Contrary to their name, the 'Mobile Suits' of Gundam are neither exoskeletons (at several stories tall, they are some of the largest mechs of the 'real robot' anime genre), nor controlled via motion capture (with the exception of G-Gundam's 'mobile trace' system).

You forgot Robert A. Hienliens novel starship troopers which centers around powerd exoskeleton combat

As a kid one of the shows that got me most interested in this field was the Exo-Troopers, an early 90's cartoon centering around humans who used exosuits to fight blue and purple skinned alien clones in their own organic exo armors.

Oh, and Robotech (transforming giant robot/jets). Like Mobile Suit Gundem they're several stories tall, however, later in the series came my favorites. Cyclones transformed from motorcycles into exosuits (built on a frame of armor the pilot was already wearing). The Samson Construction model was the strongest, but the slowest and intended for civil/combat construction rather than fighting/survival. Cyclones played a vital role in the Robotech series long before all of the larger mechs where outfitted with one for emergencies (ie, pilot ejects in hostile territory).

I would also note, that while the medium used in Robotech is beyond scientific possibility, the overall method holds our best hopes for true exosuits, or even for large mechs. In Robotech the thoughts of the pilot are transfered to the mech by the very thing that powers it (proto something or other), but for us the hope would be to have some kind of helmet transfer the information. The robot would be built to react to the thoughts of moving the same as the human body.

thornbrier,

That makes me think of another famous exosuit that uses thought based control systems. This one is worn by the UNSC's most secret, famous supersoldier. The Mjolnir Mk. IV, V and VI of the Halo series are popular enough and important enough that I believe those suits should have made the cut. How could we ever forget Master Chief. We owe him so much 500 years from now. that entry should have gone in right before the Matrix Revolutions exosuit.