How Is Your SNES Gaming Going?

[Exhuminator]

I've only done one of the two paths because at the time I couldn't work up the energy to play through it again.

Same thing happened to me. I also plan to play the other half of FM3 some day. The game really is huge. I mean, it even has its own internal internet.

For what I've played/know...

Front Mission 1 - Beat this on DS, both campaigns, and loved it. I recommend the DS version because it has the graphical upgrades of the PS1 version and the new optional campaign. Moderate difficulty. 9/10

Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Already discussed, but for me... Pretty easy game. 10/10.

Front Mission 2 - Never played this one. There's an English patch available that translates 70% or so of the game into English. Oh how I wish that was 100%.

Front Mission Alternative - Cool looking FM RTS on PS1, but not in English, le sigh.

Front Mission 3 - Beat one campaign but not the other. Fun SRPG, but very easy game. 8/10

Front Mission 4 - Great stuff. Pretty hardcore SRPG all things considered, and definitely tougher than earlier FM games. 8/10

Front Mission: Online - PS2 FM MMORPG that never came to the west.

Front Mission 2089 - A Japan only mobile SRPG not available in English.

Front Mission 2089-II - A mobile sequel to the earlier game that never saw English lands.

Front Mission 2089: Border of Madness - A DS collection/expansion of the mobile games, not available in English of course!

Front Mission 5 - Fan translated into English. I plan to beat this over the summer. Been putting it off for years for personal reasons... but I am stoked in 2016. Plan to do this one after Shadow Tower.

Front Mission Evolved - Third person shooter variant of Front Mission that we actually got in English. Haven't played it yet but own it on 360.

I really love Front Mission in general, I wish Square had handled this series better in the west. Maybe it would have gained popularity enough that we would have gotten all of it in English, instead of just a handful.

[MrPopo]

The way I see it, we didn't get Front Mission 1 because they didn't expect a western market for SRPGs. Gun Hazard is a bit baffling to me, since we got both Cybernator and Metal Warriors, but maybe it was concern over the RPG mechanics getting in the way of the shooty action for us western barbarians.

It wasn't until Front Mission 3 that the appeal of the SRPG had been proven with Final Fantasy Tactics, so they took a chance and pulled it over. Obviously it did well enough to give us Front Mission 4, but Front Mission 4 was too hardcore and didn't do very well.

As for the spinoffs, since Front Mission doesn't really have a brand recognition draw for the average western gamer those were doomed from the start.

[Sarge]

I would think the biggest issue is localization budget and resources. Bringing over something like Cybernator was easy, especially since it was stripped of almost all story. That was true for many SRPGs and RPGs at the time, and it was even further complicated by the fact that RPGs were still rather niche overall on consoles. Really, even with the amazing success of the Final Fantasy games, it was FFVII that really ignited sustainable RPG publishing here.

Also, did Cybernator or Metal Warriors sell all that well? I didn't think they did. Mech games are a pretty niche product, too. Sadly.

[Exhuminator]

Gun Hazard is a bit baffling to me, since we got both Cybernator and Metal Warriors

My theory on that one is that Gun Hazard was a really late SFC/SNES release, 1996 in Japan, meaning it would been 1997 at the earliest before USA could get it. By that time, Square was all about PlayStation, and sadly they'd not care to publish any more SNES USA games. Plus SNES was out of vogue in 1997 having lost ground and retail space to the N64 anyway.

but Front Mission 4 was too hardcore and didn't do very well.

Yeah... I agree. Front Mission 4 was a kick in the nuts for the casual RPG fan. So that might have cost the series ground with the general USA RPG consumers. I for one enjoyed the harder difficulty of FM4 after the cakewalk of FM3.

As for the spinoffs, since Front Mission doesn't really have a brand recognition draw for the average western gamer those were doomed from the start.

You're not wrong. But I'm still sad about it.

[Sarge]

Oh, yeah, and the fact that it was such a late-gen SFC release didn't help, either.

[Xeogred]

A shame we didn't get 5, it looks absolutely amazing.

[Exhuminator]

A shame we didn't get 5, it looks absolutely amazing.

An official release would have been great. But at least we can play it in English*:
http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1297/




*Not saying you didn't know, just putting this out there for posterity.

[MrPopo]

I remember my first attempt at a Front Mission 3 playthrough and I was playing it normally. Then I unlocked a second instance of Zoom I and equipped it because what the hell (and it was early). Then I triggered a skill chain.

That was the day the difficulty died.

[Ack]

I remember my first attempt at a Front Mission 3 playthrough and I was playing it normally. Then I unlocked a second instance of Zoom I and equipped it because what the hell (and it was early). Then I triggered a skill chain.

That was the day the difficulty died.

Hell, I got through most of Front Mission 3 with the same tactic I used in Front Mission 1: Missiles for EVERYONE!

And you get a missile!
And you get a missile!
And you get a missile!

EVERYONE GETS A MISSILE!

But then I pretty much play Front Mission by artillery striking anything that moves, so...yeah. I make shit go boom.

I never did beat FM3. Not because I had any trouble, but because it went on too long. I just got so bored and stopped playing with 10 fights left to go to finish one of the storylines. That save is now long gone, but I have no desire to try and go back. I'm not even sure which storyline I picked.

[MrPopo]

Well shit, if you're going all missile all the time that's even worse for Front Mission 3. One missile takes as long to resolve as a three skill chain.

My first time in FM1 I did the give Loyd two missile plan and did well, but then my second time I just dual wielded machine guns and made him my only deployment and it was just utterly unfair once I got past the first couple missions.