2nd Super Robot Wars

2nd Super Robot Wars is the first Super Robot Wars title to have an actual plotline and had the larval form of what would become the modern SRW battle engine, though it clearly borrows a lot from the first game, in this regard.

It began what most fans term the "Classic Timeline", to wit, the "Divine Crusaders War" (or just the DC War) ias the focus of this game. Basically, some alien technology is discovered by a scientist named Bian Zoldark, who studies it and informs the world the crap that will fly unless they're prepared for the alien threat. Since he isn't taken seriously, he starts a war to jolt The Federation's attention. Enter the good guys, who wind up becoming part of SRW's first Xanatos Gambit. Oh, and the first of many Original Generation characters and mecha are featured.

Tropes used in 2nd Super Robot Wars include:

• Captain Ersatz (Believe it or not, Masaki and his Cybuster were not planned to be in this. The original plan was to include Aura Battler Dunbine, but that fell through for various reasons and Banpresto then came up with four Original Generation machines: Cybuster, Valsion, Granzon, and the Shurouga Shurouya. Three of these made it, but we're still waiting on the Shurouga Shurouya )
  • The Shurouga finally appears in Super Robot Wars Z
    • But it is not the same machine as the Shurouya. It's just a similar name.
• Cutscene Power to the Max (Subverted: at some point in the game, a mysterious robot appears and destroy a bunch of turrets in a single attack and leaves. Eventually, it joins your team. Not only can the player use that attack that hits all opponents in range without Mooks performing a counterattack, but the pilot can counter any opponent with it, with the bonus addition of having a cool firebird animation. And he can use it after moving, in both modes?! Game Breaker? No, not really...)
• Difficulty Spike (One scenario forces you to protect your battleship while it's doing its preparation for going into space. Mooks are coming in; no problem, just send your units to them...until said Mooks ignore them and go straight for the ship. In fact, they're slaughtering it. From this point on, it would be best to start using Spirit Commands)
• Fridge Logic Several things, mostly related to the Negative Continuity mentioned below.
• Negative Continuity (The defection of Reccoa Londe and the brainwashing of Four Murasame occur in this game. That's fine...until it happens AGAIN in the exact same manner for the sequel, and NO ONE mentions that it's happened before.)
  • Forget that: Elpeo Puru dies if you take the steps to recruit Puru 2, yet she's alive and kicking in Super Robot Wars 3, no worse for wear
• Necessarily Evil (Bian Zoldark)
• Nintendo Hard (For starters, no game over trick)
• Original Generation (Shu Shirakawa, Bian Zoldark and Masaki Andoh)
  • For the mecha, the Granzon, Valsion and Cybuster
• The Mole: Paptimus Scirroco. He tries to screw Bian over, but Shu informs him that Bian knows and has him kicked out of the DC. This is even retained in the sequel)
• Shout-Out (Cybuster's debut sequence (where its power is first displayed) is cut and pasted from this game to Super Robot Wars Original Generation)
• Wasted Song (Grendizer's theme is too long for its own good. Thankfully, you can fully listen to it when switching to Grendizer's battle mode)
• Xanatos Gambit (Bian states unless the heroes defeat him, they have no chance against the aliens. Sure enough, he's given a beating that ends with him dead, but he intended this was necessary in order for The Federation to better arm itself and for them to prepare for the impending invasion)
  • Slightly subverted, however, in that the organization Bian founds with the same goal as the heroes endures severe Motive Decay immediately when the sequel starts
  • Well, considering it was mostly made of the bad guys from the Gundam, Mazinger Z and Getter Robo series...