is a tactical role-playing game developed by G-Craft and published by Square for the Super Famicom. It was originally released only in Japan on February 24, 1995. Front Mission is the first main entry and the first entry overall in the Front Mission series. Front Mission is part of a serialized storyline that follows the stories of various characters and their struggles involving mecha known as wanzers. A direct port of the game was released for the WonderSwan Color in Japan on July 12, 2002.
A remake of the game developed by Square Enix Co., Ltd. was released for the PlayStation in Japan on October 23, 2003, titled It included new content and offered a new USN scenario to play through. Front Mission 1st was then ported to the Nintendo DS with more additional content and was released in Japan on March 22, 2007. Only the Nintendo DS port, renamed as Front Mission, was released in North America on October 23, 2007.
A further remake of Front Mission 1st, titled Front Mission 1st: Remake (Japanese: フロントミッション ザ・ファースト：リメイク), was developed and published by Forever Entertainment for the Nintendo Switch on November 30, 2022. Ports to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S were released on June 30, 2023.
Gameplay Game progression in Front Mission proceeds in a linear manner: watch cut-scene events, complete missions, set up wanzers during intermissions, and sortie for the next mission. The player travels to locations on a point-and-click world map. As the player progresses through the plot, new locations are revealed on the world map. Towns and cities act as intermission points where the player can organize and set up their units for the upcoming mission. Battle zones are where the missions take place, though they become inaccessible upon the completion of a mission.
In Front Mission, players use playable units called wanzers, a term for mecha derived from the German word Wanderpanzer, or "walking tank". A wanzer differs from the typical combat unit in that it has four modular parts: body, left arm, right arm, and legs. Each part has a specific function and its own health bar. The legs parts enable movement and evasion, the arm parts are necessary to use hand and shoulder weapons, and the body part maintains the wanzer's operability. In the event the body is destroyed, the wanzer is removed from play completely. Destruction of arm and leg parts does not remove the wanzer from play, but it severely cripples its performance, either through the loss of weapon use (in the case of the arms), or by slowing the movement rate to a single space (in the case of the legs). While the player fights mostly wanzers, vehicles and aircraft, mobile weapon platforms are also featured. These enemy units generally have only one part, the body, and are much stronger than wanzers themselves.
In the customization aspect of Front Mission, wanzers can be customized with a variety of parts, computers, auxiliary backpacks, and weapons. The player has full control over customizing their wanzers and can do so as long as its total weight value does not exceed its given power output. To field a wanzer in battle, it must have a complete frame of parts: body, left arm, right arm, and legs. Parts with built-in weapons in the body or arm sections can also be equipped on a wanzer. Computers improve the accuracy of the weapons equipped on the wanzer, as well as being used to activate special abilities that can be purchased and loaded into them. Auxiliary backpacks and weapons are not mandatory equipment to use wanzers, but are crucial in order to progress through the games. Auxiliary backpacks serve to give a wanzer special features during combat; they allow a wanzer to carry support items such as ammunition reloads and increase the power output of the unit, allowing it to carry heavier gear.
There are four classes of weapons: melee weapons, short-range weapons, long-range weapons, and support fire weapons. Melee weapons are weapons used at melee range and have a tendency to strike the body part of its target. Tonfas and rods are examples of melee weapons. Short-range weapons are weapons used at close range and deal damage to all parts of a target. Machine guns and shotguns are examples of short-range weapons. Long-range weapons are weapons that have long firing ranges and are ideal for avoiding counterattacks. Bazookas are examples of long-range weapons. Support fire weapons are indirect fire weapons; they can never be counterattacked, but have limited ammunition supply and minimum firing ranges. Missile launchers are examples of support fire weapons. Lastly, shields can be equipped on wanzers to absorb some of the damage taken from incoming attacks.
Front Mission has other notable features incorporated into the game. The Arena is a unique feature in which the player can fight AI-controlled enemy combatants to earn monetary rewards. Likewise, Front Mission sports a briefing feature that details basic information about the composition of enemy forces for the upcoming mission. Missions in Front Mission are traditional tactical RPG fare, ranging from destroying all enemy targets or protecting a particular allied target.
Synopsis Setting Set in 2090, the story of Front Mission takes place on Huffman Island, a fictional Pacific Ocean island roughly the size of Oahu, created by volcanic activity south of Mexico's west coast in 1995. In 2002, the land mass was classified as an island, and was ceded to United Nations control. However, in 2020, the United States of the New Continent (USN), a unification of North American and South American countries, made a bid for control of the island after withdrawing from the United Nations. The Oceania Cooperative Union (OCU), an alliance of the nations of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea and Australia that was created in 2025, dispute this claim when the two superpowers colonized the island in 2065. The tensions heat up and eventually lead to the 1st Huffman Conflict in 2070, with Huffman Island being divided into two halves at the end of the war: the east becoming OCU territory, and the west becoming USN territory.
Plot An OCU reconnaissance team led by Royd Clive is assigned to investigate a USN munitions factory in the Larcus district, located on eastern Huffman Island. Upon reaching the factory, the team is ambushed by USN wanzers led by officer Driscoll. He ambushes Karen Meure, Royd's fiancée, and destroys her wanzer. The two forces engage in battle, but it ends with Driscoll detonating explosives inside the plant and he escapes. The USN publicly frames the event as an enemy attack, later known as the Larcus Incident, which reignites tensions and begins the 2nd Huffman Conflict. Royd and his team are discharged and listed as killed in action.
One year later, Royd earns a living at a wanzer fighting arena, and is approached by Guri Olson. Olson, commander of the Canyon Crows mercenary group, recruits Royd into the Crows with the prospect of avenging Karen's death. The Crows initially consists of Natalie Blakewood, Keith Carabell, Joynas "JJ" Jeriaska, and Ryuji Sakata. Royd is permitted to recruit anyone else he chooses, including war journalist Frederick Lancaster, and child soldier Yang Meihua. Royd learns from Meihua and her hacker friend Hans Goldwin that Karen is possibly alive and recovering at Grey Rock Hospital, but they arrive too late as a USN truck takes the patients elsewhere, and Driscoll demolishes the hospital.
Although Hans finds a conspiratorial connection between Grey Rock Hospital and a mysterious "Nirvana Institute", with no further leads on Karen's fate the Crows collaborate with the OCU to fight the UCN, and liberate Freedom City, the capital of eastern Huffman. Having reclaimed all former OCU territory, the Crows and OCU push into western Huffman; this includes an assault on Morgan Fortress, where Driscoll is revealed to be a member of Nirvana. Driscoll deploys wanzers utilising experimental "B-device" technology, though they are defeated by the Crows, and Driscoll again escapes. The Crows also discover that Nirvana are experimenting on kidnapped soldiers, including Meihua's brother Yeehin, whom they rescue.
Whilst the OCU comes very close to winning the war outright, a peace is brokered by the Peace Mediation Organization (PMO), a group backed by the Republic of Zafra. The Crows now find themselves working for the PMO, and on neutral terms with USN soldiers. This includes Driscoll, whom Olson prohibits Royd taking vengeance on. The Crows are now tasked with eliminating the Spirit of Huffman terrorist group, led by Gentz Weizer. The Spirit of Huffman are reportedly attacking civilians, but particularly focused on attacking Sakata Industries, a wanzer manufacturer, and its president Koichi Sakata, Ryuji's brother.
During an attack on the Spirit of Huffman, the Crows discover that Frederick has already been in close contact with Spirit of Human, who disputes the group's reported attacks on civilians. Gentz claims they are solely targeting Sakata, who are actually the creators of B-device technology, revealed to be the grafting of soldiers' brains into wanzer CPUs, and that Nirvana is responsible for finding and capturing candidates with extensive combat experience. Believing his story, Royd recruits Gentz, but this causes a split in the Crows; Natalie, Keith, and JJ stay with Olson's faction, whereas the other recruits join Royd's rogue faction to pursue Nirvana and Sakata.
Returning to the Larcus munitions factory, Gentz explains it was actually Nirvana's original B-device factory, and Sakata had arranged the attack to intentionally trigger the war as a means to test and sell the technology. Driscoll appears, revealing Karen is the B-device of his wanzer,Driscoll: "She controls this machine. [...] Karen has been reborn as one of Sakata's B-device modules. but is killed by Royd's Crows. Upon dying, Driscoll reveals the Crows were themselves assembled as B-device candidates.Driscoll: "You and your friends... were assembled... to serve as device materials."
Having attacked Driscoll's squad and thus threatening peace, Olson's Crows confront Royd's Crows, but Natalie takes pity on the others - having known about the Crows purpose from the beginning and betraying them to DriscollNatalie: "I knew that you'd been selected as B-device candidates. [...] I knew everything. Everything about Driscoll... and Karen. [...] I'm the one who told Driscoll where to find you." - and join's Royd's faction. JJ and Keith do the same, leaving Olson alone. Royd's Crows hide at Rupidis, the largest port, until they are tracked down by USN/OCU soldiers led by Olson. Willas Blakewood, founder of the Crows and Natalie's father, arrives to assist Royd's faction, and informs them that Koichi is on a Sakata ship nearby. Ryuji begs his father Reiji, Sakata's founder, to stop Koichi. Reiji attempts it but Koichi is unmoved and Reiji leaves to join Ryuji, but Koichi's ship guns Reiji down. Their conversation reveals that Zafra, despite being PMO's benefactor, is also involved in Sakata's researchReiji: "You and that cursed country you bow down to!" and they share a secret facility on Longrivers Island (publicly restricted as a nature reserve) nearby.
The Crows follow Koichi to the Longrivers Island facility. Zafra, speaking remotely, disregard Koichi's B-device technology as they have already made significant progress with its successor, the S-device. Royd's Crows kill Koichi as they proceed through the facility, coming across the first S-device: a large weaponised Driscoll cyborg. Driscoll is once again destroyed by the Crows and they destroy the facility before escaping. The destruction is framed by the PMO as the mass suicide of the Spirit of Huffman at their secret base. The Crows disband, though Royd and Gentz join together as independent freedom fighters against the PMO.