Soulgain (ソウルゲイン Sourugein) is a fictional giant robot featured in the Super Robot Wars series. It has appeared as a playable unit in Super Robot Wars Advance, Super Robot Wars Original Generation Gaiden and 2nd Super Robot Wars Original Generation, but made unplayable in Super Robot Wars Original Generation 2. However, the Soulgain returns as a brief, playable unit in the prologue scenarios of The Inspector episode in Super Robot Wars Original Generations.
Appearance[]
The Soulgain is a distinctly masculine robot. It is mostly blue, with silver highlights and gemstone-like protrusions on its body, colored in red or green. A distinctive feature is the facial armor for the jaw which protrudes upwards, earning it the moniker Mustache Man. FMV movies of Original Generations also reveal that the Soulgain is actually a towering super robot, shrinking away Personal Troopers, in terms of height.
Technical And Historical[]
The Soulgain's model number is EG-X, which stands for EarthGain - eXperimental. As such, its design is said to be based on the Earthgain from Super Robot Wars 64. Most things about it are, as of now, still unknown, but its controls are registered so that only Shadow Mirror officer, Axel Almer, can pilot it.
In the Advance timeline, it is selectable as a playable unit for Axel. In the Original Generation timeline, Axel jumped from the Shadow-Mirror universe into the Original Generation universe, but was thrown off from the intended coordinates, thereby ending up earlier in time in that universe than the rest of the Shadow-Mirror forces. It was first seen fighting the Aerogater invasion force during Operation SRW in Original Generation. Nickamed the White Wraith (in Atlus' localization, unlike the original Japanese "hige otoko" or "moustache man") by Gilliam Yeager, ultimately the Soulgain is overpowered and would be damaged during the fight, forcing Axel into hiding, until his allies finally arrived in Original Generation 2, allowing him to utilize his machine once again.
The Soulgain sports no visible weapons. It is a super robot built for taking and returning hits and can perform a variety of melee or martial art attacks, utilizing its fists, knees, and arm blades for maximum damage. Aside from being heavily armored, the Soulgain can repair damage to itself in combat, and can use its most powerful attacks repeatedly without worrying about its power supply. Coupled with its already tough armor and powerful attacks, this makes fighting the Soulgain very dangerous, under most circumstances. It is equipped with a Direct Feedback System, a similar piece of technology to the Direct Motion Link System of the Valsione and Dynamic General Guardians.
SoulGain, following its repairs in the OG2 anime adaptation SRWOG: The Inspector
It is believed that the Soulgain is powered or controlled partly by the pilot's life force, capable of translating emotion to power output in order to unleash its attacks. How the Shadow-Mirror acquired this technology is still unknown, although it is mentioned in Super Robot Wars Original Generations that the Tesla Leicht Institute were the ones who originally built the Soulgain.
The Soulgain was destroyed, during the Earth Federation Army's assault on the White Star, along with its pilot, however, the events of Original Generation Gaiden reveal that it was hauled away by the members of the Cry Wolves where it would be restored for the resurrected Axel to reclaim. When Axel was transported to the universe of Endless Frontier, Soulgain is left behind and retrieved by the Kurogane.
The Soulgain's attacks each pay reference to mythical beasts such as the Seiryuu, Genbu, Byakko, Suzaku, and Kirin.
Specifications[]
Height: 41.2 meters
Weight: 129.6 tons
Weapon Systems:
- Seiryurin (青龍鱗)
The Soulgain puts its hands together to store energy, then pushes them outward, causing a surge of energy to streak towards the target, similar to a standard energy wave . This is the variation seen in the Original Generation games. In Advance, the attack is fired from just one palm.
- Genbu Gōdan (玄武剛弾)
The blades on the Soulgain's forearms slide into an attack position, and the forearms up to the elbows begin to spin. The arms are then launched towards the target, similar to Rocket Punch. One arm is launched in Advance, and both arms are used in the Original Generation games. In one PSP game, Axel jokingly called it Rocket Soul Punch. In the anime adaptation, after the Soulgain is repaired it uses a slightly different-named version of this attack, Genbu Kongou-dan, in which one blade is gold-colored . The 2nd Super Robot Wars Original Generation confirms that Genbu Kongou-dan will be the default attack (possibly implemented during Axel's trip to the Mugen Frontier universe).
- Byakko Kō (白虎咬)
The Soulgain rushes the enemy and punches it with lightning-fast strikes. The Advance animation features two punches charged with energy, while the Original Generation 2 animation is a flurry of punches, and the Original Generations is the same, but ends off with a charged energy blast released at point-blank range.
- Mai Suzaku (舞朱雀)
The Advance version of this attack involves extending the arm blades, charging them with energy, and having the Soulgain dash at high speeds towards the target, with the Soulgain splitting into four images and attempting to slash it with its blades as it passes by. The Original Generation 2 attack has the Soulgain deliver rapid arm blade slashes, finishing the combo with a crushing knee drop at the enemy or a clean, vertical slice from one of its arm blades in the Original Generations.
- Kirin (麒麟)
Axel shouts Code Kirin! and releases the limiter on the Soulgain, while inputting the code for this attack. The machine charges then pummels the target rapidly with its fists, followed with a knee thrust that sends the enemy flying, and finishes it with a vicious slashing uppercut with its arm blades. In Original Generations, the Soulgain uses its Seiryurin, in the form of energy balls, and lets loose a flurry of it at its enemy, while a large smoke cloud covers the unit. The Soulgain flies towards the cloud and mercilessly strike away at the unit with melee attacks. The enemy is knocked out from the cloud and the Soulgain perform rapid attack. With one final charge of its energy blades, the Soulgain extends them and slices the unit vertically in half, eventually exploding, as the Soulgain cool down after the assault.
Video Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In Advance, The Soulgain will be mass-produced and used by the Shadow-Mirror forces if you play the game as Lamia Loveless or Axel Almer if you didn't choose to play with Soulgain. If the player pilots Ashsaviour or Vaisaga then Soulgain will be mass-produced.
- A robot named Arkgain appears in the spinoff game Endless Frontier: Super Robot Wars OG Saga The Arkgain resembles Soulgain, but is only about three meters tall, and is an independent unit. It was supposedly designed by the king of Fromido Heim, one of the worlds of the Mugen Frontier, using information on the Soulgain taken from a Shadow-Mirror battleship that mis-jumped to the Frontier. The King and Arkgain were both subverted by the Einst, who used them to try to plunge the Endless Frontier into war. After the war was brought to an end, the Arkgain disappeared, only to appear around twenty years later still under the command of the Einst. It was supposedly destroyed in battle with Haken Browning. The Einst leader, Warschein Lichkeit, produced a copy of the Arkgain to battle Haken and his team, but it was also destroyed.
- The Arkgain shows up again in Mugen Frontier EXCEED, where it eventually comes under the control of Axel, who has ended up in the Endless Frontier. Axel reveals that the Arkgain is really W10.