Konami's Mecha Masterwork - A Complete Retrospective On Zone of the Enders

At 25:31 Nobuyoshi Nishimura not Noriaki Okamura

If someone asked me what the story of the original Zone of the Enders game is, my answer would probably be “imagine if the first couple of episodes of almost every Gundam show was the entire show”. Thats what its like.

Most slept on series of all time, I would literally do anything for Zone of the Enders 3

It wasn't a commercial success but its a amazing game.

Zone of the Enders is so influential it shaped Gundam mech design from 2007 all the way to 2014. I just want ZOE 1 and Fist of Mars on PC and a collection on modern console.

I remember playing ZOE: The 2nd Runner as a kid. Man, the fighting sequence, graphics as a whole, OST, voice acting, storyline and weapons (vector cannon) just blew me away. Even now, almost 20 years on, I look back and think, how can they make something so incredible with the available tools at that time?

And yes, this is definite one of the greatest mecha games ever conceived (well next to Armored Core and Xenogears of course). The mecha alone are such a sight to behold as they are very much Eiichi Shimizu (Yoji Shinkawa may be the creators of the Orbital Frames, but Eiichi Shimizu was very much influenced by Shinkawa's mecha work).

The VR mode was fun to play around with in Mars. There's just something so satisfying about seeing the vector cannon from a first person view

As always this was incredible work. However it completely misses the most important question of this franchise: Who was the madlad/genius that suggested to make it a literal COCKpit? SOCIETY MUST KNOW THESE ANSWERS!

"The show loves its western movie references" That's how you know Kojima was involved

Simply incredible video. Zone of the enders was my first experience into not only the Mecha genre but also video games as a whole. Before zone of the enders all I knew were sports games and final fantasy. One day my dad comes home and pops in the original zone of the enders and I was transported to a world my six year old brain couldn't process but I was amazed. Seeing the graphics and the fast moving game play of the game it legit made me a gamer for life, and also a Mecha enthusiast later on in my life. Nowadays I'm a writer for a webtoons comic that's just starting out that blends fantasy and sci fi and it can all be traced back to zone of the enders for my love of Mecha. These games were incredible and I can't thank you enough for reigniting my passion for this series. Here's hoping kojima buys the rights from konami seeing as how they only care about pachinko and Yu-Gi-Oh nowadays Lol Thanks again for the spectacular video. Subbed.

Man, Dolores I was such a banger. Hamstrung by a limited budget and a bit rough around the edges, but the cast is just so damn lovable and one of the few anime that isn't driven by characters been cripplingly stupid. And zero Loli shit!

Thank you for making this video. Zone of the Enders feels like that one series you only know one other person that played it but can gush about it endlessly.

I think the VR version of the game gives a good idea of just how physically intense it would be to be a mech pilot, I could only imagine how it would feel if they could add the haptic feedback of the inertial forces felt inside the cockpit

From Idolo's all star production staff and the games' near perfect emulation of high octane mecha action, Zone of the Enders stands as one of my favorite series of all time. It wonderfully celebrates all the themes that the mecha genre is known for in all the hot-blooded and cheesy glory it's lauded for. I've been waiting for this video for a while now, you did great.

Thoroughly enjoyed the retrospective and it's really cool to see ZoE getting the love it deserves. ZoE 3's cancellation is a shame because MAN those new designs were really sick and the concept of ancient orbital frames is literally the coolest thing ever, but ey what can you do. Great stuff as always man!

While I’ve not finished the video yet, THANK YOU for including the GBA game and anime! So many people forget about those fun and shockingly deep expansions of the story. It really is a shame we didn’t get more.

Zone of the Enders has stuck with me through the years for one simple reason, the gameplay. I have played other mecha games but Zone of the Enders has the most satisfying gameplay. I would love to see a modern game build on this foundation.

Finally, someone is recapping the series for people who don't/barely knows about this titles

Thanks for making this video. I always saw this as the future history of the METAL GEAR SOLID Universe. The IDOLO, Jehuty and Anubis are definitely descendants of the Metal Gear Ray when you look at the design of those Orbital Frames. And I can see the Metal Gear from THE PHANTOM PAIN also being an early precursor design wise to what these Orbital Frames would look like.