Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen - SNES

When I first played this game, it was the only game of it's type in 1997, and well, twelve years later, I still feel like it's the only game of it's type. Ogre Battle is a RPG game that acts more like a strategy game. You control parties instead of individual characters and you send them all out from your base to defeat the enemy parties. Your characters have HP, MP, levels, and character class. Naturally there are special characters that have unique abilities. The "new" concept of the game is that you don't actually control your parties in battle, you have to learn their tendencies and just hope that the outcome goes in your favor. It was truly novelle at the time; I consider it like Final Fantasy 12 of today. It also has a great soundtrack with memorable tunes perfect for battle. The way the game is set up and the rich story of how you're the last bastion of light rebelling a giant empire (cliche nowadays?) made it an awesome game for 1997. 

I spent that summer in the 11th grade playing it for the first time. I got through it begrudgingly at snails pace and missed out a LOT of characters. It was also the first game that had good, evil, and neutral meters that reflected your actions in battle. Using your sense of morality, you can dominate over the weak or using weak characters to overcome adversity; creating a good alignment for your campaign. It had like 13 endings and I played it four times. The fourth time, with the help of a FAQ, I finally got it right, the uber ending.

Why did I bring this back up? Because I read this morning from 1up.com that this game is coming back, yes to the Wii as a Wiiware for like $8.00. Great deal for a game that is limited to 25,000 copies in North America. Ebay was selling this for at least $50.00, thankfully most of these games belonged to RPG lovers in the first place so they were kept in good condition. Ogre Battle, celebrated as an "A+" game, has finally made it's way back to our homes. 

I've included a video I found on youtube that shows how some of the battles go. I say don't go watch the ending videos, it spoils the game... even though it's 12 years old. 

Completion: Collected all characters and received rarest ending.

First Run: 35 hrs

2nd Run: 30 hrs

3rd Run: 60 hrs

4th Run: 80 hrs 

Hours Spent: approx. 205 hrs