Pilots (Front Mission 1)#

You will be alone first but many characters will join you later, some automatically, some by manual recruitment. You can finish the game without any recruitable characters but it would be easier and more enjoyable to have a diversified lineup.

Pilots get exps when attacking and defending. There is not one exp data but 4, Melee, Short, Long and Agility. The exp type you get would depend on the action you took in battle. Even if you lose a wanzer, you will still receive the experience points for the actions you have taken up to that point. Except yourself of cause, losing yourself would most likely be game over.

Pilot levels up when reaching a certain value of total EXP. When level up, the skills the pilot can learn will be displayed. Each pilot has certain thresholds for skills to appear. Once a skill has been learned, it cannot be changed, be careful of your selection.

Generally speaking the earlier joined the better in terms of overall skill set and attributes, the later joined are either too specialized (limited skill set except in one area) or weak, some even with skill slot shortage. You want to actively hold your aces back if you trained them too much, as everyone will be eventually useful.

In the pilot status window, the password is the data you would enter in the VS play menu of your friend’s game. In this way you can battle your wanzer with your friend.

Short lineup#

Short lineup in the order of damage:

OCU characters:

  • Ryuji Sakata: Short specialist, good for not much else. Somehow can learn 2 Melee skills despite being one of the worse Melee in the game.

  • J.J.: Second best Short. also good at Long. Somehow can learn 2 Melee skills despite being the worse Melee in the game. Joins mission 2. Leaves mission 22. Rejoins mission 25

  • Bobby Hopkins: Rare double ace in Short and Long. Can’t learn First is inconsequential, but can’t earn Dual and Speed hurts (from the skill slot and number of short skill thresholds, he was initially designed to have more short skills) . After mission 11, stop fight after going to military office.

  • Natalie F. Blakewood: Ace Short and OK Long. Can’t learn First. Joins mission 2. Leaves mission 22. Rejoins mission 25

  • Keith Carabell: Melee placeholder until Yang Meihua joins. Short and OK Long afterwards. Joins mission 2. Leaves mission 22. Rejoins mission 25.

  • Alder Weiss: Better train as Short because of the Melee surplus in the game. Starts with Stun. Can’t learn Speed (and other melee skills in the original SNES version). I prefer to learn Dual and Switch instead of Guide or other Melee skills as anyone with the two Short skills can disarm an enemy in one turn. After mission 5, talk in bar, then move to city Menasa, talk in bar, then fight in colosseum.

  • Yang Yeehin: Late to join the party and have to play catchup. Worth the training though. Can’t learn First, Dual or Switch. Joins mission 14.

  • Peewie Richburg Jr.: No other weapons. Supply truck is too important to send to the front line. If money is not an issue (colosseum fight income) then train after battle is decided with the help of flash grenades/acid. if you have to throw a chaff on him you are in trouble. In the original SNES ROM somehow can learn Speed LV3, probably a bug as it cannot be activated and is removed in later releases. Joins mission 6.

  • Yang Meihua: : Melee placeholder until Gregorio joins. Short afterwards. Best at Melee, but better convert to Short as in this game Short rules. She comes with Double, leaving only 2 open skill slots. Her Long damage is the lowest in the game, may not be a good idea to aim for the guide skill. Joins mission 4, talk in military office, then talk & fight in colosseum. Leaves mission 14. Rejoins after mission 14. Her First, if learnt, will start at LV2.

  • Royd/Lloyd Clive: Although an average Short, learning skills early means more damage in early game. Get surpassed in damage output when specialists learnt their skills though.

  • Gentz Weizer: Another Lloyd if not for the serious shortage of skill slots. Starts with Stun and only 2 skill slots, one for Short and one for Guide. Joins mission 23

  • Porunga: A tank that wants to be attacker… and good at neither. Can’t learn Dual, Switch or Guide. Joins with Bobby.

  • Frederick Lancaster: Gain skills very slowly (especially for Melee). Good bait for enemy missileers though. Short is the worse talent for him, and he has the worst Short damage in the game, but he can learn 2 Short skills which is better than some ace Shorts (I am looking at you Bobby). Besides his Melee and Long are just slightly better. With Short so overpowered in the game, even the worst Short in the game gets a nod over Melee or Long. Can’t learn Stun or Dual. Joins mission 3. Leaves mission 20. Opponent mission 22 (upgrade his wanzer for better award). Rejoins after mission 22.

  • Maury/Molly Odonnell : A weak version of Frederick but a useful backup tank for splits. Can’t learn Speed or Guide. Joins after mission 9, Leaves mission 10. Rejoins after mission 10

USN characters:

  • Gina Davies: A Short specialist like Ryuji in OCU, comes with Guide. Cannot learn Stun or First. Joins mission 12. Leaves mission 18 and returns mission 20.

  • Johnny Sandars (or Johnny Sanders): A nice Short. Leaves mission 18 and returns mission 19.

  • Kevin Greenfield: Almost identical to Lloyd in OCU, he is also average, flexible and acquire skills fast.

Long lineup#

Long lineup in the order of damage

OCU characters:

  • Paul C. Grieber: The best Long in the game. Also double as Short because free talent slots. Frederick level Short though. Can’t learn First, Double or Speed. Talk in bar after mission 5.

  • Hans Goldwin: Second best Long in the game. Also double as Short because free talent slots. Frederick level Short though. Can’t learn melee skills. Joins after mission 8.

  • Bobby Hopkins: Good missileer and Short, too bad not much Short skills

  • Yang Yeehin: Good missileer and Short, too bad not much Short skills

  • Natalie F.Blakewood,Keith Carabell and J.J. Above average Long.

  • Royd/Lloyd Clive and Gentz Weizer: Average Long.

USN characters:

  • Howard Wong: The only good long at the USN side. He’s at Hans level, not Paul’s. Cannot learn Dual or Switch (yikes). Joins mission 4.

  • Kevin Greenfield: he will be an average Long if at the OCU side, but here he is the second best.

Melee lineup#

Melee lineup in the order of damage:

OCU characters:

  • Gregorio Maias: Best Melee in the game, not good for much else. Starts with Stun. Can’t learn Short or Long skills. Skills start at lv2. After mission 8, fight in colosseum, joins after victory.

  • Ralph Dian: Second best Melee in the game. Starts with Stun and Double. No First hurts. Cannot learn Short skills but can learn Guide after the DS port. After mission 16, fight in colosseum.

  • Yang Meihua: Convert to Short after Gregorio joins. If the above 2 can do Short, then they will also be converted. Too bad they don’t have much potential in Short skills like Yang.

  • Keith Carabell: Melee placeholder until Yang Meihua joins. Can get Double early but that’s all he can learn in Melee. His portrait is kind of deceiving. He’s better in Short and Long.

USN characters:

  • Matthew D. Lorenzo: A nice Melee but more talented than Yang Meihua in OCU in Short skills. Leaves mission 18 and returns mission 19.

  • Kevin Greenfield, Halle Fiennes, Howard Wong and Ghetta Cedric: Average Melee.

Tank lineup#

Tank lineup in the order of guarding defense:

OCU characters:

  • Frederick Lancaster: Insane agility growth rate

  • Maury/Molly Odonnell: Useful tank in the stage that Frederick joins the enemy and when you need to split.

  • Porunga: In the last stage everyone can join the fight so you may want to train him a little. Somehow he has 5 skill slots, but can only learn skill 3 times. Probably an oversight for the designer. From the skill slot and number of short skill thresholds, he was initially designed to have more short skills.

USN characters:

  • Halle Fiennes: Ideally would take the role of Peewie in the OCU side as the repairman. Cannot learn First or Dual. Joins mission 4.

  • Ghetta Cedric: Ideally would take the role of Frederick in the OCU side as the tank. Cannot learn Switch or Speed. Comes with Stun.

Tp=Type M=Melee, S=Short, L=Long, A=Agility G=Generic, T=Tank,SS=Skill Slots

Number in the skill column denotes the exp requirement to obtain a new skill. Once the exp requirement is met, the character can choose one of the skills available to the character in the exp category on the next level up bonus screen, unless the skill slots are full or you hacked too many skills in the category.

15=D+, 20=C, 25=C+, 30=B, 35=B+, 40=A,45=A+, 50=S, 55=S+

Characters#

Name

Eng. Name

Tp

M

S

L

A

Melee

Short

Long

SS

ロイド・クライブ

Royd/Lloyd Clive

G

B

B

B

B

700, 1900, 3500

2000, 5000, 7000

1500

5

坂田竜二

Ryuji Sakata

S

D+

S+

C+

C

1000, 2300

2500, 5500, 8500

2000

5

ナタリー・F・ブレイクウッド

Natalie F.Blakewood

S/L

C+

A

B+

C

1000, 2200

3100, 5000, 7000

1900

5

キース・カラベル

Keith Carabell

S/L

B

A

B+

D+

1200

2000, 5000, 7000

2500

5

ジョイナス・ジェリアスカ

J.J.

S

D

A+

B+

D

2000, 3600

2000, 5000, 7000

2500

5

フレデリック・ランカスター

Frederick Lancaster

T

C+

C

C+

S+

3000, 9000

5000, 7000

6000

4

楊美花, ヤン・メイファ

Yang Meihua

M/S

A+

B+

D+

C+

1800, 2800

3000, 5000, 7000

2200

3

ポール・C・グリバー

Paul C. Grieber

L

C

C

S+

C+

3000

3000, 5000

1500

5

アルダー・ワイス

Alder Weiss

M/S

A

A

C+

D+

1500(After SNES)

4000, 7000

1700

3

ピウィー・リッチバーグ Jr.

Peewie Richburg Jr.

S/T

D+

B+

D+

B+

2000

1

ハンス・ゴルドウィン

Hans Goldwin

L

C+

C

A+

B

2900, 5900, 7900

900

3

グレゴリオ・マイアス

Gregorio Maias

M

S+

C+

D+

C+

1800, 3000

3

モーリー・オドネル

Maury/Molly Odonnell

T

C+

C

C

A

1200, 5500

4000, 6000

4

ボビー・ホプキンス

Bobby Hopkins

S/L

C

A

A

C

1300

2000

1500

3

ポルンガ

Porunga

T

B

B

C+

B+

900, 2200

3000

5

楊一清, ヤン・イーヒン

Yang Yeehin

S/L

C+

A

B+

C

2000, 3500

4000

2000

4

ラルフ・ダイアン

Ralph Dian

M

A+

B+

C+

D+

2000 (after DS port)

3

ゲンツ・ヴィーザー

Gentz Weizer

G

B

B

B

B

3000

2500

2

ケビン・グリーンフィールド

Kevin Greenfield

G

B

B

B

B

1000, 2200, 3500

1800, 4800, 7000

2000

5

ジョニー・サンダース

Johnny Sandars

S

C+

A+

C+

C

1100, 2300, 3800

1600, 4500, 6500

2000

5

マシュー・D・ロレンツィオ

Matthew D. Lorenzo

M/S

A+

B+

C+

C

700, 1900, 3500

2100, 5100, 8000

2000

5

ハル・ファインズ

Halle Fiennes

T

B

C+

C+

A

1000, 2200

3100, 5000

1900

4

ハワード・ウォン

Howard Wong

L

B

C

A+

D+

800, 2000

3500

1500

4

ジーナ

Gina Davies

S

D+

S+

C

C

3000

4800, 6500

3000

3

ゲッタ・セドリック

Ghetta Cedric

M/T

B

C

C

B

2200, 3500

5000

3000

3