Juggles and jiggles. These two words sum up the stand-out elements of ridiculously-named Super Robot Taisen Original Generation Saga: Endless Frontier, although the “Original Generation” is abbreviated as “OG” on the box cover in a futile attempt to shorten the stream of word-absurdity, or possibly make an RPG about anime blow-up sex-doll robots sound gangsta.
The lack of titular restraint bleeds through into the gameplay in ways not found in the average RPG. First, there are the juggles. While the game follows the standard system of having your party of characters standing on the right side of the screen with the enemies on the left, and everyone taking turns attacking, using skills, or consuming potions, the actual combat resembles a fighting game. Each character has a meter called COM that starts off at 100%. Each attack depletes the meter by some percent, allowing a character to continue stringing together a combo until the meter depletes entirely.
A single attack consists of several elaborate hits, be it with punches, kicks, or missiles (usually a combination of all three). A single tap of the A button begins your first attack, but proper timing of more A button taps initiates follow-up attacks that can increase your effectiveness. Every attack sends the enemy into the air, so timing the next attack so it hits the enemy before they touch the ground allows for a continuous juggle. It’s sort of like playing volleyball, except with poor saps being pummeled. If the enemy does touch the ground, the combo starts over and you’ll cause less damage.
Another option is to cancel your combo early, resulting in less damage. However, this builds your super-move meter faster. This super meter, unlike COM, builds from zero up to 100%, and is shared by the entire party. Once full, you can unleash your ultra-extremo combo that involves a detailed hand-drawn version of your character showing off on top of the action. Since the meter is shared by the party, you can choose to hold off on using it so you can pick which character you want to use the super combo with. In our hands-on time we couldn’t tell if there was any actual strategy to this, or you just choose your super based on how cool you think it looks.
