plutonick's Blog (0 followers)

I had an urge to play a mech turn based game, but since BattleTech is not out of beta yet (and I am not a beta Kickstarter backer), I decided to try the Front Mission series instead.

Instead of starting with Front Mission 3 (the PS1 version I recently got on my PS3 via the PSN network), I thought why not start from the very begining of the series, since I did own both a hacked NDS AND a working (english) rom of Front Mission. So I dug out my NDS and plug it into the mains.

ALAS! It would not boot! I was horrified to see that the battery, after almost four years of neglect, had bloated. I ordered a cheap knock-off replacement, since the original is not being produced anymore, and once it arrived... the NDS would still not charge, even though the chargers light turned on.

I browsed Facebook's local marketplace and I realized that secondhand NDS are way to cheap. 20 euros! I ordered one, but unfortunately I had to return it, because the volume slider was broken. On the other hand I found out that my old NDS charged just fine with the 'new' charger. So the fault was with the charger and not with the NDS. I bought a new charger, charged my NDS and fired up Front Mission. It was working!

(However I found out that my slot 2 cart, which is used for GBA roms, was faulty and somehow I had to fix this before starting my FM session, even though I wasn't going to use the slot2. I just couldn't rest knowing something was wrong with my NDS. Posts on the net said that the usual culprit was a dead internal battery, however removing it and inserting a new one was a bit tricky. In the end, I just blew on the cartridge and the problem went away just like that...)

Anyway, as I write this, I am already 5 hours in Front Mission, and having difficulties finishing the 4th mission, I am enjoying way to much, which scares my, just by thinking how much I am going to enjoy BattleTech in a few months. Mech customization is way to complicated in FM and I love it. This game must have been ahead of it's time. Plot is nice too. If your are a fan of japanese Tactics (or just tactics games) and also like Mechs, I can't recommend this game enough, and I suppose later games in the series only get better!