With over 70 mobile suits to choose from, getting into SD Gundam Battle Alliance can be a little overwhelming—even if you’re a fan of the long-running franchise. And while the game is simple enough for you to find your favorite Gundam from your favorite series and plow through relatively unharmed once you pick up the mechanics, some mobile suits stand above others in terms of balance and battlefield superiority.
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This list simply looks at the raw potential for damage output, combo capability, and versatility of each suit to give players who want to be competitive and have the most tactically advantageous position a leg up, as well as where to find the blueprints needed to build them. Some of these mobile suits will fit in quite naturally if you’re familiar with the franchise canon, while others might surprise you.
10 Master Gundam
Master Gundam is the primary antagonist mobile suit of the outlandish and over-the-top Mobile Fighter G Gundam—a series that attempted to capitalize on the then-exploding popularity of fighting games like Street Fighter, Fatal Fury, and all of their many imitators. Master Gundam has a very limited ranged game, but it’s one of the deadliest Gundams up close, with damaging, high-priority attacks and the ability to string together 30+ hit combos with ease.
The blueprints for the Master Gundam are, not surprisingly, found at the end of both of the G Gundam story arc missions: the first in “Farewell Master”, and the second in “Burning Gundam's Great Triumph”. They are dropped by the bosses of these missions, though four of each type of blueprint is required, so you may have to do some grinding for this one.
9 Char’s Gelgoog
This entry might come as a surprise to some folks who might have expected this list to be dominated by rockstar Gundams. After all, the Gelgoog is a mass-produced grunt mobile suit used as the average shock trooper during the last chapters of the war with Zeon. That said, any mobile suit in the hands of 'The Red Comet' is no average mobile suit, and this is doubly true of the Gelgoog, which is available fairly early on and packs quite a punch.
Char’s Gelgoog only requires two blueprints. The first blueprint is in the mission “Encounters in Space”, where you’ll be rewarded with it at the end of the mission. The second blueprint is dropped by defeating Char in this very suit in the mission “A Descent into the Maelstrom”, where Char’s Gelgoog appears as a mid-boss.
8 Destiny Gundam
As you might expect from the namesake mobile suit of Gundam Seed: Destiny, the Destiny Gundam is a force to be reckoned with. Although it’s surprisingly slow, the Destiny Gundam does immense physical damage, both at range and up close; and, in the case of the latter scenario, the Destiny is able to link an absurd number of hits together—usually more than enough to kill most non-boss enemies, and even some bosses too.
The Destiny Gundam appears as a boss in two Seed-centric story missions: “Assault on the Point of No Return” and “The Final Power”, and it is from these fights that there is a chance the blueprints to build the Destiny Gundam will be dropped. You’ll need three type-I blueprints, and four type-4 blueprints to build this fearsome monster.
7 Sazabi
The Sazabi appears in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack—the grand finale of the original Universal Century Gundam saga. True to its cinematic appearance, the Sazabi is an extremely overpowered mobile suit that takes advantage of the neurological capabilities of its pilot, allowing it to utilize the deadly Psycommu system and demonstrate battlefield superiority at long distances.
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Naturally, the Sazabi is one of the more difficult suits to obtain, as it requires three sets of blueprints: four type-I blueprints, which are dropped by the Sazabi itself in “A Descent into the Maelstrom”, three type-II blueprints from clearing the mission “Beyond the Time”, and a whopping five type-3 blueprints dropped by Char’s Z’Gok in “The Descending Sword”—a hidden boss that will only appear in a locked room in the stage somewhat off the main path. At the beginning of the stage, ignore the enemies to the left, head straight toward the wall, and you’ll find Char beyond the door.
6 Burning Gundam
Much like the Master Gundam, the Burning Gundam is an in-your-face, combo-heavy powerhouse, and seems specifically designed to take out large, slow bosses like the Big Zam, Stella’s Destroy, and, of course, the Devil Gundam. The Burning Gundam does this by being able to hit hard and fast, but easily cancels out most of its animations by sidestepping, and it can do this much quicker than most large bosses can even turn.
To build the Burning Gundam, you’ll need to be gifted four type-I blueprints by the Burning Gundam itself during the mission, “To a New World”. The other blueprints, of which you’ll need three, are, as you might guess, in the G Gundam True mission, “Farewell Master: Master Asia's Last Breath”.
5 Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex
GLR is the final, late-series upgrade for Mika in Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. It is a ferocious, melee-focused mobile suit built to absolutely decimate any mobile suit that even gets close to it. While some of its attacks have a bit of a long wind-up period, the damage output from this Gundam’s attacks is absolutely incredible.
The BLR is quite difficult to acquire, as you might guess given its status. You’ll need 11 blueprints total: four dropped by the Hashmal in “Earth’s S.O.S.”, three at the end of “Their Place”, and four from the mid-boss of "Beyond the Möbius Universe": Reginlaze Julia.
4 Gundam Bael
The Bael—another mobile suit from Iron-Blooded Orphans—is very fast, versatile, and has long combos at its disposal. This incredible sense of balance makes it an excellent choice in almost any mission, and there’s a particular, appreciable finesse to its gold, dual-wielding heat saber skills that make it enjoyable to watch.
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Fairly easy to obtain, the Bael’s blueprints are dropped by the boss of the Break Mission, “BEYOND”, of which you’ll need five. The final, sole type-2 blueprint is rewarded by completing the Iron-Blooded Orphans-themed stage, “Their Place”.
3 Hi-Nu Gundam
This somewhat obscure mobile suit only appears in the Char’s Counterattack spinoff novel, “Beltorchika’s Children”. Between its Psycommu-controlled funnels and its immense beam cannon, the Hi-Nu is one of the most devastating Gundams at range in the entire game, and can lay waste to whole units without even getting into their offensive range.
The Hi-Nu can only be unlocked in the post-game. All of its blueprints are dropped in the boss-rush-style mission, “At the Bottom of the Gravity Well” by the Gouf, Z’Gok, and Gelgoog. You’ll need a total of 13 blueprints - and remember, playing on higher difficulties yields more potential blueprint rewards.
2 Musha Gundam
One of the classic SD Gundams, Musha is introduced in SD Gundam Battle Alliance as a formidable all-rounder and, for a fairly low-effort suit to obtain, one of the best in the game. The Musha’s primary strengths are in close quarters, where it has several devastating options that can melt just about any boss’s health rapidly.
You only need one set of blueprints to unlock the Musha, and they are all found in the mission “Big Zam’s Last Stand” after defeating the Musha itself. You can’t ask for a better suit for so little grinding.
1 Strike Freedom Gundam
To the surprise of exactly zero Gundam fans, the Strike Freedom turns out to be overpowered. Piloted by Kira Yamato, the hero of Gundam Seed and the latter half of Seed Destiny, the Strike Freedom is the young pilot’s third and final mobile suit, and it plays like a “greatest hits” album of every incredible, late-series Gundam ability you can imagine. Whether at range or in close, this suit does it all with ease and lightning quickness.
To unlock this omnipotent beast, you’ll need two sets of blueprints: the type-I’s rewarded at the end of the Seed story mission, “Stella”, and the type-2's dropped by the Destiny Gundam in “Descent into the Maelstrom”. Play on hard mode to double your chances of getting the blueprints you need.
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