Shin SRW was the first original Playstation entry, attempting to make a big splash as the series new vision. It's one of the few SRW titles to be re-released on the Japanese PSN as a digital download. It uses the same engine created for 4th SRW G but but includes a number of UI and control improvements. Shin SRW represents more of a leap in graphics than in gameplay or plot. It plays very similar to an easier, less eventful 4th SRW.
The campaign is split into two long routes which basically make it two games in one, adding up to ~71 total scenarios. While the core gameplay is fairly solid SRW fare, there's not much variety to be had throughout the campaign. Almost every scenario is completed using the same basic strategy with few alterations for scenario events or unique challenges. For most of the game you'll find yourself in massive, nearly empty maps with only a token amount of enemies. The kid gloves come off a bit near the end of each route, but by that point the you've gone through so many uneventful scenarios using the same strats that it might not feel worth the effort. It hasn't aged particularly well compared to other older SRWs. It doesn't help that the pilot and robot roster is relatively small compared to 4th, and it doesn't have much at all in the way of new seishins, skills, or unique features. Not to say that you can't get some enjoyment out of it, but if you're spoiled on modern SRWs, you'll probably be bored.
Graphically Shin SRW uses non-super deformed art. This works well for some robots designed to look realistic, but others look ugly or strange when not shrunken down. Shin SRW also adds cut-ins, close up face portraits, and long cutscenes to its attack animations. This turns out to be a double edged sword because like all older SRWs up until SRW Alpha, animations are still unskippable. When running at default speed the load times and animations are atrociously long and unbearable. Unless you have a way to speed them up in an emulator I don't advise playing Shin SRW. Much of the poor reputation of Shin stems from its slow load times and absurdly long, unskippable animations.
The seishin search menu, first added in SRW Gaiden, now lets you select multiple pilots with the same seishin and activate them all at once. This is a big improvement over past SRWs where you could only activate one seishin at a time.
The Shin SRW Special Disc was an encyclopedia or compendium of Shin SRW. In it you can view attack animations, FMV, tons of profiles, and listen to music. There's also a simple concept scenario where you can deploy a wide range of pilots and units, some of which you couldn't control in the main game.
Overall Shin SRW is hobbled by a fairly bland campaign and unskippable animations with long load times. It's not a surprise that any sort of sequel to Shin was aborted and replaced by the Alpha series. Only the most dedicated SRW fans should bother checking it out, and even then only if you can speed up the attack animations to 500% or greater of normal speed.
Reviewers experience: Challenge conditions: No upgrades, no units destroyed, low turn counts, and no save/load spamming for low chances to hit or dodge. Total turncount for both routes + final mission: 295 turns / 71 scenarios.
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