Bandai Namco announced via the Super Robot Wars Twitter account that the next Nama Suparobo Channel will be held on August 1. It'll be a special stream in collaboration with the Japan Mahjong Federation, focusing on online Riichi Mahjong.The stream will be held on August 1, at 2100 JST (Click here for a time conversion table). Besides Mahjong, it will also include the "latest news on the Super Robot Wars series". This doesn't necessarily means a new game will be announced though.Present on stream will be Super Robot Wars X-Ω (Cross Omega) + Bandai Namco Producer Hiroaki Oochi. Together with Takashi Furuhashi, the duo will be commenting matches between Yukiko Izumi, Kozue Miyauchi, Rio Tojyo, and Daisuke Suzuki, Furuhashi, Izumi, Miyauchi, and Tojyo are all Pro Mahjong players. Suzuki is a Pro Shogi player.They'll be playing on Ron2, the official online Mahjong site of the Japan Mahjong Federation.
It's important to note another Super Robot Wars stream, was also announced, for late August:
Series Producer Takanobu Terada will not be making an appearance on this Mahjong stream. This is the first time ever he's skipping these streams as far as I know. It's not like something happened to him though as he's still regularly recording the SRW Radio Show, Umasugi Wave, together with Masaki Endoh, Mai Aizawa and Tomokazu Sugita. They started recording from home since a few months ago. Terada will definitely be on the stream late August.
Riichi Mahjong is incredibly popular in Japan. There are billion of Mahjong video games as well, most notably strip Mahjong games with sexual fanservice. The classic series Super Real Mahjong even recently got a new compilation this April on Nintendo Switch as well, but I digress. I'm honestly surprised Mahjong streams from Japanese developers and artists aren't a thing already, especially during this pandemic.
The latest console games in the Super Robot Wars series are SRW V, SRW X, and SRW T, all available in English. SRW DD is also available in Japanese on mobile. For a very long time now, the series has been following a yearly schedule. However, no game was announced in late 2019 for a 2020 release. While I don't have anything against the recent games, a break can't bring any harm. I might be into SRW for 20 years now, I'm actually happy we're not having a new game right now.
I'm guessing Bandai Namco is quietly working on the next game. Development definitely has slowed down too with the pandemic. With no game plus these critic conditions, I'm guessing the staff still wanted to hold a stream once in a while. And what's the thing middle aged people in Japan like besides old mecha series? Mahjong. In fact, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they actually announced a Super Robot Wars Mahjong game. It'll be in perfect touch with a big part of the series' fanbase in Japan and the world in general.
The Super Robot Wars / Super Robot Taisen series celebrated its 29th anniversary on April 20, 2019. A special page was opened for the occasion. Backgrounds to be used by fans during video calls were published as well. Many Japanese studios did the same move these past months. Seeing we didn't get a game in 2020, it's all but officially confirmed a new game will be coming for the 30th anniversary of the series in 2021. One possibility for the occasion would be a new Super Robot Wars OG game.
In any case, we'll bring you a summary of this stream as always.
(Feature image is from Getter Robo High illustrated by Drill Jiru)