Although the MS-06J Zaku II Ground Type was doing a fair job in the anime Mobile Suit Gundam, the Principality of Zeon saw a need for a more effective ground based mobile suit for their operations on Earth. Aftering designing and testing, the first model Gouf was rolled out as the MS-07A Gouf. The A-Type Gouf was a "dumbed-down" model of the true model design. It had been released early to training battalions to get pilots use to the controls. Some models were also released into combat service for those units that desperately need a higher performance mobile suit. The A-Type Gouf lacked several of weapons from its mass production brother, including the 75mm five-finger/barrel machine gun left hand and the tentacle-whip "heat rod" mounted on the right forearm.

Quickly though, the A-Type Gouf was replaced by the completed MS-07B Gouf model. This full model had the 75mm machine gun hand and "heat rod", which be used as superheated slicing weapon or as a grappling weapon with a powerful electric shock effect. It also had a powerful heat sword, an imporved heat-based weapon from the Zaku's heat hawk. The Gouf could also use the standard Zaku II weapons, such as 120mm machine gun or 280mm bazooka.

The Zeon pilot, Lieutenant Ramba Ral , played havoc with the crew of the Pegasus-Class Assault Carrier White Base and the young pilot of the RX-78-2 Gundam with his YMS-07B Gouf, a prototype of the standard B-Type Gouf.

The Gouf was good, but it was also more costly than the Zaku without much improvement. It easily outstripped the MS-06F Zaku II. However, It had a very short run, but it was deployed across the world. The Gouf's short run came from the fact that the more powerful and nimble MS-09 Dom was just a more efficient unit to deploy. Even still, the Gouf was still deployed along with Zakus and Doms.

Like almost all of Zeon's mobile suit designs, the Gouf feature several vairations:
MS-07B-3 Gouf Custom
MS-07C-3 Gouf Heavy Arms Type
MS-07H8 Gouf Flight Type