The player controls a mech from one of thirteen different anime robot franchises through a series of missions, ranging from destroying enemy machines to protecting a specific target.

Banpresto enlisted the help of the Super Robot Wars development team to work on the game, and incorporated music by the progressive rock group Acid Black Cherry.

Though it was a commercial success and is the best-selling entry in the Another Century's Episode series, R received largely mediocre reviews, having been described as "a functional mess".

Represented series include Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, Full Metal Panic!, Macross Zero and Genesis of Aquarion.

These include filling the tension gauge to max level, healing the player's mecha, and more powerful attacks to defeat larger enemies.

[2][3] The plot of Another Century's Episode: R revolves around an original timeline created specifically for the game, as opposed to linking the stories from each of the represented series.

To make the matter worse, the energy discharged by Brunhilde in the process affected Autumn-4's memory circuits and corrupted her record of the event, leaving her unable to explain to all the people who now find themselves stranded in a foreign universe.

Banpresto, the publisher for the series up to that point, was absorbed into Namco Bandai Games in 2008 and reorganized into a manufacturer of toys and merchandiser machines.

[3][7] The opening and ending themes were performed by the progressive rock group Acid Black Cherry and its lead vocalist, Yasu.

[13] By September, it was the fourth highest-selling video game in Japan, behind Monster Hunter Diary, Ace Combat X2: Joint Assault, and Wii Party.

He concluded by saying: "Overall then the game is a functional mess and whilst playable it’s not really enjoyable as the overt restrictions make it very frustrating – simply because you never truly feel in control of the mecha you’ve selected.

Abdul-Aal called the game "a neutred dog", and a sequel that omitted many of the mechanics and concepts he believed made the earlier Another Century's Episode titles so fun to play.