Lost in Translation: SNES Edition, Part 1
Late 1995 to 1996 was a frustrating time period for North American Squaresoft fans. Those of us who read gaming magazines on the regular would get reports from the Japanese trade shows about all sorts of games from the company. Many of these looked really impressive and caused all sorts of excitement and demand for a North American release. Alas, in many cases these games wouldn’t cross the ocean for a very, very long time, if at all. In order to communicate how frustrating of an experience it was to get blue balled by Squaresoft on the regular, I devised the patented, 100% objective and scientific “Strategist FOMO” rating (rights reserved). This rating describes, on a scale of 1 to 5 black mages, how disappointing it was to a young Squaresoft fan such as myself to not be able to play these games.
Seiken Densetsu 3/Secret of Mana 2
We start out on strong with Seiken Densetsu 3, by far my most anticipated game of late 1995. I got excited about this one after reading a preview that prominently featured the new concept art for the game. It seemed like a no brainer to me for it to be brought overseas, given that Secret of Mana was one of the best selling Squaresoft franchises in the west. So I eagerly awaited this title to get a North American release. However, a report in one of the issues of Nintendo Power would put a damper on that idea. Apparently, there were technical issues with the code of Seiken Densetsu 3 that would make a localization cost prohibitive. It was devastating news to a young Strategist. Squaresoft USA would add insult to injury by spending development time they could’ve used to localize these orphaned SNES games to make “Secret of Evermore”. They took the core gameplay systems of Secret of Mana and designed a new game within that engine, with character designs meant to appeal to a young American audience. Unfortunately, their idea of appealing to a young American audience was as lame as hell. The last thing I wanted to be roleplaying was as a generic American kid and his dog and yet Squaresoft of America delivered exactly that. It was no replacement for Secret of Mana 2.
Some of the previews that appeared on American magazines (EGM and Gamepro) teased us Squaresoft fans of the potential of a Secret of Mana sequel.
The little blurb in a corner of Nintendo Power's Epic Center would crush my dreams of ever getting to play Secret of Mana 2
A few years down the road, I would learn of a localization project for Seiken Densetsu 3 by RPGe. Finally, a chance to play the game in English! Unfortunately, the project turned out to be one of the most challenging fan localization projects from a technical perspective and it stalled out for a while. That was until the hero known as Neill Corlett picked up the project and started working his magic. Neill had previously collaborated with Alex W. Jackson to translate NES Final Fantasy III, so he was well experienced in this task. His localization of Seiken Densetsu 3 is one of the cleanest, most professional fan localizations I’ve ever seen. It is even more impressive of a task considering it was deemed a technically challenging project by the developers at Squaresoft. Here’s a short interview with Neill I was able to find online, where he talks about the process of fan translation: https://lakupo.com/grblitz/brews corlett.htmThe little blurb in a corner of Nintendo Power's Epic Center would crush my dreams of ever getting to play Secret of Mana 2
After playing the game, it was evident that Squaresoft make a mistake in not bringing the game over. Seiken Densetsu 3 is an upgrade over Secret of Mana in almost every possible way. The player gets to choose 3 out of 6 possible characters to start the game. The first character selected is the protagonist and that sets what the introductory chapter and ending will be. In addition there are 3 story paths with 3 different sets of antagonists depending on who the protagonist is. It seems like the idea of multiple endings thrown around during Secret of Mana’s development was finally used for the sequel. The stories themselves are nothing to write home about but they are presented with a lot of charm and have some fun moments sprinkled within.
Seiken Densetsu 3’s concept artwork was created by manga/anime artist Nobuteru Yuki (Record of Lodoss War and Vision of Escaflowne) and his style is reflected well within the game's pixel art. Here we see Duran in his intro scenario facing off with his antagonist, the Red Wizard Koren.
Character progression is vastly different as well. Every character has two sets of promotions where they get to pick between “light” and “dark” classes. In total there are four possible final classes for every character, and each class can have drastically different special attacks and spell choices. For example: Duran can either become a Knight (light) and learn healing magic, or become a Gladiator (dark) and learn elemental saber magic and get a full screen special attack. The variety of options in builds and story paths adds a crazy amount of replay value into the game.
Each character has his own playing style and personality. Duran (top left) is the sword fighter, slow, but hard hitting. Kevin (top middle) is the beastman grappler, fast and becomes a wolfman at night. Hawkeye (top right)is the dual wielding rogue, agile and quick hitting. Riesz/Lise (bottom right) is the spear maiden, Charlotte(bottom middle) is the childish elf(sprite?) priest and Angela (bottom left) is the sexy mage.
One of the biggest issues with Secret of Mana, the combat, has been drastically overhauled. There is no longer a charge meter to wait for in between attacks. Instead, after every attack, each character has a short cooldown animation before they can fight again. And there are two levels of special attacks based on promotion level and these charge up based on how many hits you get in on enemies. So there’s no more waiting around for multiple bars to fill up to unleash the special attacks. Also they made it more difficult to spam spells during combat, since the spell menu cannot be accessed while a character is in the casting animation. The game also dazzles in the graphics department. It is one of the best looking SNES games I've played. The attention to detail in the visuals is impressive. They added a day/night cycle to the game and not only do the environments change visually, it also affects the world in many ways. Shopkeepers and townsfolk may go to sleep, while other areas of the town (like the bars or black markets) may open up. The enemy spawns change during the night and werewolves change into their wolfman form. Also they added a new transportation method by sea in the form of Boskaboo, the turtle and the world map travel takes advantage of the special graphics mode of the SNES to create a horizon effect.
Some enemies fall asleep at night, making them easy targets, while others (Werewolves) become more powerful. Fortunately, Kevin is a werewolf as well.
Boskaboo is the new transportation mascot, but don't worry Flammie the dragon is still around.
Boskaboo is the new transportation mascot, but don't worry Flammie the dragon is still around.
As far as music and sound goes, Hiroki Kikuka is back for the sequel and continues to dazzle with his SNES music mastery. He continues the high standard set in Secret of Mana for the sequel. He excels at capturing a variety of feelings in his music, which is well suited for an adventure that spans different locales and climates. You get desert music, tropical reggae tunes, wintry songs, festival music and sad, melancolic tunes.
Seiken Densetsu 3 gets the max FOMO rating from me. Squaresoft really screwed the pooch by not bringing this one over to North America back then. The technical issue excuse rings hollow when a computer science college student was able to hack the game and translate it by himself. Square Enix did eventually release it in 2019 as part of the Collection of Mana bundle for the Switch (almost 25 years after the fact!) with the localized title “Trials of Mana”. They also made a 3D remake of Trials for the uncultured swine who have difficulties appreciating pixel art. So they did redeem themselves a little bit.
Strategist FOMO Rating:
Front Mission
Front Mission also came on my radar around 1995. It was a bit harder to find information about the game in American magazines. There was a small section dedicated to it in one of the issues of Nintendo Power. A mech strategy game developed by Squaresoft was definitely pertinent to my interests. It definitely seemed unique when compared to the other fantasy based properties Squaresoft was releasing at the time. It wouldn’t get an American release on the SNES but an incomplete translation patch was released in 2001. I did try it a few times, but I wouldn’t get invested in Front Mission until it got an official release on the DS in 2008. By then I had played Front Mission 3 and was more familiar with the series.
Nintendo Power is such a tease sometimes with their import game previews.
Front Mission felt different from the rest of the Squaresoft properties at the time because it was the first fully outsourced game for the company. G-Craft studio was looking to develop a mission based strategy game involving battle mechs and needed a publisher. Squaresoft showed some interest in the project and became the publisher. Hironobu Sakaguchi became involved in the design of the game, offering story/theme suggestions, pushing it in more of a historical war movie style and Yoshitaka Amano offered concept art and character designs for the game.
Yoshitaka Amano's character designs for Front Mission.
The series takes place in a pseudo historical setting, in an alternate version of Earth where there are two world powers: The Oceanic Cooperative Union (OCU) (which includes Japan and various other Asian countries) and the United States of the New Continent (USN, also referred to as UCS in certain localizations). In this universe giant robots called “Wanzers” are regularly used in military conflicts. The setting for the first game takes place on Huffman Island, a fictional island in the Pacific Ocean that had been a source of conflict between USN and OCU forces. The first Huffman conflict divided the island into two halves, one controlled by each power. The first Front Mission game covers the story of Royd (Lloyd in the fan translation) Clive and the second Huffman conflict. Royd/Lloyd and his fianceé Karen are OCU soldiers performing an undercover reconnaissance mission investigating a USN munitions base. Their scout team is unexpectedly ambushed by USN forces lead by officer Driscoll and he sets explosives in the base and frames the OCU forces for the attack. Royd/Lloyd survives the attack but Karen’s body is never found and is presumed dead in the attack. He is declared dead after the incident and discharged from his post. Royd/Lloyd becomes a gladiator fighting in the Wanzer Arena and is eventually approached by Olson, leader of the Canyon Crows mercenary group, aligned with OCU forces. He joins with the mercenary group in the interest of avenging Karen and the story progresses from there.
Front Mission's Karen is not an ordinary Karen. She sacrifices herself valiantly for her man and for her country.
Front Mission is not the most strategically deep tactics game, even for SNES standards. There's not a whole lot of mission variety when it comes to objectives. Every character rides a Wanzer, which is essentially identical to each other with the exception of the supply truck that can heal and resupply units. Despite having a variety of melee and ranged weapon types, most battles devolve into missile shootouts, as these weapons not only allow for far reaching attacks but they also cannot be counterattacked. The most interesting strategic element is the customization of the Wanzers. Wanzers can be outfitted with gear and weapons, but there is a weight/energy ratio stat that serves as a limiting factor. While a certain body type for a Wanzer may be very resistant to damage, it may not allow the pilot to carry as many heavy weapons or missile launchers. That keeps it from simply being an “install the best parts available at the shop” meta. There’s also an aesthetic element to the customization because the player can choose the color scheme and can be partial to a certain body style sorely for its look. That customization aspect is one of the most appealing elements of the game, other than the story.
You can trick out your wanzer, Xzibit style, and that is half of the fun of this game.
The music in Front Mission also represents a departure from the norm for Squaresoft. The soundtrack was a collaboration between Noriko Matsueda and Yoko Shimomura. Shimomura was already becoming a Squaresoft regular, having worked on the soundtrack for Live a Live. Her soundtracks reflected a more modern, sophisticated sound with some jazz/lounge vibes. I really dug the theme for the Canyon Crows mercenary group.
Front Mission gets 2 black mages out of 5. Not because it is a bad game, mind you. Mostly because I didn’t suffer too much FOMO from missing out on Front Mission when it came out. The focus on mech warfare looked intriguing and I did become interested in the series as I played some of the later titles but FM1 didn’t exactly blow me away when I tried it the first time. Playing it now on the DS, I appreciate what it was trying to do and it is an important part of understanding the full narrative of the series. The DS version also includes an additional mission that shows the conflict from the perspective of the USN/UCS and includes characters from later games in the series that weren’t present in the SNES version. I recommend trying the DS version if you are interested in playing this game.
Strategist FOMO Rating:
Front Mission: Gun Hazard
I remember reading a small blurb about Front Mission: Gun Hazard in a Gamepro magazine around late 1995. This game was a spinoff of the Front Mission series developed by Omiya Soft, a studio composed of the former Masaya devs who made Assault Suits Valken (also known as Cybernator in North America). I’ve downloaded Front Mission: Gun Hazard several times but I had never played it in too much depth. Well, it turns out I made a huge mistake. THIS GAME IS AWESOME! Not only that, I went and tried Assault Suits Valken and that’s another banger. These devs had a knack for mixing fun fast paced action gameplay and giant robot anime style storytelling. I could see why Squaresoft was interested in hiring them to make an action spinoff of the Front Mission franchise.
The Gamepro blurb that put Gun Hazard on my radar. Of course it was all a cruel tease by the gods as the game would never get a NA release.
Front Mission: Gun Hazard inherits a lot of ideas from ASV, but it stands as its own experience. Whereas ASV is more fast paced action/shooter oriented, Gun Hazard is more of a slower side scroller adventure game with RPG elements. It retains the Wanzer customization aspect from Front Mission and the weapon types are similar. The levels are semi-open ended with more of an exploration focus; one can retreat from each map and try another level if it is impossible to progress. The story is presented in a similar way to Assault Suits Valken, with dialogue boxes with portraits integrated into the action. While it is a charming way to present the story and it was unique compared to other action games at the time, it was slightly annoying that some of the dialogues happened while in the middle of combat. I missed a few lines when a villain monologued while trying to kill me. It was realistic, but annoying at the same time.
The wanzer can do all sorts of cool shit in this game. Fly around with jetpacks, block bullets with a shield and shoot shotgun blasts. What more could you want?
The story takes place in an alternate universe from Front Mission 1. The game starts with a text scroll about a space elevator that was decommissioned named Atlas. I haven’t reached the point in the story where this plot point becomes relevant, but I’m sure it becomes important later. The protagonist, Albert, is a soldier from Bergen and he assigned to an escort mission for the president of his country, named Moss Orwen. In the middle of his mission, one of his fellow soldiers named Ark Hellbrand stages a military coup and Albert is forced to escort him to safety. Orwen tries to reach the main military headquarters of Bergen and expose Ark’s coup but when he reaches the base, Ark kills all of the loyalists to the president and arrests both Albert and Orwen. Albert escapes with the help of Brenda Lockheart, a mercernary of the Kernelight mercenary organization. They escape to the Kernelight headquarters in New York City. Albert is dejected by his failure of protecting his president and worries about the state of his country and his family. He decides to join with the mercenary group and complete missions across the world in the hope of acquiring enough money and influence to free his country from the coup. The story opens up at that point the player can choose to travel to different regions of the world in conflict and complete their missions.
Brenda starts out hostile, but later helps you break out of prison. Any lady that helps a man evade incarceration is waifu material in my book.
Amano's character designs for Albert (left), Brenda (next to Albert) and his other companions.
A sampling of Uematsu's and Mitsuda's work
Strategist FOMO Rating:
And that is all I have for now! Expect a part 2 coming soon covering more memorable Squaresoft SNES games stuck in limbo in Japan. It will include some Live a Live, Romancing Saga 2, RS3, Bahamut Lagoon and Rudora no Hihou/Treasure of the Rudras discussion. Thanks for reading. If you want to read the previous article in the series, click here.
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