Robotech: Battlecry

Robotech: Battlecry is a video game set in the Robotech universe, the first video game successfully released for the franchise. With a story focused on new characters created for the game and with guest appearances of main characters Rick Hunter, Roy Fokker, Lisa Hayes and a part of one in-game mission directly centered on Lynn Minmei, it somewhat follows the Robotech continuum.

Overview

The game follows the exploits of ace pilot Jack Archer. After serving as a mercenary in the Global Civil War, flying both with and against Roy Fokker impressed him enough to recommend Jack for the RDF. The early stages of the game cover Jack's final training and his fighting during the Battle of Macross Island, Jack not being close enough to the SDF-1 when it space folds to Pluto and being left behind on Earth, rejoining his friends upon their initial return home. The majority of the game is set in the Post-Rain of Death era and involves Jack and his Wolf Squadron defending various human outposts against Malcontent Zentraedi forces led by the Zentraedi warlord Zeraal.

Battlecry: Collector's Edition

To both celebrate the game's release and aimed towards the older Robotech collector market, Battlecry was released with both the normal game only version as well as a more expensive Collectors Edition.

The Collectors Edition came in a silver box with the game and includes a packet of 3" X 5" cards of character concept art from the game drawn by Tommy Yune, a lenticular card depicting a Veritech fighter in action, a Battlecry t-shirt vacuum packed into a disc-shaped tin with card RDF logo on top, the game's soundtrack on CD and a specially numbered Jack Archer dogtag.

The YF/VF-1R Veritech Fighter

Originally an animation mistake in the Robotech TV series episode 32 "Broken Heart" that added two extra VF-1J head lasers to a normal VF-1A head, looking for "new" official designs and with Harmony Gold approval and assistance, Vicious Cycle introduced the VF-1R Veritech, a retrofitted or upgraded Veritech Fighter introduced after the end of the First Robotech War.

With a VF-1A influenced but redesign head, the middle head laser became an auto-cannon, retaining the two side lasers. The default YF/VR-1R color scheme is a full body maroon with a white stripe, roughly similar to the Max & Miriya VF-1J paint schemes.

Robotech: Battlecry Superposables

Released as a tie-in to the Battlecry game, Toynami produced a second line of Superposable figures of the VF-1 Battloids. Learning from the first run, Toynami retooled the molds to include ball-jointed hips and legs intended to pose the figure standing instead of bent. The most significant difference was the inclusion of the Super Armor or FAST Pack boosters and replacing the Rick piloted VF-1J with the Jack Archer piloted VF-1R, allowing a direct link to the game as well as matching continuity with Rick piloting the VF-1S when the Super Armor was introduced.

Masterpiece Collection YF-1R

Released after the main Macross Saga MPC were available, an Masterpiece Collection version of the YF-1R was unexpected and came from left field. As all VF-1 toys are effectively head swaps, the YF-1R was a way to get use out of an existing mold and support the video game. Because it was a later design, the YF-1R includes support for the Super armor lacking in the earliest volumes. The MPC YF-1R was limited to a numbered production run of 5,000, compared to the 15,000 per volume of the other Macross Saga VF-1 volumes. As with all MPC sold at Robotech.com, an exclusive pilot animation cell of Jack Archer was offered if this was brought through the Robotech.com Store.

Despite the lower production numbers and the supposed "exclusivity" of it, the YF-1R sold very poorly.

Trivia

• Max Sterling happens to share Jack Archer's voice actor, Cam Clarke. In fact other original Robotech cast members such as Tony Oliver (Rick Hunter), Rebecca Forstadt (Lynn Minmei), Dan Woren (Roy Fokker) and Melanie MacQueen (Lisa Hayes) provided the voices of Hiro Ishii, Izzy Randal, Zeraal and Kiyora respectively.
• Gorian, Zeraal's sadistic Lieutenant, is likewise voiced by actor Cam Clarke, who is widely known for voicing multiple characters at the same time. A prime example of this can be discerned in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, where Clarke supplied the voices of both Leonardo and Rocksteady.
• A release variant of the game included a second DVD containing the first episode of the Robotech television show.

External links

• IGN review