Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs. Zeon

The Gundam franchise is without a doubt deeply embedded in Japanese culture.

What once started out as an anime series forged by entertainment giant Bandai turned into one of the biggest science fiction franchises the world knows today with multiple video games, movies, thousands of different toys, and even multiple statues of Gundam robots including a life-sized version in Odaiba, Tokyo.

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But how can individual gems stand out from this pile of merchandise with a cult following? Very simple actually: they’re all gems that shine on their own. There’s nothing really bad about Gundam, yet we picked one favorite game which has been stuck in our memories since the franchise's early 2000s release : Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs. Zeon.

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Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs. Zeon started out as an Arcade game for the Sega NAOMI (New Arcade Operation Machine Idea) Arcade System but later got ported to both Sony Playstation 2 and Sega Dreamcast due to its peak popularity, its expansion to different platforms gamers outside of Japan was finally able to discover this amazing game. It was also the first entry in the Mobile Suit Gundam VS series, with many more games to follow.

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The game takes place during the One Year War, the most essential and also first major war in Gundam history between the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation.

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Players could choose from just over 30 Mobile Suits and partake in epic battles between the two archenemies, whether in single-player or multiplayer. The fact that there are dedicated online servers for the Sega Dreamcast where people play online surviving to this day shows the profound impact of the game. The perfect balancing and precisely tuned pacing in combat create an addictive experience like no other.

For anyone looking for some fresh PS2-era titles, this is definitely not one to miss.