Hands On With Gundam Versus

The legendary Gundam Versus series will finally make its way out of Japan in the form of the aptly titled Gundam Versus for PS4. Siliconera was able to get some hands on time in a 1P VS COM demo with the Unicorn, Barbatos, and Deathscythe Hell Gundams to dig a bit deeper into the new key mechanics.

These mechanics boil down to three systems that have appeared in some form in previous titles but have been greatly overhauled for Gundam Versus.

-Blaze and Lightning Gear

-Dash down cancel

-Striker assists

The Gear system replaces the classic burst mechanic that has been in the series since the inception. After filling up a gauge, using Gear places your Gundam into a specialized "Overdrive" state. Blaze focuses on raw power and speed and is suitable for close range combat, whereas Lightning Gear enhanced ranged attack abilities such as increasing the lock on distance for shooting attacks. In addition, Bandai-Namco noted that on activation Blaze would restore the ammo and Lightning would restore the boost of your teammate, but we were not able to test this out in our 1P demo.

The next major change that we tried out was the ability to dash downwards in addition to the left, right, and up directions from previous games. While seemingly not a big deal, this mechanic focuses on the fact that the boost gauge will only recharge when your Mobile Suit is on the ground. Previously, players had to let gravity take its course in order to get to the ground for boost meter recharge. What this new down dash mechanic means is that players now not only have a new direction to dodge, but can greatly increase their overall movement and pacing of matches now that they can control their boost gauge recharge more consistently.

The final major mechanic brings an updated version of the Striker system last seen in Gundam vs. Gundam on the PSP. Strikers temporarily calls out a selected Mobile Suit to assist the player with a variety of offensive and defensive support moves. Unlike your normal moves, Strikers can only be used a set amount of times per match and depend on the selected unit.

Like the Gear system, the Strikers themselves are divided into two types; Fighting (Melee) and Shooting (Not Melee). Players can unlock new Striker units by completing certain objectives. In the playable build, the Zeta Gundam Striker could be unlocked by reaching Mobile Suit level 1 for both the Hyaku-Shiki and Methuss and then paying a set GP cost.

A representative from Bandai Namco noted that while in previous iterations of the Gundam VS series, units like the God (Burning) Gundam and Master Gundam had assists as a built in move, they wanted to standardize this mechanic across the board as new combinations would promote more interesting matches.

Additionally, Striker units are completely separate from the playable Mobile Suits, so for instance while there is a playable and Striker version of the Zeta Gundam, a unit like the Ball only exists as a Striker. So even though your favorite unit isn’t playable, it’s possible that it exists as a Striker. A final tidbit we learned was that the servers would not be region restricted, so "technically" a player from Japan would be able to be in the same pool as an American player.

This hand of yours will be able to glow with an awesome power when Gundam Versus releases this fall.