Alex Donaldson was at hand at E3 2009 to give The Gaming Vault an exclusive interview with Square Enix and Double Helix about the latest instalment in the Front Mission franchise.
From Xfire: "A while ago, Forever Entertainment announced that it was going to remake a roster of games from a Square Enix series. Although detail was scarce, the little information that was provided helped me to develop a hypotheses. By series, they meant a franchise with more than three games. And since they said it was going to be from the Japanese catalog of the developer, we can rule out European games from Eidos."
If they keep it pure to the original and not try to update the gameplay from a turn based strat-RPG to some real-time nonsense this will be a sure fire must buy for me.
From Xfire: "For better or worse, Remakes/Remasters are here to stay. After companies realized that fans are willing to pay the same price - or even more - for the re-release of an old game, they turned turbo mode on and hit the gas. Heck, I am one of these crazy fans - I have six Final Fantasies on my PlayStation!"
Bushido Blade... Like, please... It would be absolutely glorious with modern tech! Why don't we ever see fan attempted remakes for Bushido Blade!? I know Hellish Quart is trying to fill that void some. but there was just something really cool about each and every Bushido Blade character. Very anime-esque, but also gruesomely realistic with its combat.
NL:
In short, Front Mission is Fire Emblem with giant robots. That alone would be enough to warrant a purchase, regardless of the year in which you are reading this review, but the game manages to be much more than a simple trade of medieval fantasy settings for mech science fiction scenario. It is a beautiful, masterfully-crafted package that can turn people who are not fans of either turn based strategy or mechs into diehard followers overnight. It was a shame Squaresoft never went ahead with the planned western localization of this game; such a well-crafted product would surely have found an audience among SNES owners in 1995 beyond the niche collection of Gundam fans. And much like Gundam, the whole game carries a notable anti-war message with a surprisingly mature storyline. Still, all is not lost - in 2001 the aptly-named Front Mission Translation Project ROM hacking group released a complete English translation for the game that you can use - along with the original cartridge - on the RetroN 5 or Retro Freak. Front Mission is just shy of the perfect score considering its balancing issues, but time has done little to change the fact that it remains a one-of-a-kind release, offering the perfect balance of artistry, storytelling and execution. In fact, Squaresoft set the bar so high on its first attempt at mech warfare that the series has had a hard time surpassing this game's brilliance ever since. If you have a Super Famicom collection, make sure you reserve space for Front Mission on your shelf.
I Love mech!!
* I'm looking @ you Kojima*