Hoping to make your life's design a bit more dynamic!

The progress on this game seems to be sneaking up quietly and quickly. Hopefully the technical challenges will not be too difficult to take care of since Filler has done this so quickly. I wonder how Gideon Zhi is doing on his own Aretha game?

I'm sure we'll know in due time, as he has his space in the board.
A timely release of both our patch for Aretha II and his for Aretha I would be quite nifty don't you think?
(he is working on the first Aretha right?)

No, he's working on a spinoff game.
Nobody's working on Aretha I (or the 3 Game Boy games).

Wait a minute, aren't you working on Areth 1? I remember giving you or some one else debugger access to Aretha 1. Hmm, I can't remember these days... I guess I'll have to do it then.

Yes, if no one is seriously doing Aretha-I, it seems to be a given. Plus, I have the SFC cart here and the manual already scanned, I think...

Yeah, Rejoice is a Gaiden. Doll shows up, as does Howard, but the connections are otherwise tenuous. I think. I don't really know too much about the series as a whole.

(Rejoice is also an action/rpg. It shares an engine with... it was either La Wares or Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight.)

Shares the engine with Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight. Burning Heroes, Gran Historia and La Wares share engines.

Gideon: This is off topic but I was having a conversation with someone about the Super Robot Wars games. Since I enjoyed Queen's Blade so much I was thinking of checking one out. I'm not a huge robot fan but I like Eva and Gundam well enough. Nadesico is also one of my favorite shows ever, a real contender if I had to pick a "best ever". Have you played many of the SRW games? Do you have any suggestions for one to play? (I forgot about Macross too. Definitely like Macross)

BTW: If you want me to translate Aretha I you'll have to give me a year or two breather here.

Okay, this is *way* more information than you asked for.

There are several decent places to start, and several stand-alone games. Here are the recommended entry points:

Super Robot Wars Gaiden (SNES/DS) - Originals only. Takes the story of Masaki Ando and the La Gias crew. Masaki, Shuu Shirakawa, and Lune Zoldark (and by extension, Bian Zoldark, but he doesn't show up in Gaiden) are really the first three "original" characters in SRW, and the various elements of their plot are told throughout many of the earlier SRWs up through Alpha Gaiden. There is some speculation that the La Gias peeps may be making a comeback; in SRW Z a year or two ago, a mysterious character named Asakim showed up in a robot that looks suspiciously like a sleeker black version of Masaki's Elemental.

Super Robot Wars Original Generation 1+2+Gaiden (GBA, PS2) - Again, originals only. OG1 really tells two stories; the first half deals with the general plot from SRW 2 (Bian Zoldark creates an organization called the Divine Crusaders which builds up an army to fight off a potential alien threat, but in doing so basically declares war on a number of other international organizations as well) while the second half deals with the general plot from SRW Alpha (the Aerogater invasion - the actual alien invasion that Bian was concerned about.) It also lets you experience the story from two different perspectives, but I only really have experience with the SRX route (Ryusei) and can't comment on the ATX folks (Kyosuke.) OG 2's plot deals primarily with a mixture of the SRW3 story (alien "inspectors" evaluating our planet for life in an intergalactic climate, and finding us to be too violent so they try to eliminate us), the Alpha Gaiden story (I'm not sure how this works in, exactly), and the Advance story (something about an alternate world.) OG 1 and 2 were released in English on the GBA, but you might get better mileage out of the much prettier PS2 compilation release which is unfortunately Japanese only.

Super Robot Wars Alpha (PS1) - Alpha is the start of a four-part continuity. Some prior knowledge of the included series is useful, but not necessary. Pack-ins include multiple flavors of Gundam alongside Eva, Giant Robo, Gunbuster, original Macross, and Dunbine, from what I can vaguely recall. Note that there is a Dreamcast version of this, but the load times are reportedly atrocious and everything's rendered in bad 3D. You should probably avoid that version.

I do *NOT* recommend starting with the original numbered series, at least not until you've cut your teeth on some of the newer ones. The old SRWs are balls-to-the-wall hard, and SRW4 is really the first one to implement counterattack strategy decisions on a per-unit basis (instead of a single generic order given to your entire army.) There are PS1 remakes of the oldschool SRWs, but they're *still* incredibly tough. Wendolo in particular (SRW3) is still one of the most-feared enemies in the entire series.

Similarly, I also do *NOT* recommend starting with any of the games on a post-SNES Nintendo home console. The N64, Gamecube, and Wii unfortunately got the more experimental SRW titles, while the PS1, PS2, GBA, and DS got the more traditional ones.

The following games are considered the primary canon:
SRW Alpha, SRW Alpha Gaiden, SRW Alpha 2, SRW Alpha 3.
SRW 2, SRW 3, SRW EX, SRW 4 [SRW F/F Final], SRW Gaiden.
SRW Gaiden happens in two parts. The first half takes place before the rest of the series, while the second takes place after (I think.) F and F Final, for PS1, retconned SRW 4 out of the official continuity. Further, there is some speculation that SRW Z is the beginning of an entirely new continuity, but Banpresto has not yet announced a Z2.

The following games constitute loose continuities:
SRW Compact, SRW Compact 2-1 2-2 2-3 [SRW Impact], SRW Compact 3
SRW Impact, SRW MX
SRW J, SRW K, SRW L (upcoming)
SRW A(dvance) and SRW 64 fit in there somewhere with Impact as well, I think, but I'm not completely sure of that. MX, I think, was originally supposed to be Impact 2, but somewhere along the line the plot shifted. You can still see the influences in the Scenario Select and Shield subsystems. Impact itself is a compilation rerelease of the three Compact 2 titles.

The following games share some variation on a squad system, which can sometimes be confusing and difficult to wrap your head around at first:
Alpha 2, Alpha 3, Z, Original Generations, OG Gaiden. It's executed slightly differently in each.

Alpha Gaiden pioneered attack and defense support options for units, though there's no visual indication of support options until you've got an attack preview pulled up. Basically every game following Alpha Gaiden included attack and support options, and most of them will show on the map as you're moving units around which can support which.

A lot of units have various additional equipment or abilities. Here are a few, so you don't feel totally lost:
Open Get - Chance of activation increases with pilot's Will score. Causes unit to completely evade an attack.
Shadow Image - Chance of activation increases with pilot's Will score. Causes unit to completely evade an attack.
I-Field - Allows a unit to nullify beam attacks.
Beam Coating - Allows a unit to greatly reduce damage from beam attacks.
Combine/Separate - Just what it says!
I'm sure there are more, but I'm forgetting most of 'em at present. Incidentally, a unit sitting underwater might as well have a beam coat attached to it - water acts as a dampener for beam-type attacks, so don't be surprised when a Mega Particle Cannon blast only does 10 damage to that underwater Zaku. Note that this really only applies to *ranged* beam attacks; melee weapons (beam sabers, primarily) will punch through I-Fields and Beam Coatings. Getter 2 at high Will is a *beast* in a lot of games because not only does it evade really well in general, it gets Open Get AND Shadow Image. That @#$%'s almost impossible to hit in a few of the later titles.

The following games share conceptual similarities to SRW, but are *NOT* the kind of strategy game you'd expect from a Super Robot War:
Another Century's Episode - Mech action game with SRW scenario. 2 and 3 control somewhat like Zone of the Enders.
Super Robot Spirits - Fighting game featuring SRW characters
Super Robot Shooting - Shooting game featuring SRW characters
Super Robot Pinball - ... you guessed it, damned if I know how THAT works
Super Robot Wars OG Frontier - Traditional RPG. Crossover featuring Banpresto characters, Namco X Capcom characters, and Xenosaga characters
Super Robot School - I'm not even sure WHAT this is. It's built loosely off of SRW K's engine, and features the same units, but the robots themselves are just simulations or something?
Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner - Well, okay, it's not SRW, but it's TOTALLY AWESOME. Had to list it here ;)
Zone of the Enders: 2173 Testament/Fist of Mars - This game absolutely reeks of SRW influence. No big surprise - it was developed by Winkysoft, who worked on just about every SRW through Alpha Gaiden!
Shin Masoukishin: Panzer Warfare - This, apparently, is a distant-future sequel to SRW Gaiden, developed independently by Winkysoft and takes place entirely in La Gias without any additional licensed characters. It's hex-based instead of straight grid, has bad load times, and has a reputation for being kind of bad. But it has a robot called Smaug in it, which has to count for something!

Other than that, take your pick! You should now be generally well-informed of the series landscape as a whole. Up to you what you do with that knowledge. GameFAQs creator CJayC has a helpful Robot Series Guide up on his aforementioned website which is essentially a big chart of which-series-is-in-which-game, if that's your primary concern.

I love you guys. I will cherish this response always.

I had no idea they ever released any of these games in English. I'll probably start with OG1 to see what it's like and get some of the story and check out some of the others if I like it and want to see some cool anime series integrated into the mix. The part of me that wants to see characters and mechs from show that I like is leaning toward the Alpha series though Nadesico is regrettably absent.