Kevin also pilots a Wanzer alongside the love of his life, Maria (though their relationship is not exactly “established” like Royd and Karen’s is). The additional scenario has you play as Kevin, a member of the UCS military. This is the driving motive for Royd and crew to side with the OCU during the conflict. The Royd-path prologue opens with Royd seeing his fianceé, Karen, attacked and kidnapped by UCS forces. You played as a mercenary-for-hire named “Royd”–a terrible romanization, for the record (many fans translate this name as “Lloyd,” which is an actual name–along with Ryuji Sakata, Natalie, J.J., and Hunter). The game’s original story, as seen on the Super Famicom, placed you with the OCU. Hostile activities around the central border of Huffman island have roused up political interest, and what starts out as a few small attacks turns into the “Huffman Second Conflict.” The majority of the game has you, the player, taking part in this conflict. the US.” Small conflicts and skirmishes took place after the island’s formation, but eventually, boundaries were formed to split the island in half, and peace was made.Īt the start of Front Mission, in the year 2085, trouble is brewing. If you’d like, you could even simplify it in your own mind to “Japan vs. In simple terms, these are the future east/southeast Asia (Japan, Philippines, etc) and the whole of North America, respectively. One nation was the OCU (Oceanic Community Union), and the other was the UCS (United Continental Statesmen). The new island, named “Huffman Island,” was simultaneously claimed by two different nations, desperate for land. The story is of a new island that appears in the Pacific (between Asia and North America) due to a volcano eruption. Like all subsequent Front Mission titles, this game takes place in a fictional future, near the turn of the 22nd century. If there ever was a good time to bring the original to stateside fans, it would be now. It is this version, the port of a remake, that finally makes it to North America. In March of this year, Square Enix released a DS port of the PlayStation “Front Mission 1st,” and added even more bonuses: side quests, additional Wanzer upgrades, and some hidden characters that could join your party. But fans were eager to have an accessible version of this great Strategy RPG, and Square Enix was just as eager to please those fans. This PlayStation “Front Mission 1st” only had a limited release, as the Front Mission History collection had a short print run. An FMV cut scene was also added to Front Mission at this time. It was like getting a second game within the same game. You started on the opposite side of a two-party conflict, and every mission from beginning to end was different from the original path. The original, linear plot was now complemented with a second scenario. But the original Front Mission, now titled “Front Mission 1st,” doubled in size. FM2 got a minor face-lift, and FM3 remained entirely the same.
Then, in 2003, just at the time of the Square Enix merger, a compilation title was released for PlayStation called “Front Mission History.” The first three games in the series were put in this collection. Front Mission was ported to WonderSwan Color in 2002, alongside many other popular Square titles. But the original remained a fan-favorite, so it saw more remakes than any other game in the series. The series continued on its course with various sequels and “cousin” titles (Alternative, Online, etc). The game was a success, and was quickly followed up by an action/platformer for the Super Famicom. In 1995, Squaresoft released the original Front Mission for Super Famicom, developed by a small studio under Square’s wing called G-Craft. Whether you’ve followed the series or not, now is your chance to finally play the debut Front Mission title, a game that hardcore series fans consider one of the best. Perhaps this is because we were introduced to the series a little late, and our initiation was the PlayStation’s Front Mission 3. While certainly successful in Japan, the series has not performed all that well in North America. Only the well-informed among us know the details of Square’s “Front Mission” series.