E3 2007 Feature | Square Enix Talks Front Mission (Nintendo DS)

Square Enix's Koichiro Sakamoto, producer of Front Mission DS, due for release in the US on 23rd October, recently spoke out about the first ever official release of the game in the West. There were many topics covered, but some of the main ones are detailed below:

• Multiplayer Wi-Fi: This was originally meant to be included, but even though the team wanted to keep it in, it would have been too difficult to rebalance the game due to the amount of customisation involved in the main game. Sakamoto-san said he did not want the game's original balance to be forcibly changed just for the sake of adding in the feature;
• Microphone Support: He states that he never considered the idea of using the microphone, but looking back it seems like an interesting idea;
• Additional Content: Sakamoto-san explained that there have been various different versions of Front Mission over the years, with the original SNES game only having a single storyline focusing on the OCU (the Oceanic Community Union, which includes Australia, Japan, southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands), whilst the PlayStation remake included a different story that focused on the side of the UCS (the North American and South American united countries). This new DS update includes both of these stories, plus an additional five missions that can be played at any time after the third chapter. On top of this, there is also a guest character from Front Mission 5;
• More Front Mission on DS: When asked about his experience working with the DS and the possibility of more Front Mission games coming in the future, he stated it was certainly lots of fun to work with the handheld as it is definitely very compatible with the Strategy RPG genre. Most importantly, he mentioned that if there are future opportunities he would really like to do more, with the team particularly interested in porting other Front Mission games to DS. However, it all comes down to budget...so whilst there are no concrete plans at the moment, it is certainly not being ruled out.

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