier; all you have to do is ask for the data. But at the same time, I remain keenly aware that I'm only making games with help from a whole lot of other people.

4Gamer:
Is there also a dedicated office for negotiating with rights-holders these days?

Terada:
Yes, there is. People online often say "Terada's off negotiating," but that's not how it works now. When the rights-holders grant permission to use their prized characters, they're not issuing that permission to Terada; they're issuing it to Bandai-Namco Entertainment. I also don't determine the series roster by myself.

4Gamer:
When creating a new game, do you start by working out the series roster?

Terada:
Always. Development can't begin until we finalize what kind of game we're going to be developing. There are no exceptions to this.

4Gamer:
Does the developer get to choose which mechs to put into the game?

Terada:
That's something decided on the developer end, yes. We start by laying out the ones we should probably include no matter what, and any extras beyond those are a question of budget and development time.
For example, when Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is on the roster, the main character unit, the Zeta Gundam, is a must-have. Anything past that point, like the Gundam Mk-II, the Hyaku Shiki, and any enemy mobile suits, is handled on a case-by-case basis.

Mogami:
Back in the old days, we'd set up shop in a borrowed conference room and have a sort of joint training camp to work out a series roster. (laugh)

4Gamer:
What viewpoints go into selecting a series roster?

Terada:
Mogami and I reconcile the IPs that we want to include with the ones that the staff suggests. We consider a wide range of angles when working out a series roster, not just what kind of story content it would have. Bandai-Namco Entertainment is much more well-informed about Gundam titles, so I just make proposals. And not all of my proposals make it through.

4Gamer:
So a wide variety of viewpoints go into deciding a series roster.

Terada:
I only got to decide series rosters by myself in the earliest days. It was a matter for a full conference by the Alpha 2 days.
Also, when settling on a series roster, one basis for consideration is whether or not the Bandai-Namco Group has an IP's merchandising rights, but there are exceptions to this.
For example, we couldn't put Neon Genesis Evangelion in SRW when it was airing on TV, but we were told, "Maybe if you put one of these games on the Sega Saturn."(**) That was one of the impetuses behind SRWF's development. There have been other IPs where I've wanted to include them for a long time, and I finally got a positive response after I kept on asking for long enough.

(**) Translator's note: Sega was one of the main sponsors for Evangelion while it was airing on TV.

SRW30 embraces modern approaches and lets players choose how they play

4Gamer:
How did the series roster for SRW30 get worked out?

Terada:
We started by considering which IPs we wanted to keep from SRWT, then referred to our non-domestic data when adding more IPs.

4Gamer:
I know you get a lot of fans that go, "Please add this show!" Do you ever take that into account?

Mogami:
Fan enthusiasm is one of our metrics.

Terada:
Sometimes we also take model and figure marketing into account—there are times when SRW and model releases happen to coincide, and that can get things on the roster.

4Gamer:
Did that happen in SRW30?

Terada:
Heavy Metal L-Gaim's inclusion in SRW30 started out as me personally wanting to put it in since long-time fans wanted it, and it got a boost from model and figure marketing. Bandai Spirit's Robot Damashii line includes most of the A-class Heavy Metals, and there's a new die-cast L-Gaim Mk-II on sale as well.
One of the drivers behind Mobile Suit V Gundam being included was similar—Not only were they selling plastic models of the V Gundam and V2 Gundam, but they were even putting out models of these mobile suits from the show called the Gunblaster and Shokew.

[Caption] Mobile Suit V Gundam hasn't been included in a console or portable SRW title since SRWD, 18 years ago.

Mogami:
We knew based on our own data that V Gundam was a hotly anticipated inclusion, so we wanted it in as well. That one was an easy decision.

4Gamer:
How did SSSS.Gridman wind up on the roster?

Terada:
We had our eyes on that show from the moment it started airing. Gridman's voice actor, Hikaru Midorikawa, and Alexis Kerib's voice actor, Tetsu Inada, were both asking us, "Can this get into SRW?"
Hyper Agent Gridman is a tokusatsu show, but SSSS.Gridman is an anime with a machine that's close enough to mecha. Size-wise, it fits right in with giant robots, so I floated the idea by Mogami.

4Gamer:
What was the story behind Brave Police J-Decker's inclusion?

Mogami:
We knew that demand for Brave series entries was high in V, X, and T. We also knew that Brave Police J-Decker was popular in South Korea, which played a part in our choice to put it on the roster.

4Gamer:
Now that you bring them up, V, X, and T all had alphabet letters for their title names. But you're not using one for this upcoming title, are you?

Mogami:
We're running low on unused alphabet letters. We even used T, and Terada's been trying to avoid using that one for years since it's the initial of his name. We're finally starting to run dry. (laugh)


Terada:
For SRW30 in particular, we had a completely different title in mind early on. Our first idea ended up unusable for various reasons, so we settled on 30 as both a celebration of our 30th anniversary and as something intuitive. Since it was the 30th anniversary, we reached out to Go Nagai, the father of Mazinger Z, the first piloted super robot, who paved the way for SRW to exist. He gladly agreed to do the title design for us.

4Gamer:
Does the game have any concepts built around it being a 30th anniversary game?

Terada:
One of the themes we go with in this game is, "An SRW with a wide range of choices". Hence our new system, the Tactical Area Select.

4Gamer:
How does Tactical Area Select differ from story branches in prior entries?

Terada:
In prior entries, the story would branch but still stay on basically the same track. With Tactical Area Select, you can choose the missions (stages) that you play to some extent. Basically, each area has a batch of missions, and the story advances once you clear all of the key missions in that batch. There are also missions for getting parts and farming experience.

4Gamer:
So you can go through the story faster by just choosing the key missions, and you can take your time playing by choosing everything BUT the key missions?

Terada:
Yeah, if you want to speed through the story, you can just focus on the key missions.

4Gamer:
Do the robots you recruit change based on the areas you choose?

Terada:
More specifically, the order in which you get robots and pilots will differ based on player choices.

4Gamer:
Do player choices affect how the story plays out? The idea of selectable stages reminds me of Impact.

Terada:
The way you choose missions does affect the story, and the story can branch even within a given series, so I expect a lot of players to have different experiences. You also get more areas to choose from as the story progresses.

4Gamer:
Just hearing all of this makes me imagine how challenging writing the story must have been.

Terada:
Maintaining consistency is also challenging. A lot of work went into making this. But it was the writer's idea to do it this way, and we agreed to it after he asked.

4Gamer:
Do you think that if it's well-received, you'll get asked to do the next game the same way?

Terada:
That would be hell. (laugh)

Mogami:
Actually, part of the reason for Tactical Area Select is to address several problems that plagued us in V, X, and T.

4Gamer:
Could you elaborate on what those were?

Mogami:
One problem this game addresses is play time. Some people want to play the game but don't have a lot of free time. They're free to just stick to the key missions and choose the quickest routes through the game. Meanwhile, some people want to play every last bit of the content, and they'll have a lot to tide them over if they play every mission.
Another problem is differences in when each series becomes accessible in the game. We've heard players complain that even when their favorite series finally made it in, it still took too long for those units to become playable. Tactical Area Select makes that somewhat less of an issue.

4Gamer:
Autobattle was already in the mobile game SRWDD, but now it's coming to consoles in SRW30. Was that another problem-solving choice on your part?

Terada:
Definitely. Nowadays, there are a lot of people who watch videos and do other things while playing video games in order to make the most efficient use of their limited free time. Some smartphone games include the option to skip the gameplay entirely.
So we figured that if we put an Autobattle option into SRW, that might help SRW better adapt to more modern ways of spending time.

4Gamer:
Was there any opposition to this internally?

Terada:
Some people were fine with it in a mobile game, but they were still opposed to putting it into a console SRW. They said it could amount to a rejection of the way people enjoyed prior SRW titles. But when I discussed the matter with Mogami, he immediately greenlit the idea.

Mogami:
Yes, modern consumers want to use the free time on their days off to enjoy as much content as they can.

Terada:
Sometimes it's better to play manually than fully automatic anyway. I tend to use Autobattle when fighting weaker enemies and then swap to manual control when fighting stronger ones. And personally, I also use Autobattle when I'm in the mood for an SRW game but I'm still feeling kind of tired. There are pros and cons to Autobattle, and we'll see how players react to it in this game.

4Gamer:
I think both of your new systems are very bold and revolutionary ideas.

Terada:
To be honest, we were also considering a skip feature that would let you skip the whole story and battle, and only give you minimal experience and money, but that idea got way too much resistance.

4Gamer:
The idea of playing a console game with one hand and a smartphone game on the other, or playing a game while watching a movie, would have been unthinkable back in the old days. Maybe one day the time will be right for a skip function.

Terada:
Attitudes toward entertainment have changed in fundamental ways. It used to be that we'd rent a robot anime from a video rental place and watch it as much as we could by the due date, but nowadays, streaming services offer entire series from start to finish, and you can watch whatever episodes you want, whenever you feel like it.

Mogami:
Some people even watch anime and movies at fast-forward speeds these days.

Terada:
And I'm sure some people who play SRW skip all of the story as well.

4Gamer:
The protagonist machine, the Huckebein 30, has also gotten a lot of attention. The way its head portion incorporates the roman numeral for 30, XXX, is very distinctive. The limited-edition version with the Metal Robot Damashii pack-in sold out just about instantly.

Terada:
When I was meeting with Hajime Katoki, he asked what the plan for the name was, and I answered that since this was the 30th anniversary, I wanted it to be the Huckebein 30. Katoki's response was, "If we're going with 30, couldn't we use the roman numeral XXX for the visor?" That was a snap decision.
Normally we work out the robot's details on the developer end, then do the design, but with the Huckebein 30, we started with the design and then worked out the in-game details from there.

4Gamer:
The way this game is being sold is also a bit different from prior titles. There's no more Premium Sound Edition that includes vocal versions of the licensed music in the game. Instead, the vocal songs are being sold as DLC.

Mogami:
With our prior physical game releases, we've had feedback from players who bought the regular version, then wished they could enjoy the vocal tracks, but couldn't do that without buying the game a second time. We're taking that into account by selling it as downloadable content this time around.
Another reason for it is our global release. In previous releases, we only sold the Premium Sound Edition in Japan. By offering the vocal tracks as DLC, now they're more accessible to players outside of Japan.

Terada:
There is one other thing I'd like to clarify: The SRX and Cybaster guest appearances are only included as an early purchase bonus for the physical release and a preorder bonus for the downloadable version. It's not just earlier access to them like it was for previous titles, so please be aware of that.

The current state of robot anime as Terada sees it, plus discussion of future prospects like the OG finale and remakes of prior titles

4Gamer:
We've been seeing an upturn in model and figure sales in recent years, but some people say there's been fewer robot anime, and the audience for them has become stagnated without attracting any newer viewers. Terada, could we get your take on the current state of robot anime?

Terada:
That's an easy conclusion to draw if you're comparing the state of robot anime now with how it was in the late 80s with robot anime being aired on TV every day, but we're still getting plenty of robot anime. Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway just came out recently, in fact.

4Gamer:
You make a good point there.

Terada:
There are still shows that generate a large amount of mainstream buzz, and there's a ton of mecha-related toys coming out in hobby markets. There are generational differences, but I don't get the impression that robot anime is in any sort of decline. Sure, not everything is a hit, but we're not in a situation where anything people make is doomed to be unpopular.
There could easily be more hit robot anime on the horizon, so no, I don't worry about robot anime being in decline. In fact, if people say it might be out of style, I consider that an opportunity—it means less competition for us, in a sense.

4Gamer:
That's an interesting perspective.

Terada:
I also think it's important to create shows that give children an appreciation for what makes giant robots so appealing. It used to be that kids could get exposed to giant robots in tokusatsu shows, then move to anime like the Brave series, and then from there make the jump to shows like Gundam and become a full-fledged robot anime fan.
But nowadays, there aren't many shows like the Brave series that bridge that gap from childhood to the teens.

4Gamer:
Do you mean anime with mature overtones that elementary and middle schoolers would find a bit more challenging?

Terada:
Yeah, basically. I like Galactic Drifter Vifam. That show does a good job of interweaving hard sci-fi with comedy. Most of the main characters are children, but it's still a story that grown-ups can enjoy. If we had more robot anime like that, with a style that isn't intended to be child-friendly, I think we might get more fresh viewers.

4Gamer:
Conversely, the SRW series has been including series that aren't robot anime at all. SRWDD features Devilman and Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger. Is that sort of integration done in hopes of attracting new demographics?

Terada:
Our intent with expanding possibilities for roster inclusions is to achieve a greater diversity than what we had in past SRW games. IPs that wouldn't be feasible to include in a regular game are much easier to put into mobile SRW titles, where we can craft a short one-shot story focused around them.

[Caption]
A crossover with Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger was announced on July 11 at the Super Robot Wars Super Thanksgiving of Steel 2021.

4Gamer:
Do you expect future home console SRW titles to have inclusions like these?

Mogami:
If we had absolute certainty that we'd get positive player feedback for incorporating the DD approach into a home console SRW, our view might change, but I don't expect any DD-style inclusions with our current system.

4Gamer:
Here's another question—SRW doesn't have a lot in the way of modern console remakes or ports of older titles. It makes playing the older titles pretty challenging at times. Do you have any plans for future ports or remakes?

Terada:
I wish constantly we could do more, but the question is how we'd make it work. Remaking content-heavy games like Alpha or Impact with modern production values would be hugely demanding.

4Gamer:
What about a straight port with no changes?

Terada:
Older SRWs would definitely be hard to play as-is. They don't have all the quality-of-life features that modern SRW games include.

4Gamer:
So you think that the games would inevitably show their age in a bad way.

Terada:
If we did remake a game, we'd definitely have to overhaul the gameplay systems, but I don't think we'd necessarily need to redo the robot battle animations with more modern choreography. If we had a way to do the work efficiently while using the old-fashioned style to our advantage and emphasizing ideas like "This looks old, but it's cool," or "There aren't a lot of animation patterns, but these have their own appeal," I think we could pull it off.

4Gamer:
That particularly goes for OG and OG2. They originally came out on the Game Boy Advance, and even the remake OGs is a PS2 game, so I'm sure there are people who would love to see the story from the beginning but just can't.

Terada:
I think it's important for previous games to be accessible in some form. For example, maybe putting the story from the first OG all the way through OG Moon Dwellers into a compilation game and releasing it in two parts.

4Gamer:
At the Super Thanksgiving of Steel on July 11, you discussed how plans for a new OG title had been put on hold. I'm sure many players were worried to hear that. What do future release prospects look like?

Terada:
As I went over at the fest, the plan is to finish the series with the story that comes after OG Moon Dwellers. SRW30 and DD both feature OG robots, and we're hoping that will build some momentum toward a new title. Incidentally, we've worked out the rough outline for the final chapter, and we've decided how it will end. The only question is whether we can get that story off the ground.

4Gamer:
It was a long time before Masoukishin's story finished, too. I can wait as long as it takes.
Do you have any thoughts for games you'd like to make other than current licensed games and OG titles?

Terada:
For a long while now, I've wanted to make a My First SRW type game, one aimed at children. It's hard to promote a somewhat matured genre to younger demographics, and there are a lot of hurdles keeping non-robot anime fans from playing SRW games, so I think a radical change will be needed to bring in new audiences. Like I was talking about before, I want to make something that wows the kids while also keeping the adults entertained.

Mogami:
I think that back in the Super Famicom days, both adults and children played SRW games, but as the playerbase has gotten older and the games have evolved, SRW as it is now is not a kid-friendly game series.

4Gamer:
Back in those days, you had the Compati-Hero series that featured SD characters from different franchises. There was arguably a lot more room to get into SRW games with exposure to different shows and games.

Terada:
Also, I haven't gotten much buy-in on this idea so far, but I've been considering setting up a business for "silver games" aimed at older gamers. Lately there's been a string of re-released game consoles, and I think those were bought by people who wanted to play games as they were at the time, not remade with fancy modern graphics. So I think remaking SRW games with only minor touch-ups and marketing them to that generation could be a viable option.

4Gamer:
Could you describe what you're envisioning here in more specific detail?

Terada:
Maybe a game with just basic features like robot upgrading and pilot swapping. Add in the ability to enlarge the text, give it a title like Super Robot Wars Silver or Shin (Real) Super Robot Wars. You could make tradeoffs like cutting down on the work that goes into battle animations in order to expand the roster of robots and characters, or adding transformations or splitting into component parts, or including obscure minor robots.
Maybe it sounds silly, but I've put a lot of serious thought into this. If I could get this game made, I'd pull out all the stops for making the most of a limited budget.

4Gamer:
I look forward to seeing what the future holds for SRW games. It's just about time to wrap this up. Do you have anything you'd like to say to our readers?

Mogami:
I apologize for the roughly two-year wait since SRWT. We're going to be trying new things, including a simultaneous Steam version release, and we hope to reach audiences who couldn't purchase the game before, as well as those who couldn't play due to not having the right console. There are also things we have yet to announce, so you can look forward to more information later.

Terada:
We ended up holding the 30th-anniversary Super Thanksgiving event online, but even then I could feel everyone's enthusiasm through the screen. I hope to use that enthusiasm as encouragement in making more great games in the future. And for everyone who says "I used to play SRW, but I just don't have the time these days," I highly encourage you to pick up SRW30 and make full use of the Autobattle.

4Gamer:
Thank you both for your time.