In 1995, Square, known today as Square Enix, released the original ‘Front Mission’ on the Super Famicom, Japan’s original Super Nintendo, a turn-based strategy RPG game with giant mechs duking it out, which saw various sequels over the years. The series became quite popular, not only in Japan but also in the West, despite the majority of games being Japanese exclusives.

It became a highly demanded series, with players around the world wanting to be localised in other countries, but only a few games actually did, and fans overseas resorted to other means to get their hands on the rest. Finally, in 2023, the original game gets a full remake, and a long-awaited worldwide release as ‘Front Mission 1st: Remake,’ exclusive to Nintendo Switch.

In the year 2090, conflicts around the world are fought using giant mechs known as Wanzers. Huffman Island, the only place where the Oceania Cooperative Union (O.C.U.) and the Unified Continental States (U.C.S.) share a land border is a hot zone for conflict. An O.C.U reconnaissance platoon led by Captain Royd Clive is assigned to investigate a U.C.S. munitions plant.

They are ambushed by the U.C.S. Wanzers, triggering a series of events that plunges the whole island into war. Royd’s fiancée, Lieutenant Karen Meure, goes missing in action. Discharged from the military, Royd sets out to investigate what happened to Karen. His quest leads him closer and closer to the conspiracy behind the incident and the powers that orchestrated it.

Throughout the game, players will have tutorials to teach them the tools of the trade. The turn-based RPG genre is something Square Enix is famous for, and the Front Mission series utilises that same formula, but with a militaristic mech theme. Each soldier on the battlefield pilots a Wanzer – giant mech robots that stand about two stories tall. Battles take place in various locations with two opposing sides, with the goal being to eliminate the entire enemy team.

Players and the CPU opponent take turns moving their Wanzers around a limited number of spaces to try and gain territory, gain a tactical advantage, and plan their attacks. When in range, Wanzers have a selection of moves based on what weapons are equipped, or the option to guard against enemy attacks.

The variety of weapons available helps to keep the game interesting, and they can be attained by gaining salvageable mech parts during battle or purchased at shops. Shops in each location have different weapons and parts available, and players can even sell unwanted parts for extra money. Each piece of gear has different advantages and disadvantages, from power, defence, range, and accuracy. It’s up to each individual to choose the gear that best suits their desired playstyle, but they’ll also have to keep in mind the weight limit, which prevents them from being too overpowered.

Each battle is a short one-on-one cutscene, showing their chosen moves and how much damage was delivered. The camera zooms in on each battle for a close-up of the action, and it’s always entertaining seeing the action unfold, and even more satisfying taking down an opposing Wanzer. Adding to the battles is being able to damage four different body parts, with the body, left arm, right arm, and legs, each with its own health bar.

Damaging the body is the quickest way to eliminate the enemy, but damaging either arm will render them useless and no longer able to use the weapon in that hand, and damaging the legs will prevent them from moving around the battlefield. As interesting as this feature is, players aren’t actually able to choose which body part they want to target, instead, it’s random, leaving it up to chance, and it takes away some of the strategy involved.

In fact, a lot of what happens in battle is left up to chance, which is how turn-based RPG games work of course, but it does feel players are incredibly unlucky with the number of attacks that seem to constantly miss in this game, while the enemies have a higher success rate of landing attacks. It can feel disheartening after a while, constantly losing battles that can drag on. It also really doesn’t help that any of the progress since the beginning of the mission is saved after being defeated, and this forces players to go through it all again after all that effort. The RNG could really use some tweaking.

Thankfully the fun factor is what will keep players coming back, even if luck rarely seems to be on their side. Fans of tabletop wargaming will feel the most natural with the Front Mission games, or more specifically, fans of the popular board game, Battletech, which shares many similarities. The Wanzers seem to have a more American influence in their designs. They have more in common with MechWarrior rather than Gundam, such as wielding guns, missiles, and battering rams instead of beam swords, lasers, and force fields, which helps distinguish it from other Japanese mech-themed games.

The diverse character designs all have that 90s Japanese view of Western military characters, with a few having crazy hairstyles and big personalities that shine bright in the dialogue scenes, all in text form with various languages available. The art style of the characters may look a little outdated but has a nostalgic feeling since it is a remake of a 1995 game. One character in particular, though, that looks very out of place, is the Wanzer Dealer who can be found in the Shop. His design is quite a sight.

The artwork on all the menu screens certainly had a lot of work put into them, and are always a pleasure to look at. The massive upgrade from a 1995 SNES classic to a modern console was done incredibly well, going from 16-bit 2D sprites to full 3D mechs and environments with lots of smooth detail. It looks fantastic in both docked and handheld modes. The war and military-themed soundtrack perfectly complement the overall design, and the sound effects during the gameplay sound very accurate – exactly what you’d expect to hear when witnessing giant mechs traverse around and duking it out.

Gameplay-wise, it is a perfect port of the 1995 original, but that also brings all the problems it had the first time. Even with the things it gets wrong, it also gets so many things right. With about 30 hours of campaign to get through, it is addictive to play with plenty of replay value. It is a solid turn-based RPG game that will surely appeal to fans of tabletop wargaming and giant mechs. The highly demanded Japanese exclusive game is now finally available worldwide, which will hopefully inspire Square Enix to do remakes of the other games in the series. ‘Front Missio
n 1st: Remake’ is an absolute blast to play, and is the game hardcore fans have been waiting for.

Written by: Sammy Hanson