Front Mission/YMMV


 * Anticlimax Boss: . His first form has no ranged attacks, and is immobile. His second form is, while you're controlling a unit of virtual demigods at this point.
 * starts as one of these. Then it goes One-Winged Angel. It still manages to be less dangerous than it looks.
 * Arguably in 3 as well if you get the secret wanzer... which can randomly activate the Destroy Body ability (i.e. instant death).
 * Awesome Music: In contrast to 4, which had a forgettable soundtrack, 5 has much improved music. Standouts include: the main theme, "Scars of the War"; the Strike Wyverns theme; and "Deliverance", the battle BGM for the final mission.
 * Broken Base: The release of Evolved divided the fanbase into two camps. On one hand, some people claim it to be an enjoyable action title, even if it isn't on the same level as its predecessors. On the other, some call it a disgrace to the franchise and that another strategy title should have been made instead. Over in Japan, the reception is simple and universal - while fans have no problems with another genre spin-off (as they have access to Gun Hazard, Alternative and Online unlike the rest of the world), they point out its numerous design flaws and don't see it as a successor to Gun Hazard, let alone the brilliant Online.
 * Cliché Storm: Evolved rather ironically degenerates into this.
 * Complete Monster: Driscoll in 1st, even when playing the USN scenario who manages to make some of the officers in the USN likeable enough he keeps being a complete dick who treats Kevin like trash and his soldiers like tools.This would put him right on Jerkass territory but then there's the stuff he does to  and   along with all the scheme with the Sakata Industries.
 * Serov in 3. He destroyed an entire city and killed several people just for the sake of researching his experimental Wanzer Genie Arm. He's also so insane, he would attack his own allies randomly.
 * Continuity Lock Out: Every canon video game entry are continuations of unresolved stories from the previous one chronologically. This is because the franchise tells its story like a TV serial: the standalone stories (for newcomers) often interconnect with other ones and tie back to a larger overarching storyline (for fans). Front Mission 2089 leads into 2089-II, 2089-II leads into 1st, 1st leads into 4 and 2, 2 leads into 3, and so on for an 80-20 split between the standalone and on-going stories. Most evident in 5, which is a 50-50 split, but really requires having played all of the previous titles to truly understand. Also very evident in the 70+ characters that show up in at least two or more of the games, some showing up as many as five times . Oh, and add in the other Front Mission media which only adds to this, and it becomes quite obvious that this is one of those things you REALLY have to get into, or don't even bother trying! This does not apply to Gun Hazard (which takes place in a completely different universe) and Evolved (which is a reboot story-wise).
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: Darril Traubel from 4. Besides his game proper, he shows up as a playable character in 1st and 5 (and is recruitable later in 5), and is one of the best pilots in 5; strategy guides rate Darril as being more useful than a counterpart S-Type device pilot. May have something to do with the fact that he's not as goody-two-shoes as other protagonists in the series.
 * Game Breaker: A few of these in the games.
 * Melee users in 1st can learn Melee Skills like First (gives you a chance to strike first, even if your opponent is using Short weapons), Stun (chance to keep an opponent from being able to do anything), and Double (allows you to strike again with your other arm). Anyone with all three skills can wreck major havoc on the battlefield.
 * Short-range users in 1st are equally as broken as they can learn Duel (lets you choose which part to attack directly), Speed (adds an extra bullet attack when using multi-hit weapons), and Switch (see Double). Anyone with all three skills can outright demolish an enemy unit, even boss units, from full health to absolutely nothing!
 * This passes through into 3 as well, where incredibly skilled or lucky wanzer pilots could let off two to as many as six attacks through Skill Chains. There Is No Kill Like Overkill.
 * And that's not even counting the Hoshun Mk.112, which packs not only the instant-death skill "Body Smash", but also a particle cannon whose damage type can't be defended against and whose ridiculous AP cost can be mitigated by using one of two "double attack" abilities to have it follow up a cheaper lead-in.
 * Overlapping with Gundamjack and Failsafe Failure, in 3, if the player can successfully force an enemy to eject (or just gets really lucky), the player can have a pilot hop out of their wanzer and into the enemy's vehicle. The computer player doesn't know how to get into any vehicle that a player has ever piloted, resulting in them being reduced to shooting your death machines with their pistols. The player doesn't even need to stay in the new vehicle; he can switch back to his wanzer if he prefers and there's nothing the computer can do about it. If that wasn't enough, you get to keep wanzers you "capture" this way.
 * Actually, it is possible for the computer to steal your mech when doing this. It's just so infrequent and rare you have to be very, very unlucky to have it happen.
 * The Smash abilities in 3 in general. You can activate them with melee, sniper, or missile shots. They WILL hit the enemy regardless of accuracy. A body smash is a straight up instant kill. An arm smash will ALWAYS destroy the left arm first (and the game never equips weapons on the right arm, only shields), which means you screw over your opponent from doing any significant damage to you afterward, since all they can do is punch you with a Hard Blow.
 * Stacking ROFUP1 in 3. Very few enemies in the game can withstand it if it decided to chain.
 * Genius Bonus: Remember Paul? The hippie, with the mech named "Rainbow"? Yes, you snorted and laughed at a weapon of war being named after pretty colors. Because you're not too familiar with The Bible. When the Flood is over, God sets his bow in the sky as a promise never to point it at humankind again. That's right. The rainbow is God's own personal planet-killing Wave Motion Gun.
 * It's Easy, So It Sucks: Another complaint about Evolved is how easy it seems sometimes, with player Wanzers being able to regenerate damage in any difficulty under hard, items that heal damage respawning frequently, and complaints of non-existent AI, except for the bosses.
 * Memetic Mutation: YTMND latching on to the "Secret Nazi Forest" made of paths on the Cenktrich map in Gun Hazard.
 * Moral Event Horizon: Driscoll crosses this when he reveals in 1st.
 * Most Annoying Sound: The limited and frequently repeated taunts spouted by Evolved's boss enemies get old fast. And many boss enemies will repeat a line every time they use a particular attack.
 * Most Wonderful Sound: In 3 onwards, the skill activation sound... especially when it's in a chain.
 * Needs More Love: Front Mission in general, and 4 in particular.
 * Player Punch: You won't get to counterpunch until 5.
 * The Scrappy: Molly O'Donnell in 1st. Molly rarely does anything in the OCU scenario and when she does, her actions don't really benefit anyone. Rather, the rest of the Canyon Crows get pissed off at her.
 * Scrappy Weapon: The Raptor MG, which has appeared in two games, stands out as being a fairly poor beginner-tier weapon that suffers from bad accuracy and low damage output.
 * They Changed It, Now It Sucks: The reason most people who dislike Evolved give when describing why they dislike it, citing the genre shift in the process. Also, it might be because the game throws out almost everything that makes Front Mission "Front Mission".
 * must be the discarding stuff, as for the Genre Shift Gun Hazard also tried it and its good as it gets.
 * Viewer Gender Confusion: Emil in Gun Hazard is a good example of this: people who have played the game for the first time will most likely assume that character is a girl on their first meeting... then they read a bit into the detailed canon and find out that Emil is actually a boy.