Here's a butt-load of mech game videos. Some are amazing. Some are mediocre... And some are quite revealing about the gameplay trends in mech games, the evolution of these trends and designs, and associations to other kinds of video games as well. And most of it is quite inspiring for... Well... Millions of little ideas I'll never have enough money to bring into reality.

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Lore Aftermath
Looks a lot like a sort of Mech Warrior MMO. The only difference being, it seems to have been cleaned up with WoW style graphics (Or at least WoW colouring traditions) and streamlined from the (generally) clunky controls Mech Warrior style games have.

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Zero Online
Another MMO Mech game. This seems to be the current trend among mecha. Even console mech games (Which are nearly non-existent) feature online play, generally as the main purpose of the game. In this one, your mech gains XP and levels up. As near as I can tell, there's no way to perceive that your character is a giant robot. For all I can tell, they may be the size of ants! it's an irrelevant distinction in this game. This also has those simple shiny plastic models I dislike WoW for.

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C12
Now THIS is wicked! When I first saw the GundamSD toy designs, THIS is what was inside my head! Only they've gone even FURTHER than my vision! They've applied in-depth customization of complexity and freedom akin to Chrome Hounds! BRILLIANT! Look at the hyper-simplified environments and models! And it DOESN'T have that awkward "I'm a painted plastic model re-designed in 3D" look to it! Too bad I can't read Japanese.

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Age of Armor
Yet another mecha MMO. And this one DOES use the WoW-philosophy graphics direction. It does seem to have an influence from ZOE, though, so I can overlook it... Though the Gundam Seed influence hurts me a little...

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Battle Engine Aquila
I owned this game! Nearly beat it, stopped playing and sold it. Shouldn't have. GREAT freaking game. It's nowhere near as well known as the games it's based off of, but it's far more refined by comparison. Excellent game. Awkward environments, though.

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Gunmetal
Well, now! What game does this look like... Hmmm... Battle Engine... Something... On the tip of my tongue...
Anyways, it's transformation sequence looks bad, the designs are bland and look like 1980's transformer toys, and the flight system is nowhere near as clean as Aquila's. Why the hell is this game so much more popular?! I hate other mech gamers. They always have such bad taste...

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Slave Zero
You play a slave or something trying to escape, controlling a mech with your brain... Whatever. Blow shit up with a monstrous looking giant robot.

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Starsiege
Freakish FREAKISH game. Especially that opening. I can;t actually find much on these games, they're far overshadowed by their spinoff (or maybe their source?) Starsiege: Tribes, which is probably one of the most entertaining FPS games I've ever played.

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Macross VO
HOLY. FUCK. This game has fucking GOT IT! This is the spirit of Macross aerial combat! That third video even shows a bit of transforming, you know, for what good it does in the sky. All it lacks is ground/air combat, which is what a VF was intended for! Oh well, Macross still has a long way to go before a videogame adequately represents it... If they're just take a leaf out of Aquila's book, boost the speed, add realistic landing and crash effects, and include this game's cockpit view and targeting engine... maybe even take a few peaks at tricks from Tachyon's game system...

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Heavy Gear
Meh. Pretty generic as mecha go. Except that song. That song IS mecha.

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Power Dolls X5
I don't know anything about this game. Seems to have a heavy Appleseed / Gundam Seed influence in it's designs. Neither of which pleases me much.

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Zegapain
Anime, I know, but they say it was also a game for the XBox. I can't find much on the game except a really unrevealing AMV. But this says a lot about the design ethic of their mecha. Sort of a weird cross between Gundam, Evangelion and the newest TRON game.

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ES
Game that is in-development. Lots of mech games like this were being made between 2004 and 2007, but a lot of them suddenly vanished mid-production in 2008. They operate off of a play mechanic seen in another game we'll discuss later, which is in itself a simplified version of yet ANOTHER game!

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Vanguard Bandits
Probably one of the best tactical mech games ever made. Design is reminiscent of a lot of things, but some of it has a good deal of uniqueness to it as well. (Not many lance-wielding centaur mecha around...) Characters are sprites on a 3D map, moving on a grid, much like every other tactical RPG for the PSX. Your characters level up, and the mecha are of the magic-warrior style, only of the Escaflowne variety, not the Mazinger-Z kind. That means giant magic-powered mecha, some of which drink blood, swinging giant swords. Great fun. It takes a leaf out of FFVII's book, and uses higher poly models for rendered battle sequences. I believe a few other tactical mech games from this period also used this technique. Along with a bajillion other games. It was a good idea, though. Watching numbers float out of a character's head isn't quite as exciting. FFT could have benefited from at least unique sprited combat, as seen in Front Mission or Tactics Ogre.

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Exteel
This is the one that pretty much drives the current trends in MMO mech games. It's actually an extremely limited game; basically just Gunz with robots. I wonder if Gunz is still around? I enjoyed it quite a bit before they sold it to a bunch of Korean dickwads. Anyways, it uses Gundam Seed-inspired designs, which are nearly copyright infringement, and applies WoW colouring tricks to the models. It's really bland, honestly. It's competition is more inspired.

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Axis Arena
Another one of those games that was being developed in the middle of this first decade that suddenly vanished. I can't even find their website any more.

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Seventh Sky
Neat flash game, I must admit- And hard, too. But it's a little barren. Just empty sky for eternity, with missiles coming from enemies miles away. unless you play for quite a while, there's not much out there. Also, there's only three enemy types, one of which does nothing and cannot be killed. Still, a really interesting design and gameplay.

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Gungriffon
Mech game for the Saturn! Actually fairly well-known, too! I'm really diggin' the "Jet-With-Arms-And-Legs" style they gave this. Especially with how you aren't limited to it. It makes the mecha that REALLY fly look more like they should be able to.

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Liberation Army
I can't find this anywhere. Know what it reminds me of? Nick had this game from his 360, 99 Knights, or something? Anyways, you'd get hundreds of weak little soldiers you can "command", but they're extremely pathetic, and your tactical commands generally involve telling them to go away, so you don't kill them with your massive attacks that destroy almost everything instantly. Way too easy, with frivolous elements that COULD have been good. On the other hand, this game is DEFINITELY unique! Has a sort of "asteroids" feel to it, don't you think?

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Silver Knights
Yet another mid-decade mech game, again with online function as it's central (In fact, ONLY) purpose. There's that repeating play style. Don't worry, we'll get to it's source soon enough... I enjoyed it, but quit because playing against people halfway across the Earth is annoying.

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Battle Armor
*Sigh* I used to play this game. Good memories. Aim with the mouse, move with the cursor. Both guns aim from the shoulders to your mouse, so bullets converge. Arms will also aim away from the mech's body as it's torso rotates, if you want it to aim but the rotation is too slow. EXTREMELY conducive to the mech game, and I wonder why it's only been done a few times.

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Ray Crash
Ugh. Mech MMO. Definitely Gundam Seed and Exteel designed. But this one uses the Mech Fight system that's too prevalent... Only they felt the need to simplify it to a flat plane, despite using 3D graphics. Not cool. Decreases the value of that battle system.

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Steel Gun
HOLY SHIT THIS IS OLD! And really cool, if you can adjust your eyes to read those ancient sprite styles again! It's a robot-themed shooting gallery. EARLY gaming, my friends! We'll see this again later...

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Omega Boost
Those guys do a pretty good job of reviewing it. Just listen to what they have to say. That second link is Panzer Dragoon. Admittedly, Omega Boost does share some similarities to Panzer Dragoon, but this is largely coincidental, and largely caused by the "tunnelvision" levels. This game's mechanics is actually a refined version of the same gameplay mechanic which gave rise to the other mech fight system that keeps showing up. This particular breed of the mech fight system is designed to let you fight many different smaller enemies in a larger environment, rather than two or three other mecha. It experienced it's revival in Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space, which is a more refined, but slower, stickier version of it.

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Bootfighter Windom XP
OKAY! THIS is the game that really made that rash of mid-decade mech games appear. It was the first, it was the best, and I believe it's still around somewhere! Though last I heard, it's ended production as well. Believe it or not, this is just the source of the fad. This is actually a streamlined version of previous mech fighter games!

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Second Age
Look at THIS! How RAW! And what is the system it uses? Neat, huh?

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Steel Battalion
This game is famous. Why? Because it actually comes with a full replica mech pilot's dash-board as a controller. It's probably the absolute peak of gaming immersion. It's also expensive, and the game itself is kinda' clunky and slow, like the Mech Warrior games it's obviously derived from.

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Reyblade
Partially developed game. Yes, the video is sped up. This looks like it had a LOT of potential. Like a mech platformer with scrolling shooter enemies.

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Cloudphobia
A lot of mech games are actually just scrolling shooters. I have no idea why it's so popular among mech gamers, as it really looks silly. Why would a mech, a machine with legs, spend all of it's time flying? It's legs just dangle there pointlessly! This happens a lot in mech games, (And anime as well, though to a lesser degree) and it REALLY bugs me.

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Gunhound
This looks like it uses the mech fight system as well, again flattened, but this time to a top-down view, which is honestly more reasonable.

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Armed Seven
Yet another scrolling shooter. Booyah, I suppose. I like the aiming mechanism. It's a little clumsy, but you can aim at different angles from your current position. Gives the mech good reason to be a mech, even if it's legs are still just hanging there.

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Front Mission: Gun Hazard
OKAY! This is basically Metal Warriors with Wanzers. And a CRAPPY voice-over. Yup. There you have it.

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Assault Suit Leynos 2
The original game was for the Genesis, and kinda' sucked. it was supposed to be sort of like the Metal Warriors for the Genesis, but was really crudely assembled by comparison. The SECOND game, however, kicks shit! On your neighbor's face! And lights their mailbox on fire! It's actually more developed than Metal Warriors!

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Assault Suit Leynos
Clumsy ripoff.

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Assault Suits Valken
Not a very original name, but kinda' interesting gameplay. A bit lame how you can just run through your enemies without killing them, or even being hurt by them in any way in the process, though. Looks a LOT like a Wanzer.

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Ranger-X
Mech platformer for the Genesis. AMAZING game, though short. PLAY IT NOW. Get an emulator, get a ROM, sit down for a few hours and master this bitch! Creative level designs, unique enemies, unique gameplay, you CANNOT go wrong here! Though the distinction of your character is a mech is largely irrelevant most of the time. You only see humans once in the entire game. Did I mention it's got some of the best designs, pixelart and music ever?

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M.U.S.H.A.
I don't like this game nearly as much as this guy. The opening sequence is certainly good. Though I disagree with him on the gameplay. It's not actually all that unique... It's actually pretty bland. Plus it suffers from dangling legs syndrome. it IS definitely one of the best mech games ever made for the Genesis.

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Metal Combat
Remember that old HUGE-pixel arcade shooter? Check out what it spawned several years down the line! One of the absolute BEST mech games ever. This, again, suffers from a lack of relevance, though. Why mecha? Why not just robots? Or tiny robots? Aside from the wall of China level, there's nothing to make a distinction for scale!

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Metal Warriors
OH BOY, OH BOY, OH BUDDY BOY! This game is like CANDY to mech gamers! Probably the best mech game for the SNES ever. YOU CAN EVEN GET OUT OF YOUR MECH AND FIGHT EVERYTHING AS A HUMAN, or trade your mech for a shiny new one! It really emphasizes the value of scale, and the functional purposes for these machines! And it's smooth! Not raw or clunky in any way! Nor is it clumsy, or sticky! And it's TOUGH!

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Zone of the Enders
ZOE is a pretty unique game, with extremely unique graphics and art direction. But what is that battle system I see... *GHASP* Could it BE?! THE GENERIC MECH FIGHT SYSTEM?!

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Robotica
Weird game.

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Chrome Hounds
I was initially extremely skeptical about this game. They didn't look like the mecha I was used to. Only some of them vaguely look like old Mech Warrior designs. But i quickly grew to worship this as an ingenious game. It has the absolute most open-ended unit customization system I have EVER seen. the only problem? Single player is a glorified tutorial, online play is the main focus, makes me want to take a shit on it anyways, despite it's godly properties.

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S.L.A.I.
Okay, imagine Armored Core... With less elaborate customization, goofy looking models, and no more fucking missions, giving you the freedom to go out and blow shit up whenever you want. Throw in more rational controls to boot. But what do you sacrifice for these benefits? Plot. Change. You work your way through arena ranks. All you have are the arenas. The same kinds of enemies, the same places, over and over again, for six classes in, what, eight stadiums? It's so fucking repetitive, it makes me want to cry. What little plot they added really DOES make me cry.

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Phantom Crash
This game lead to S.L.A.I. I know nothing about it, except that it's opening movie looks better. It's probably just a less technically refined version of S.L.A.I.

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Front Mission 4
This was he big title for Front Mission. Probably their best selling incarnation, and probably their most balanced, clearest, most enjoyable version. It has plot, it has development, it has customization, it has graphics, it's got everything, and it's all fairly balanced. I especially love the pilot linking they have going on. It's a really good game.

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Front Mission 5
Take FM4. Now, replace the really good drawn character art with really bad CG models. Now throw in characters you don't care about. Now throw in excessive characterization and mindless focus on people. I'm here to BLOW SHIT UP, man! Where's the fuckin' robots? This is their only promo video with wanzers even in it, and it still focuses on the people AROUND the wanzers!

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Armored Core
The fucking legend of mech games, my friends. This is where it is AT. Or, at least, where it WAS, anyways. AC4 and For Answer are the next logical steps from where the game has been in the past, but for me... They've just taken it so far from where it started... It just doesn't feel the way I'm used to. It feels like I'm playing some other mech game, more like S.L.A.I. with jet boosters. I like the new mech designs, but... They don't even look like ACs any more. All the old design traditions have been abandoned. And I know that I'm normally the first to suggest abandoning traditions, but... If it looks and feels nothing like Armored Core, why is it called Armored Core?

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EVEN MORE GIANT ROBOTS!!!! Filling in a few I missed last night.

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Battletech
Probably the best-known mech game ever. Sadly. I absolutely hate these games. They're unbearably slow, the controls are clumsy at best and counter-productive at worst, the designs are ridiculous, (Although later, they balanced them out a bit) the live action cutscenes really give the impression that this was made by a bunch of EXTREMELY geeky people, (Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except it sounds like they voiced it themselves) and the plot is, frankly, lame. It's like the symbol of what it means to have a generic mech game plot. Military clans and corporate warfare are the two most generic plot bases for a mech game. The worst part is that they actually used to have good designs! Despite taking them largely from Macross. They abandoned that when they found out it left them vulnerable to legal issues. So they came up with the hideous (Though, at the time original) machines they use today, which have become one of the biggest influences on mech design.

Robotech
No videos. Fuck you. And fuck Robotech, too. Shit is fucked. Basically, a couple of guys took three STUPIDLY DIFFERENT anime, only two of which actually have mecha, chopped 'em to pieces, dubbed over the whole thing and taped it back together like Ed's freezer experiment. It's entire purpose in existing was to be a marketing test for Anime in Western audiences. The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada. SDF Macross is freaking awesome, and my only complaint is that a lot of Robotech fans can't tell the difference between the original and the Robotech abomination. They see a clip from Macross Plus on youpoop.com, and immediately follow it with "Is that from Robotech? Is there a new movie? WHAT, WHAAAAAT?!" It's, honestly, annoying. SDC Southern Cross apparently sucked. I know nearly nothing about it. It was one of the three Super Dimension series, none of which are directly related. Rather, they're unique stories from the same creators, who just love going back to the same themes. Kind of like how Final fantasy always has Cid, but not Barret. Mospaeda has nothing to do with the other two series, and it's really weird that they included it. I mean, really, they should have used SDC Orguss to round the whole thing off! Then at least Robotech would serve as a sort of high-budget fan work connecting the three disparate, yet highly similar series! Mospaeda itself is about soldiers who wear armor that can turn into a motorcycle. Reah. For some reason, Robotech games tend to focus on Mospaeda. I have no idea why.

GUNDAM

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AHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAAAHAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAA etc. This is the ORIGINAL Gundam. Nobody likes it when I remind them that the original Gundam, the one actually named just "Gundam", was a fucking Zord mech, in tyhe tradition of nearly all 1970's mecha anime. The Universal Century timeline is, frankly, bad.
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Wow, hey, just one sequel and they found their niche! And they STUCK with it, didn't they? Look at the technical improvements! It actually LOOKS like Gundam now! I'd hate to admit it, but this particular series featured probably the highest level of technical animation. Everything after it just looks like it's kinda' melting. You don't notice it unless you really look at how things are attached in animation. But this is tight. Real tight.
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OH NO THEY DIDN'T! Why are they still doing that faggoty Power Rangers Zord thing? God damnit! Why was early mecha so fucking permeated with that?! I mean... It's just so STUPID! It's just an excuse to sell more toys!!!
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SD Gundam. Cool designs. Bad show. Inspired something even worse. Battle B-Damon is clearly derived from SD Gundam models.
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WHYYYYY?! WHYYYYY?! IT HURTS! THE PAIN! THE ZORD GUNDAM! WHYYYY?!
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This is probably the stupidest, funniest, and therefore best, Gundam series. "BURNING FINGER!!!!" It's also the first to finally depart from the main Universal Century plotline. This one follows the Future Century line, and it's basically an excuse to make a fighting game. (Which was actually kinda' fun, by the way. Loved the Dragon Gundam)
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This is the only worthwhile incarnation of Gundam. My only complaint is the same as all of the other Gundams: the characters are totally irrational. They don't behave like people at all. It's like they're instinctively programmed to start suicidal warfare. This also features the best opening theme of the bunch and the tightest animation since Zeta. Which also had a very good opening theme. From here on, the animation is generally good.
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Back to the universal Century and the one year war. Bleh. Check out the berried Gundam.
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Ahhh... Such an appropriate addition to Gundam-W... What a satisfying show.
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This is the worst Gundam design ever. And the worst opening theme. Why would you make a gundam with a handlebar mustache? I mean, the forehead crest was silly enough, but this? And look at the implied pregnancy of that female character RIGHT IN THE OPENING. Ew.
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THE PAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIINNNNNNN! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! MY ORGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANS!!! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!??!?!?! They took Gundam and turned it into Americanime! They stripped it of all technical detail, leaving flat cartoony spaces that appeal to simple Western teenage minds! WHY?! WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS?! And that bullshit fucking DRAMA! UGH! It's even worse than Gundam-W!
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If you're going to use CG, actually fucking USE it! Don't cheap out like Gundam SEED and the newer Macross(es?). Don't use it as a lazy man's escape from animating complex battle scenes and then sloppily animate the characters in poorly designed scenery with bland drama shite!
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For chris's sake...
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Everything's so... SPIKY