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Front Mission Series
With the Front Mission series, Squaresoft Square Enix brings a strategy/RPG for the crowd of people into the mech craze. What makes this series unique is the amount of detail it goes into customization your wanzers (the mech suits). You can equip different arms, legs, body, CPU, shoulder missiles, and back accessories. The stories are very political, dealing with war and all the horrors that come with it. As you would imagine with the war theme, the games are rather dark. As you get deeper into the games they tend to shift more toward some crazy sci-fi stuff.
Square brought the Front Mission series late to NA with Front Mission 3 on the PlayStation 1. The two SNES games shrined here were never officially released in English. They're only available in English via SNES emulation, thanks to the efforts of devote fans. The series isn't terribly popular; not because the games are bad (they're very good!). I suppose people tend to lean more toward fantasy games.
Release Date:
February 24, 1995
September 2001 (fan translated)
Platform:
Super Nintendo
Score:
4/5 
Front Mission
You are the Carrion Crows! A mercenary outfit working with OCU military (the good guys... or are they?) to win the war on Huffman island with USN (the bad guys). In all its strategy/RPG goodness, you move around your army on a battlefield to defeat the enemy army. Battle encounters take place in a fully animated sequence. In order to defeat an enemy wanzer, you need to destroy their legs, arms, and body! Through experience you can align your wanzers to be good at close range, mid range, or long range attacks.
Release Date:
February 23, 1996
August 2004 (fan translated)
Platform:
Super Nintendo
Score:
5/5 
Front Mission:
Gun Hazard
It's kind of a sequel to Front Mission. Gun Hazard switched genres to action/RPG. It still carries everything we love about customizing your mech in Front Mission. You may not have a whole army, but the game lets you have a companion fight alongside of you. Some companions are best at fighting while others are meant for defending or repairing (healing). The premise is simple: the world is at war and you're caught in it. The graphics are GORGEOUS. It's some of the best I've ever seen on the SNES!