About the Game

HISTORY

Front Mission: Gun Hazard is a Squaresoft action/RPG, released in 1996 for the SNES in Japan. In August of 2004, after years of hard work, Aeon Genesis Translations completed their Front Mission: Gun Hazard English project. Here's a quote by Gideon Zhi (head of Aeon Genesis Translations and main ROM hacker of the project) that he posted on the main page to announce the translation's release:

"After the better part of four years, far longer than I'd originally thought this would take, Front Mission: Gun Hazard finally sees the light of day in English, and I must say that it is quite impressive looking. I've thanked people for their contributions in the translation's readme, and I urge you to read the project's history in full, but regardless I'd like to shout out thanks to akujin for taking the time to help dump and translate the scripts, Klarth for the superb script insertion utility named after one of the key monuments in Gun Hazard, M for his outstanding work on polishing up the text, and F.H. for his little spec document on how the $06 control byte behaved (nasty piece of work, that!) It's been an extremely long haul for all parties involved, but personally, I believe that the care put into this project really shines through. Have fun!"

BATTLE SYSTEM

The battle system is similar to that of Cybernator (SNES) and Metal Warriors (SNES). You control a Wanzer to battle against enemy Wanzers; you pick up kick-ass weapons and pilot multiple Wanzer suits along the way. But what makes Front Mission Gun Hazard special is that its action/RPG. The RPG characteristics come in with the fact that your character (and supporting characters) can gain levels, so that means there are typical RPG stats like strength and defense that increase as you gain experience. You gain the ability to equip new weapons as you gain levels. One at a time, supporting characters fight alongside with you, a la Secret of Mana. Most are offensive while some are defensive. Battles consist of stages that you enter as you progress through a 3/4 view map of a country. Every so often you come across a store where you can purchase new weapons and suit upgrades. Sometimes there are weapons/upgrades available for your supporting characters.

TIPS & STRATEGY

The quickest way to level up is to go to the far edge of a stage, hold down the shoot button, enable your SNES emulator's fast forward feature, then just sit and watch as your character blasts away all the random enemies that pop out. Usually, each stage only has a limit of enemies (usually around 50-140), so they'll eventually stop coming. As you gain levels you'll notice that you, as well as your partner, gain support for new weapons and such. Immediately they become available in the local shop, so make sure to stop by and upgrade! Also make sure to stop by the shop after you complete a country because the "Upgrades" portion of the shop is stocked with delicious Wanzer upgrades.

MY OPINION

This game is AWESOME. The graphics are gorgeous. The soundtrack is excellent; some of the songs are so good that it doesn't even sound like SNES. That fact that its a platformer of the action/RPG genre makes it 50 times better than your average platformer. Don't let the platformer-ish atmosphere fool you, there's a lot of dialogue, and interesting at that. The storyline is much more involving and RPG-ish than Cybernator and Metal Warriors. The weapons are plentiful and fun to use. I highly recommend you play this game if you're a Squaresoft fan and/or a lover of mecha platformers. Can you hear it? Listen closely. The game is calling out your name. Let it entice you and pull you in! Let your soul be free! Let us piss in our pants together from the overwhelment of amazement as we play this game.

ULTIMATE CHICKEN'S OPINION

9/10 IF this game feels familiar, it should; It uses part of the engine present in Cybernator and Metal Warriors. Gunhazard is a joint effort between Squaresoft and the team behind the Assault Suits series. The result? A mecha platformer that is a hybrid RPG and action game at the same time. Each stage you complete nets you some cash -- which you can spend in shops on a variety of new equipment and an array of weapons, not to mention new mecha. You'd also gain experience...which improves your mech's handling somewhat, and also increases the effectiveness of your teammates. Yes, you have teammates, who walk the level with you, shoot enemies with you, take shots for you, and generally follow your (albeit limited) orders. Plus, it has a pretty good plot (you'd need the fan translation to be able to see it, tho), great graphics and animation, and a good soundtrack to tie it all down. This is another game that Squaresoft ought to have translated for the American market at the time for its sheer sell-ability, but they stupidly chose not to. Idiots.