The white whale of Gundam games is finally happening
During a live stream this morning celebrating the upcoming 10th anniversary of theExtreme Vs.spinoff line, Bandai Namco dropped a bombshell. The previously arcade exclusiveMobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. Maxiboost Onwill be receiving a PlayStation 4 release, something many doubted would happen. Shortly afterward, the international branches of the company confirmed that the game would be releasing internationally this year as well.
You can check out the announcement trailer below.
If you’re wondering why this game has such a long name, that’s because this isn’t the first iteration.Extreme Vs. was the name of the original release in Japanese arcades in 2010, before receiving several major patches over the course of the decade. The final result,Maxiboost On, is kind of like ifStreet Fighter IVhad stayed in arcades until it reachedUltra Street Fighter IV.
The big upside of this means we effectively have a complete game, especially compared toGundam Versus. A grand total of 183 characters from 36 different entries will be playable, and since we already know the roster from its time in the arcade, you can see ithere. UnlikeVersus, almost every single animated work is present with the exception of theBuildseries andNarrative, along with multiple spinoffs such asCrossbone,SEED Astray, andHathaway’s Flash. If all the stages come over as well, then we’re looking at a total of 36, which can be seenhere.
While Bandai Namco was silent about other details for now, the official Japanese site did confirm an important feature that was present in the PlayStation 3 release ofFull Boostbut absent fromVersus. It supports up to two players locally, which means split-screen play for competitive and co-op options will likely be returning. Whether or not those two players can go online together remains to be seen. Either way, options are always a good thing
I have been waiting a long time for this, thinking it would never happen. It’s easily one of my most anticipated games for 2020 now, and even just the few details we have are already elevating it aboveVersus. Hopefully this momentum keeps going because this is everything I wanted to hear so far.
