Super Robot Wars Y review: A major step forward for the tactical strategy franchise

Super Robot Wars Y continues the rich tradition of mobile suit-based tactical strategy that began back on the Game Boy back in 1991. It would take an incredibly long time for the series to come to America, and even longer for the West to get digital, much less physical releases. Sure, we received the O.G. (Original Generation) games, but that’s not what we wanted! We wanted to see Big O show up and fight alongside the Sinaju, or Combattler V!

Super Robot Wars 30 is the first game in the franchise that I can think of that had an American release for the mainline franchise. Before that, you either had to get a fan translation of the classic era games or import the SEA versions of modern games that typically had English text. It’s thrilling to see Super Robot Wars Y get a similar treatment, and I have to tell you, it’s been a blast playing it.

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Super Robot Wars Y builds upon the previous entry and improves the classic formula

Super Robot Wars Y, teased back in March 2025, has finally arrived, and though I had access ahead of launch, it’s an incredibly dense, lengthy game. I simply did not have time to get all the way through it ahead of time. That doesn’t bother me, though. I really wanted to have time to take it all in; I’ve been a Super Robot Wars fan for many years now, and to see them come to America made it worth the wait.

For those unfamiliar, Super Robot Wars Y is a turn-based tactical strategy game featuring some of the greatest mecha franchises from the last 50 years. You field a squad of some of the greatest mobile suits and machines to do battle with enemies from the same series the heroes come from, alongside some new creations. It's a challenging, satisfying franchise to play, and anime/mecha fans have a ton to look forward to in it.

There are some truly fantastic character interactions this time around (Image via Bandai Namco)

The plot, while not incredibly complex, fits with what I expected. However, I do want to say that the narrative is greatly improved over previous games. The way the characters connect and interact, and the overall flow and narrative structure, feels great. I can’t lie, though, the game does start incredibly slow. It takes a bit to get going, narratively, but when it kicks into gear, it’s truly satisfying.

Instead of “everyone has been thrown through wormholes” or something, now they have to learn who each other are. Many of these characters are famous or have worked alongside or against one another in the past. Across the side stories, you’ll see plenty of important moments in each series, and also potentially unlock some truly powerful mobile suits.

Your Assist Crew can take a dire situation and completely turn it around (Image via Bandai Namco)

Another great improvement is the Assist Crew system. In previous entries, when you receive support characters, they really don’t do much of anything but sit on a ship, and occasionally use Spirit abilities for you. This is done via your Assist Meter, which builds as you shoot down enemy pilots. Each Assist has a cost associated with it, as you can see in the screenshot above.

For example, Astionage from the Gundam franchise can use an AOE heal, +2,000 health to all of your units. The more you use him, the better it gets. This goes for all the other ones, too. Some of these Assist Crew abilities made some harrowing fights much easier.

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Unlike older entries, it’s easier to power up your mecha in Super Robot Wars Y

Teamwork makes the dream work! (Image via Bandai Namco)

Another major positive for Super Robot Wars Y is how easy it is to build a squad that you’re happy with. You’ve got maps you can level grind on, challenge maps to get additional equippable parts, and tons of side missions to unlock new pilots and machines. It won’t take long to start improving your mobile suits and increasing their stats.

You also have STG Memories, a system that is basically a skill tree for everyone. Each branch focuses on something else but have some overlap, such as gaining +100 MxP upon completing an Area Mission.

This stacks with the other nodes that do the same thing, making it easier to unlock further STG Memories. Other nodes increase EXP gain, all pilot stats, and things of that nature.

STG Memories can really help build the power of your team (Image via Bandai Namco)

On top of that, you can simply use repeatable maps to grind over and over again, to catch up to certain pilots that may be lagging behind. A good example is that, despite liking them, I don’t really use the Majestic Prince characters.

They’re the focus of several side missions, so I found that I needed to put a bit of effort into them if I wanted to unlock all of their story. Through grinding and simply letting them hog kills, they leveled up nicely and fast. I appreciate that pretty much any mobile suit/mecha can be good in Super Robot Wars Y, whether it’s Zeta Gundam or L-Gaim.

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The massive amount of franchises available can make picking a dedicated team harder

There are simply so many things to see, do, and experience in this tactical strategy game (Image via Bandai Namco)

However, here’s where I started to run into a few things that frustrated me. I adore the cast of this game, don’t get me wrong. But every time I unlocked another character/mobile suit, I started to have a harder and harder time putting together a solid squad of characters that I just wanted to use. This isn’t truly a negative, but it can make decision-making frustrating.

Earlier games in the franchise had branching paths, where your party would split up, and do so early. This would give you a chance to pick what kinds of mobile suits you would focus on for the time being. I don’t know if this was the perfect way to structure the missions, but it did give your teams a bit more focus, I suppose.

There are simply so many franchises available in the game, before you even count the DLC characters that are on the way, like Kamen Rider W, Kamen Rider Skull, and Kamen Rider Accel. You really can’t go wrong, but some machines definitely have pros and cons.

With time and effort, any mobile suit can become a threat; some get there faster than others (Image via Bandai Namco)

The larger combining robots/changing robots (Combattler, Getter Robot Arc, et al), for example, have lots of armor and tons of health. They’re amazing tanks but really don’t dodge well at all.

If you’re looking for a mobile suit that’s going to evade lots of weak enemies, you want to consider suits like Burning Gundam, Guren Type Special, Tallgeese III, or Sazabi. Try not to get bogged down by the sheer glut of amazing suits and just run what you want to in the party.

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The visuals are improved over the last entry, but the continued lack of dubbing is disappointing

It would just be better with a dub, but I imagine that much chatter would take a significant amount of time (Image via Bandai Namco)

I understand why there probably isn’t a ton of voice-acted lines in Super Robot Wars Y; the game is very dialogue-heavy, as are previous games. However, I would be a liar if I said I didn’t think the game would be improved if the important cutscenes, at least, were voiced. Some characters never even speak; if they don’t have battle cutscenes, you’ll never hear their voice.

That said, the voice quality is exceptional, and the visuals are sharp and clean. I still love the combat cutscenes, though some of them take quite a while to complete.

Depending on what I’m doing in Super Robot Wars Y, I just shut those off, so I can get through some of the longer battles. Between this and a soundtrack that really takes mecha fans down memory lane, I cannot say enough good things about the presentation.

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Final thoughts

Super Robot Wars Y is without a doubt one of the best tactical experiences I've had this year (Image via Bandai Namco)

I am thrilled to see the SRW franchise continue to thrive in North America. Super Robot Wars Y is an incredibly fun game, and if you’re a fan of virtually any mobile suit/mecha franchise, there’s likely some love for you here. A solid, robust cast, quality turn-based combat, and tons of missions to complete, this will keep you busy for some time.

Fans of the Super Robot Wars franchise know exactly what they’re going to get, and Super Robot Wars Y definitely delivers on just that: fun, intense, tactical mobile suit battles. It may be more of a niche franchise in the West. Even if you’ve never played one before, this is great iteration to start with.

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Super Robot Wars Y

Super Robot Wars Y brings together an incredible cast of characters for tight, enjoyable strategy combat (Image via Bandai Namco & Sportskeeda)

• Platforms: PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC
• Reviewed on: PlayStation 5 (Code provided by Bandai Namco)
• Developer: Bandai Namco Forge Digitals
• Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
• Release Date: August 28, 2025