Saraba Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Ai no Senshi Tachi

Ai no Senshitachi is a game based on the Japanese anime series Uchū Senkan Yamato (known as “Star Blazers” in the US). More precisely, this particular game is based on the second series and movie (1978).

The time is 2201. It is one year after the Yamato successfully came back from the planet Iscandar. One day, earth receives a strange S.O.S. from deep space : the voice of a woman called Teresa, prisoner of the Comet Empire, warns Earth that the White Comet is on its way to the Solar System to enslave its inhabitants. But the Earth’s Government doesn’t want to believe her story. Fearing the upcoming danger, the crew of the Yamato reunites and decides to disobey their orders, eventually stealing their old ship (which was fated to become a museum) to rescue Teresa and stop the White Comet.

The game itself is a real-time tactical game. It mostly plays on a board with hexagons where you must move your ship and fight against the enemy. You must manage the crew of the Yamato to gain advantage during battles and uses special options as the “Warp Jump” or the legendary “Wave Motion Canon”. When two ships come on the same hexagon, a “space battle” begins where you control directly your ship in space.

The game follows very closely the original story and features many animated cutscenes which are actually re-made scenes from the original anime – with 3D rendered space ships and new character design by Keisuke Masunaga. There are even two different endings following the story as told in the series or in the movie.