I was having a discussion with someone and I was saying I remember back in maybe the 90s and early 2000s when Mech games were a HUGE sub genre of PC game. I remember a friend of a friend had a special set of PC controls that mimicked a mech cockpit. It was a thing for a while wasn’t it? Like the flight simulator guys but with lasers and giant robots. Is it still a thing?
I guess not.
“Mechwarrior: Mercenaries” was about as good as game as you could ask to play, an absolute joy, and if you wanted an awesome PC game you’d make a modern version.
There have been games, they just don’t sell much, I guess.
I don’t know how big the audience was, but the 90’s did see games like Mechwarrior and Starsiege that involved complex control schemes. I don’t know that they were ever as complex as some of the hardcore flight sims, but they certainly had a lot of buttons and a high learning curve. And it is correct that these games seem to be a thing of the past.
Simulator games in general are almost extinct. I sometimes look for tank or aircraft sims and all I see is nonsense like World of Tanks and Ace Combat. I’m sure they are fun games, but they are in no way realistic. I get the feeling that any game too complex to be mapped to an Xbox controller is verboten in today’s market.
I loved the MechWarrior games – I remember loading up on Ultra AC/20s and playing multi-player and blowing players away with concentrated torso shots in seconds, until someone inevitably gets past my armor and blows my magazine. Or in the rare cases that I’d last more than 30 seconds, running out of ammo and having nothing but a medium pulse laser or two.
Steel Battalion came with a big ol’ controller in an effort to appeal to the flight sim/racing userset, but it didn’t do well - it cost way too much money. They later put out a Kinect version that was supposed to let you feel like you were in a mech without having to utilize the big ol’ controller and it straight-up bombed.
There is currently an active MechWarrior Online game that is, to my understanding, relatively popular. I tried it once and couldn’t really get into it. I did enjoy the genre back in the late 90s. I’ve always had a thing for modular loadouts in gaming.
I remember playing some mech game that was complex enough that one of us would use one side of the keyboard to manage movement and another use the other side to manage weapons. Great fun!
I should clarify. Huge was the wrong word since even in my memory they weren’t number one sellers but they had an extremely dedicated fan base who were REALLY into it as I recall. Sounds like my memory was not failing me.
There was a game for, I believe the Playstation 2, that was a mech combat game that I barely remember…
I don’t remember much from it other than you had a group of characters (who each had their own mechs) and you could switch out the parts as you were awarded them/found them throughout the game. You could switch out a lot IIRC (Arms, guns, shoulder cannons, legs, chestpiece, etc.).
The fighting was one of those where you can see the whole map and your characters can move in a set number of squares (like the old RPGs). I watched my roommate play it in college and it looked like so much fun and wish I remembered more.
That ring a bell for anyone?
A new version of Mechwarrior came out in 2013; I bought it on Steam, downloaded it, and never played it… it just didn’t grab me the way Mechwarrior: Mercenaries did. I should probably take another look at it.
We are Jade Falcon, great among the clans
So many hours spent targeting the right sides of mechs. So, so much fun.
Sorry for the double post, but kind of on topic.
I remember playing 688 and spending nearly an hour just trying to set up one torpedo run only to get pinged and have to run away and try again.
Games like that will never make a comeback. 
I stil have the Steel Battalion controller setup. Good fun.
theres been a few …look up from software they have a series going back before the ps2 front mission I think
and theres actually 2 online games for battletech/mechwarrior they play differently
when the ip holder bought the fasa ips from Microsoft he had MechWarrior 4 and the expansions for free …but I don’t know if that’s still there
There might be a renaissance when (if) VR gear gets popular. Mech and Space Sims seem perfect for VR.
Isn’t Titanfall a mech game? I have assumed it’s no MechWarrior, but it would be bizarre for the who genre to just be dropped.
That sounds like Front Mission. Probably Front Mission 4? Or 5?
I remember mech games. They were never really my cup of tea, partly because so many of them were based on that Battletech junk. I don’t remember them being really big or influencial, overall.
I agree that they probably fell to the same fate that got flight sims, spaceflight sims, and other very complicated controlscheme games.
Pistols at dawn sir.
That sounds familiar actually. I’ll have to pop around youtube and stuff to see if that was it.
I also want to make sure I thank you before you are murdered by Frodo
It’s a game with mechs. You’re just as likely to be running around on foot as you are in a mech and the mech operation is very simple compared to Battletech-based games. It’s essentially just you running around again, only now you have armor, bigger weapons and jump jets but nothing like damaging an enemy’s legs or hitting his ammo or worrying about heat, etc.
I remember playing BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk’s Inception way back in the day. I remember not getting very far; it might have been beyond my 11 year old attention span (or lack thereof).
I very much enjoyed the Armored Core series on Playstation and PS2.