Front Line is a 1982 run and gun arcade game by Taito.
Quick Facts
| Title | Front Line |
| Year | 1982 |
| Manufacturer | Taito |
| Designer(s) | Tetsuya Sasaki |
| Genre | Run and gun |
| Hardware | Original arcade release used Taito SJ System. ColecoVision port required the Super Action Controller accessory. |
| Ports | 8 ports, including Arcade, ColecoVision, and PC-8801 — see Ports section |
History
Taito released Front Line to Japanese arcades on November 10, 1982, with designer Tetsuya Sasaki building the game around vertically scrolling infantry and tank combat rather than the fixed or horizontally scrolling shooters common at the time. The cabinet ran on Taito’s SJ System board, which the company also used for several of its other early-1980s action titles. Front Line placed seventh among Japan’s highest-grossing arcade games that year, and Western trade coverage named it runner-up for the 1983 Arcade Awards’ Coin-Op Game of the Year, behind Namco’s Pole Position.
Reception outside Japan was mixed: reviewers praised the game’s originality in blending on-foot combat with drivable tanks, but many players found its difficulty punishing compared to contemporaries. Its design proved influential regardless, predating Capcom’s Commando by several years as one of the first overhead run and gun games. Conventions it established, including hijacking enemy vehicles and vertically scrolling battlefields, carried directly into SNK’s TNK III in 1985 and Ikari Warriors in 1986. Taito later preserved the game through home compilations, including Taito Memories Gekan in 2005 and Taito Legends 2 in 2006, and Hamster brought it back again decades later as Arcade Archives FRONT LINE, first on PlayStation 4 in January 2018 and then on Nintendo Switch on February 14, 2019, complete with adjustable difficulty and online score rankings.
Gameplay
Players guide a lone soldier up the screen through a series of vertically scrolling battlefields, starting on foot with a basic pistol and an unlimited supply of grenades. Infantry stages give way to vehicle stages, where the soldier can commandeer light and heavy tanks, each with distinct speed, armor, and turning characteristics that change how a stage should be approached. Because enemy fire can destroy an occupied tank outright, players must judge when to bail out on foot before a hit connects, turning vehicle sections into a running risk-versus-reward calculation rather than simple point-and-shoot advancement. The ultimate objective is to fight through successive lines of infantry, artillery, and armor to reach the enemy fortress and end the stage by lobbing a grenade directly into it.
- On-foot combat with a sidearm and unlimited grenades
- Drivable light and heavy tanks with distinct handling
- Mandatory vehicle-exit timing before a tank is destroyed
- Vertically scrolling advance toward a destructible enemy fortress
Cabinet & Hardware
Front Line’s original arcade release ran on Taito’s SJ System board, the same general-purpose arcade platform the company used across several of its early-1980s titles, rather than on bespoke hardware built solely for this game. The ColecoVision conversion required Coleco’s Super Action Controller accessory to reproduce the arcade’s rotary-style aiming and movement scheme on a home console pad.
Ports & Re-releases
| Platform | Year |
|---|---|
| Arcade | 1982 |
| ColecoVision | 1983 |
| PC-8801 | 1983 |
| Sharp X1 | 1983 |
| Atari 2600 | 1984 |
| MSX | 1984 |
| FM-7 | 1985 |
| Famicom | 1985 |
Beyond its original home ports, Front Line has been preserved through Taito’s own compilation releases, Taito Memories Gekan (2005) and Taito Legends 2 (2006), as well as Virtual Console re-releases on Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U, and modern Arcade Archives re-releases on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. See the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision platform pages for details on those specific ports.
Where to Play Legally Today
- Arcade Archives release of Front Line on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch
- Taito Legends 2 and Taito Memories Gekan compilations on original PS2-era hardware or PC where still available secondhand
- MAME, run only with legally owned ROM dumps from a cabinet or licensed source you own
- Arcade museums and retro arcade venues that keep a working Front Line cabinet on their floor
Collector Value
Original Front Line cabinets are less commonly found on the secondary market than better-known contemporaries, making complete, working upright units a moderately scarce find for collectors focused on early-1980s Taito output. Standalone SJ System PCBs occasionally surface for buyers who already own a compatible cabinet shell. The ColecoVision port carries its own collecting quirk, since a complete set requires the Super Action Controller accessory in addition to the cartridge, which raises the cost of assembling a working home setup compared to a standard cartridge-only game.
FAQs
Who made Front Line?
Front Line was designed by Tetsuya Sasaki and manufactured by Taito.
What year did Front Line come out?
Front Line came out in 1982 as an arcade release from Taito.
What genre is Front Line?
Front Line is a run and gun arcade game, combining vertically scrolling infantry combat with tank-driving stages.
What hardware did Front Line run on?
Front Line’s original arcade release ran on the Taito SJ System, and its ColecoVision port required Coleco’s Super Action Controller accessory.
Has Front Line been ported to home consoles?
Yes, Front Line was ported to the ColecoVision, PC-8801, Sharp X1, Atari 2600, MSX, FM-7, and Famicom between 1983 and 1985.
See also the related Elevator Action and Jungle Hunt arcade pages, both fellow early-1980s Taito action titles, and browse the Golden Age of Arcade Games hub for more classic action titles.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_Line_(video_game)
- https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/arcade-archives-front-line-switch/
Facts on this page last verified 2026-07-15.