Advance Wars Circa 1991
Sunday, December 18th, 2005
Turn-based tactical combat fans are a “special” sort of gamer. You are the type of person who just loves Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Tactics Ogre, Disgaea, and the impossibly-long PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics (has anyone finished this game?). You can pore over the smallest character stats for hours, carefully planning each of your characters development so that they’re maximized to the point of perfection. You are the hardest of the hardcore tactical gamer, and you know who you are.
I myself used to be one of these gamers, but with less free time and a biggest selection of quality titles these sorts of games don’t quite suck me in like they used to. However of all the turn-based RPSs I have played over the years my absolute favorite is the virtually unknown Warsong for the Sega Genesis. I was always upset that Warsong came and went as I thought it could have made an excellent series if given a chance.
Well, it turns out that Warsong did indeed continue to live a long and prosperous life, just not in the US. Named Lungrisser in Japan it was a massive success and went on to spawn multiple sequels across multiple formats. What made me think of this obscure game? Game import site NTSC-UK recently put up a feature detailing the history of Lungrisser/Warsong. Also make sure to check out Hardcore Gaming 101’s excellent synopsis of the Langrisser/Warsong series.
Definitely check out those articles and if you’re really adventurous give Warsong a try (if you can find it). Of course the years haven’t been kind to this game and most modern games of this genre play better … but I don’t care and I still love this game. Maybe because when it first came out almost fifteen years ago it was one of the only turn-based RPG on the market (the other being the excellent Military Madness for the TurboGrafx-16) so I didn’t really have much of a choice back then to scratch my tactical combat itch. So give Warsong a try and witness the great-grandfather of all turn-based tactical combat games.