06-08-2003, 03:53 AM
Unfortunately, most of my gaming history is from consoles. I didn't get a PC until 1996, and even then it was far enough behind the times that I couldn't play most of the new games. Here are some pre-PSX console titles that I found to be... special. These are all games that I haven't seen discussed on this board before.
If you happen to have the console system required, or have an emulator, I'd recommend looking for these games, as they were very interesting and fun.
Warsong (Sega Genesis)
If you think the idea of heroes with auras that support their expendable troops was introduced in Warcraft III, you are wrong. I first saw this concept in Warsong (Though it may not even have originated there).
Warsong was a turn based strategy game that reminds me a great deal of Warcraft III. You had several heroes that you met throughout your campaign, and each had a unique "command aura" that provided special boosts to troops within their range. Heroes could gain levels, and at a certain level they could go through a class change (much like Shining Force, which I believe drew ideas from Warsong). Each hero had a choice of two paths, twice, resulting in 7 total classes per hero (but you could only see 3 per game). For example, I seem to remember one character starting as some sort of warrior, then being able to choose a path of a knight or a paladin. Then each of those had another two choices later on, with different special abilities.
I don't believe there was a head to head version, I think there was only the single player campaign, which did follow a storyline, and the characters did have some personality.
King's Bounty (Sega Genesis)
This game, when you first play it, seems pretty cheesy. The graphics are a bit silly and the music is a little goofy. An old friend of mine, whenever he'd get nostalgic for Warsong, would forget the name of it, and wind up renting (or buying, once they stopped renting Genesis games) this game. It still was great fun.
About 2 years ago a bunch of my friends were playing Heroes of Might and Magic III. I figured I'd give it a shot, and I kept getting deja vu. The combat system was familiar, and the units were eerily familiar in both their names and functionality. Some of the powerups for the heroes were familiar, and as I continued to play the game I was amazed to feel like I had played this game before, yet it had just been released and I remembered no specifics.
One day it dawned on me: King's Bounty, that silly game we had played so many times, was nearly identical in playstyle. It had 90% of the same units, it had places where you could hire monsters and warriors, and it had a little guy on a horse waving a flag that you moved around when controlling the game. The battlefield functioned exactly the same: a side view of a hex-based field with opposing units starting on opposite sides.
King's Bounty actually was the game that started the Heroes of Might and Magic series, though the HoMM name didn't appear until the next game they released.
If you want to play this game with updated graphics, apparently you can if you get Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the DragonBone Staff for the PS2.
Master of Monsters (Sega Genesis)
Another turn-based strategy game, Master of Monsters could be played in either a single player campaign mode (there were two campaigns) or against other players (I think up to 4).
At the beginning, you got to pick one of several "masters" that could control a different variety of monsters. You would start in a base on a hex-based board, and be able to summon a number of monsters equal to the number of "towers" you possessed. A tower was possessed simply by landing on the hex that represented it, and it would remain yours until someone else landed on it (they would have to kill any creature you had on that hex first, if one was there).
The board was covered with different terrain that different monsters could move across at different rates, depending on their specialities. Most flying characters could move over any terrain at maximum movement rate, while land and water creatures had preferred terrain.
Monsters could gain experience, and would upgrade after a certain amount of it. Most monsters had 3 levels, and at the final level, they could gain up to 255 experience (which was a huge amount), which would increase the damage they dealt.
Overall, the game was very fun.
If you happen to have the console system required, or have an emulator, I'd recommend looking for these games, as they were very interesting and fun.
Warsong (Sega Genesis)
If you think the idea of heroes with auras that support their expendable troops was introduced in Warcraft III, you are wrong. I first saw this concept in Warsong (Though it may not even have originated there).
Warsong was a turn based strategy game that reminds me a great deal of Warcraft III. You had several heroes that you met throughout your campaign, and each had a unique "command aura" that provided special boosts to troops within their range. Heroes could gain levels, and at a certain level they could go through a class change (much like Shining Force, which I believe drew ideas from Warsong). Each hero had a choice of two paths, twice, resulting in 7 total classes per hero (but you could only see 3 per game). For example, I seem to remember one character starting as some sort of warrior, then being able to choose a path of a knight or a paladin. Then each of those had another two choices later on, with different special abilities.
I don't believe there was a head to head version, I think there was only the single player campaign, which did follow a storyline, and the characters did have some personality.
King's Bounty (Sega Genesis)
This game, when you first play it, seems pretty cheesy. The graphics are a bit silly and the music is a little goofy. An old friend of mine, whenever he'd get nostalgic for Warsong, would forget the name of it, and wind up renting (or buying, once they stopped renting Genesis games) this game. It still was great fun.
About 2 years ago a bunch of my friends were playing Heroes of Might and Magic III. I figured I'd give it a shot, and I kept getting deja vu. The combat system was familiar, and the units were eerily familiar in both their names and functionality. Some of the powerups for the heroes were familiar, and as I continued to play the game I was amazed to feel like I had played this game before, yet it had just been released and I remembered no specifics.
One day it dawned on me: King's Bounty, that silly game we had played so many times, was nearly identical in playstyle. It had 90% of the same units, it had places where you could hire monsters and warriors, and it had a little guy on a horse waving a flag that you moved around when controlling the game. The battlefield functioned exactly the same: a side view of a hex-based field with opposing units starting on opposite sides.
King's Bounty actually was the game that started the Heroes of Might and Magic series, though the HoMM name didn't appear until the next game they released.
If you want to play this game with updated graphics, apparently you can if you get Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the DragonBone Staff for the PS2.
Master of Monsters (Sega Genesis)
Another turn-based strategy game, Master of Monsters could be played in either a single player campaign mode (there were two campaigns) or against other players (I think up to 4).
At the beginning, you got to pick one of several "masters" that could control a different variety of monsters. You would start in a base on a hex-based board, and be able to summon a number of monsters equal to the number of "towers" you possessed. A tower was possessed simply by landing on the hex that represented it, and it would remain yours until someone else landed on it (they would have to kill any creature you had on that hex first, if one was there).
The board was covered with different terrain that different monsters could move across at different rates, depending on their specialities. Most flying characters could move over any terrain at maximum movement rate, while land and water creatures had preferred terrain.
Monsters could gain experience, and would upgrade after a certain amount of it. Most monsters had 3 levels, and at the final level, they could gain up to 255 experience (which was a huge amount), which would increase the damage they dealt.
Overall, the game was very fun.