Having covered the embodiment of discord with the 2nd OG version of Despair, originally the final boss theme in Super Robot Wars D, the only thing left in gameplay chronology is the ending theme.

Day 11: Ending Theme – with love (Super Robot Wars 30)

As the final piece of music that the player hears, the composition of the track(s) used in the final cutscene and credits is very important. And there are as many ways to go about this as there are games that have them. Some make standalone tracks, some reuse the game’s main theme, some compose a song that uses parts from multiple other songs from that game. Upbeat songs are used for triumphant/happy endings, sorrowful ones for pyrrhic endings, ominous ones for cliffhangers, the list goes on and on.

When it comes to Super Robot Wars games that have an instrumental main theme, there’s no real hard and fast rule to what the ending theme is. But if JAM Project did the OP, then JAM Project also did the ED. And while their OPs are made to get your blood boiling and your spirit soaring, their endings are more like ballads, far softer and slower.

Now, my first pick for this slot would have been the ending theme to the first OG game, Steel Soul for You. But while it does a great job of conveying the feeling of “war’s over, time for our heroes to rest before their next job”, I already used OG for a previous entry. So instead I’m choosing the JAM Project song ‘with love’, used for the credits of the latest game as of this writing, Super Robot Wars 30.

My reason for choosing this song has less to do with the song itself as when I first heard it. It’s a good ED, melodious and adagio, just like JAM Projects other EDs. But SRW 30 is by far the longest game in the series yet. Add in three DLC packs and six post-game stages, and it took me, I kid you not, about twelve months to reach the end of the post-game stages. Given, that was with breaks here and there to prevent burnout, but I still technically didn’t finish all of the Onboard Missions.

So when I heard this song the first time at the end of the main game, I listened and enjoyed it like any SRW game. But when the credits rolled again after the final post-game stage, hearing this song all over again drove home the feeling of “yes, the fighting’s over, and our heroes can finally lay down their arms.” And for me, it was a signal for the end of my One-Year War.

And while this entry is at an end, the challenge continues. Up until now the selections have been SRW originals, but next time, we’ll finally be diving into a song from an anime series. As for the category, well, I’ll just say that it’s one that only a crossover series as prolific as Super Robot Wars could have. See you next time.