Ogre Battle
Ogre Battle | |
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![]() The Ogre Battle logo used in Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber | |
Genre(s) | Tactical role-playing, real-time strategy |
Developer(s) |
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Publisher(s) |
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Creator(s) | Yasumi Matsuno |
Platform(s) | EZweb, Game Boy Advance, iMode, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, PlayStation Portable, Sega Saturn, Super NES |
First release | Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen March 12, 1993 |
Latest release | Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fate November 11, 2010 |
Ogre Battle (オウガバトル, Ōga Batoru), sometimes referred to as Ogre Battle Saga (オウガバトルサーガ), is a series of five tactical role-playing and real-time strategy video games developed by Quest Corporation and is currently owned by Square Enix through Square's acquisition of Quest. There are five original games in the series, and a remake.
Overview[]
The first video game in the series, Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, was released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan, and two years later in North America. The title was a real-time strategy role playing game, set in a medieval fantasy world.[1] The second game in the series, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, was released in 1995 in Japan. It was a turn-based tactical role-playing game making use of isometric graphics, and the title is largely considered to be "exceptionally influential" to the genre.[2][3] Two subsequent games in the Ogre Battle series – Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber and Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia – follow the real-time strategy gameplay of the original title in the franchise, while Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis follows the turn-based tactical role-playing gameplay elements of the second game in the series.
The Knight of Lodis, released in 2001, is the last original release in the franchise. In 2010, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together was remade for the PlayStation Portable as Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fortune, but the characters, story and setting are identical to the 1995 release. The creator of the series, Yasumi Matsuno, directed the remake of the game. Matsuno was also responsible for another highly influential title, Final Fantasy Tactics, originally released in 1997. Though the title bears no relation to the Ogre Battle series, Final Fantasy Tactics is considered by some critics to be a spiritual successor to Tactics Ogre.[4] As of 2016, the franchise mostly remains active through re-releases of the first two games for the Nintendo's Virtual Console service in Japan, North America and Europe.
Interestingly, "Ogre Battle" and "The March of the Black Queen" were both titles to Queen songs, both from their 1974 album Queen II. In addition to this, "Let Us Cling Together" is the subtitle to their song "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" from 1976's A Day at the Races.
Video games[]
Main series[]
Title | Original release date | ||
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Japan |
North America |
PAL region | |
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen | March 12, 1993 (SFC) | May 1995 (SNES) | July 3, 2009 (Wii VC) |
Notes:
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Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together | October 6, 1995 (SFC) | May 1, 1998 (PS) | February 25, 2011 (PSP) |
Notes:
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Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber | July 14, 1999 (N64) | October 7, 2000 (N64) | March 26, 2010 (Wii VC) |
Notes:
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Side stories[]
Title | Original release date | ||
---|---|---|---|
Japan |
North America |
PAL region | |
Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia | June 22, 2000 (NGPC) | N/A | N/A |
Notes:
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Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis | June 21, 2001 (GBA) | May 7, 2002 (GBA) | N/A |
Notes:
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Reception[]
Among critics, the series was acclaimed both in Japan and North America. According to the review aggregator GameRankings, the SNES release of March of the Black Queen has an average aggregate rating of 84%, while the PlayStation port of Let Us Cling Together has an average of 81%.[5][6] Ogre Battle 64 has an average of 86% and The Knight of Lodis 84%.[7] In Japan, gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu scored the Super Famicom releases of March of the Black Queen and Let Us Cling Together 33/40 and 34/40, respectively.[8][9] The magazine also provided high scores for Ogre Battle 64 (33/40) and The Knight of Lodis (34/40), while Prince of Zenobia received a slightly lower score, 28/40.[10][11] The PSP remake of Let Us Cling Together is the most critically acclaimed release in the series, with an average of 88% at GameRankings and a score of 36/40 from Weekly Famitsu.[12][13][14]
Sales[]
The series has sold over 2 million copies worldwide, placing it among the best-selling Japanese role-playing game franchises.
Sales | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Title | Year | Console | Japan | USA | Total | Ref. | |
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen | 1993 | SNES | 400,000 | 400,000 | [15] | ||
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together | 1995 | SFC | 515,311 | N/A | 515,311 | [16] | |
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen - Limited Edition | 1996 | PS | 59,817 | 47,655 | 107,472 | [16][17] | |
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen | 1996 | SS | 48,449 | N/A | 48,449 | [16] | |
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together | 1996 | SS | 78,993 | N/A | 78,993 | [18] | |
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together | 1997 | PS | 13,963 | 16,940 | 30,903 | [16][17] | |
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber | 1999 | N64 | 200,770 | 76,529 | 277,299 | [19][20][16] | |
Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia | 2000 | NGPC | 14,283 | N/A | 14,283 | [21] | |
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis | 2001 | GBA | 282,838 | 100,390 | 383,228 | [22][23][16] | |
Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fortune | 2010 | PSP | 279,207 | Unknown | 279,207 | [16] | |
Total sales: 2,135,145 |
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Hardcore Gaming 101: Ogre Battle
- ^ Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together – Staff Review
- ^ "The 10 Classic Strategy RPGs You Should Check Out". Archived from the original on 2016-11-12. Retrieved 2016-11-11.
- ^ Top 10 Spiritual Successor Video Games
- ^ "Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen for Super Nintendo". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
- ^ "Tactics Ogre for PlayStation". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2014-10-17. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
- ^ "Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis for Game Boy Advance". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
- ^ Ne.jp Famitsu 1993 review scores (in Japanese), accessed on March 17, 2018
- ^ Ne.jp, accessed on February 23, 2019
- ^ "Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ "ファミ通のクロスレビュー Famitsu no Cross Review (in Japanese)". Retrieved March 17, 2018.
- ^ Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together Archived 2011-02-16 at the Wayback Machine, GameRankings, accessed 2011-02-18
- ^ 1up (archived from the original) November 3, 2010, accessed on March 17, 2018
- ^ Geimin.net (archived from the original, in Japanese) October 24, 2016, accessed on March 17, 2018
- ^ Shmuplations, accessed on February 23, 2019
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Famitsu sales (in Italian and English), accessed on March 1, 2019
- ^ Jump up to: a b Gaijin Woks, accessed on February 27, 2019
- ^ Sega Saturn Magazine, issue 159, page 40 (in Japanese), accessed on February 27, 2018
- ^ Hokora N64, accessed on February 23, 2019
- ^ The Gaming Intelligence Agency, accessed on February 20, 2019
- ^ Classic Gaming, accessed on February 20, 2019
- ^ Hokora GBA, accessed on February 20, 2019
- ^ Supernova GBA (in Japanese), accessed on February 23, 2019
- Ogre Battle
- Square Enix franchises
- Video game franchises introduced in 1993
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