Bandai Namco held a newSuper Robot Warsstreamon August 21, revealing the new Crossing Pilot event in mobile gacha gameSRW DD. This time, it’sSuper Robot WarsOriginal Character Masaki Andoh pilotingAura Battler Dunbine’s Bilbine. Masaki and his mecha Cybsaster (or whatever you like to spell it) are among the first original characters and mecha created by Banpresto for theSuper Robot Warsseries.Cybaster overall looks very similar to the Aura Battlers, and the setting of Masaki’s own game,Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Masoukishin The Lord of Elemental, is quite similar to theDunbineanime series directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino. One rumor that’s been going for over 29 years, since the beginning of theSRWseries, is that Banpresto initially wanted to useAura Battler Dunbinein the early games beforeSRW EX, but couldn’t, and made Masaki and Cybaster as a bootleg version of sorts. This is the kind of thing that’s actually written on Japanese sites rather than more flimsy “sources” like TV Tropes, so many actually believed it.Super Robot WarsProducer Takanobu Terada revealed on stream it wasn’t the case at all. Shockingly. Even Japanese fans on the Niconico comments were absolutely shocked.
This is all part of the 1st birthday celebrations forSuper Robot Wars DD. Granzon piloted by Shu Shirakawa will also be added. A Getter-looking mecha was also teased and will be revealed in the next few days.Update:Terada later said on stream it’s the Getter Noire, that was first made and added inSRW Cross Omegaa few days ago.
After the trailer was revealed, Masaki’s seiyuu Hikaru Midorikawa aka Greenriver Light also joined the stream as a surprise guest. We’ll add more comments from Terada and Greenriver to this article very soon. The stream just ended and we’ll cover it fully in another article.
Update: Super Robot Wars Producer Takanobu Terada explained how this crossover happened:
The first Crossing Pilot event inSRW DDwasAmuro Ray in Mazinger Z.The second one went even further withCode Geass' Zero / Lelouch in the custom madeWing Gundam Zero Rebellion. After that crazy stunt, they were wondering how to do something even crazier.Super Robot Wars EXwas the first game that includedAura Battler Dunbine, with Masaki Andoh and Dunbine protagonist Shou Zama interacting. Looking back at the game,SRW DDProducer Red had the idea “what if we added Bilbine using the Discutter, Cybaster’s sword?”.
Bilbine and Cybuster are actually very different in size, with Bilbine being much smaller. As such, the Discutter used by Masaki in Bilbine is smaller than the actual one, but still much bigger than Bilbine itself, making it look pretty cool.
Hikaru Midorikawa said he was really hyped when he first heard about the event and shared some fun stories from his younger days. He watchedDunbineback when it was airing, when he was still at school. He used to be in his school’s archery club, and would often stay pretty late. So he’d rush home on his bicycle to be on time forDunbine.Sometimes it was raining and he’d fall on the road pretty badly, but kept going forDunbine. Greenriver also mentioned he really loves Ciela Lapana and once got an autograph from her seiyuu Miki Takahashi.
The scenario for the event was written by Masahiko Sakata, the scenarist ofMasoukishin. He’s the one who decided to do stuff like Masaki using Prana, the spiritual energy inMasoukishinand La Gias, instead of the Aura ofDunbine’sworld Byton Well. Masaki also says “Prana Slash” parodying the “Aura Slash” ofDunbine.
Dunbinefairy Cham will be in the story too, though she’s not in Bilbine with Masaki, unlike when Shou is piloting it. Masaki’s cat familiars Shiro and Kuro, who usually pilot Cybaster together with him, aren’t in Bilbine’s cockpit either. Though they’ll appear in the story as well. Terada said the event’s story is similar to what they did inSRW EX.
Last but not least, they showed off a Discutter toy, with Greenriver wielding it and mixing up some of his famous dialogue lines in a really cool way. Terada and Bandai Namco asked Hobby Japan to make it for the stream. It’s not planned to be sold for now. Terada said he’d really like to sell it as a real toy, and asked fans to show their enthusiasm for it to Hobby Japan on Twitter.
