Ring of Red

Not to be confused with that problem your Xbox 360 has hanging over its head.

What would happen if Japan never surrendered after the American dropped the nuclear bomb? And if Germans developed Humongous Mecha? This is explored at the action-strategy game Ring of Red. The American-led forces, following Operation Downfall, and the Soviets invade Japan from Hokkaido and after much fighting, the Soviets annexed Hokkaido, renaming to Vastokayask. After that, the Korean War is simply reallocated to Japan, which is divided into South Japan, capitalist, and North Japan, communist. The plot takes place in 1964 with Masami von Weizegger and Ryoko Minakawa, two South Japanese test pilots who end up charged with recovering a stolen prototype mech.

The mechas, named Armored Fighting Walkers (AFW), as Miguel Lopez from Gamespot says, "Unlike the lithe, sleek mechs that we've come to associate with the genre, Ring of Red's cumbersome, gas-powered mechs aren't graceful in the least. They're heavy machinery, first and foremost, no more deft than a six-ton crane or a Ferris wheel." They had replaced tanks as primary land-warfare vehicle, for harsh terrains, like the Japanese territory (Fridge Brilliance?).

Tropes used in Ring of Red include:

• Abnormal Ammo: Crews give their vehicles options to load specific ammo. In most cases, this is normal: they simply load the shell into the main gun and let the pilot fire. In some cases, however, the AFW's gun is not a breech loader; as a result, the crews make do by loading the ammo into a signal flare gun and shot them directly. This includes incendiary shrapnel, poison gas, and armor piercing rounds strong enough to damage other AFWs.
• Action Girl: Ryoko, Ayana and about half the infantry in the game.
• Alternate History: Aside from what's mentioned in the summary above, Nazi Germany invents Humongous Mecha in the latter days of WWII.
• Anachronism Stew: Female front-line troopers in 1960's Japanese and Soviet forces. Not even for the usual reasons, given that they wear the same uniforms as the guys.
• Anti-Villain: Kaiho, Minakawa and the Loyal N. J. Army.
• Arm Cannon: The distinguishing visual feature of Medium AFWs.
• Awesome Yet Practical: Kinasato and his infantry, if properly specced, can be frighteningly effective at killing the enemy's infantry.
• Badass Grandpa: Ippei and Minakawa.
• Batman Gambit: The reason why Dora was hijacked was because Minakawa wanted to use it as a means of getting Japanese in North/South Japan to get rid of Soviet and American-led troops in both countries and reunite the divided nations.
• Better Than It Sounds: Especially because of the translation.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ayana is a sweet, polite girl, but she has a big 4-Leg AFW.
• The Big Guy: John Caster and his "Little John".
• Bittersweet Ending
• Bolivian Army Ending
• But Not Too Foreign: Masami von Weizegger, half-Japanese, half-German.
• Casanova Wannabe: Again, Emilio.
• Character Development: Masami is a egoistic novice who learns to care with others as the story progress.
• Chicken Walker: Light AFW's. One model even looks like a giant mechanical chicken.
• Cool Gun: The light AFW's crewmen fire their special rounds (whether they are shrapnel, incendiary shrapnel, chemical agents, armor piercing rounds, etc) into a humble signal flare gun. They're just as effective when the crews manning bigger guns load them via shells.
• Didn't See That Coming: Streifen betrayed the unit, saying to them to "die an honourable death" as the last mission. Guess what? They failed miserably to accomplish his orders.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Jun is mistaken for a girl several times in-story.
• Embarrassing First Name: Masami hates his Japanese first name, so he asks his comrades to call him "Weizegger" instead.
• Former Regime Personnel: Schreigen and Rodriguez were both AFW specialists for Nazi Germany given amnesty by the Western Allies for their technical expertise, similar to Wernher von Braun in Real Life.
• Funny Foreigner: Emilio.
• Gundamjack: This is what starts our story off.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rodriguez, who always bossing everyone, but always cares with their safety
• La Résistance: The North Japan Liberation Front. Also the pro-communist guerrillas Masami and company face in South Japan-based missions.
• The Mario: Medium AFWs are able to fight well with their guns as well as mix it up in close combat (though not as well as Anti-AFWs).
• A Mech by Any Other Name: Armored Fighting Walkers (AFWs).
• Mighty Glacier: Heavy AFWs.
• Military Mashup Machine: The Dora in the game, IS the real Dora, captured by the Americans, who gave it a BFG. It's basically a land-battleship.
• More Dakka: The "Rapid Fire" and "Cooperation" Infantry skills.
• Nerves of Steel: Kinasato.
• Nintendo Hard
• Nonchalant Dodge: The "Quick Move" Max skill allows you to do this. Used mostly by light AFW pilots (the only medium AFW pilot who uses is Kaiho).
• Putting on the Reich: Played with; South Japanese infantry unit uniforms look very similar to WWII German uniforms, but they're not the bad guys.
• Real Robot Genre: Early AFW designs were postponed due to poor leg workings. Crippling the legs are important to the point of Lampshading; there are no less than four infantry techniques for crippling them (two different types of landmines, tying them down with high-tension cables, and frying them with electric shocks), and the targeting computer, when allowed to calculate 99.99 accuracy, invariably hits the legs.
• Screw the Rules, I Have a Nuke
• Spider Tank: 4-Leg AFW.
• Super Move Portrait Attack: Happens whenever someone uses a Maximum skill.
• Super Prototype: One gets stolen from you by Kaiho during the prologue missions.
• Turn-Based Strategy
• Walking Tank: In fact, many of the AFW designs are based on specific WWII tank designs. Jun's AFW, for example, is based on the M3 Stuart while one of the North Japanese Anti-AFWs is clearly modeled on the Soviet SU-85 self-propelled gun.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy: Masami.