Ikiryo Mini-Mecha

**Key Features** | »» *"Naka"* Nanite generator w/ injector»» Helmet-mounted HUD»» *"Sukunaru"* Nano-scanner»» Several hours of footage of training course outtakes»» 上 (Above) Kanji on shoulder plates

*"We like to do it on top!"*

- Ikiryo pilot
## Tactical Analysis

* **Room for one**: Standing little taller than an infantryman itself, the Ikiryo can carry a single passenger onboard, though it doesn't have the capacity for any more than that.

* **Small and nasty**: The Ikiryo is quite fast, although it is completely unarmed and as such unable to retaliate against hostiles. Despite it's small size, it is fairly well armoured, and its pilots can show off their skills to dodge enemy fire as they run to their target at increased speed.

* **Hop on!**: By leaping onto an enemy vehicle, the Ikiryo it is capable of controlling its actions through hijacking their control systems, though it can be shot off the vehicle fairly easily.

* **Sorry, we're full**: The Ikiryo barely manages to squeeze in the hijacking equipment and passenger space as it is. After the last attempt to refit a weapon on the Ikiryo ended when the designers realised there wasn't any room for ammunition, they finally gave up.

## Operational History

As part of the doctrine to forge a bond of equality between the millions of draftees and volunteers during the war, a sprawling and extensive training course was developed to turn civilians into hardened warriors. One of the most important parts of this training was a series of nigh-impossible obstacle courses specifically designed to humiliate recruits.

With all the recruits meeting the same challenges, and failing painfully and embarrassingly, it served to humble the trainees and put them on the same footing for the training ahead. Each obstacle course was specially designed to be humiliating both to perform in and to fail at, usually in the form of brightly coloured, rolling, balancing, rotating or moving platforms above muddy water or foam safety pits, which recruits must run, jump, climb, balance and, of course, inevitable fall from.

Props are used to increase the difficulty, including pogo sticks, unicycles, and safety padding that is both uncomfortable and unflattering. Though it is difficult to seriously injury oneself on these padded platforms, it very often looks quite painful. Unfortunately for the ones who watch on television, it is considered humorous. The training courses are so entertaining to onlookers that a popular Japanese broadcaster broadcasts footage from the training runs, as a further incentive to the recruits to try their best (and further embarrassment when they fall spectacularly from heights or on their butts, while on live television!).

There was but one flaw with the concept, and that is that every once in a while somebody, somehow, manages to finish the course. The number is rather uncommon, around one in a couple thousand. However, it is noted that these few run into an unfortunate problem; the purpose of the training is lost on them. Compared to their humbled comrades, they become arrogant mavericks, the sort that can be a liability on the field.

At the same time that this was starting to become a concern, a new mecha had recently been approved for full-scale deployment. Straddling the line between battlesuit and walker, the small, stubby-legged and lanky armed **Ikiryo Mini-Mecha** was designed to move quickly across the battlefield, escorting lone agents or engineers quickly to vital points. The Ikiryo was also capable of hopping onto enemy units and hijacking them with the "Sukunaru" Nano-scanner scanning the interior of the target unit and is equipped with its own nanite injector to forcibly take over the unit it was mounting.

The nanites have to be constantly in contact with the Ikiryo, or they will cease to function and the hijacked unit regain control of itself. This requires the Ikiryo to be on the hijacked unit at all times, something which isn't beneficial. However risks are risks, all for the sake of the Empire.

The job is a hazardous one, since the Ikiryo will be working away from the command tree, forcing the pilot to dodge enemy projectiles and patrols, run rapidly in the motion-capture cockpit over broken terrain, make snap decisions without oversight, and leap onto lone enemy units doing their best to kill them. There was a great deal of difficulty convincing anyone to use the thing on the field; test pilots began to refer to them as 'walking coffins'.

After the Ikiryo was shifted higher on the priority list, the Shogunate saw to an elegant solution to both problems. By presenting the Ikiryo as a reward to recruits that cleared the obstacle courses, it would be presented a challenge instead of a burden, and there would be no doubt that the pilot was skilled, determined or perhaps simply lucky enough to use the machine to full effect.

## Behind the Scenes

Takeshi's Castle and Wipeout are the inspiration for the training course.