Front Mission
Introduction
Front Mission was developed by G-Craft and published by Square, released for the Super Famicom in Japan on February 24, 1995, as a tactical role-playing game built around squad-based battles fought using large piloted mechs called wanzers. Players command a customizable squad of wanzers across grid-based battle maps, with each unit’s individual body parts, arms, legs, and body, able to take separate damage and be destroyed independently, adding a genuinely granular layer of tactical depth uncommon in the strategy RPG genre at the time. Between missions, players could extensively modify their wanzers’ loadouts, swapping weapons, armor, and internal components salvaged or purchased throughout the campaign, giving the game a mecha-customization layer that set it apart from more character-focused tactical RPGs like Fire Emblem or Shining Force. Its story, centered on a fictional political conflict between two rival factions over a contested island nation, took a more grounded, militaristic tone than the fantasy settings common to the genre. Front Mission’s distinctive mecha-customization systems and tactical depth made it a strong critical success in Japan, launching a long-running Square, later Square Enix, franchise that continued across numerous sequels and spin-offs in the decades that followed.
