Play Datach - SD Gundam - Gundam Wars (Japan) Online

Datach SD Gundam Gundam Wars came out in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, developed by Bandai. It was part of a short lived series of games that used a barcode scanner peripheral, something that felt both ambitious and a little out of place on the NES.

You control a team of SD Gundam units, which you summon by scanning physical barcode cards included with the game. The main objective is to navigate grid based maps, destroying enemy mobile suits and capturing their base. The core mechanics involve strategic, turn based movement and combat, with a permanent consequence; if one of your units is destroyed in battle, its corresponding barcode card can no longer be used. The pacing is deliberate, and the difficulty can be unforgiving due to that permadeath system. It feels like a strange, tactile experiment where your physical collection directly influences your digital success.