Tatsunoko Vs Capcom Ultimate All Stars: Tekkaman Blade

For the latest in Capcom’s “Vs” series, which sees some of Capcom’s finest combatants paired off against one of Japan’s most iconic anime producers, Tatsunoko Production, Capcom has released media for Tekkaman Blade.

Unfortunately for a lot of European gamers, Tatsunoko’s line up will be virtually unknown quantities (I myself am only familiar with Science Ninja Team Gatchaman – known as Battle of the Planets when it was aired in the 80′s)

So, with a little bit of help from Wikipedia, here is a brief introduction to the world of Tekkaman:

Like many an awesome Anime series, Tekkaman revolves around humanity’s struggles against a technologically superior alien race that is hell bent on universe domination. This alien race goes by the name of the Radam and what makes them so powerful is their ability to assimilate other races (like Star Trek’s Borg) into their army of Tekkamen. Its these robot warriors that are used to invade other races to assimilate more subject into yet more Tekkamen and so the cycle continues.

The main character is a boy by the name of Takaya Aiba, whose family were part of a deep space exploration programme that first encountered the Radam. Thinking their encounter would garner the first alien/human that would benefit mankind, they were captured and then processed by the Radam Tek-System. Only the best humans actually become Tekkamen, the rest are rejected and die. Takaya’s father was rejected and was fortunate to have survived the process, keeping his wits he manages to free Blade from assimilation who had not yet been brain washed by the process.

As a result he wears the armour of the dreaded Tekkamen which have super-human strength, impenetrable armor and quantum energy weapons. The Tekkamen transform using a crystal that is unique to each holder.  During a later battle Tekkaman Blade’s crystal is destroyed rendering him useless without the aid of a mobile support unit known as Pegas. In later episodes, members of his family who were successfully turned into Tekkamen return to Earth to try and stop Tekkaman Blade and Blade is faced with the daunting task of battling his own flesh and blood.