If you were to ask me to name the biggest influences on my life, Macross would rank just behind, Mama Wilson, MLK, Thomas Paine, and Chris Claremont. It may seem odd to place a melodramatic cartoon aimed at Japanese teens as such a powerful factor, but it was my first exposure to serious themes and circumstances in animated form; it was difficult to worry about the well-being of Wile E. Coyote after he suffered few dozen anvil drops to the head without consequence.
Macross‘ transforming ‘bots, alien enemies, and rich storylines makes it perfect videogame fodder, so it’s surprising that no one’s really nailed the title in videogame form. The Super Famicom’s Macross: Scramble Valkyrie was a decent attempt, and several of the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games were ass, except for the somewhat decent Super Dimension Fortress Macross for the PS2. And yes, I’m including the disappointing Robotech: Battle Cry (settle down, Macross fanboys, I know the difference between the properties).
So in the spirit of keeping hope alive, I eagerly await the latest series entry, Macross Ultimate Frontier, the follow up to last year’s surprisngly well-made Macross Acer Frontier. Famitsu apparently copped early word on the PSP title, which builds upon its predecessor with a improved warning system for tracking the series’ patented missile swarms, and the Support Character System, which sees the franchises female stars fly along with you in battle for what I would assume would be “culture” attack via song. Speaking of which Lynn “The Human Annoyance” Minmay is one of the new characters in the game, as well as legendary Macross bad ass, Roy Focker.
Macross Ultimate Frontier is hitting Japanese stores later this year, and if you dislike heartbreak, don’t even dream of it escaping Asia. Thanks, Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko.
