In science fiction, mecha or mechs are giant robots or machines typically depicted as piloted and as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese after shortening the English loanword 'mechanism' or 'mechanical', but the meaning in Japanese is more inclusive, and 'robot' or 'giant robot' is the narrower term.
Mega Man is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise developed and published by Capcom, featuring the eponymous protagonist of the same name. The original game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, and spawned a franchise that expanded to over 50 games on multiple systems. As of July 2024, the series has sold 42 million units worldwide. Mega Man has been popular among gamers and has been reimagined and evolved as a video game character for over 30 years.
BattleBots is an American robot combat television series and company. The show is an adaptation of the American Robot Wars competitions hosted in the mid–late 1990s by Marc Thorpe, in which competitors design and operate remote-controlled armed and armored machines designed to fight in an arena combat elimination tournament. The same competitions inspired the British TV program Robot Wars, which acquired the name in 1995.
Robot Wars is a British robot combat television series created by Tom Gutteridge and Stephen Carsey which aired from 1998 to 2004 and from 2016 to 2018. The series involves teams of amateur and professional roboteers operating remote controlled robots to fight against each other in an arena, which features hazards and the heavier "House Robots" which are hostile to all combatants. The first two series also included assault and trial courses.
The Autobots are a fictional faction of sentient robots in the Transformers multimedia franchise. The Autobots are living robots from the planet Cybertron who, like most Transformers, are each imbued with a unique "life force" known as a "spark." Led by Optimus Prime in most stories, the Autobots believe "freedom is the right of all sentient life" and are often engaged in a civil war with the Decepticons, a faction of transformers dedicated to military conquest and usually headed by Megatron. In a mirror universe portrayed in Transformers: Shattered Glass, the Autobots are villains opposed by the heroic Decepticons.
Super Robot Wars, known in Japan as Super Robot Taisen, is a series of Japanese tactical role-playing video games produced by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Banpresto. Starting out as a spinoff of the Compati Hero series, the main feature of the franchise is having a story that crosses over several popular mecha anime, manga and video games, allowing characters and mecha from different titles to team up or battle one another. The first game in the franchise was released for the Game Boy on April 20, 1991. Later spawning numerous games that were released on various consoles and handhelds. Due to the nature of crossover games and licensing involved, only a few games have been released outside Japan, and in English; Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation and its sequel were the first of these in 2006. The franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016, and its 30th anniversary in 2021, and Super Robot Wars 30 was also released overseas.
One Must Fall: 2097 is a fighting video game for all IBM-compatible computers on DOS, programmed by Diversions Entertainment, published by Epic MegaGames and released in October 1994. The game was later patched to include multiplayer support. In February 1999, the game was declared freeware by the developers. A sequel titled One Must Fall: Battlegrounds was released in 2003.
Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals is a 1999 3D fighting game based on the Transformers: Beast Wars cartoon series and toy-line for the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. Each version features different mechanics and playable characters.
Robot Wars: Arenas Of Destruction is a 2001 action game published by BBC Multimedia and released for the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows, based on the BBC television series, Robot Wars. It was the first of the company's titles to be released under the "Gamezlab" core brand.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Konami. It was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in February 2013, Windows and OS X in January and September 2014, and Nvidia Shield TV in January 2016. It is a spin-off in the Metal Gear series, set four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It features returning Metal Gear character Raiden as he confronts a private military company that intends to destabilize peaceful nations for profit. The gameplay focuses on fighting enemies using a sword and other weapons to perform combos and counterattacks. Through the use of "Blade Mode", Raiden can dismember enemies in slow motion and steal health items from their bodies. The series' usual stealth elements are also optional, serving as a means to avoid combat. Two downloadable content chapters were also released set before the games' beginning centered around Raiden's enemies.
Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction is an action game developed by Climax Development and published by BBC Multimedia under their game development label Gamezlab in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows and Xbox. It was given a release in the run-up to Christmas to build on the success of the three previous games, which had sold over 250,000 copies.
Sonic Free Riders is a motion controlled racing video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Xbox 360. The game requires the use of Microsoft's Kinect peripheral and was a Kinect launch title in November 2010.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! is a 2010 puzzle-platform game developed by Nintendo Software Technology for the Nintendo DS. The game was released in North America on November 14, 2010 and is the fourth entry in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series.
Transformers: Beast Wars is an entertainment franchise from Hasbro and is part of the larger Transformers franchise. The franchise directly follows the Transformers: Generation 1 continuity established by the 1984 series and animated film. It ignores the continuity established by the Japanese Transformers series, though this franchise would have two exclusive Japanese series of its own. Before Beast Wars, Hasbro had attempted to relaunch the original toys and animation as Transformers: Generation 2. Hasbro intended another franchise titled Transtech to follow which would've combined Beast Wars and Generation 1 characters and aesthetics, but this was canceled. Instead, the franchise began a series of reboots, beginning with the Japanese-produced Transformers: Car Robot series, internationally known as Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction is the third video game based on the British game show Robot Wars. It was the third of four games based on the show, with the first three selling over 250,000 copies. It was developed by Crawfish Interactive and published by BBC Multimedia and was released exclusively for the Game Boy Advance in 2001. It was also released in the US by Vivendi Universal Games. The game is based on Series 4 of Robot Wars.
Super Robot Wars XO is a 2006 tactical role-playing video game developed and published by Banpresto for the Xbox 360 in Japan. Part of the company's Super Robot Wars series, it is an updated version of the GameCube installment Super Robot Wars GC (2004). Players control a fleet of mechas from a variety of super robot anime series, including Mobile Suit Gundam and Getter Robo, to defeat opponents on a grid-based map. XO combines tactical role-playing game mechanics with action sequences, which use stylized anime-esque cutscenes unique for each character.
Cubix: Robots for Everyone: Race 'n Robots is a 2001 racing game developed by Blitz Games and published by The 3DO Company, based on the Cubix: Robots for Everyone television series.
