WHAT EXACTLY IS A WarMECH?

i'm glad you asked! WarMECH, also known as Death Machine, War Machine, or simply just Warmech, is an enemy from the first Final Fantasy. it can only be found on the final floor of the penultimate dungeon of the game, the Flying Fortress, at a relatively low encounter rate of 1/64. it is notable for being extremely powerful for a random encounter, far surpassing the strength of any other enemy in the area you find it in, as well as its futuristic and mechanical design being somewhat out of place compared to the rest of the game, which is primarily rooted in medieval fantasy.


WarMECH itself (left) is a bipedal robot with three visual sensors on its front, as well as tubes running all across its body to several places, including two turbines on its back. in the Famicom and MSX renditions of the sprite, it has a more organic looking visual sensor on the front, almost looking like a real eye, while in the PS1, GBA, PSP and Pixel Remaster sprites, it's been replaced with another mechanical sensor instead. additionally, the PS1, GBA and PSP versions of the sprite (center) gave it a green hull, while for the Pixel Remaster (right) it changed it back to a more orange-ish tone, though it still isn't the same coral pink color that is in the original sprite.


WHAT IS WarMECH LIKE?

WarMECH's stats are consistent across all versions of Final Fantasy I, and are as follows:

additionally, it only has two possible battle actions, those being to perform a normal attack (75% chance) or to perform Nuke (25% chance) which is a magic spell exclusive to WarMECH that has a base power of 80. contrary to popular belief, this is different from the Black Mage's Nuclear spell, despite them having the same name in the NES version. for reference, Chaos, the final boss, has a spell that is exclusive to it called Blaze, and that has a base power of 96, making it only marginally stronger than Nuke. in the Pixel Remaster, WarMECH gains an extra action in combat, that being a 3.85% chance to flee, and its two other actions are both given a 48.08% chance to occur.

despite the consistency of WarMECH's stats, the difficulty of the fight can vary depending on what version of the game you're playing. the fight is at its hardest in the NES version, as that is where you are the most limited in your options. however, in something like the Dawn of Souls GBA remake, you can get very overpowered very quickly, making the fight somewhat of a pushover if you come prepared.

WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT WarMECH SO MUCH?

while yes, WarMECH is a very remote part of the series history, i still find it to be a really fascinating one. imagine you're playing Final Fantasy I completely blind, you don't know anything about WarMECH, and you're wandering through the Flying Fortress. it's already such a weird location compared to the rest of the game (at least in the NES version) due to its steel-plated walls, office chairs, robots, and overall mechanical look. you're then walking up this long corridor on the last floor, ready to fight the area boss, when suddenly you get jumped by this killer robot that wipes the floor with you. you then try to go back and find it again, but you just can't because of that low encounter rate. in a time before the internet, would any of your friends believe you if you told them about this? THAT is what i love about WarMECH. the unexpectedness, the intrigue, the mystique! it's so completely out of left field, and i love that. it also just has a really cool and cute design, especially the Famicom sprite. that eye is just too damn cute!


HOW CAN A WarMECH FAN SUCH AS MYSELF SHOW MY WarMECH PRIDE?

excellent question! first of all, you can put this nifty little button i made on your site to show you're part of the club!

<a href="https://motsdrama.neocities.org/Other/WarMECH/"><img src="https://file.garden/YpEVL4CqGHPlp9I6/WarmechFanclub.gif" title="I'm a proud member of the WarMECH fanclub! :D">

next, i want to start a collection of WarMECH fanworks on this page, and i'd like for you to submit your own! email me at motsdrama@proton.me if you have any fanart of WarMECH, and i'll stick it here with credit! for now though, let's go over some awesome WarMECH fanworks i've found online.

the first fanwork i'd like to show is a rom hack, Final Fantasy: Age of WarMECH! now, i haven't played a lot of this yet, but judging by the description on the romhacking.net page, it seems really cool! it's a full hack of FFI that puts WarMECH as the main antagonist, and you have to venture out to stop it. this is definitely something i wanna play sometime soon!

unfortunately that's all i have for now, there are some other pieces i'd love to share but i'm uncertain if the original artists are cool with me putting their full images on my site, so i'll just link them. there's a really cool rendition of WarMECH i found on Caves of Narshe done by Rod Vasquez, and it has a more menacing presence than the original sprite, or anything that came after it. i also love all the skulls on the ground, it's so killer. (literally!) then, there's a drawing done by cardlin on DeviantArt that's a near one-to-one replica of the original sprite done with pen and paper, and i personally think it looks excellent. the eye is so cute!


DOES WarMECH APPEAR IN ANY OTHER GAMES?

surprisingly, yes! WarMECH's first non-FFI appearance was in Final Fantasy Legend II (or Romancing SaGa II, if you prefer), where it took the form of this little cutie.


it's a little smaller than it was before and appears to have recieved some guns, but it's still the same WarMECH we know and love. (though, it is officially referred to as Death Machine in this game...) i unfortunately haven't played SaGa II, so i can't confirm or deny if it lives up to the incarnation in FFI, but it is cool to see all the same. in fact, SaGa II is where we get its first 3D model as well!


i believe SaGa II got a 3D remake on DS, and with it came a 3D rendition of our favorite killer robot. check it out, it's so cute! this model is moreso based on the original artwork for the Gameboy game, but it's still pretty cool.

it took a little while for WarMECH to return in another game, but when it did it came back with style... check this out.


Final Fantasy XIV gave us the Babil Death Machine, and look at this thing! its a near one-to-one recreation of the original sprite in glorious HD 3D! they even gave back its little eye, i love it! again, haven't played FFXIV so i don't know what the actual fight is like, but it gets mad respect for putting this guy in there.

our next rendition of WarMECH comes from Final Fantasy Dimensions II, which was a mobile game released in 2017 so i don't really care to/think i'm able to play it. thankfully, it gave us a pretty cool WarMECH model!


it's a hard choice between FFXIV and this, but i know for sure this is an excellent 3D rendition of WarMECH. while XIV's model is more faithful to the original, this is a near perfect replica of how it appeared in the PS1, GBA and PSP versions of FFI, with some extra guns like the SaGa II design.

now for our final official appearance (at least, in terms of designs that stay mostly faithful to the original) comes from War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. i have no idea what the words that just came out of my mouth mean, but it is another mobile game, and this one came out on Amazon Fire apparently! that's funny.


this one feels like it perfectly recreates how WarMECH was rendered in the Pixel Remaster, which is interesting because depending on when it was added to the game, the Pixel Remaster might not have even been out yet. otherwise it feels like a pretty cheap model, but at least we have more WarMECH representation.


NOTICE: the background, textboxes, and sprites used for this page were all put together by me using sprites from the NES version of Final Fantasy 1, which i found on the Spriter's Resource. pictures for the WarMECH in other games section were taken mostly from the Final Fantasy Fandom wiki, and the boxart for Age of WarMECH was taken from its RetroAchievements page. additionally, the font used for this page is Onion Pixel by Yosituna, which i downloaded from FontStruct. if you take umbridge with my use of any of these assets, please contact me at motsdrama@proton.me and i will remove them ASAP. thanks! :D