Welcome back aboard the Regnum Ignis! Our last port of call was Super Robot Taisen Original Generation, where we listened to the theme for those who didn’t have themes, Born to Fight. Our destination this time is a theme used by a Battleship.

Day 6 – Battleship Theme – Pantheon of Soulless Machines (SRW OG Dark Prison)

Like the main character of a Fire Emblem game, Battleships serve a crucial role in the Super Robot Wars series. Typically sporting massive amounts of HP and powerful weaponry, these also serve as mobile bases of operation. This means that if your battleship is sunk, you lose whatever battle you’re fighting.

Their overall application has varied slightly from game to game. Some games give you one and only one battleship to use, some give you a small handful from which you can pick two to deploy per battle. More recent games have even featured series that are based around battleships. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and Arcadia of my Youth: Endless Orbit SSX, for example.

Now, here’s the ironic thing. Until the release of Super Robot Taisen OG, there were no Banpresto-original battleships, and neither were there captains or crew members. Steel Ark was the first battleship theme used for both original battleships in that game. However, the music track that I picked for this slot is from a game where you don’t have a battleship fighting alongside you.

SRW OG: Dark Prison follows an amnesiac Shu Shirakawa’s exploits during the first part of 2nd Super Robot Wars OG. And as there isn’t a battleship with you, that means if any ally is defeated, it’s game over. This would be a big problem, except that the robot that Shu pilots, the Granzon, is more fearsome than a whole fleet of battleships. And no, that’s not hyperbole.

So instead of a song associated with an allied battleship, Pantheon of Soulless Machines is actually the final boss theme. The last stage of the game has you facing off against an alien battleship, designated the Uyudallo-class Suppression Gunboat. This thing not only has the usual bulk and firepower of a warship, but it also uses devices called Prism Reflectors to redirect the blast from it’s main cannon, virtually eliminating any blind spots. Very appropriate to have such a cold and menacing theme.

Fun fact, Pantheon of Soulless Machines is actually a remix of a song from Super Robot Wars F. Heartful Mechanic was a map theme in that game, and if you follow this link, you’ll be able to hear it for yourself. And speaking of map themes, that’s what we’ll be taking a look at in the next post. Until then, anchors aweigh and cast off!

…Okay, I’m done with the naval terminology.