Why do game developers love mechs?
It's no secret that mechs have a proportionally outsized presence in video games over most other mediums. The mechanical behemoths loom large in the world of 2D and 3D animation, but are scantly seen seen in cinemas, lost in the land of literature, and taboo in the world of television. (They're common in comics, but still play second fiddle to caped crusaders).
These giant humanoid machines (also known as "mecha") first rose to popularity in post-war Japan in the pages of manga like Atomic Power Android and early anime like Mazinger Z. Shows like Macross, Mobile Suit Gundam, and Super Sentai (Power Rangers) would catch the attention of the West, inspiring companies like FASA Corporation, which would create BattleTech—a seminal tabletop series that would merge the mecha design with a modern military aesthetic. BattleTech drew from the aesthetics from tanks and other heavy machinery than the distinctly humanoid shapes of their predecessors.
(Do we need to go into the way-too-long legal battle between FASA Corporation and entertainment distributor Harmony Gold over who owned the rights to different mech designs? No.)
Such shows, comics, and games would inspire game developers of the 1980s and '90s, and developers in the United States and Japan began adapting the mecha genre into the world of video games. The Metal Gear, MechWarrior, and Front Mission franchises were all early adopters in the genre—but then in 1997, FromSoftware released Armored Core.
Games in the mecha genre would come and go over the next two decades but Armored Core was one of the most tenacious. Though the series vanished for a while after 2013's Armored Core: Verdict Day, it came roaring back a ten years later with Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, a
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