Part 40: Mission 11 (Japan Route) – Clash of the Devils - Part 1
Mission 11 (Japan Route) – Clash of the Devils
Professor Yumi and Tetsuya have now realized that Dr. Hell's true assault is aimed at the Photon Power Lab.
Still, Shirou roots for Tetsuya to take revenge for Kouji and he’s certainly eager to do so, with maybe a little help from Sayaka, Boss and his stooges (Mucha and Nuke).
Jun informs that the Feds and JSDF will not be helping, as they’re being held up by other platoons of mechabeasts; regardless, Tetsuya asks the mechabeasts to come and get destroyed by him and Great Mazinger.
Nothing we haven’t seen before. Those Garadas and Doublas are the same as ever but we don’t really want to walk over to them.
It’s best to park our guys inside the Photon Lab and hold on for a bit.
Enemy Phase!
All mooks get closer and the only enemy that gets to attack is this Doublas that goes for Boss.
Don’t fuck with Boss!
Player Phase!
Wärter shows up on turn 2 and Bless offers our help.
Sayaka quickly explains to Boss what our squad is and Prof. Yumi thanks us for our assistance.
Kazuma doesn't want any thanks, since he's planning to repay the bad guys a billion-thousand-fold for what they did to Kouji
Kurz points out that that's not a number and figures the kid oughta go back to school.
Tetsuya asks for the name of the Trailer kid and, when Kazuma gives it, says he feels the same
Things are looking up already. Let’s have Kazuma run over to soften one of them Garadas.
Not bad shootin’, son.
Sousuke can sashay over and get rid of it with some help from Sayaka.
I’ll never get used to the boob-missiles.
Now, Tetsuya gets to show off his Rocket Fisticuffs.
Aw, I was hoping for a crit…
Sayaka can finish the job, though.
Everyone else comes closer and that’s it.
Enemy Phase!
They start getting closer and a Garada tries his luck with Tetsuya.
A Doublas snipes at Golion and takes some missiles for his trouble.
Tetsuya doesn’t have a support defense anymore; still, it’s a Mazinger so he’ll be fine (and he’ll regen most of it back from the Photon Lab).
Finally, this Doublas decides to snipe at Kazuma.
Player Phase!
Akito thinks things are going quite well and that victory is in sight; Sousuke doesn’t think so, since, like any good international terrorists should do, there ought to be reinforcements waiting.
As soon as Akito says Sousuke’ll jinx us saying that, the reinfocements appear; still, it’s just another batch of the same mechabeasts and Ryouko isn’t impressed.
Right then, Carret detects something else entering the area.
But something else shows up, which looks surprisingly like the Mazinger; Yumi can scarcely believe his eyes: it's Mazinkaiser, which wasn't even supposed to be completed yet!
Jun can tell from the fear in Yumi's voice that something big is going down, and, despite Boss’ attempts to get in touch with the pilot of this new “demon”, no answer is returned.
Mazinkaiser starts busily destroying its surroundings but Yurika doesn’t understand why the pilot would do that.
Cue Ines getting on the comm to drop exposition, saying that it’s apparently the work of some kind of self-preservation system that triggers in the event that the pilot becomes incapacitated - otherwise known as a heartless god of destruction.
There’s no time for figuring that out, as Mazinkaiser is rampaging towards the Lab.
All this delights Baron Ashura, who is glad to see the symbol of your hope turned against you – now, our very own Photon Power Lab will be destroyed by it!
He is surprised that “Mazinger” returned after being destroyed but figures, if it’s going to attack us, it doesn’t matter - he orders his troops to support Mazinkaiser.
However, yet another interloper appears to prevent the Photon Power Lab from getting trashed.
It’s high speed quickly blocks Mazinkaiser’s path and Akito recognizes Getter Robo, however it looks much different from the data in Prospector’s banks.
Ryouma yells to Tetsuya that he'll stop this Mazinkaiser with Shin Getter, who Yumi recognizes as the greatest power to counter the greatest threat.
Certainly, this new Getter seems vastly greater than the previous one on all fronts and the three pilots feel the difference.
Baron Ashura is not impressed and orders his troops to destroy it along with everything else.
Ryouma yells at him/her to shut up, saying that once the Kaiser is stopped, he’ll show him Shin Getter’s power.
Bless tells us to halt Mazinkaiser’s advance and prevent it from reaching the Photon Lab – Ryouma tells Kaiser that if he’ll become a demon of destruction, Shin Getter will stop him.
All that’s good but the Kaiser is still rather far away. It’s best to stand back here and keep building morale.
Kazuma takes this chance to chain his Heat Edge Exploder through a full health Garada and into a weakened one.
That smarty-pants Doublas is gonna get an earful from Big Daddy.
Thank you, Bless.
Everyone grabs a level and Horis learns Vigor.
Golion moves in to punt that Garada out of his misery while Mao weakens the last full-health Doublas…
I try to give Sousuke a kill but he lets me down…
Kurz could move over but that’s not what he does, is it? We’ll get him closer with Hit & Away.
Good man.
Now, let’s take this chance to show off Tetsuya’s Thunder Break in its full glory.
Akito swoops in and nabs another kill with that Garada.
Not a whole lot of mooks down below to kill we might as well send the Nadesico girls up to the main group. Ryouko has the opening salvo.
Sadly, the enemy’s rather far away and the Rapid Rifle is the best attack she could use.
Sadly, Hikaru and Izumi aren’t enough to finish the job.
Downstairs, Sayaka takes the remaining mook.
Also, here’s a quick look at the Shin Getter Robo:
It’s the first combining mecha team and also a major glass cannon as it’s meant to dodge but it’ll need a lot of upgrades to do so reliably.
W does cut it a bit of slack by giving It the “Open Get” ability which acts like Double Image (when above 130 morale, 30% chance to instantly dodge the attack, mitigated by the Skill stat) and Hayato does learn Focus eventually.
Shin Getter has three forms: Getter 1 (the one it’s currently in) has the highest damage potential and flies but has horrible defenses and drinks EN like no one’s business; Hayato’s Getter 2 is land-based but higher movement and mobility and consumes much less EN (this being the preferred form against mooks).
Finally, Benkei has Getter 3 which is the less useful of the three: it’s meant for water combat which is rare in this game but it is the bulkiest of the Getter forms (it likes to chug EN but not as much as Getter 1).
My rule of thumb for Getter has always been: Getter 1 for Bosses, 2 for mooks and 3 for annoying underwater enemies.
Keep an eye when sending them against big packs before you’ve had a chance at upgrading their survivability.
With my requisite wall-o’-text, let’s have Ryouma tag the Mazinkaiser with a Getter Beam.
After the first fight with Mazinkaiser, our people have a better idea of how tough it is – still Ryouma figures Shin Getter will be able to stop it; at Yumi’s behest, Jun taps into Kaiser’s inner circuits and they see that Kouji in the pilot's seat!
But he seems to be unconscious and isn’t listening to any of his friends cries to wake up – which means Mazinkaiser will continue berserked
We can’t well destroy it now that we know who’s inside, so the plan is to smack him around enough to wake him up, much like Sayaka did when he was late getting up for school.
Enemy Phase!
That weakened Doublas decides to pull a suicide run.
Aside from it, both another Doublas and Garada went after Ryouko and got blasted.
Izumi also gets targeted and weakens the Doublas some.
Ashura tries sniping at Izumi but he’s not really accurate.
Mazinkaiser inches forward some more and goes for Kurz.
Not bad.
Not bad at all. One more level and Strike.
Player Phase!
Let’s get working on weakening Kaiser. Akito has first dibs.
Son of a bitch…*Special reload powers GO!
*
It actually hit me that I could’ve had Kazuma assist if he was in Airforce mode.
Good.
Into Cross-Combat mode, Kazuma steps forward to slice the Mazinkaiser with some help from Kurz.
Good job.
Ooh, very nice. Kazuma and Mihiro get a level, Kazuma learns Fighting Spirit (100% chance to crit on the next attack, remember) and gets 1 extra level on his Multicombo.
He can now chain-attack 3 targets !
Golion is next in line with some help from Sousuke. I had Suzuishi cast Alert/Flash just to be on the safe side.
Nearly there.
Sousuke, Kurz and Mao are all next to each other, so you know what that means.
Turns out that Ryouma and Tetsuya have lines for Kouji; of course, those lines only play once you actually know that it’s him inside Kaiser.
Since I didn’t have them attack him again, here they are:
-Ryouma Vs. Mazinkaiser-
: Shin Getter's duty is to keep control of Mazinkaiser...: But Kouji...this isn't the real battle for either Getter or Kaiser!: So we're going to get you and Kaiser back!-Tetsuya Vs. Mazinkaiser-
: Wake up, Kouji! You're going to let Mazinger be a destroyer!: If you don't open your eyes, I... I'll have to destroy Mazinkaiser!
Reduce Mazinkaiser to 30% of its HP and, despite Sayaka, Boss and Shirou’s yelling, Kouji still won't wake up - he will however breach your defenses and start pounding the lab (Cheater!).
Tetsuya charges after him and tries to restrain Mazinkaiser but he also gets attack, and it is starting to look like your only option is to destroy it.
Akatsuki agrees with Shirogane, saying that we cannot afford to lose the Photon Power Lab but Akito is less willing: how can we wreck this super robot of justice?!
Sousuke points out that machines aren't inherently good or evil - it all depends on how they're used.
Ashura closes in and further encourages Mazinkaiser's rampage, beseeching it to destroy the lab.
Tetsuya bellows to Kouji that he's already self-destructed Mazinger once rather than have it become a devil; will he now allow that to happen anyway?!
It was Kouji’s iron will that protected them before and asks him to recover the righteousness in his heart – such is the duty of a Mazinger pilot!
Ashura tries to cut this speech short, but…
Kouji wakes up in the nick of time and counters Ashura's attack.
While Ashura’s staggered, he calls Tetsuya over to finish him off with their Double Burning Fire.
Kouji is back and in apparently good health, promising to make up for his absence.
He’s glad to see Ryouma and his new Getter and asks for their help in teaching Ashura a lesson.
However, all the reintroductions will have to wait – seeing that the Galra are making their entrance too.
It seems they’ve already reached Earth and Sadak is here on Dr. Hell orders, to make sure the assault is successful.
Akito and the Golion team are aghast at the team-up of the evil parties but Sousuke says it makes sense, all things considered.
Sadak recommends to Ashura that he flee before his unit explodes but Ashura proclaims that he'll be damned if he needs help from some crappy aliens...
...and his Ghoul indeed explodes.
But from out of the flaming wreckage steps what Dr. Hell did with the remains of Mazinger Z.
Ashura tells Kouji to behold his Ashuramazinger and DESPAIR, as his power will surely rival Mazinkaiser’s.
All this accomplishes is making Kouji truly pissed off that they’ve corrupted his Mazinger life that, turning it into such a twisted creature; he vows to personally tear Ashura out of the cockpit.
Ryouma is right with him, seeing how Mazinkaiser is back in control, Shin Getter will continue his duties by defending Earth, while Kogane tells Sadak that his evil soldiers are no match for the strength of our hearts.
Sadak calls his bluff, claiming our whole planet in the name of the Galra Empire and Dai Bazaal.
Mazinkaiser get!
Come next update, we’ll see just how much of a powerhouse it is (especially when working with Tetsuya).
Also, I maaaaaay change Getter's BGM to make a Go Nagai reference come full circle!
Thanks for watching.