3rd Super Robot Wars (SFC) Review

Dai-3-Ji (3rd) Super Robot Wars is the third SRW game to be released. 3rd SRW experiences some growing pains as the series develops from a simple Game Boy game to a modern franchise. Major changes include a branching plotline with multiple endings, robots with more than two attacks, pilots and robots gaining separate stats, pilots able to switch between robots, robots upgraded during intermission instead of with items, weapons consuming energy/ammo and requiring morale, and pilot/robot terrain aptitude. Depending on the choices you make and your turn count, you'll play between 34-39 of 58 total missions per playthrough.

Unlike 2nd SRW where ranged attacks were a rarity, every robot you can control has a ranged attack. SRW3's game strategies start with a heavy emphasis on ranged vs melee balance. Ranged attacks are stronger than melee, but they're less accurate and you can't move and attack with them. Enemy AI is smarter than in 2nd SRW. It will often focus fire more effectively and is harder to distract or kite. I'd say this part of the game is fairly simple and balanced, much like 2nd SRW.

As the game progresses you'll be facing multiple high HP bosses that can act twice per turn and one shot most of your robots. Even the non boss enemies will be able to act twice per turn and have very high stats. At that point strategies shift to MAP area attacks that can destroy huge groups of enemies and strong single target attacks to deal with uber bosses. Your own pilots are eventually able to double act, leading to the tricky situation of both sides being able to quickly annihilate one another, with the one striking first being the winner.

3rd SRW is very receptive to speedrunning. Well placed MAP attacks can wipe entire scenarios worth of enemies in a single turn, and double act pilots can cover vast amounts of terrain to quickly engage far off enemies. Most scenarios can be completed in 5 turns or less, skipping most of the scheduled reinforcements. Your turn counts are tracked so you can see how well you're doing. It feels like there are balancing issues when so many missions can be cleared before scheduled reinforcements. Sometimes if you clear a mission too quickly you'll run into game crippling bugs or miss out on recruitable pilots, as well.

While 3rd SRW adds a decent amount of complexity and depth, in some ways it regresses from 2nd SRW. Every scenario goal is to kill all enemies with no variation. No escape missions, and no single target kill missions. It's certainly a difficult game near the end, but I felt like the constant MAP attack spam and uber bosses started to wear thin. There's just not enough depth to keep the entire game feeling fresh and varied.

Animations are still unskippable and the game is only tolerable by using an emulator speedup toggle. 3rd SRW combat is so painfully slow at normal speed that it's not even worth playing. You could go to the bathroom and make a sandwich in the time it takes for the CPU to take its turn in some of the more crowded missions. Controls are better than the FC version but they are still fairly primitive and don't even make use of all the buttons on the SFC controller.

3rd SRW is a game with quite a few growing pains and balance issues as it develops into a modern franchise. Despite its rough around the edges design, it has held up very well with the exception of unskippable animations.

Strategic Depth: Low-Medium.
Strategic Difficulty: Medium-high.
Overall Score: 7.2
Reviewer's experience: Completed with no upgrades, no units destroyed, and no save/load spamming for low chances to hit or dodge, 159 turns, 34 scenarios complete.