War never changes. Unless someone replaces tanks with giant walking robots, then it looks much, much cooler yet is still quite tragic. That is exactly the point of Squaresoft's 1995 mech tactical RPG Front Mission. How does a man survive on the battlefield of the future? Canny strategy, pots of money and making sure you have a bigger robot than the guy in the other side, that's how.
It is the year 2090. You play the role of Lloyd Clive, soldier of the OCU (Oceanea Community Union) army. The game's prologue shows you how Lloyd - along with fellow soldier Ryuji Sakata - are ambushed during a covert op by the antagonistic USN (United States of the New Continent) army unit lead by the ruthless Driscoll, an attack which leaves Lloyd's fiancée Karen dead. It transpires that the whole incident was orchestrated by Driscoll to trigger armed conflict between the OCU and the USN on Huffman Island, turning the whole place into a vicious battlefield. Lloyd is blamed for the conflict and leaves the army disgraced, but the OCU's Colonel Olson speaks sweet promises of revenge in his ear, encouraging him to join the Carrion Crows mercenary group and take up arms once more.
Front Mission is a game of two distinct halves. You move on a linear route around Huffman Island, skipping between military bases, cities and various battlefields. You'll visit parts and weapon shops run by a family of hippie clones (can't be the same guy, right?) gather intel at local bars, fight it out on the arena for prize money, meet and recruit a varied bunch of pilots to add to your merry mercenary bunch and most importantly of all customize your wanzers - and before you ask, that's not an insult but the collective name given to the mechs in the game (taken from the German "Wanderpanzer", or "walking tank").
As is to be expected from a mech game, you're able to mix and match torsos, legs, arms, melee weapons, handheld weapons and rear-mounted weapons to create the perfect wanzer. How you micromanage your wanzer team is entirely up to your preferred playstyle - you can have a balanced posse with long and close range firepower units, or you can make everyone mean, lean, melee-smashing machines. All parts have advantages and disadvantages, so trying out different wanzer builds will keep you hooked for a long while - as a rule, getting the most expensive parts is always a good strategy. Pilots also evolve depending on what sort of attacks you have them perform, so it is possible to train your characters to specific roles – we love to turn Keith and J.J. into melee monsters – with specific skills unlocking as these pilots level up.
After all preparations are done, it's time to deploy onto the battlefield. The game switches to an isometric view and players take turns moving and firing against the CPU-controlled USN units. Missions range between the regular "destroy everything not on your team" to the more delicate and often harder "protect specific unit" tasks. Your best friend on the battlefield is Peewee and his resupply truck. Armed only with a puny machine gun, having one or two wanzers next to him for defense is always a good plan since his unit is the only one capable of mid-battle repairs to your wanzers - and trust us, you will need them. Perhaps more crucial is the fact that he is the only way to resupply your finite weapon ammunition, namely the lethal long-range missiles that you will eventually come to rely on as the difficulty ramps up.
When engaging enemies, the view switches to a closer isometric viewpoint, really showing off the detailed wanzers in all their glory. When weapons connect you are treated to the rather satisfying spectacle of chunks of debris flying off in all directions; it's not uncommon to see legs, arms and weapons arc through the air as a wanzer takes an especially serious hit. A ten-ton weaponless wanzer is about as useful as a paperweight, so make sure you don't let that happen to any of your own.
It is also in this section of the game we note Front Mission's biggest issue: weapon balancing. Long Range Missile weapons offer essentially free damage without any repercussion, while automated weapons can target multiple parts, and - when coupled with skills that allow your pilots to switch weapons several times per turn - make the process of transforming enemy wanzers into piles of scrap metal a little too easy, unbalancing the delicate rock/paper/scissor weapon triangle that the game borrows from Fire Emblem. Why use melee when long range and automatic weapons offer bigger rewards at lesser risk? This becomes more noticeable as the campaign progresses and players have no choice but to use this to their own advantage in order to overcome some of the game's sterner tests.
The team responsible for Front Mission was incredible. Developer G-Craft was formed by former NCS/Masaya employees headed by Toshiro Tsuchida - he had a prolific year in 1992, working on both the Mega drive shooter Gley Lancer and the SNES cult classic Assault Suits Valken (Cybernator for us westerner gamers). That certainly takes care of any concerns regarding the team's pedigree on science fiction scenarios and mech design, but why stop there? Every character has a portrait by Yoshitaka Amano of Final Fantasy fame, something you notice immediately from the game's cover art. Last but not least the phenomenal soundtrack composed by Yoko Shimomura and Noriko Matsueda features several notable compositions that vary from the jazz piece that plays in every bar on Hoffman Island to the heart-pounding tunes which accompany each attack. This is a dream team of talented folks that pretty much did for mech-based strategy games what Chrono Trigger did for JRPGs just a month later.
There is an excellent alternative if you don't mind tinkering with your wanzers on the go instead of the TV - in 2007, Front Mission was re-released for the Nintendo DS and was officially localized and released in America shortly after. But this was no simple port. It includes a lot of extra content (new parts, new missions) and perhaps the most enticing of all, a full campaign seen from the USN side of the events, with the player fighting it out against the mercenary Carrion Crows unit.
Conclusion
In short, Front Mission is Fire Emblem with giant robots. That alone would be enough to warrant a purchase, regardless of the year in which you are reading this review, but the game manages to be much more than a simple trade of medieval fantasy settings for mech science fiction scenario. It is a beautiful, masterfully-crafted package that can turn people who are not fans of either turn based strategy or mechs into diehard followers overnight. It was a shame Squaresoft never went ahead with the planned western localization of this game; such a well-crafted product would surely have found an audience among SNES owners in 1995 beyond the niche collection of Gundam fans. And much like Gundam, the whole game carries a notable anti-war message with a surprisingly mature storyline. Still, all is not lost - in 2001 the aptly-named Front Mission Translation Project ROM hacking group released a complete English translation for the game that you can use - along with the original cartridge - on the RetroN 5 or Retro Freak. Front Mission is just shy of the perfect score considering its balancing issues, but time has done little to change the fact that it remains a one-of-a-kind release, offering the perfect balance of artistry, storytelling and execution. In fact, Squaresoft set the bar so high on its first attempt at mech warfare that the series has had a hard time surpassing this game's brilliance ever since. If you have a Super Famicom collection, make sure you reserve space for Front Mission on your shelf.
Comments 45
You guys are either getting paid by RetroN or subtly promoting the pirating of games.
@Arckadius Neither! It's my personal retro gaming collection that is fueling this. Plus, you never forget your first Super Famicom import and in my case, this one was it.
I see it as "these are the games we really want to see on the Virtual Console." And Secret of Mana 2 (er 3 or 4 or whichever number you want to use)
I want to see Blood of Bahamut translated.
Live a Live.
Treasure Hunter G.
Seriously - those are some of the best SNES games ever.
@vitalemrecords Surely you meant "Bahamut Lagoon"? "Blood of the Bahamut" is the sort of sequel but not really for DS, right?
@Shiryu Thank you. I was rather annoyed when I found out that this wasn't a VC review, though.
Also: "players have no choice but to use this to their own advantage in order to overcome some of the game's sterner tests."
I'll be mumbling about finding a opy of the DS version on my way out. Well, this and other mecha games.
@vitalemrecords all of those, plus if your in North America add Terranigma to that list.
@TheWPCTraveler I loved Front Mission 3 on PS1, even bought it again to play on my Vita.
Front Mission is fantastic, I agree. I love these little snippets about obscure-ish SNES games, it's uncommon to find modern articles about these titles.
@Shiryu Both have been fan-translated, actually, so I don't get the point. I didn't think Bahamut Lagoon was that good, personally. He might had Treasure of the Rudras in mind, which is very good IMO. Seiken Densetsu 3 and Treasure Hunter G are great too.
I might actually import this
@Arckadius The Retron5 and Retro Freak both allow you to apply patches to your existing carts, so that's why we're featuring more reviews of this type - it's now legally possible to play these game in English.
As for being "paid off", I assume the same thing applies when we mention ANY hardware device more than once?
If so, hopefully that big fat cheque from Nintendo will be arriving in the post soon! I mention the Wii U and 3DS on a daily basis.
@Arckadius Man, Terranigma is a fantastic game. The end had me tearin' up a bit my first play through. Just started a new one last week.
Front Mission is also really, really good from what I had played. Maybe I'll pick it back up again.
@TheWPCTraveler I do feel bad when everyone goes into these believing these are VC related... no clue how to mend that.
@Thegentleman And this is why I do what I do do.
@Damo wow so you're admitting Nintendo are paying you guys?! 😉 I jest. Love this place keep it up 👍
@MJKOP How else do you think we have the funds to keep @Shiryu stocked up on the crates of Red Bull required to keep up this retro review streak?!
On the topic of people assuming retro reviews are VC reviews, there really is no remedy for this - the only option would be to not review ANY retro titles unless they're VC-bound, which would mean we'd be totally ignoring a MASSIVE part of Nintendo's past history.
Not on my watch
@Damo money well spent! 😂
@MJKOP Fun fact: I don't sleep. Ever.
"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long".
@Shiryu you need your sleep pal...
@Shiryu yup - you're right - it has been a while - woops
@vitalemrecords For a moment, I was confused as well. Too many Bahamuts I guess.
@SonataAndante I knew something was fishy with my memory on that bit... my bad! Thanks for the correction. @Damo if you can please edit Driscoll name out, much appreciated.
These reviews are a duel edge sword for me. It's cool to find out about games that I've never heard of before but it makes me sad that I can't conviently get them on the virtual console.
Ahh... SquareSoft, do I miss you. I didn't realized that there was also a regular Front Mission on the snes.
I'm a big nerd for Yoshitaka Amano, I'd probably buy anything with his art involved.
Recently watched a playthrough in Twitch
I'm confused. This game was ported to the DS a long time ago. I owned a copy.
@FadedSun What's troubling you, my good sir?
Glad to see Front Mission on here. I played Front Mission 3 on PS3 and fell in love with the series after that, got very disappointed when the only other one released in NA (besides the DS port of the first game) was 4 on the PS2. I now own all three, but I'm still poking around for a working translation for Front Mission 2, and hopelessly gazing at Front Mission 5 with no real way to patch or play it.
Too bad all of the spinoff games like Gun Hazard and Evolved were horrible, at least compared to the core series.
Front Mission Alternative was one of my favourite PlayStation games and I made sure to buy Front Mission 3 on my PS3 (though it's on the backlog). I'd happily pick up the DS version of this if it turns up in the Wii U VC.
One thing I don't like about the site revamp, is that I don't see the original release dates for retro games anymore. Could you guys bring that back please? It would save me a google search out of a hundred daily...
@Shiryu
Keep those reviews coming. I may have to buy a Retron just to apply the patches and play these games! Or learn Japanese I guess!
@Agent721 Learning Japanese is the way to go. I would pick the Retro Freak instead. Smaller unit, PC Engine HU Card support and that last one is a deal maker to me.
@Shiryu
Thanks for the tip!
@Damo Actually, it's been perfectly legal to play these games for a long time, in English, using a ROM and emulator rather than patching your cartridge. While downloading a ROM is probably illegal in most countries, extracting it from your own cartridge is legal in many places. Not easy to do without the right equipment though.
Well... damn, what a game...
Terranigma is the game wrich I miss in VC.
I prefer the DS entry from Front Mission with have the story of the other side too, and wrich is better than the main story.
@Shiryu: Bahamoot Lagoon(snes) have no relation with Blood of Bahamuth(DS).
@FlashBoomerang Not according to what I read on Wikipedia, they share the same director.
"Blood of Bahamut was directed by Motomu Toriyama, who previously worked on numerous other Square Enix titles including Bahamut Lagoon, a tactical role-playing game for the Super Famicom."
@Shiryu
Story, characters and gameplay style are not related.
Chrono Trigger is no related to Rad racer, Final Fantasy or Vagrant Story. And the director was the same. Is no point in compare who worked in the game and what the game really is.
@FlashBoomerang Of course kind sir, but... "Chonno Trigger" and "Rad Racer" don't have the same name on their title, savyy?
@Shiryu
No makes any sense your point about part of a name. Thinking this way, Clayfighter was be a be a sequence of Street Fighter. Or yet, Double Dragon was be a sequence of Dragon View.
The games are not related. Stop trying find similar points. Nobody care.
@FlashBoomerang You must be fun at parties.
Wish, wish. There is sometimes an idea, and sometimes not. How are you feeling today, my son? I miss you so much.
didnt they make a DS port of this?
@Yoshis95 Yes, an expanded one containing all the extras of the PSX version and even a few more DS exclusive contents.
For a second I thought this wasn't about piracy, but that this was somehow actually sold in English.
Stupid me!
I would love to have this on wii u, but im not a big fan on emulating on pc nor in the market for a 3rd party retro system
Edit: maybe the ds port
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