Assault Suits Valken 2 - Playstation (1999)
Japanese Cover
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Assault Suits Valken 2
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Assault Suits Valken 2
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If Masaya saw Front Mission: Gun Hazard as a ripoff of Assault Suits Valken, well, this game, developed by TamTam (who did some other inconsequential Japanese games like Eithea) is them repaying Square the favor. Despite the "2" in the title, this game is really nothing like the original Assault Suits Valken, because it's actually a whole lot like Front Mission 3.The general concept - a strategy RPG with mechs - in itself isn't particular uncommon (just see the dozens upon dozens of Super Robot Wars games), but this one borrows quite a bit, including the 3D graphics, the interface (including the menus in English), and even the basic mechanics - the "counterattack" screen, where you can choose to dodge, defend, or counter is ripped almost straight from it, with just a few added options. Each mech you control has a set number of AP, which determines how many times they can move and/or attack in a given turn.
The only major addition is that you need to enter "cockpit" mode - a first person perspective - to target enemies. This is cool at first, because the mechs actually do look pretty good for a PSOne game, but it's remarkably slow compared to other SRPGs, where you just select who you want to attack, and then attack. In fact, the whole game moves at a snail's pace. In the first few missions, you only control a single character as you wait for all of your allies to move, then your enemies, then wait for some talking heads to yammer some text for awhile, before resuming. By the fourth mission, you actually get some other pilots, but the whole experience is remarkably sluggish, even after you enable the shortcuts.
The only other thing Valken 2 has going for it is its customization options, which lets you place each of your mechs in "roles" (short range, long range, etc.) similar to the "job" system from Final Fantasy V/Tactics, which then modifies their stats accordingly. Still, it's nowhere nearly as fun as the customization in the Front Mission games. The only real connection with the rest of the games is that it takes place in the same universe, and a couple of characters make appearances, like Leena, the dispatcher from Target Earth, and Jake, the hero of Cybernator. The character designs are by Yoshikazu Yasuhito, who also did the designs for the original Mobile Suit Gundam.
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Assault Suits Valken 2
Assault Suits Valken 2
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Unofficial Spinoffs
Metal Warriors - SNES (1995)
American Cover
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Metal Warriors
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Metal Warriors
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Metal Warriors is not officially part of the Assault Suits series, but it's easy to see where the confusion might come in. Konami published both Cybernator and Metal Warriors in North America, leaving gamers to assume that the latter was simply a sequel to the former under a different name, similar to Konami's shenanigans with Gradius and Life Force. All of the Assault Suits games were designed in Japan, while Metal Warriors was developed in North America by Lucasarts, including most of the same team as Zombies Ate My Neighbors, also published by Konami. Metal Warriors was never published in Japan (although many false rumors pointed the game being called "Assault Suits Gideon") and was never intended to be a continuation of the series, although its inspiration is clear. It's a bit of shame, though, because it's a far better followup to Assault Suits Valken than any of its official sequels.
Despite its American origin, Metal Warriors adheres closely to the Japanese anime aesthetics of the Assault Suits games. In some ways, it actually improves on them, through the use of brighter colors, making it more visually attractive than the washed out, militaristic feel of Cybernator. There's no on-screen interface at all, so you can't see how long you can use your special weapons, but instead your mech shows discoloration and visible damage after taking too many hits. While somewhat imprecise, it does free up the screen from clutter, and illustrates a GUI-less ideal that could be seen in later games like Ubisoft's King Kong: The Movie: The Game and Electronic Arts' Dead Space.
Your mech controls similarly to Cybernator, although there's no way to lock weapon aiming (your aim resets to default once you move), the dash ability is completely gone, guns no longer need to reload, and the weaponry system is entirely different. There are now a total of six different mechs, each with three types of attacks, mapped to the various face buttons. Your primary mech, the Nitro, has a rapid fire pulse rifle, a beam sword, and unlimited hovering ability while the Havoc has a similar machine gun and a cool looking sickle, but can't fly as long nor as far. From there, the other mechs get a bit stranger. The Drache has unlimited flight ability and can fire in any direction with the face buttons. The Prometheus is a two legged mech that can't jump, but has an extremely powerful cannon and a flamethrower, as well as the ability to toss up floating air mines. The Ballistic is basically a stationary turret that only moves by turning itself into a ball (which can also be charged up to dash around the screen and damage enemies), while the Spider has many smaller legs like an arachnid and can climb up walls.
There are also special items that can either replace your main weapon, or become mounted on your shoulder, which is triggered by the L button. These only last a short time, but have unlimited ammo until they disappear. The R button also activates your shield or other similar defense mechanism.
The key point to Metal Warriors is that you can jump out of your mech, Blaster Master-style, which is required to fit through certain small spaces and hit switches to open doors. On foot, you can fire with your little peashooter and even zoom around with a jetpack. Most larger enemies won't even attack you, for whatever reason, giving you an opportunity to scout ahead, although the mech is required to break down certain walls. The cool thing is, you can also commandeer any abandoned mech you find. If your mech is damaged, you can just find an empty one, hop out of your old pile of junk, and come back fighting at full strength.
As an added bonus, there's even a fun two player versus mode, something not found in any of the proper Assault Suits games. The only major mark against Metal Warriors is that its level designs aren't quite up to par with Cybernator. Most are simply a series of vaguely maze-like corridors (the map function returns, thankfully), and it's missing a lot of the setpieces that really helped set Cybernator apart. Otherwise, it's a fantastic game. Given that it's a late generation SNES game that didn't receive much attention, it's a bit expensive on the used games market. The developers also apparently planned a sequel/port for the Gameboy Advance, although unfortunately nothing ever came of it.
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Metal Warriors
Metal Warriors
Metal Warriors
Metal Warriors
Metal Warriors
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Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Super Famicom (1996)
SFC Cover
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Front Mission: Gun Hazard
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Front Mission: Gun Hazard
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Front Mission: Gun Hazard is a side-scrolling action RPG that borrows heavily from the Assault Suits series. This makes sense, considering Toshiro Tsuchida, the director of the mainline Front Mission games, worked on Cybernator with Masaya prior to joining Square. Although it bears little resemblance to the tactical strategy like the rest of the Front Mission series, it does feature similar aesthetics, including character artwork by Yoshitaka Amano, as well as a healthy mixture of RPG elements. At the same time, the visual appearance is so close that some of the graphics may as well have been ripped straight out of Cybernator, even if the sprites aren't quite as large nor as detailed.
The controls are very similar to the Assault Suits series, complete with the usual aiming abilities, dash boosts, defense techniques and so forth. Your gun even needs a second or two to reload, just like Cybernator. The game has a fairly expansive and detailed plot, as you control a soldier named Albert Grabner defending the remnants of his empire. Most levels are fairly short, although there are a large number of them, with over ninety missions in total. This makes it a huge game in comparison to the seven or eight stages usually found in Assault Suits games. It's also a fair bit easier, considering you can grind for equipment.
You move from location to location via an overhead map screen, and you can revisit old locations if you wish to power-up. Every enemy you kill grants experience, which in turn powers up your mech. You also gain money, which can be used to buy new weapons, shields, or parts. There are five different mech types and over a dozen add-ons, including hard knuckles, flamethrowers, missile launchers, wireless gunpods and other nifty bits of machinery. You don't start off with a jet pack, although you can eventually purchase one. The mech customization isn't nearly as sophisticated as the other Front Mission games, but it is more sophisticated than most of the other Assault Suits games, save for perhaps Leynos 2. Although you can go through missions alone, you can also hire an AI-controlled partner to accompany you. At times, you can also jump out of your mech and run around on foot, but this will usually get you crushed pretty quickly, so it's not as cool as in Metal Warriors.
While there are some good ideas in Gun Hazard, especially with the arsenal of weapons, parts and wanzer types, the level designs are pretty unremarkable. As a result, most of the focus is strictly on the action, which isn't quite as tight as Cybernator or Metal Warriors. The best aspect is the soundtrack, a team effort by legendary composers Nobuo Uematsu (in one of his rare early appearances outside of Final Fantasy) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger/Cross, Xenogears.) The sound is much more mechanical and militaristic than their usual works, even a bit low-key compared to music in the original Front Mission, but the result is completely fantastic.
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Front Mission: Gun Hazard
Front Mission: Gun Hazard
Front Mission: Gun Hazard
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Crossover Cameo - Lance Kalzas
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Though not nearly as popular nor as prolific as big hitters like Konami or Capcom, Masaya's most popular series, other than Assault Suits, were Langrisser and Choaniki. Much like how Choaniki's musclemen appeared in Langrisser, Assault Suits is tied to its medieval strategy cousin by the way of a single villain - Lance Kalzas, as his name is localized as in Warsong (AKA Langrisser I) or Rance Culzas, as he's known in Target Earth. It's cool to see crossover characters like this, even if they stick him in entirely different time periods. Lance also appears as a villain in Assault Suits Valken 2.
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Lance (Langrisser)
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Target Earth
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Warsong
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