Seven years after this, the MS-05 Zaku was deployed in combat (1). Five years later, after countless designs, the mobile suit MS-01 was completed. Thus the Zeon forces began developing weapons for visual-range combat under Minovsky particle interference. This fundamentally overturned the weapons systems and strategic and tactical theories that had been perfected in the latter half of the twentieth century. The discovery of the Minovsky particle had made it impossible to use radar and other radio systems. In particular, their mobile suit task forces brought the Zeon forces unilateral victory in the early stages of the war. The reason why the Principality of Zeon was able to fight the Federation Forces on roughly equal terms during the recent war, despite the difference in national power, was the existence of the mobile suit itself. ZEON FORCES MOBILE SUIT DEVELOPMENT HISTORY (1) Translator's Note: The development history section is broken up into two parts in the original book, interspersed with a 'Zaku Family All Type Catalog,' and I've reproduced that structure here.

Translator's Note: This section is not yet translated. The following text is copyright © 1984 Kodansha. I've also translated the sections on mobile suit development history. Mobile Suit Variation 1: Zaku Edition was published in April 1984 and included the first installment of a continuing feature on the history of the 'Zeon War of Independence.' Although this installment is fairly brief, and based largely on the accounts in Yoshiyuki Tomino's novels, I've excerpted it here for the sake of completeness. In addition to profiles of the various MSV machines, these books also included detailed features on mobile suit development history and the progress of the war between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. Long out of print, these books have recently been reissued. Translator's Note: In 1984, Kodansha published a set of three pocket books devoted to the Mobile Suit Variation series, which were released as part of the Kodansha Pocket Hyakka Series.

Earth federation mobile suits