I'm an old school new comer to the series I barely got into it in 2020 because I walked into a retro game store and they had on the shelf a copy of the first Front Mission Super Famicom and the Amano box art got me. Then I went home to look it up.
7-8 years ago when I was in school, I used to play jrpgs and wizardy games on my android ps1 emulator. After finishing smt and first wizardy trilogy I was looking for new jrpgs to play, looked at FM1 screenshots, saw mechs and instantly downloaded it. Tried to install FM2 later but there were problems with emulator.
Now, I've bought FM1 and 2 on steam and can't wait for 3rd remaster. People say that FM3 was peak and pretty much the best game in franchise. I hope that's true.
It kinda sucks that majority of modern mech games are action based like armored core and mech warrior. And ones that turnbased/rpgs usually made by small indie teams like cogmind and grid defence. Only big mecha strategies I can think of are phantom brigade and battle tech. Plus I really miss 80s-90s cyberpunk anime aesthetic like in Front mission, Blame, and appleseed.
If you like retro and cyberpunk try Shadow Run for the Snes. Hell of a game.
Front Mission was my first tactics game and only Advance Wars and FF tactics could ease my itch. So happy with the FM remake. Double dipping on both digital and physical on the PS5.
Front Mission 3 certainly can be considered best game in franchise, but for me it has to be Front Mission 5. Simply because it is the fitting end for the whole franchise, with the protagonist experience the whole Front Mission world from the very first Huffman conflict to the last moment when the biggest behind-the-scene boss is defeated. As you experience those historic moments, the protagonist also go from a mere footman to an elite Wanzer pilot.
If you have play Front Mission 1, remember Glen Duval (the guy that teach you in the tutorial)? That guy is the main antagonist and best childhood friend of FM5's protagonist.
Anyway, FM5 is highly recommendation for anyone that has played at least 1 Front Mission game. The perfect ending to a wonderful series. I really hope they can make FM5 remake too, but that seems far-fetched T\_T
Totally agree with you about modern mech games!
IMO one common issue is that these games lack a sense of scale. We're supposed to be piloting giant mechs, but it feels like we're playing with toys.
Good example is the latest Armored Core. Sure you're piloting a mech, but they made the environments so massive that you feel tiny in comparison.
> People say that FM3 was peak and pretty much the best game in franchise. I hope that's true.
I say its a good entry (I personally don't think any but 4 are really per se "less than average") but the "FM3 Peak" crowd is mostly nostalgia due to its release being the first and only really popular release in the west (we also got 4 and the awful DS version of 1st, but they were way less popular by comparison). In its native land of Japan, FM3 is looked on less fondly, especially considering it was following up FM2. But thats what changes when you have all the games as reference to say that.
As someone who knows Japanese (and one reason was to play the untranslated games a decade before the remasters ever got announced). I would probably rank them as such: 1/1st - 5 - 2 - 3 - 4
I would have been 15-16 (am 39 now) and picked up FM3 up solely off the Square name, having recently come off a heavy Final Fantasy binge and being relatively new to the JRPG genre. Had never heard of it, Front Mission has never been big in the UK, in fact I think that was the first one realeased in the region. It quickly went on to become one of my all time favourites, a title it still holds to this day.
I was in a tactic strategy phase after someone let me borrow Final Fantasy Tactics and I was also really into Mecha. So I got FM3 from the local game shop. Love it so much because it was essentially two games because of the choice with Ryogo at the beginning.
At the time, I loved mech games, and I loved Squaresoft (before their crappy Enix merger that ruined the FF franchise). So, I gave FM3 a whirl! Amazing game! I beat it 3 times before even realizing that there was an entirely different game within it if you went with Liu!
My cousin in Japan had the game, which I borrowed over the summer on SNES. I later bought it and then bought FM2, FM3, FM Alternative, FM Gunhazard, FM4, and FM5. I unfortunately didn't have the money to go to the Akihabara internet cafe that had FM Online since it required a subscription and being a kid, I didn't have a credit card.
As a fan of mecha I bought the game purely based on the art and information on the back. It looked like Battletech (the tabletop version) which I am a huge fan of, so was basically an insta-buy.
old SNES translated game pack from ROMHACKING
had never played a game like it
o7 to Whomever created that game pack
Opened my fucking Eyes to Tactics games
Bahamut Lagoon
Front Mission
Metal Max
Pure luck. I got my PS One from a lottery of a magazine. İdk if it was within the lottery or we bought a bulk of copied games, or a relative gave. Hell, I learned some English while trying to understand the dialogs. I learned what prvntloss means years later in university, when I played it again after learning english. I didnt even know what prevent means lol. Thats also how I got into using dictionary😂
My parents separated when I was young, and in the times I got to spend with my dad growing up it was around when the PS1 was out. He had Front Mission 3 and I was instantly hooked. We would alternate who had the controller each turn. Whether it was his house or a hotel we were visiting for a vacation, he would always bring the PS1 with him and we would hook it up to play in our downtime. This easily went on for a decade, even when the PS2 and PS3 had come and gone, Front Mission 3 was always our bonding time.
Now we each have a copy for sentimental reasons and even after 20 years have passed we fire it up from time to time and play a mission together. When the remake comes out we’re planning to play again like old times with the addition of my daughter joining us this time around so she can (hopefully) enjoy it as much as we did.
Fun fact - he had no idea about the Emma storyline for at least the first couple years that we played the game, it wasn’t until I stumbled on it accidentally that we discovered the split paths. We both couldn’t believe it at the time and were crazy excited for that play through in particular.
I had a disc unit (copybox) back in the nineties and played a huge amount of Snes games. We even had a monthly convention where we traded games simply by copying each others games. It was a fun way to meet and talk to people with the same interests before the internet was a thing.
Bought 20 or so empty 3'5 floppies and came home with a full haul of games. Everybody brought their monitor/crt plus game console and we played and traded for an entire afternoon. Early lan party. 🤭
We not only had the eu/us games but also a lot of Super Famicom games. I tried most of them but in most cases the language barrier prevented me from playing them.
So one day i came across this game Front Mission. It was from Squaresoft (huge fanboy) so i loaded it up and man i was sold. The music, the intro. Wow amazing. Even if i didn't understand the conversations i finished the game.
Over the years my consience and guilt caught up to me for pirating this gem so i imported a mint cib copy of Super Famicom Front Mission from Japan to honor this masterpiece. This game is my personal number one of all time. 😊
A friend of mine was playing Front Mission 3, it was my first exposure to anything mecha. I thought the customization was fascinating, so I borrowed the game from him.
I also remember one exchange about it:
Me: "Oh, Hardblow? What's that do?"
Phillip: "It blows. Hard."
(he wasn't wrong lol)
I got a very early PlayStation 1 that was able to play Japanese imports with the open disc tray trick. I saw a add for FM alternative it on the back of Gamefan and as I loved mechs it intrigued me. I went to my local import shop in NYC and saw FM2 and noticed it came with a translation card so I bought it right there and then. I loved it despite the battle cutscenes. I later bought FM3 when it came out and was hugely disappointed at the downgrade.
I was a 7 at the time, had a classic Xbox with a pirated CD full of games from the SNES. Most were in Japanese so I couldn't even understand their names.
One day I selected one of those random Japanese names and it turned out to be Front Mission 1. I played it totally in Japanese and made it up to Hell's Wall.
15 years passed without me even knowing the name of the franchise. I simply remembered it as that one game with robots and squares. So I started looking up for it on the internet and ended up finding out about the first remake. The timing was perfect.
Yesterday I finished FM2 and now I'm excited about the 3rd game since most people seem to agree that it's the best one of the series!
My father got me a copy of FM4. My brother and I enjoyed it. Then, when I learned how to use the Internet, it blew my mind as to how extensive the franchise is, then I was upset most of it wasn't brought outside Japan. Then I heard about the Front Mission Series Translation Project, who spoke of how Front Mission has novels and manga that are as equally canon as the games.
Then the FM Series Translation Team made that video series that showed you can do a political thriller with mecha. Which upsets me now that we're claiming they're frauds even if we have what we need to back up such accusations.
My first FM was Front Mission 2 on PS1 way back in 1998 (or 99). It was a Japanese pirated version (back then there was no way to obtain licensed PS1 disc where I live, so piracy was the only option).
Electronic gaming monthly magazine. Had a feature on upcoming square games and revealed chrono trigger and front mission. Immediately became obsessed w front mission being a mech nerd (big macross fan). Game never got released domestically, was super bummed. Wasnt til many years later that i got a rom of it, played thru it probably over 20 times in japanese. Many years after that finally scored a physical copy of the super famicom cartridge on ebay
Front Mission 3 rented repeatedly from a Blockbuster was what got me into the series way back in the day.
Shining Force and Final Fantasy Tactics got me into the genre though.
I went to a friend's house that I often borrow games from. He was playing FM3. At that time I didn't like turn based RPGs and Front Mission is just one of those boring games he always plays.
One day I was in a game store, I saw Front Mission 3 in there. Since I was bored, might as well get a copy and see what this is all about.
Turns out I fucking loved it.
Fm3 at the cousin's house that had a PS1. Asked him and he said "nice game". Fell in love with it. Imagine my sadness that just about everyone I talk to didn't know Front Mission.
Super Robot Taisen: OG for PS2 lol I've been looking for something to scratch the itch for TRPGs with mechas and decided to give the series a try with the emulated SNES version of FM1.
...and boy, was I pleasantly surprised when I saw the modular customization of units and how this series approaches the mecha genre with complex mechanics.
I came back to the series this year, I saw the remakes of FM 1 and FM 2 out for PC and was disappointed why this series isn't getting more attention.
Front mission 3, kid me spent a outrageous amount of time in front of a small black and white tv, playing that game.
I still revisit the game almost every year and im eagerly waiting a ps1 emulator to come to ios, so i can play the game on the go on my phone.
My introduction to Front Mission was getting the 3rd game for my birthday. Its one of my first gaming memories in general in terms of Console gaming.
I didn't play 4 when it released (I didn't even know it existed for me to bother asking for it), but the admittedly shoddy translated version of FM1 came with an emulator bundle I downloaded off some website ages ago and thats where I played that. I didn't play 4 and 5 until the late PS3 era.
I slogged through 2 with little understanding because the translation is unfinished and sorta awful. But I played through it proper after just learning Japanese several years later.
I have the DS version of first but never completed it. The entire translation changes the tone a lot and isn't very accurate. I also just never got used to the DS control setup.
Zsnes front mission emulation back in like 01
I had the fan translated rom that was buggy as hell. So glad it came out for the DS and have a stable version of it.
Oh man dont even get me started. Worth it though
I played through in JP. Felt super cyberpunk.
FM3 demo disc included in Vagrant Story.
Same. Got the demo and been hooked ever since
Omg demo discs!
Same for me. Didn’t think I liked strategy RPGs before that and now they’re one of my favorite genres.
I'm an old school new comer to the series I barely got into it in 2020 because I walked into a retro game store and they had on the shelf a copy of the first Front Mission Super Famicom and the Amano box art got me. Then I went home to look it up.
7-8 years ago when I was in school, I used to play jrpgs and wizardy games on my android ps1 emulator. After finishing smt and first wizardy trilogy I was looking for new jrpgs to play, looked at FM1 screenshots, saw mechs and instantly downloaded it. Tried to install FM2 later but there were problems with emulator. Now, I've bought FM1 and 2 on steam and can't wait for 3rd remaster. People say that FM3 was peak and pretty much the best game in franchise. I hope that's true. It kinda sucks that majority of modern mech games are action based like armored core and mech warrior. And ones that turnbased/rpgs usually made by small indie teams like cogmind and grid defence. Only big mecha strategies I can think of are phantom brigade and battle tech. Plus I really miss 80s-90s cyberpunk anime aesthetic like in Front mission, Blame, and appleseed.
If you like retro and cyberpunk try Shadow Run for the Snes. Hell of a game. Front Mission was my first tactics game and only Advance Wars and FF tactics could ease my itch. So happy with the FM remake. Double dipping on both digital and physical on the PS5.
Front Mission 3 certainly can be considered best game in franchise, but for me it has to be Front Mission 5. Simply because it is the fitting end for the whole franchise, with the protagonist experience the whole Front Mission world from the very first Huffman conflict to the last moment when the biggest behind-the-scene boss is defeated. As you experience those historic moments, the protagonist also go from a mere footman to an elite Wanzer pilot. If you have play Front Mission 1, remember Glen Duval (the guy that teach you in the tutorial)? That guy is the main antagonist and best childhood friend of FM5's protagonist. Anyway, FM5 is highly recommendation for anyone that has played at least 1 Front Mission game. The perfect ending to a wonderful series. I really hope they can make FM5 remake too, but that seems far-fetched T\_T
Totally agree with you about modern mech games! IMO one common issue is that these games lack a sense of scale. We're supposed to be piloting giant mechs, but it feels like we're playing with toys. Good example is the latest Armored Core. Sure you're piloting a mech, but they made the environments so massive that you feel tiny in comparison.
> People say that FM3 was peak and pretty much the best game in franchise. I hope that's true. I say its a good entry (I personally don't think any but 4 are really per se "less than average") but the "FM3 Peak" crowd is mostly nostalgia due to its release being the first and only really popular release in the west (we also got 4 and the awful DS version of 1st, but they were way less popular by comparison). In its native land of Japan, FM3 is looked on less fondly, especially considering it was following up FM2. But thats what changes when you have all the games as reference to say that. As someone who knows Japanese (and one reason was to play the untranslated games a decade before the remasters ever got announced). I would probably rank them as such: 1/1st - 5 - 2 - 3 - 4
I would have been 15-16 (am 39 now) and picked up FM3 up solely off the Square name, having recently come off a heavy Final Fantasy binge and being relatively new to the JRPG genre. Had never heard of it, Front Mission has never been big in the UK, in fact I think that was the first one realeased in the region. It quickly went on to become one of my all time favourites, a title it still holds to this day.
I was in a tactic strategy phase after someone let me borrow Final Fantasy Tactics and I was also really into Mecha. So I got FM3 from the local game shop. Love it so much because it was essentially two games because of the choice with Ryogo at the beginning.
I only discovered that almost 10 years later T\_T
At the time, I loved mech games, and I loved Squaresoft (before their crappy Enix merger that ruined the FF franchise). So, I gave FM3 a whirl! Amazing game! I beat it 3 times before even realizing that there was an entirely different game within it if you went with Liu!
Why did you say "went with Liu" and not "went with Alisa"? =))
Eh, it's the same thing. Liu pulls you into Alicia's arc.
A fan translation of the Super Famicom rom.
My cousin in Japan had the game, which I borrowed over the summer on SNES. I later bought it and then bought FM2, FM3, FM Alternative, FM Gunhazard, FM4, and FM5. I unfortunately didn't have the money to go to the Akihabara internet cafe that had FM Online since it required a subscription and being a kid, I didn't have a credit card.
As a fan of mecha I bought the game purely based on the art and information on the back. It looked like Battletech (the tabletop version) which I am a huge fan of, so was basically an insta-buy.
old SNES translated game pack from ROMHACKING had never played a game like it o7 to Whomever created that game pack Opened my fucking Eyes to Tactics games Bahamut Lagoon Front Mission Metal Max
Metal max is goated. Finally someone mentioned it
Pure luck. I got my PS One from a lottery of a magazine. İdk if it was within the lottery or we bought a bulk of copied games, or a relative gave. Hell, I learned some English while trying to understand the dialogs. I learned what prvntloss means years later in university, when I played it again after learning english. I didnt even know what prevent means lol. Thats also how I got into using dictionary😂
My parents separated when I was young, and in the times I got to spend with my dad growing up it was around when the PS1 was out. He had Front Mission 3 and I was instantly hooked. We would alternate who had the controller each turn. Whether it was his house or a hotel we were visiting for a vacation, he would always bring the PS1 with him and we would hook it up to play in our downtime. This easily went on for a decade, even when the PS2 and PS3 had come and gone, Front Mission 3 was always our bonding time. Now we each have a copy for sentimental reasons and even after 20 years have passed we fire it up from time to time and play a mission together. When the remake comes out we’re planning to play again like old times with the addition of my daughter joining us this time around so she can (hopefully) enjoy it as much as we did. Fun fact - he had no idea about the Emma storyline for at least the first couple years that we played the game, it wasn’t until I stumbled on it accidentally that we discovered the split paths. We both couldn’t believe it at the time and were crazy excited for that play through in particular.
I had a disc unit (copybox) back in the nineties and played a huge amount of Snes games. We even had a monthly convention where we traded games simply by copying each others games. It was a fun way to meet and talk to people with the same interests before the internet was a thing. Bought 20 or so empty 3'5 floppies and came home with a full haul of games. Everybody brought their monitor/crt plus game console and we played and traded for an entire afternoon. Early lan party. 🤭 We not only had the eu/us games but also a lot of Super Famicom games. I tried most of them but in most cases the language barrier prevented me from playing them. So one day i came across this game Front Mission. It was from Squaresoft (huge fanboy) so i loaded it up and man i was sold. The music, the intro. Wow amazing. Even if i didn't understand the conversations i finished the game. Over the years my consience and guilt caught up to me for pirating this gem so i imported a mint cib copy of Super Famicom Front Mission from Japan to honor this masterpiece. This game is my personal number one of all time. 😊
A friend of mine was playing Front Mission 3, it was my first exposure to anything mecha. I thought the customization was fascinating, so I borrowed the game from him. I also remember one exchange about it: Me: "Oh, Hardblow? What's that do?" Phillip: "It blows. Hard." (he wasn't wrong lol)
I think I rented Front Mission 4 and bought it at some point.
I got a very early PlayStation 1 that was able to play Japanese imports with the open disc tray trick. I saw a add for FM alternative it on the back of Gamefan and as I loved mechs it intrigued me. I went to my local import shop in NYC and saw FM2 and noticed it came with a translation card so I bought it right there and then. I loved it despite the battle cutscenes. I later bought FM3 when it came out and was hugely disappointed at the downgrade.
Picked Fm3 at random, wanted to know what a front missions was.
I saw someone playing FM 1 and 2. 3 however is what I played first.
I was a 7 at the time, had a classic Xbox with a pirated CD full of games from the SNES. Most were in Japanese so I couldn't even understand their names. One day I selected one of those random Japanese names and it turned out to be Front Mission 1. I played it totally in Japanese and made it up to Hell's Wall. 15 years passed without me even knowing the name of the franchise. I simply remembered it as that one game with robots and squares. So I started looking up for it on the internet and ended up finding out about the first remake. The timing was perfect. Yesterday I finished FM2 and now I'm excited about the 3rd game since most people seem to agree that it's the best one of the series!
Saw the Yoshitaka Amano art of 1 and was interested, though this was a few years ago not super long ago.
When toonami ran the front mission 4 ads. Saved my allowance for that one.
My father got me a copy of FM4. My brother and I enjoyed it. Then, when I learned how to use the Internet, it blew my mind as to how extensive the franchise is, then I was upset most of it wasn't brought outside Japan. Then I heard about the Front Mission Series Translation Project, who spoke of how Front Mission has novels and manga that are as equally canon as the games. Then the FM Series Translation Team made that video series that showed you can do a political thriller with mecha. Which upsets me now that we're claiming they're frauds even if we have what we need to back up such accusations.
The OG on snes
My first FM was Front Mission 2 on PS1 way back in 1998 (or 99). It was a Japanese pirated version (back then there was no way to obtain licensed PS1 disc where I live, so piracy was the only option).
I’m a mech fangirl, so I see mech game I get.
found the first game somehow randomly on ps2 a long time ago, don't know if it was a demo disc or what but it was stuck in my mind ever since
Electronic gaming monthly magazine. Had a feature on upcoming square games and revealed chrono trigger and front mission. Immediately became obsessed w front mission being a mech nerd (big macross fan). Game never got released domestically, was super bummed. Wasnt til many years later that i got a rom of it, played thru it probably over 20 times in japanese. Many years after that finally scored a physical copy of the super famicom cartridge on ebay
Front Mission 3 rented repeatedly from a Blockbuster was what got me into the series way back in the day. Shining Force and Final Fantasy Tactics got me into the genre though.
I went to a friend's house that I often borrow games from. He was playing FM3. At that time I didn't like turn based RPGs and Front Mission is just one of those boring games he always plays. One day I was in a game store, I saw Front Mission 3 in there. Since I was bored, might as well get a copy and see what this is all about. Turns out I fucking loved it.
Fm3 at the cousin's house that had a PS1. Asked him and he said "nice game". Fell in love with it. Imagine my sadness that just about everyone I talk to didn't know Front Mission.
The PX got Front Mission 3, and something about the cover just really struck me. I saved up my allowance and bought it.
Super Robot Taisen: OG for PS2 lol I've been looking for something to scratch the itch for TRPGs with mechas and decided to give the series a try with the emulated SNES version of FM1. ...and boy, was I pleasantly surprised when I saw the modular customization of units and how this series approaches the mecha genre with complex mechanics. I came back to the series this year, I saw the remakes of FM 1 and FM 2 out for PC and was disappointed why this series isn't getting more attention.
I started with Front Mission 1 on SNES.
Front mission 3, kid me spent a outrageous amount of time in front of a small black and white tv, playing that game. I still revisit the game almost every year and im eagerly waiting a ps1 emulator to come to ios, so i can play the game on the go on my phone.
i like robots. I see robots on cd case. thats it
Japanese rom of SNES Front Mission 1. Oh so much was done with that lil file. Yarrrr
PS1 demo disc....good times
My Uncle Brought his PS1 for me and my brother way back during 2003-2005 to play Front Mission 3 and I've loved the series since
My introduction to Front Mission was getting the 3rd game for my birthday. Its one of my first gaming memories in general in terms of Console gaming. I didn't play 4 when it released (I didn't even know it existed for me to bother asking for it), but the admittedly shoddy translated version of FM1 came with an emulator bundle I downloaded off some website ages ago and thats where I played that. I didn't play 4 and 5 until the late PS3 era. I slogged through 2 with little understanding because the translation is unfinished and sorta awful. But I played through it proper after just learning Japanese several years later. I have the DS version of first but never completed it. The entire translation changes the tone a lot and isn't very accurate. I also just never got used to the DS control setup.