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And.
Welcome to Play Comics, where once again, we are here looking at a video game based on a comic property and how well it represents that source material. And today we are jumping straight back into the deep end of giant robots and childhood war crimes, as I have George from Shortbox Summary here. George, please tell me that we're going to start off at least on a good foot with this.
Yeah, yeah, I think so. Look, it's always hard to go back to an old game. This game is 22 years old at this point. I think there's still a lot to like about this game. I think there's a lot in this game that hasn't been improved in other games that have come out way later. So I think there's a lot to like about it and I'm excited to jump into it.
Well, for anybody who didn't read the title of the episode, which, yeah, I realize some people do that because they just kind of let their podcast players roll through everything and they're not paying attention. Today we are looking at Mobile Suit Gundam encounters in space, which means once again, we get to make fun of me because I have not jumped into Gundam. Full cannonball level like a bunch of my friends think I should have been doing. So, George, what am I really missing out on with Gundam?
With Gundam, what you're missing out on, and I am not the first person to say this. There's been countless essays, video essays, all this stuff, talking about it. Gundam was like the transformation of the anime sensation of like super robots, right? Where it's just like everyone was like mega powerful basically God for all intents and purposes, just in a machine. And then Gundam was like a rebuke of that being like, no, we're going to treat these more like like fighter jets basically, right? And now this is before Top gun. That was 86, I think this was 78, 79. And it was just like, what if we treated this as real as we possibly could? What if these machines broke down? What if we needed a new Hydraul piece? And so it was just taking away some of the fantasy element from giant robots beating the stuffing out of each other and making it a bit more grounded, which is ironic because man, does A lot of this take place in space.
What was it that really got you pulled into this entire Gundam universe?
My favorite thing about Gundam, when I first started watching, I was there on the original Toonami run of Gundam Wing. I want to say that was 2000, 2001. Can't quite remember. I was like fifth grade. Ish. I'm 34. Just for the record, what brought me into it is like I just thought, how cool was that? It was like global, where like one episode they were in Luxembourg and then like the next episode they were fighting in North America. And then they were like. It felt like I was watching a political thriller. Like it feels like the behind the scene machinations of all these leaders in this world. It was basically, it was like Game of Thrones for 10 year olds, you know, like it was. It wasn't like super sinister, it was dark, but it wasn't like disgustingly dark the way Game of Thrones can be. And it just felt like I was watching something important for teenagers. And I was 10, 11, so it just felt like I was seeing something I technically shouldn't have been watching. Also giant robots, always cool. Giant robots with beam weapons just lighting dudes up. I thought that was cool. And then the more you get into Gundam, I know there's this theory that like there's no such thing as an anti war war movie. I think Gundam is maybe as close as you can get to it just because it doesn't hide how horrific any of this is. And Gundam Wing in particular is maybe the best example of it being an anti war piece because like their end mission turns out to be like to destroy all weapons. And I'm like, okay, that's. That was never a point in the earlier Gundam series. So it was cool to see that play out.
Honestly, I think all of that almost political thrillerness aspect of it is going to be what finally gets me when I have time, which might never happen at this rate, to really get into watching Gundam stuff. Because yeah, giant robots fighting, that's always going to be cool. I can go play Cyberbots for that. I can play any of the various giant robot fighting games for that. But where else am I going to get this kind of character work going on? And this level of just interconnected everything.
That's what's really cool about it. So Gundam, basically. I don't mean to be kind of like, I just don't know how much you know about Gundam, so I'm going to talk about it generally. And if I'm repeating stuff for you, I'm sorry. Hopefully someone who's listening doesn't know and learn something. Basically, Gundam can fall into like one of two camps. There's like the Universal Century timeline, which was like the first five or six, seven series all took place in the same timeline. And then in the mid-90s they're like, what if we tried something a little different? And then that was where we got Mobile Fighter G Gundam. That was where we got Gundam Wing. And that was where we got After War, Gundam X. And so after that it was kind of like all, like all bets were off. Like a Gundam could be anything as long as like there were certain elements that made it thematically Gundam, then it was in fact Gundam. But it didn't have to take place in the same timeline. You didn't have to deal with Char and Amuro and new types and all this stuff. And Anaheim Electronics, like the, the weapons manufacturer behind it all. So Gundam really could be anything. So honestly, I really recommend it for someone trying to get into Gundam. Don't start with Universal Century. Like this game that we're playing today encounters in Space. A really good survey of a lot of parts of the Universal Century. Like the first half of the Universal Century timeline. And then like it gets nuts from there. But there's just so much lore tying into itself that like, it's great if you're a huge fan who's, you know, committed to it. But that's like 300 episodes worth of stuff watching. And like, I'm not going to begrudge anyone who doesn't want to do that. I think if you want to know, like the, the, the nuts and bolts of Gundam, pardon the pun. I think you should start with one of the alternate universe stories. And so that's like the most recent one, Witch from Mercury was, was awesome. Like that was the one that came out last year. There's a new series coming out. I think it's going to be simulcast starting in April. I think it's actually like coming out on Amazon called G Cucks. I don't know. Actually, no, I've never heard it said out loud, but it's like G C U U. But it's like from the person whose name escapes me right now, like one of the co creators of Neon Genesis. So it has a completely different look and feel and it takes place in like an alternate UC timeline that I think would be like a fun jumping on point. You're not gonna get all the Easter eggs of like, oh, this is different. And that's interesting. But you're gonna be like, damn, this is a weird place. And I want to know more, but no Witcher, Mercury, iron blooded orphans, Gundam 00, Gundam seed, even to a certain extent. Just because that's ostensibly like a retelling of the original series and it has way nice. It came out in the year 2000. Like, there's so many other places to start just to dip your toe into, and then from there, you can sort of piecemeal together your own Gundam story.
That sounds a lot more doable for me because I'm a person who tends to like to go back and read from the beginning of things and watch from the beginning of things. And, I mean, just knowing that I can grab one of these alternate timelines and go there and be relatively fine. Because, yeah, I don't know who a lot of the characters are and stuff, but I know the giant robots fight each other and one side is good and one side is bad. Except it's not that black and white.
It's not. And like, I host a comic book podcast called Shortbox Summary. Sorry for the shameless plug, but it's like, everyone's like, oh, I really want to read this. A Batman. What should I read first? I'm like, just read the thing you want to read. Like, you don't have to like, oh, this issue starts in Batman, issue 155. Like, do I need to read the first 150? Like, absolutely not. No, you don't have to. It's okay. Like, you just do what you want to do. I don't think people give themselves enough credit. I think, like, streaming really just made everything more needlessly complicated, where everyone thought, like, oh, I have access to everything, so I should absorb everything. It's like, actually, you don't have to do that. You can just take in what you want to take in.
Well, as someone who has gone back and read those first Batman comics, I highly recommend that you do not start there because that is not going to be what you're expecting at all. Meanwhile, if you want to go back and read those first original Superman ones. Yes, do that because they're super fun.
I can't do Golden Age. I can do Golden Age better than I can do Silver Age stuff. Like stuff from the 30s. I just think it's more interesting just because, like, oh, man, they were really just throwing whatever they could at the wall to see what would stick. And then the 60s and 70s stuff. I'm like, like, the art is incredible, but the writing, I just can't. It puts me to sleep, man. It's like looking at a Tylenol pm. I just can't do it. But listen to my comic podcast because I swear it's good, even though I don't like a lot of comics.
That's the fun thing about comics though is that there's so much out there that it's like sandwiches. Like, you don't like this one, but you'll like this other one.
Yeah. Oh, not a fan of tuna fish. Have you met my friend Banh Mi? Change your life. Yeah.
How into the manga side of Gundam have you gotten? Or has it mostly been anime for you?
It's mostly been anime and like the model kits for me, I've been getting more into the manga layover. It just. It was so hard for so long. Like when I was a kid there was a couple adaptations of the series basically. But I like, I only found the first two volumes. Like I grew up in Maine. Not the best manga scene in 2001, despite how much Toonami was popping off. And so there's a couple like adaptations of the original series which looked incredible just because like everything was actually proportioned correctly, unlike the original 70s cartoon. So it's just like the most gorgeous looking Gundam you'd ever seen. And then there was like the Blue Destiny side story that came out and that was really cool because it was like a self contained story with like a whole new cast of characters and all new machines. That was really fun. But then there was kind of a drought. It's only like really the last 10 years probably that like the. The manga scenes really improved because like now you've got Thunderbolt that's ongoing. The fourth volume of Beltochka's Children, which is like the novelization basically of Char's Counterattack, like the movie from 1990, 1991, 89, 88. Somewhere in that range that is finally almost complete. Which is great because I don't even think that the novel itself had ever been translated. So the fact that we're getting the manga is really cool. Gundam, the origin, had this set of giant, oversized, gorgeous books, but they were super expensive when they were in easily available print. And I was a broke student in San Francisco, so those weren't super high priority for me. And then the advent of certain sites and I'm not going to name, but people can find them. People can figure it out. The translation scene has gotten really good so you can finally read all these stories that had never made it west in any official capacity. But you just have to know that like, okay, I'm getting 90% of the story. Because this is just some person who decided to translate the story. Thankfully, but not an official translation.
Much needed. PSA here. Play Comics officially says that you should go and pay for all of your media.
Yeah.
That being said, a lot of times you have to get things the way that you can and you should keep track of the things that you have done that for and go back and pay for them later.
Yeah, I mostly agree that message. It's also like, oh, hey, this, like, I assume these publishers can see like the numbers right on these sites. And so like, I also think it's a good thing to read these sites, you know. And then like all of a sudden like, oh, wow, there's actually like a lot of demand for this book. Should we print this book? Like, I feel like that's more or less why Veltaschka's children came Came West. And there's also Gundam Kukuru's Dawn's island is like, I think just hit volume four. It's like I'm reading them now, but there's all this golden stuff from the 2000s and 90s that just never made it over here. And like I said, reading it how I can showing my support that way. And I think I've spent like enough money on Gundam, you know, like I'm gonna keep doing it. There's always a new model kit coming out, always a new video game coming out. So I don't. I don't feel super bad if they don't give me an official way to do it.
Is it possible to spend enough money on Gundam or are you going to be like me? And every time there's a new Spider Gwen figure coming out, you're going to get it.
I have had to get way more judicious with which Gundam models I buy. There's a couple that I'm really excited for. There's some series that I just stay away from. I don't love the suit designs from gundam00 or gundam iron blooded orphans. I'm really like a UC purist when it comes to the aesthetics. Just because I thought they got so weird in like the 70s and 80s and like, just no one else got that weird because like, everything got kind of streamlined in the. In the 90s and 2000s where they were trying to look cool, whereas they were trying to look like a vibe in those earlier series. So that's why I like the UC stuff. So I. I've had to get more, more careful. But then like they announced, I'm sorry if this is too nerdy. They announced, like, the. The Gallus J, which is like a enemy mobile suit from Gundam Double Zeta. They announced that in, like, HG format, and I'm really excited for that. They announced like, the psycho Gundam Mark 2. And I'm like, yeah, it's going to be like, at least 100 bucks, but man, that thing looks frigging awesome, so I'm probably going to have to pony up for that.
You realize that you just apologize for being too nerdy on a show that's going back and looking at Buck Rogers video games, right?
Yeah, but it's like a different kind of nerd, you know? Like. Like one of the. Like, I. I'm not like, making fun of anyone, but like, someone's like, I spent all this money on Beyblades. I'm like, who, man, could have spent that money on Gundam? I don't know what you're thinking, you know?
Okay, I'll give you that one. I think the main thing I'm worried about jumping into Gundam is I do not want to find myself really connected to a series only to realize that it is like Junior Grave of the Fireflies because I have been primed too much, that it's all about the horrors of war.
I don't think anything made after the 90s is really junior grave of the Fireflies. I think the last one that could be considered that is really like, Turn a Gundam, which came out in 1999. Like, you could argue that Gundam Double O is that, but also, like, I don't know, like, are you really mad if something, like, tries to be like, Grave of the Fireflies? Like, I agree that, like, you're never going to do it as well as Grave of the Fireflies, but I don't know. Shouldn't you aspire for something great? I'm thinking. I'm thinking strictly in terms of quality, not in terms of story. I agree. It's like, dude, how many times can you tell this story? But also, I do think it's an important story worth telling.
So, I mean, mostly for me, it's just like, it's A Grave of the Fireflies is a super beautiful movie, and I love it, and I hope I never watch it ever again.
Yeah, right. Yeah.
Because just emotionally, I can't take that heard, Chef.
There's moments of that in series, but I don't think there's a lot of series where that is the main focus. Like, it crops up or like, there's one super famous GIF of like, a Gundam battle happening in the movie F91, which was supposed to be a series and was then truncated to just be, like, a movie. It doesn't really make sense. I never actually liked that movie until this year. Like, rewatching it for like, the fifth time. It finally clicked. But there's a super famous gif in that where it's like this federation suit is shooting a machine gun and, like, the bullet casings are, like, raining down. And, like, one of the casings hits a woman and, like, kills her instantly. And she's like, carrying her child, and the child is, like, pushing her mom like, you know, Simba Mufasa style, trying to, like, wake her up. And then thankfully, some passerby picks up the child and gets her out of this incredibly dangerous war zone. And so, like, there's moments like that, but it's usually brief snippets. I feel like Tomino, like, the creator of Gundam and the creative director for the first 10, 15 years of it, basically. I feel like he knew not to dwell too much on the moments like that, but includes them because war is harrowing and wants to show that.
Well, on that horribly depressing note, I'm gonna drop some promos for a few other shows.
Hell yeah.
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Those are some great things to check out. But first, let's finish up here. So, George, I think we really need to set some context for what we're looking at here with this Gundam game. First off, Mobile Suit Gundam Encounters in Space is a game that came out sometime in December. I can't get a straight date from the Internet in 2003.
I found December 4, 2003, multiple, multiple sources that I found. And I was also, like, looking at, like, video game Website reviews.
I also might have just been being lazy and saw two different dates and decided, all right, I don't care that much.
2003, December, most important part, for sure.
Yeah, it came out on just the PS2, which is a little bit of a surprise for me, but it is what it is. What are you going to do? Made by Bec and Bandai, and I feel like there are probably some other things going on in the world around that time that can help us get in the right mindset for this one.
For sure. For sure. Let's start with the movies that were coming out around that time. Work for you?
Oh, yeah.
All right. Well, December 4th was a Thursday, and so, like, the number one movie, the box office got, like, 900. I was like, okay, that's not really what we want to do, and we're talking about the box office. So I went to the next day, which a Friday, December 5, 2003, number one movie at the box office. Just debuted the Last Samurai, which I still haven't seen. Oh. With Tom Cruise and Ken Watambi. Oh, that movie rocks. Like, you can argue for sure that it's like another White Savior movie, but I just love Tom Cruise, and I'm willing to forgive him in that. I think that movie is great. Number two at the box office just came out raking in a cool $4.7 million honey. The Jessica Alba dance movie. I don't know if you remember that one.
I don't even remember that one.
Oh, man, that movie came out, like, right as I was hitting puberty. That was a big deal. Number three, Elf.
Okay, I have seen that one.
Okay, cool, cool. Number four, the Haunted Mansion. The Eddie Murphy Disney adaptation.
I forgot that existed.
Yeah, right. And they, like, kind of brought it back, I think is like a series or like a sequel movie, like, last year or two years ago. And it's just like, wow, man, we forgot that this was a thing. This is a weird one to go back to the. Well, on number five, Bad Santa.
It's been forever since I've seen that one. I need to do that again.
Billy Bob Thornton, just being. Well, like the title says, just a real, real bad Santa music at the time. I'm gonna go from five to one just because I want to do the inverse. Number five on Billboard's Hot 100 for the week of December 6, 2003 was Holiday Inn by Chingy, featuring Ludacris and Snoop Dogg.
I don't know that one, and I also don't know who Chingy is.
Oh, man. Number four on Billboard site, 100 was the Way youy Move by Outkast featuring Sleepy Brown.
I started thinking of the wrong song when you said the name of it, but I do like that one.
Okay. Number three, Baby Boy by Beyonce featuring Sean Paul.
Yeah. Never got into her.
Okay. Number two, hey Ya by outkast.
Such a good song until you realize what they're saying. Then it's also good but different.
Y'all don't want to hear me. You just want to dance. Number one on Billboard's Hot 100. Stand up by Ludacris featuring Shauna.
That is another good one.
Yeah. This is extremely seventh grade coded for me. I feel like every middle school dance I went to this year was just blasting all these songs.
Yep. A few grades older for me, but same idea, right?
I also have the Toonami schedule for that Friday.
This is the part I was most excited about hearing from you.
All right, let's start with, like, the afternoon slate and then we'll get into the late night stuff starting at 5. The only Gundam series that was on at the time, which was such a bummer for me because I don't love this one. SD Gundam Force. It's like the Chibi style. Like, the robots are actually like people, basically. I can't pretend to love SD Gundam, although I'm like, out of model kits, so I'm looking at some SD Model kits just to get my fix in.
From what everyone has told me, I need to go experience that one.
I mean, there was SD Gundam Force video game. So maybe some other day we can. We can reconvene and explore SD Gundam Force on PS2.
It's official. I'm saving it for that.
Okay. 5:30 was Justice League super classic.
I need to go watch it again.
That was very good stuff. 6:00, Star the Clone Wars.
I never watched that one, but I know that was a time slot issue for me.
Sure. That makes sense. I mean, 6:00, you're usually busy. That's like when your parents unfortunately pull you away for dinner.
Yep.
Oh, wow. I actually. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I misspoke. This wasn't like the. The Lucasfilm. This is the. The genedee Tartovsky, like the five minute shorts, which were even, like, harder to see.
Okay.
Yeah. I never like Guy who did like Dexter's Lab and does Primal. Currently on.
Yeah.
On Cartoon Network. Okay. After that, Transformers Armada.
I've never been a Transformers person, and I realize that makes me horrible, but.
Can'T like everything you like giant robots, just not when they're sentient. I get it. It's cool.
It's weird. I just. I don't know.
6:30 was Dragon Ball and then 7:00 was Totally Spies. And that closed out. That closed out like the afternoon block of Toonami. And then starting at midnight. This is when the real stuff happens. At midnight we had Inuyasha, which I.
Definitely did not watch at the time, but have watched now. Not finished. But enough of it. I mean, what I watched was good. I need to go back and pick it up again.
I wasn't a huge fan. I would watch it mostly because like around this time, I think this is like right after my favorite lineup of Toonami ended, where it was like Outlaw Star Genshi Muyo, like all that stuff. And Rurouni Kenshin I think was airing too. And so this is like right after my my peak Toonami. And so like I begrudgingly watched Inuyasha even though I was like mad that it wasn't I Lost Star. I just love me some Gene Starwind. At 12:30 we had the Big O.
I don't know that one.
Oh, that one's super slick. It's basically like Batman if instead of being a superhero, he had a giant robot that helped him fight crime and monsters.
I am sold.
And the art direction actually looks slick as hell. It actually kind of looks like a. Like a DC Animated. Like a Bruce Timm Universe show from back then.
Nice.
At 1am we were watching Blue Gender.
I don't know that one either.
See? Which one was that? It's from the guy who did Armored Trooper Votoms. And so like, it just feels like another like hyper militaristic anime program. They're like fighting aliens and stuff. It was. It was cool. It was really like hardcore. Especially for the time. At 1:30 is a show that I don't recall whatsoever. Rain the Conqueror.
Yeah, I don't know that one either.
And then at 2:00, that's when it finally broke into its traditional roots. That's when it was Futurama of Family Guy. But I want to point out that it was only one episode of Futurama and only one episode of Family Guy. That's my biggest problem with Toonami these days is that it's like three hour blocks of American dad and then like a two hour block of Bob's Burgers and then a two hour block of Futurama. And there's two shows I want to watch at 11. And then I'm like, dude, I'm so tired. Like I can't. Can you just move the more interesting stuff up? I have no problem waiting up for a show. But it's like, I'm like kind of offended about the amount of reruns of Futurama, American dad and Family Guy. We have to get through to get to it.
As much as it pains me to say this, especially the Futurama because it's over, at least Family Guy, there's potentially new stuff.
Mm. I actually like Futurama the most out of all those shows. I feel bad.
Oh, I do too.
For. For dogging on it. But now like that's even like early morning stuff like Zoids Chaotic Century. He Man Masters of the universe. Like the 2002 one. Like the short lived one season Pokemon, the Indigo League and Yu Gi. Oh, Hamtaro showed up like this was, I would say second peak of. Of Toonami in my eyes. It was right after the. Right after the plateau of the top. But man, what. What a time to be a young teenager watching. Watching these shows.
I was see 2003 for me would have been, I think sophomore year of high school. Okay, so getting home, depending on when in the year it was, would have been an issue to catch things. But just knowing that there was those things on, I wanted to see so much more of it than I was actually able to.
This part was tough because I was on like the basketball team in seventh grade, so I missed a bunch of these, especially this time of year. So I think that's why, like, I actually don't really remember watching Transformers Armada that much on its first run. Even though I remember being so excited for that show. I actually just bought the DVD the other day just because I'm a completionist and I make no discriminations about giant robots. I don't care if they're living. I don't care if they're prosthetic mobile suits. I'm with it. I'm in it to win it. So. And I love Zoids Just giant robots that were also animals.
I mean jumping back into the just fighter jet giant robots with this. What we're looking at here, from what I can tell is a game that is focusing around the One Year War is what I kept seeing in all of my research words that mean absolutely nothing to me. But apparently it's really important.
It is the inciting incident for the Universal Century of Gundam. It's when the first original series took place. The original series came out. It actually got like canceled. It was supposed to be 50 episodes and then they were like, how about 39? They're like, how about 43? Since we've already animated most of, like, up through 43. And they're like, okay. And so the series came out, it was kind of a dud. And then they actually cut it together as movies and released it in theaters the year after. And that was where Gundam got extremely popular. Popular. So there was Gundam the movie 1 had no subtitle. Gundam the movie 2 was called Soldiers of Sorrow. And then Gundam the movie 3 was called Encounters in Space. And so that is where the name of this game comes from. Now There was another PlayStation 2 game that came out in 2001 called Mobile Suit Journey to Jabara. And I am so glad you did not make me play that one, because I frankly cannot stand that game. I think those controls are so incredibly dookie that I just never want to play that game ever again. Encounters in Space was like the third major Gundam game on PlayStation 2 that had come stateside. And this was like kind of refined controls. Journey to Jabra just takes place in the first half of the original Gundam series. It's about you getting to the Earth Federation headquarters in Jabra in South America. And then this game basically picks up right at the end of that. And that's why every fight in this game is in space, because that's where the end of the series took place. So I. I am incredibly glad that that was not the game you asked me to play. This game, I think, was the first game that really nailed space combat. It was the third Gundam game to come out on PS2. Third, like Gundam game of Consequence. First one was Journey to Jabra, dookie controls. Second one was Mobile suit Gundam Federation vs. Xeon, which I really love that game. I'm not gonna pretend it's like a good game. It's way more arcadey than Journey to Jabra. So that was why I really logged onto it and it got super excited. Plus, you could fight as Xeon, you could fight as Federation, and you were just. You had like a world map where you're going to different battles. You had a space map where you're going to different battles. Space battles in that were like, genuinely not good, but they were something. So that was exciting. And then in 2003, this game comes out, and this game is the first that really gave a crap about how you fought and moved in space. It's. It's not perfect. They did what they could with what they had, but it is definitely a huge improvement over what we've gotten before.
Yeah, normally we don't focus on the gameplay a lot here, but the entire PS2 era of everything I've seen the full spectrum on every single game of the controls are the worst thing they've ever touched to. The controls are great. So the only conclusion I can make is you might like the controls and if you don't, then try one of the other ones.
They do a lot to mitigate. Like you move around and I know you said don't spend a lot of time, but like, I just think it was actually really clever what they did where you move around with like the left joystick, left analog stick, whatever you want to call it, and then you actually control like your pitch basically with like the right trigger. So like R1 ascends you, R2 descends you. And so you're constantly using those to find like the right horizon line. And then you're balancing that with using the lock on with the L1 trigger and so you're. You can zip around. What I love about this game is that it made me feel like a ace pilot. Like it really made me feel like I was awesome at piloting mobile suits. And they have this sick mode where you actually get to play as like a bunch of key ace pilots from the One Year War. And a little bit beyond the One Year War, you get to do some Gundam Double 83 stuff, which is like probably my personal favorite Gundam series. And I just like it never stops letting you feel cool. It was great. No other Gundam game has done it that well.
Being able to be out in space like that. I mean, I think this is. It's definitely the only game I can think of right now where the controls actually like make me feel more into the franchise that it's a connection there. Because flying things around like that, I have to imagine like, yeah, you're going to be controlling things in kind of that way. So like you're not necessarily going to have nice easy. Okay, here's your joystick. You can make it aim however you want to it. You know, it's real world physics. For a relatively real world giant robot mech, you're going to have to deal with that kind of thing and you get to deal with it in the game. And I think that's really cool.
I think it's super cool. I think it strikes the right balance where Journey to Jabra Dookie controls. We're just going to call it Dookie from now on. Journey to Dookie, you basically moved with like the left stick and then you kind of. You controlled your camera with like the right. Trigger R1 and L1. So you like, you were constantly like moving around like that. It felt like they were trying to like make it almost like a, like a sim. Like those were like the pedals you're pressing down like the way you like control yaw or whatever on a, on an airplane. And I. It was just, honestly it was too much like you were fighting the controls as much as you were fighting any enemy in that game. And then they really overcorrected the turn with Federation vs. Xeon where it was just like an arcade. Like it was the same engine that they built Jump Force on. I don't know if you're familiar with that game from PS2 GameCube era.
It's been forever but I remember liking it.
Yeah, no, it's super fun game but like it just, it felt like you know, you just press X and then you press square to shoot and then you like you lock on and then you just try to whittle down the enemy's army before they whittle down your army. Like that's the entire game. There's not much thought there. But if you're like a big die hard Gundam fan like you're going to love it because you get to play through the entire campaign of the one year war. You do the same thing every mission but you have fun doing it. And then this I felt like strike the right balance between simulator and like I said earlier, just wants you to feel cool. I felt cool but I actually felt like a pilot because I was doing things like controlling my pitch and you know, adjusting my speed and using the multi lock which for some reason tripled your score to help you get like higher rankings and also didn't count against like your main ammo consumption. So you could just spam like the lock on like when you hold swear and do like the multi target locking system. You can just do that and like take out every turret on a an enemy cruiser so that they stopped attacking you basically. And then it didn't cost you any ammo whatsoever. Bizarre design choice but again made it feel more like an anime than a, than a simulation game which I always always vibe with.
I always cheat that part anyway and find the code for Infinite Ammo.
Oh, were there, are there cheat codes?
Oh I have, I have no idea on this one because I didn't. Because of the way the recording schedule is going. I didn't get to play this one as much as I would have liked to. But that is something I normally go in and look for because I shooters like, for some reason, there's some block in my brain where if you're shooting things, then I just am not as good. But if I'm going around whacking somebody with a stick, I'm perfectly fine.
All right. Yeah, that's. I mean, that's fair. I'm not going to knock that. Especially since, like, you're not super into, like. This is like a fanboy's dream is this game. You get to like. The coolest thing about this. I grabbed this game when it came out. I was honestly shocked to find it at my EB games back in seventh, eighth grade because I just didn't think another Gundam game was ever coming. I didn't think I'd ever be excited for it. Also, I misspoke. This is like the fourth Gundam game consequence. I completely forgot about Psionic Front, where it's like more of like Rainbow six, where you're like plotting like your routes through the battlefield and you can die in like two shot. Whatever. That game is super hard. Super good. Super hard.
But, like, because Jabberu doesn't count, right?
Yeah. Oh, that's a great point. Thank you. Yeah, that was just them. I bet they were just doing that to like, hold on to the license or whatever. There's no other excuse for that game or it was like a Ponzi scheme or something. Anyways, this game touched on stuff that like, didn't exist in the West. Like, you would hear about like, you know, just early days of the Internet going on and just like looking it up and like, you'd see like a different colored Zaku, like a white Zaku with blue highlights and like, whoa, that one's really cool. It's like, who's Shin Matsunaga? Like, who is that guy? It would mean nothing to people in the west because that character never appeared in the original series. It was part of a manga side story that came out in Japan in the 90s or 80s, whatever. And then you actually got to play as him in this game. It was incredible. You got to play as Johnny Ridden, which, like, was another character that like, you'd only ever heard about. Like, everything that was like mythical and like ethereal about Gundam suddenly became very real in this game. You just got to touch all these corners of this universe that you never thought you could in the United States. It was very cool. And also, like I said, Gundam Double Duty 3 is my favorite Gundam series. It's basically like if Top Gun and Gundam had a baby. It's incredible. Huge fan. And it's an OVA so the animation is like still absolutely gorgeous almost 40 years later. And you actually got to like play through that. Like, you got to play as Koharaki. You got to play as Annabel Gatsu. Like the two leads of that. And so they were almost like mini campaigns for each other. Like, it's just really cool stuff. Like you can play as other pilots in Journey of the Jabra. But like, the game sucked to play, so I didn't. I didn't care that I got to be Shar. And this was the first time I was like, no, the Shar campaign is sick. And you get to actually fight in the Battle of Loom and take out five ships and kidnap General Revel. When you play as the Black Tristars. Like, it was just all this stuff that you'd heard about but never witnessed and you finally got to live it.
And you kind of touched on it there a little bit. But it's a crap ton of characters in this one that you get to play as. And yeah, some of them are just the short little things in your Thoroughbred thing or in some other Ace Pilot little missions. But I mean, it's a lot of characters.
There's a ton of modes in this game. I'm actually really impressed. Like, there's a versus, like there always is in these Gundam games where you can just like go fight against each other. That's whatever. But there's like the main mission, which is like the. The White Base story where you play as Omura. Then there's all these Ace Pilots where you can play as like all the people I just listed and like a few others. And there's tons of unlockables. Like if you score S ranks, you can unlock Gundams from Gundam Seed, which was like the new anime series at the time. You can unlock stuff from Gundam Wing and like use that in these missions. So like, it really was like a love letter to die hard Gundam fans. And then there was the Thoroughbred, which is like an original story about like another White Base type ship called the Thoroughbred. And like the G4 04 G05 Gundams that like work together to like initiate a peace offer. Like, it was just like really cool, interesting stuff. And like, it was just nice getting new Gundam material because like, by this point when it was just SD Gundam Force on Cartoon Network really felt like the series had like already run its course. Like, it felt like Cartoon Network had already kind of blown it. Like with everything they'd already aired.
I'm almost speechless with how amazing this one seems to be. And just Like, I already appreciated it with how cool everything just looked and felt, but just knowing how much deeper I could get into it. Maybe like this seems. I mean, I feel like I shouldn't have to ask you this because I feel like it's gonna be most of it. But what is it about Gundam that this game really gets right?
That's a great question. I think it's probably the closest game I haven't played a lot of the PS3 games because those didn't come up. Like, the only like Western PS3 games we got were like the Dynasty Warrior games. And so like there was one game actually made by FromSoft. Like the guys who did like Dark Souls and Demon Souls and Elden Ring and all this, they actually made like a Gundam Unicorn game. It's like, I haven't played that. I've tried to play Gundam UC0081 battle record, but I'm not a Japanese speaker, so that one's a little tough. I think the coolest thing about this one and why it's. If not my favorite Gundam game I've played, then probably my second favorite Gundam game. Because Zeta versus Gundam versus Zeta Gundam is like really good. It just makes you feel like you're a pilot. It just makes you feel like you're in an anime. And especially after Journey to Jabaro and especially after Federation Versus, especially after Xeonix Front, it was just so cool to be as good as Char. It was so good to. It just felt so good to be as good as Amuro. Like to be like Co. To be like Anna Velgato, to be the Nightmare of Solomon yourself. Like the fact that it made you feel like it was just like such like an incredible feeling. Especially after, like I said, the first three games that didn't do it. But we're trying to like talk about like how serious these Gundams were, how real these Gundams were. This one just kind of said effort and just made you feel like an Ace pilot. Made you feel like a. Like a total badass flying through space.
This one to me almost feels like it could be one of those alternate timeline things that you were talking about at the beginning to where I can just jump into this and I might not really understand everything, but I understand the concept enough to where this is just fun and it's making me want to go back and see what kind of Easter eggs I can find because I've seen all the cool stuff in here.
Every Saturday I like call my buddy and usually have a few glasses of wine and then immediately after that, this past Saturday, I was like, time to start playing, man. And I just sat down. I was like, I'm just gonna play the first mission. Just like get that out of the way. Just remember the controls. And I didn't stop until I got s rank on every every mission in like the white base mode. So I'm like, yeah, this game still rocks. This game holds up. Surprisingly, 22 years later. There's only one mission in the Thoroughbred where I'm just like, this feels hip hop is the first mission of Thoroughbred where like I tried to play that like 30 or 40 times that like the levels are super short. Like it really is like a score chasing game where like it just wants you to take out as many mobile suits as many ships in like a allotted amount of time. Honestly, if you don't beat a mission within like four minutes or five minutes, then it gets like impossibly hard. They just like send so many reinforcements until you like complete your main objectives. Like you're actually encouraged to beat it fast. And that gets you a better score, which unlocks more stuff and lets you see more of the Gundam. Gundam universe. I had so much fun revisiting this. Thank you so much for asking me to do this.
I mean, what is it with this one, if anything, that the game really gets wrong looking at Gundam?
Ooh, that's a great question. Honestly, it's not a complaint about it, but it takes like these major story beats and kind of downplays them. It was so cool to see this game because Journey to Jabra and like the other games, like that was the only place you saw like high definition looking Gundams, right? Like, to see the original Gundam with like correct proportions is something you can't do in the original series. It's something you can't do in the original movie, but you can do it in the games. Like to see it like look square and box and like actually intimidating in a way that it didn't look in the original series. That was incredibly cool. And these moments are key to understanding like the greater dilemmas of the Gundam universe where Char and Amuro both basically in love with the same person for different reasons and then that person dies. And that sets up the end of the original Gundam series, that sets up the sequel series, Zeta Gundam. Then they don't touch on that at all in Double Zeta Gundam. And then in Char's Counter Attack, that's like the culmination of like the. The rivalry between these two guys. And so it's like such like a fundamentally important part of the story that is literally just a 14 second cutscene in this game. So like, it does a good job of showing you a lot of the Gundam universe, but it's like, it's a hole that's like a mile long but an inch deep. And there were some parts where it could have been a little deeper and a little shorter.
You know, it's sounding like how I went through a bunch of the art museums when my wife and I went over to Europe. Just like, hurry up and see as much as we can, but not really get to appreciate anything that we did see.
Yeah, we got it. We got to bust through Museo del Prado here in Madrid and got to get to the next one. Gotta, gotta go to the Rodin in Paris next. You know, it's just like there's so much to see. So like, I get it, but like, considering how much this game focused on the One Year War, I feel like they could have spent more time on it. Especially since like, man, you're really just doing like the last movie, like literally the last movie which was an hour and a half long. And like you can beat this story in realistically 35 minutes with all the cutscenes for White Base, which is like the main mission mode. And then you get the other side of the story when you play as Char in like the pilot scenarios and all that stuff. So not treating cows as sacred as they could be, maybe even as they should be, is like the one detriment. But also like, if you're familiar with the source material, it's just so cool to live out those moments that like, I'm not really upset, but that is something for newcomers. I think they probably could have been a little more intent on a little more detailed about, I guess.
All of that being said, if you knew somebody who wanted to get into Gundam, would you give them this game as part of a primer course?
Yeah, I think so. I also think it's really important because this is when Gundam was like starting to decline in the United States, but still really popular amongst a certain kind of people. And when I say that, I mean like the people who are watching Toonami like me. And so this captures just like that vibe incredibly well of early 2000s. Like even like the loading screens in this game are so important. Impressively Y2K where like, it almost feels like they just kind of ripped off like the. The title design of like Ocean's Eleven or something. Like it's just like very thoughtfully done for a loading screen, which like, I was. I didn't remember until I booted it up this week. I think that this is such a vibe, especially for like Gundam Wing fans, Gundam 83 fans. I think that I would include this probably in like the second tier of Gundam to consume.
What would be first tier?
First. First year would be the anime.
Fair enough. And finally, like if you could have clones of a Muppet, be just a third army coming in and hopefully they're on your side. But we're not really sure. Which Muppet would you like to see show up in this game?
I think it makes most sense for Sam the Eagle. Like I actually feel like you'd make very good anime based arguments and logics for what is appropriate for Gundam. But I unfortunately I have to go with my heart on this one. Beaker is my favorite Muppet, hands down, so I would love nothing more than a billion beakers.
Do you just want to hear a giant swarm of beakers going meep, meep, meep across the universe?
I wouldn't be opposed to it. I think he means really well. It's really that. That Honeydew that gets him into precarious situations. He's just, he's just doing his best. Beaker, you know, lab assistant clearly hasn't been tenured yet. Otherwise I feel like you would have like a little more agency in the lab with Honeydew. But yeah, I gotta go with Beaker.
So do we get to expand it then? And then Beaker is definitely on our side and Honeydew is on the other side because they're just mortal enemies.
Yeah, that and then I do think Honeydew gets betrayed at the last second by Sand Eagle. Sand the Eagle. Very glammy Toto for Gundam fans in the know from. From Double Zeta.
Well, you have dropped so many little knowledge bombs for me here.
That was such a deep cut. I'm sorry.
I'm going to find it one day and I'm just going to think back to this and go, crap. That is what George was talking about. Well, it has been great talking to you about all of this. If people want to hear more from you, where else can they find you around the Internet?
They can find me at Shortbox. Summary. That is a podcast where I revisit the comics I was reading in high school and figure out if they were good or if I was 15. So it's me trying to take the rose tinted glasses off. I do what I did here where I talk about like the cultural context of these books released into. And frankly, a lot of the books I'm talking about were coming out of roughly the same time. So I've had to get like, oh, cool. Like this. Oh, Bad Boys by Nelly is number one again. So I've been trying to get more deep with, like, what I'm doing. I'm like, all right. According to Nielsen ratings, these were the number one TV shows. Or like, oh, on this day in history, like, I try to just provide the context of the world that these books were releasing into. And every few episodes, we do, like, a movie episode. We're going in order of comic book movie releases from the day. And I actually really want to incorporate more video games reviews into this just because I don't know if video games were better then. I don't think they were, but I think I just cared about video games more back then. So, like, playing the Punisher game, playing Spider Man 2, playing Ultimate Destruction. Yeah, Like, I don't think those games are better than, like, The Spider Man 2 We got two years ago. But I liked it more because I just liked games more back when I was 15.
You know, it's really easy to like them more when all you have to do is go to school and come home and play your game.
Oh, God, it's fantastic. Yeah. Oh, it's the best. Yeah.
Now we have to go to work, and that's just stupid.
I work from home, like, no joke, six and a half feet away from a Dreamcast, a PlayStation 5, and a PlayStation 2. And it's just torture, man. Like, I also have dogs, but they're usually upstairs with my girlfriend just because she has a much more comfortable office. But, like, I look over my shoulder, I can see them looking at me with basically sad puppy eyes, being like, why don't we play anymore? Like, why are we hanging out right now? Like, that's a great question. Why aren't we hanging out right now? Oh, because I have a meeting in five minutes that I'm hopefully underprepared for. So I need to actually read through the marketing material and make sure I'm up to date. That's why we're not playing. But then sometimes you get a shot in the dark request or. Actually, I kind of, like, bullied myself into your DMs. Actually, sometimes you shoot out a shot in the Dark request to go on a video game podcast, and you have to play. So that's.
I mean, let's be real. This is Andy from the Last Comic Shop's fault because he told me to get in contact with you, and the only reason you got in contact with me first was because you were faster.
And because Andy told me to get in contact with you. Yeah. So really it is. It is Andy's fault. Yeah. No, I just love Gundam and I have like never. I never have an excuse to talk about it, so I'm always happy to. You ever want to play Zeonic front or Zeta vs. Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam? Any of those. I'm totally willing to come back and maybe you'll have watched more Gundam by then and we could have deeper, deeper understanding of new types and their place in the universe.
I'm gonna go watch sd, whatever it was.
Oh no, I actually have that one right here. South Dakota Gundam 4 showdown on PS2. I might actually play that next. I don't have very many memories of it.
As always, the best place to find me is over on playcomics.com where there's links to all the social media things. It's blue. Blue Sky. I mean, let's just be real. I should just say it's a link to Blue sky because that's where I'm hanging out because that seems to be the most fun for me. If you want to be on the show, then, you know, you can hit me up over there and maybe see something where I'm saying, hey, I desperately need a guest for this kind of episode. Or you can check out the link down in the show notes where there's a link to all the things that I'm trying to get booked the soonest. That link is going to be the most up to date place. There's also a way that you can sign up for a newsletter on there, which really only exists for me to say, hey, I updated the list. You should see what's on there now. Yeah, that's the thing. And you know, take advantage of it. It's there. I know there. I've talked to a few people lately that really should get on that list because they want to be on the show. I want to get them on the show. We just don't have a good topic in the more immediate things. So hey, if that is, you sign up for that newsletter, like it doesn't come out a lot. It's not going to flood your inbox. Don't worry about it. If you want to help support the show, then you can be like the patrons that I have, Dan McMahon and Odo class, and give the show money. Or you can always just, you know, tell people to listen to the show, it's fun, tell me that you like it, that kind of thing. You know, that that's good to do all those things. Don't forget the Play comics is a part of the guineag.com network, home to such other wonderful shows as Legends of SHIELD where right now we are still going through the Daredevil series, just taking everything we see there and saying, holy crap, I did not expect to see that at all. Or you can check me out where I'm gonna hang out with Carrington Martin on a show called Sugar Spite and Everything is Fine, which I've been saying a mid April, but it might get more toward the end of April. Now we're trying to figure out how that's going to work. But anyway, Sugar Spite and Everything is Fine where we're taking a look at all that media that we just experience as we were kids, all those life lessons we were supposed to learn in there and thinking, hey, we're adults now. Why don't those lessons, why aren't they supposed to apply to us anymore? And if that's a problem, yo, we'll solve it. And that's the hook. So something about revolving. I don't know. That seems right. I don't know where it's coming from though, but that seems right. If you like the music that I'm rudely talking on top of right now, head on over to BackingTrack GG to check out all the great music over there and maybe grab something for your own project. But most of all, just grab a game, grab a stack of comics, and go find yourself a new favorite character. Back into the deep end of giant robots and childhood war crimes as I have. George from what was it that really. Wow. I sounded like a 12 year old when I said that. I think I might have lost you.
And you hear me now.
Yep, I have lost you. And it's not because of Gundam stuff. I have lost you because of the camera and the technology between us. Yay.
I'm still seeing. I'm still seeing my voice pop up.