Retro Review: Kidou Senshi Gundam F91 - Formula Senki 0122 (Super Famicom)

In terms of genre influence and sheer relentless merchandising, the Gundam franchise is very much the Japanese Star Wars. Not the first of its kind, but one of those works that came along, dropkicked the status quo, and became the establishment. Anime wasn't the same after. It even has its own laser swords and Space Nazis. As it has nearly 40 years of material, of wildly variable quality, its not easy to generalise, but the gist is as follows. People live in space stations, some on Earth, bad feelings all round, so war with giant robots, piloted by angsty teens. Lots of moral ambiguity and war is hell motifs. Today's game, Kidou Senshi Gundam F91 - Formula Senki 0122 , or F91 for sanity, fits into the original Gundam canon, where a bunch of Space Nazis from Mars are causing trouble. They use robots which look exactly like those from the 1979 original, though updated, seemingly just for reasons of brand recognition(1). But is F91 any good? Well, interesting is perhaps the better word. 

The games big selling point is that while it looks like a SRPG it's actually a , honest to god, turn-based/real-time hybrid. A faintly underwhelming map screen, gives way to a faux cockpit, with 3rd person battle animations. Your main inputs are manoeuvre and positioning in real time, but with attacking and the map screen handled in a turn based fashion. Its a a rush to line up a shot against rapidly moving targets, with each weapon having own its optimal range, and your Gundam having limited fuel. Succeed, and you get an animation of the attack connecting, and hopefully an explosion. Fail, and see it miss. You can dash back to a capital ship for a top up, and switch between fancy weapon packs mid battle. The Gundam(2) you use for most of the game has modular parts, allowing you to tailor it to your requirements, adding a layer of strategy to an otherwise tactical game. But the battle continues without you, Jegans and Zakus beating 7 bells out of each other, meaning you can get flanked, and so on. Its not rendered in 3D, but feels a solid representation of Mobile Suit combat as presented in the various animations, with the music being a highlight. Meanwhile there's a story going on, depicted mainly by cutscences between battles. Any good? Well, it's a Gundam sidestory where the antagonists are cosplaying warmachines from 40 odd years prior. A translation patch is required, which seems to work OK. The narrative definitely looks and feels appropriate to the franchise, if not one of it's best. And that's the game in a nutshell, really. It looks and feels right, having pretty good production values, if not necessarily exceptional in its execution. The general feeling of above average is also backed up by it having a battery save, even though the game is light of justification for one. This game could have easily worked with a password system, as it has only 12 levels and is not an RPG, so I can only assume Japanese convention was happily at work here.

The battles do however get a bit samey. As the battle animations are repetitive, what the game ends up doing is training you to stare at the radar in the bottom right, as that's where most of the useful info is. That sense of repetition also increases as the game goes on, where you end up on Earth after fighting in space, and the game plays the same. Kinda disappointing, that. Its also something of a coin toss if an attack connects or not, as the game doesn't see fit to let you aim yourself, or tell you the odds. Also, choosing between the weapon pack doesn't actually represent that big of choice, as there's only 2 at first with limited weapons. This makes things a little frustrating, although new weapons and equipment do unlock and ease these complaints. Ultimately though, its not that deep of a game, despite nailing the setting. While by no means bad, I feel this game needed to be either more of a simulation, or more a bangy-zoomy game.

 

Conclusion
<Indecisive noise>, okay. F91 is a game that sets out to capture the spirit of its setting, while defying gaming convention, and largely achieves both aims, but I didn't love it. I wouldn't really call it a great game, but it is an mechanically interesting one. And, despite nitpicks, I can certainly imagine Gundam fans then and now warming to it. Some distance from a classic, but it doesn't have much to apologise for. If the concepts discussed above appeal to you, maybe check it out.

Foot notes

1. I am deeply cynical about this, and it makes less and less sense the more I think about it.
2. The term “Gundam” is also used mainly for brand recognition, as in universe it was the most famous Federation mecha.