Before Mecha
The Advent of Mazinger
Mecha on the Battlefield
Western Invasion
Assimilation
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Machine Evolution
The Present
The mecha genre, in all of its permutations, seems more popular now than ever. The war dramas most responsible for its popularity still enjoy a large audience: The Macross saga is now 15 years old, having been reborn through its most recent incarnations, Macross 2, Macross Plus, and Macross 7, while Mobile Suit Gundam continues to be reinvented and explored through OAVs such as The 08th MS Team and Gundam X. Both have sold millions in merchandise, and have spawned a large number of console games.
The GAINAX TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion revived the super robot genre, but is a decidedly contemporary saga in terms of characters and plot.
In the computer games industry, the year 1996 saw the success of the much-anticipated follow up to Activision's Mechwarrior. As is the trend in the industry, this momentarily spawned a legion of forgettable imitators and a few worthy, original games. Despite this, mecha-based simulations continue to be a hot genre, and game companies seem to be banking on the genre's continued popularity.
While the mecha genre has come quite a long way, it has been around for quite a long time as well. Has the mecha genre finally exhausted all of its possibilities? As a self-confessed mecha freak, the author believes that if a lifetime of watching the mecha genre has told him anything about its future, it is that one never knows what to expect.