One of the lesser-known mecha games from the era of the original PlayStation is the suitably surreal shooter Geppy-X , and this release certainly does justice to that.

Originally released back in 1999, Geppy-X was a then very high-end parody of the super robot anime shows from the 1970s. Featuring lots of lovely hand-drawn anime cutscenes for an anime that didn’t actually exist, with a crazy narrative and lots of lovely songs from famous super robot anime vocalists. It was certainly a unique tour de force.

It also quickly became one of those special games on the PlayStation, due to its abnormally high production value for a one-off game, and its knowing satire of the super robot genre it clearly loved.

From fake adverts for toys and bizarre shampoo commercials, Geppy-X was all about the presentation and making you feel like you were playing your way through a super robot anime, episode by episode.

The game itself, by contrast, was a well-executed but very simple shooter. You controlled the titular Geppy-X with its three modes, much like Getter Robo , and utilized main, sub, and special attacks to dispatch your enemies.

Even with the obligatory mid-season upgrade to Geppy-XX, you could easily complete the game in one sitting, and one credit the whole game with very little practice required.

Normally, this would be the death of any serious shooter, but Geppy-X’s setting and execution sort of exempted it from harsh criticism, and that’s where we get to this new HD release.

Firstly, all the lovely anime cutscenes, of which there are a lot, have been recovered and updated to HD and genuinely look great. The game itself is also very faithful to the PlayStation original in terms of gameplay visuals, but the real highlight is the new localization.

This is because the original PlayStation game was only ever released in Japan, and unless you spoke Japanese and had watched every super robot anime out there, most of the very specific humor would have sailed very fast over your head.

That makes this new localization all the more important, as at least most players can now follow the game’s very silly story, although the thousands of hours of super robot anime viewing are still a necessity.

A few months back, I also covered the Steam Deck version of the game , and my thoughts since then haven’t really changed. This is a great package of a rare and strange PlayStation game that finally makes the story accessible to non-Japanese speakers.

One minor point over that version is that on the Switch, there is a slight pause when spoken audio or video is loaded in. It doesn’t really detract from how you play the game, but I felt it should at least be mentioned.

Overall, this Geppy-X release makes a once-rare PlayStation mecha game accessible to new players, especially with its all-new localization. The game is still fun to play, if a bit simple and easy for a shooter, but the sheer passion and super robot-infused nerdiness still make this worth getting.

Platform: Switch (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, PC

Developer: Implicit Conversions

Disclosure: Bliss Brain sent me a copy of this game for the purposes of this review.

Follow me on X , Facebook and YouTube . I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently writing regular columns in Japanese about mecha games and mecha anime for both Game*Spark and Automaton .