Super Robot Wars D ("D" standing for "Destiny") is the fourth installment of Banpresto's Super Robot Wars franchise on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, preceded by Super Robot Wars A, Super Robot Wars R and Super Robot Wars: Original Generation. The series featured in D is noted to be unique towards fans at the time (other than Super Robot Wars J and Super Robot Wars K, since both involve the removal of traditional series), as uncommonly used series appear in the main plot, such as Megazone 23 and The Big O.

Featured Series (Debuts highlighted in bold):

• The Big O (Season 1)
• Future Robot Daltanious
• Getter Robo Armageddon
• Six God Combination Godmars
• Macross 7
• Megazone 23 (Parts I and II)
• Gundam
  • Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
  • Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
  • Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
• Mazinger
  • Mazinger Z
  • Great Mazinger
  • UFO Robo Grendizer

Destiny takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, prominently after the beginning of Getter Robo Armageddon, where a nuclear explosion wipes out the majority of humanity. While other factions are doing their own activities, they are shocked to discover the Earth is sealed, having disappeared from the face of the universe. The heroes must find out the reason behind the sealing and how to stop it. On the course of the journey, the player will engage against the antagonistic Ruina, a destructive race bent on seeing the rest of the universe in ruins.

Like prior games, Destiny gives players the choice of two protagonists: Joshua Radcliff or Cliana Rimskaya, with a selection of two original real or super robots. However, depending on who is the primary protagonist out of the two, it ultimately affects which Secret Character is recruitable for the player.

Tropes common to this game are:

• Abled in the Adaptation: Downplayed. Benkei was injured for a while in Armageddon that he could not pilot the Shin Getter Robo until Ryoma returned. In D, Benkei recovers faster and supports the group by piloting Musashi's old Getter Robo rather than being out of action.
• Adaptational Dumbass: In his home series, Duke Dermail's major mistake was underestimating Relena and Treize, but otherwise he wasn't portrayed as an idiot. In this game, every decision he makes ends up backfiring: He is the one who gives Axis to Char, leading to his attempt at a Colony Drop. Then, because of his wounded pride, he refuses Neo Zeon's honest proposal of a ceasefire to instead focus on building up OZ's military might over space, even though the Earth has disappeared and aliens are attacking, leaving Neo Zeon as the only ones protecting the colonies. This ensures anyone not under the rule of either OZ or Zanscare will support Neo Zeon instead. Finally, he calls the Macross 7 Fleet back, and is honestly surprised when they refuse to obey him, who toppled the government they recognized.
• Adaptation Distillation: The game managed to get through the entire plot of Megazone 23 Part 1 and 2 in a single scenario. Said scenario is a two-parter that begins during the climax of Part 1, quickly recaps the events of the OVA before the climatic battle starts, then makes a Time Skip to Part 2, which is compressed to get to the important plot points faster.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: It's never explained how Schwarzwald obtained Big Duo or how that machine is connected to Big O in this version.
• Adapted Out:
  • Emerald Force member Physica and Gamlin Kizaki's custom VF-22 do not appear.
  • None of the villains of either Mazinger Z or Great Mazinger show up in this game. Instead, the Original Generation villains become the bad guys that Koji and Tetsuya want to defeat.
  • The only Vegan characters to make it to this game are Blacky, Gandal, and Lady Gandal. All the others are cut.
  • With the exception of Count Oy Nyung, none of the old men from the League Militaire appear. This includes Gomez (since neither the Reinforce nor the Reinforce Jr. are in the game) and Jinn Gehenam (whose role as a Decoy Leader was given to Hayato Jin).
  • Even though Duke Dermail acts like a Starter Villain in the space route, his Number Two Tubarov and his granddaughter Dorothy aren't in the game. Quinze and White Fang are also cut, since Zechs joined Neo Zeon instead. Finally, Sally Po and the Gundam Scientists were cut too.
  • Paradigm City is not in this game, with the Big O cast being introduced in a different city. Likely because the game only features the first season of the show, where the mysteries about the city weren't anywhere close to being answered, and thus would be Left Hanging if they had kept the city.
• All There in the Manual: The meaning of the game's title, D for Destiny, is only available in some marketing materials and not within the game itself (or even its actual manual).
• Antagonist Title: Perfectio's mech is named Fatum, meaning "fate" or "destiny" in Latin.
• Applied Phlebotinum: The Res Arcana System, Gravity Control System, and the Sympathia System, the latter which allows Glacies and/or Ventus to join, should the right conditions be met. Forte Gigas has Dual Res Arcana Engines which give it the largest Energy pool of all the units in Destiny, and perhaps the entire series save it's Original Generation incarnation.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: The Romefeller Foundation, despite being the de facto ruler of Earth, do not care about anyone but themselves. Even though they have Getter Radiation absorption technology, they only use it to keep their home territory in Europe clean while the rest of the world remains a radioactive wasteland.
• Ascended Extra: Musashi's old Getter Robo is repaired and converted into a single-seater Getter 1 machine that Benkei uses.
• Back from the Brink: The entire premise. Earth is a Crapsack World by the time the game starts, and it's up to your team to make things look brighter.
• The Bad Guy Wins: This is how the UC Gundam storyline started out: Neo-Zeon forces won during the events of Char's Counterattack, and Char decided to punish Amuro and Bright for opposing him by making them watch the completion of his Axis Drop. Problem is, the moment he was about to finish it, Earth suddenly vanished, to Char's shock. And then he's forced to play the Big Good role to investigate the disappearance of Earth.
• Big Good: A role shared by Char Aznable and Treize Khushrenada. They may have been enemies to many of the good guys, but they are the only leaders of major powers that understand the need to make peace with former enemies for the sake of protecting Earth from certain doom.
• Canon Welding: When the Invaders tried to take over Jupiter and turn it into a Getter Ray star, they attacked the Jupiter Energy Fleet, leaving Judau and Roux the sole survivors.
  • Also, after Shin Dragon opened a wormhole to get to Jupiter as quickly as possible, it stayed open after it left, and MZ23, which activated its jump drive to escape from A.D.A.M., emerged out of it. After it landed on the moon, the Zanscare Empire, ever obsessed with motorcycles, broke into it and stole a bunch of mass production type Garlands, which they later used against League Militaire.
  • Hayato Jin is one of the people using the collective fake name Jinn Gehenam, and the various Super Robots from the Tower land battleship got folded into the League Militaire.
  • The most plot-critical example, however, is the fate of Megazone 23's world: the humans from that world tried to weaponize Fabula Fores and ended up letting Perfectio in. They were forced to render the entire Earth lifeless just to save the rest of their universe.
• Cool Mask: Duke Fleed and Chronicle Asher
• Combining Mecha: Daltanious, Godmars, Getter Robo, Shin Getter Robo and Forte Gigas, combined from the protagonists' super robots Ganador and Strega.
• Composite Character: Emperor Zuul in Destiny is a combination of the original Emperor Zuul from the TV series (has his appearance and personality), Emperor Dolmen (due to the Kroppen cloning plot) and King Vega (he led the attack that destroyed Planet Fleed). As a result, all three of these evil empires are folded into the Gishin Empire, making it the alien enemy faction of this game.
• Continuity Nod: Each character who can pilot the Hi-Nu Gundam has the person they most regret being unable to save as part of the animation for the Fin Funnels - Lalah for Amuro, Four for Kamille, and Ple for Judau.
• Crapsack World: One of the bleakest settings in the series to date: The Zentradi War forced humanity into going to space and establishing colonies only to be constantly attacked by extraterrestrial forces like the Invaders. This, along with the Federation's growing corruption and inability to properly assist, results in the Universal Century's conflicts with the twist of the Getter Ray permeation, the OZ's coup d'etat happening in between. By the time the game begins, it's a wonder how the Earth is even remotely inhabitable.
• Darker and Edgier: D has one of the darkest plots in the series. Earth starts as a total Crapsack World after the events of Getter Robo Armageddon polluted the planet with Getter Rays. Londo Bell never got formed thanks to the Organization of Zodaic coup d'etat, meaning there is no one to stop Char Aznable's attempt at dropping Axis on Earth. And even after the good guys get into an Enemy Mine situation with Neo Zeon, they still have to deal with Zanscare's brutality. Finally, the franchise's habit of using the Spared by Adaptation trope is downplayed here. Everyone who died during Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam stays dead, as do Ple and Ple Two, and many characters from Victory can't be saved.
• Demonic Spiders: Ruina and Zanscare mooks. In-universe, the Invaders are considered this. The Megazone 23 mooks don't fall under this only because they don't swarm.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Unless you meet the conditions to recruit her, Haman Karn won't appear in the storyline at all.
  • Both the Trash gang and the Shrike Team only appear as summon attacks.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Gepelnitch, The Invaders, Emperor Zuul and the Big Bad Perfectio.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Getter Robo Armageddon has a lot that happens in this game that doesn't happen when it shows up in later games:
  • This game and the Super Robot Wars Z 2 duology are the only games where Tower and Stilva are playable units.
  • The original Getter Robo becomes an Ascended Extra, showing up partway through the first Earth route (with Benkei piloting it) and becomes an extra unit to fly around in later on.
  • As the Armageddon storyline ends at Scenario 17(?!), Shin Dragon is taken out of action for most of the game, forcing you to put the Shin Getter team in your other Getter Robos until you regain it.
  • Shin Dragon's moveset is more expansive. The alternate Shin Liger and Poseidon forms are featured as fully-usable alternate modes rather than a single attack for Shin Dragon each, and the Shin Shine Spark attack is not a combination attack and thus doesn't require Shin Getter Robo's presence.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Destiny makes it clear it's a Crapsack World from the get-go. It's up to the Blue Swear to fix that.
• Earth Is the Center of the Universe: Since Perfectio is trying to enter the universe through Earth, both the Invaders and Emperor Zuul wanted to destroy Earth, to prevent the universe from being destroyed.
• Eldritch Abomination: Perfectio, king of the Ruina Energy Beings from another dimension. Since Perfectio feeds on despair, the Ruina try to turn Earth into his cattle farm by sealing Earth in another dimension. While it's possible to destroy the Ruina, Perfectio's Nigh-Invulnerable and can only be stopped by sealing the gate to its home dimension. If it fully enters a universe, that universe is instantly destroyed. That's why the humans of Megazone 23's universe considered scorching their own Earth an acceptable tactic to stop it from entering their universe.
• The Empire: The Gishin Empire and the Zanscare Empire.
• Enemy Mine: While D includes antagonists from Gundam ZZ, Char's Counterattack and Gundam Wing, the situation at hand causes them to have the competence to ally with you all at the start since things are bad enough. Due to the Zanscare Empire attacking Earth, along with the Invaders and the Protodevlin, and the united alien forces of the villains from Daltanious, Godmars and Grendizer, the heroes quickly realize pretty much the only organizations out there that still have the sheer manpower to defend humanity are the Neo Zeon and the Organization of Zodiac. Thankfully, Roger Smith takes care of the negotiations. This results in one of the first heroic roles for longstanding villains like Char (his roles as Quattro aside).
• Evil Versus Oblivion: Pretty much the premise of the first portion of the game, with the Neo Zeon and others who have no choice but to work with them fighting against even bigger threats.
  • When the Invaders tried to destroy Earth by ramming Ganymede into it, even the Zanscare Empire got scared and tried to destroy it with the Keilas Guilie. It didn't work, due to the Invader force field around Ganymede, but it did reveal that Keilas Guilie was already operational, as well as giving the heroes enough time to destroy it before it could fire again.
  • Over the course of the story, it's revealed that this is the reason why the Invaders and Emperor Zuul wanted to destroy Earth - they wanted to prevent Perfectio from emerging and destroying the universe.
• The Federation: Subverted. Unlike in almost every other SRW title, where Earth is united under one of these (most frequently the Earth Federation), the Earth Unified Government was in tatters before the plot even started.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: In this game, Schwarzwald was part of an OZ expedition team to Antarctica after the Earth got sealed off. When he and his companions were attacked by the Ruina, he went crazy, and then joined the invaders in trying to teach people the "meaning of destruction".
• Galactic Conqueror: Emperor Zuul.
• Gratuitous Latin: All Ruina characters and mecha. There's actually a pretty good reason for this...
• The Heartless: The Ruina, in the sense that they're powered by negative emotions of some sort or another.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: If you choose to go to Jupiter to complete the Armageddon storyline, you get to play with Shin Dragon for a stage, but after that stage, they reveal that Shin Dragon's reactor is completely drained. You don't get it back until the late 30s, so you'll have to put the Shin Getter team in classic Getter or Black Getter.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Trieze Kushrenada does this to defeat Perfectio.
  • Dr. Kabuto remains in the Scientific Fortress to allow everyone inside to escape from the Ruina's assault.
• Humongous Combining and/or Transforming Real and Super Robots
• Lightning Bruiser: The (Proto) Garland. Granted, its armor is crap, but it's agile enough to not need armor, and WOW does it hit hard when fully upgraded (specifically, its standard "Physical Attack" has a high critical hit rate, accurate, and doesn't cost EN; combine this with its 4 parts slots, and it will very easily be getting nothing but critical hits at a decent range in no time flat).
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Destiny notably gives Amuro three of them in a single playthrough. He begins with the Re-GZ, then moves to the Nu Gundam. If certain requirements are met, the Nu Gundam HWS (Heavy Weapons System) is unlocked. Finally, the uber-powerful Hi-Nu Gundam is a mandatory upgrade for the last scenarios of the game. In a twist, while upgrades carry over from the Nu to the Nu HWS, it doesn't for the Hi-Nu.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Getter Robo in Destiny uses the exact same Open Get sequence from Super Robot Wars Impact (Getter 3/Shin Getter-3/Shin Poseidon, Getter 1/Shin Getter-1/Shin Dragon and Getter 2/Shin Getter-2/Shin Liger). Benkei piloting the Getter 1 references the drama CD Ten Years War on the Moon where he attempts to use it but fails the combination but unlike the drama, he successfully pilots the machine. Justified as it is a single-seater Getter 1 rather than needing to do the combination.
  • When the team was trying to think of a better name for the November Treaty Organization Military, Amuro tried to name the team "March Wind", again, though Noin stops him because "that would cause many problems".
• New Game Plus: Like most SRWs, Destiny carries over kill count totals, customizations and credits to the next playthrough. However, customizations are unit-specific, so if you get a new or secret unit/character for the first time, it starts as a blank slate on the next playthrough.
• Physical God: During the final battle with Emperor Zuul, you have to destroy three fake versions of him before you get to fight the real deal. Not only is the real one much tougher than the fakes, but he actually regenerates after you beat him once. As if that's not bad enough, he fully regenerates again after you take out one third of his health.
• Put on a Bus: For obvious reasons, Eve has a negligible presence once her title's storyline has been completed, but she returns for the final stretch of the game.
• The Quisling: Schwarzwald, despite being human, aligned with the Ruina because he believes that humanity was meant to be destroyed by them.
• Redshirt Army: For once, not the basic grunts typical of a Gundam series, but the VF-11 Thunderbolt appears, as well. There's also a Taurus squad that gets destroyed by the Shin Dragon. In fact, if nameless Macross 7 OR OZ forces show up on your side at any given time, consider them already dead.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Emperor Zuul gives one to Relena Peacecraft.
• Theme Initials: As of 2nd Original Generations, all of the Banpresto Originals' theme musics have titles that start with D. Destinies, Desire, Drumfire, Duologue, Duet, Destine, Deliverer, Devastator, Despair...
• Took a Level in Kindness: Chronicle and Katejina are much less bonkers and murderous in the game than they were in the series, to help suspend the disbelief that they'd be worth saving in the first place. And then there's B.D, who is recruitable if you beat him quickly enough, and isn't the same population-controlling ass he was in the show. Also, Char is less obsessed with his former ambition of forcing everyone to become Newtypes and becomes an honest-to-God Big Good for a change. Also qualifies as Adaptational Heroism.
• Turn the Other Cheek: You can recruit Katejina Loos and instantly forgive every single thing that she has done. Granted, several of her actions, such as killing members of the Shrike Team and Odelo Heinrik, don't occur in Destiny.
  • Char's colony and asteroid drop are also overlooked with more justification, as everyone - Char himself included - clearly has way bigger fish to fry. Amuro and Char even cooperate to an even friendlier extent than they did in Zeta.
• Unnecessarily Large Interior: The final scenario is a particularly egregious example. It takes place in an underground base at the South Pole. One of the battleships available for the mission is the Battle 7, a transforming Cool Starship that stands 1400 meters tall (about 200 meters short of a mile). It still has room to either fly or walk.
  • A scenario or two earlier tries to take this into account: the only battleship you can use is the Ra Calium. However, you can still sortie the much larger Shin Dragon as one of your units.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: If you choose to go to space for the first few scenarios, the story focuses on making it really damn clear that Char is this, stripping the "extremist" part away with the sudden disappearance of Earth and basically turning him into the Big Good for a while.
• Where It All Began: The final battlefield is located in the South Pole, where you first get to control Joshua and Cliana.
• Why Am I Ticking?: Takeru is connected to a bomb powerful enough to wipe out the Earth via his brainwaves stored in the Godmars itself; therefore, players unfamiliar with Godmars are likely to be surprised when they get a game over if Godmars is destroyed (although, if you've played any of the games featuring Space Runaway Ideon, you'll be quick to pick this little detail up). It doesn't help that Takeru's Gaia (initially) transforms into Godmars when it's severely damaged (i.e. HP bar is in the red), either. Since your team is always within ground zero of the explosion if it goes off, this penalty, logically, also applies when you're in space and far away from Earth.
• You Killed My Father: Kouji Kabuto and Tetsuya Tsurugi want to kill Ignis for the death of Kenzo Kabuto. However, they realized that their desire for revenge was actually fueling the Ruina, and eventually grew out of it, deciding to fight for the sake of protecting Earth rather than avenging Kenzo.