Now that the original Armored Core trilogy is available to play again via PlayStation Plus, I’ve had a lot of fun thoroughly finishing the first game.
While the save transfer setup is missing in these new releases, I still went ahead and played through the first Armored Core in its entirety.
That means finishing it thoroughly, with all the missions completed, finding all the hidden parts, and also getting all the Human Plus upgrades.
The latter used to be a point of contention back in the 90s when the game out, as it was generally frowned upon to have a Human Plus build for multiplayer purposes.
To explain, Human Plus was a not-so-subtle nod to the Cyber Newtypes in Gundam, with the player obtaining various abilities that improved their mecha’s performance.
Acquiring each Human Plus upgrade happens after you become 50,000 credits in debt. You then get a creepy CG cutscene with you on an operating table as unseen doctors talk about the forthcoming procedure.
Abilities like having a permanent map, regardless of whether you had a radar-equipped or more energy for your boosters. The last two abilities were being able to fire back cannons while moving and releasing the energy from your laser blade in a powerful wave. This was something of a “feature” for some of the blades in Armored Core VI.
However, in the decades since, and especially since Armored Core 4 effectively had most of the Human Plus enhancements as standard. Even with the recently released Armored Core VI, it’s now more regarded as being part of the series than some weird offshoot.
Moreover, I only ever used my Human Plus build for the single-player campaign. This being entirely fair, as Hustler One and Nine-Ball had all these abilities anyway.
What is also interesting is that the releases from different regions have had their subtle nuances retained.
Things like the diamond floating mines in the last mission not glowing in the Japanese version, as well as the bizarre 101% completion bug.
It’s still also being debated exactly how many cycles you have to go through to get all the Human Plus abilities. For me, it seems it’s the standard 6, but some people are still swearing it’s 8 or even 9. Not to mention that the order in which you unlock each ability is still not really agreed upon.
In any case, I managed to get all the Human Plus upgrades I wanted, as well as all the hidden parts and the weight restrictions lifted (for that you have to complete all the missions after you have finished the game). So, I am more than happy.
It all felt very familiar yet somehow fresh, as a long time has passed since I played the games back on the original PlayStation.
Now, if only I could import my save data into the other two games, then everything would be as it should be.
Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
