the mecha series represented in Another Century's Episode gained popularity as a result of its commercial success; for instance, Metal Armor Dragonar received a DVD box set and a line of art books after one of its mechas was featured in A.C.E.. This effect has been compared to Banpresto's Super Robot Wars series, which similarly increased the popularity of franchises that were represented in the games. Another Century's Episode spawned a new franchise, consisting of merchandise, albums, and four sequels. The first of these, Another Century's Episode 2 (2006), continued the story of the original and improved many of its faults, such as a refined melee combat system and faster pacing. Another Century's Episode 3: The Final (2007) was envisioned as the final installment, adding new features such as branching story paths and additional playable mechas. The fourth entry, Another Century's Episode: R (2010), was noticeably more plot-centric than previous installments, focusing primarily on an encompassing storyline and borrowing elements from role-playing games. Another Century's Episode Portable (2011), the last entry, omits the story entirely and instead focuses on completing a series of missions and destroying boss units. R and Portable were published by Namco Bandai Games, which in 2008 reorganized Banpresto into a toy company and absorbed its video game operations (although the games were published under the Banpresto brand). Notes References 2005 video games Action video games Banpresto games Bandai Namco Entertainment franchises Crossover video games FromSoftware games Japan-exclusive video games Video games about mecha PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in Japan