Tactical role-playing games, also known as strategy role-playing games and in Japan as simulation RPGs, are a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical strategy video games. The formats of tactical RPGs are much like traditional tabletop role-playing games and strategy games in appearance, pacing, and rule structure. Likewise, early tabletop role-playing games are descended from skirmish wargames such as Chainmail, which were primarily concerned with combat.
Langrisser is a fantasy tactical role-playing video game series created by Masaya Games. The main development team is Career Soft, first as Team Career within Masaya Games for the first three games and then as an independent studio for Langrisser IV and V. The series has a fantasy-Germanic setting, but draws on religious concepts like ditheism and sword worship for historical context. The series was originally released for Sega platforms during the 1990s, with the first two installments originally made for the Mega Drive, followed by third through fifth installments for the Sega Saturn. Ports and remakes were also made for other platforms such as PC Engine, Super Famicom, PC-FX and PlayStation during the same period.
Sega Ages is a series of video game ports, remakes, and compilations published by Sega. It consists of Sega arcade games and home console games, typically those for the Sega Genesis and Master System. The series was launched on the Sega Saturn in 1996. Entries were published for the PlayStation 2 as Sega Ages 2500, a reference to its bargain ¥2500 price point. The series later came to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as Sega Ages Online, and finally to the Nintendo Switch as simply Sega Ages. The name Sega Ages is a palindrome, with "Ages" being "Sega" backwards — this was previously used by Sega in European marketing strategies from the late 1980s to early 1990s.
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, known as Monster World II in Japan, is a platforming action-adventure video game developed by Westone as part of Sega's Wonder Boy series. It was published by Sega and released for the Master System in 1989 and for the Game Gear in 1992 as Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. It was ported by Hudson Soft and released in 1991 for the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine under the name Dragon's Curse. It was also ported in 1993 by Brazilian company Tec Toy under the title Turma da Mônica em o Resgate, with the game retooled to include characters from Brazilian comic book series Monica's Gang. A remake developed by Lizardcube and published by DotEmu, titled Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, was released in April 2017.
Super Hydlide is an action role-playing game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. It was originally released in 1987 in Japan only under the title Hydlide 3: The Space Memories for the MSX, MSX2, and PC-8801mkII SR. It's the third game in the Hydlide series. Ports were also released for the X1, Famicom, X68000, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch. The game was developed by Hydlide series veterans T&E Soft and released worldwide on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive on October 6, 1989, in Japan, early 1990 in the United States, and 1991 in Europe. This remake evidences substantial graphical upgrades to the original Hydlide 3, though the gameplay remains largely identical. Before its release, it was called Hollo Fighter in some Sega advertising material and was one of the first third party published titles to be released in the U.S, the other being Air Diver.
Battle Arena Toshinden 2, or Toshinden 2 (闘神伝2) in Japan, is a 1995 fighting video game co-produced by Tamsoft and Takara. Unlike the original Battle Arena Toshinden which was only for home systems, this sequel was originally a coin-operated arcade game for the Sony ZN-1 hardware, released in November 1995 and distributed by Capcom before its port to PlayStation shortly afterwards. It was also ported to PC.
The Wonder Boy series, also known as the Monster World series, is a franchise of video games published by Sega and developed by Westone Bit Entertainment. Beginning with the original Wonder Boy arcade game released in April 21, 1986, the game has spawned several sequels released for arcade, Master System, and Sega Genesis, as well as three compilation titles and three remakes by other developers. Several titles have been ported to other consoles by different publishers under different names, most notably Hudson Soft's Adventure Island adaptation of the original game. The main character "Wonder Boy" was named Book by the developer and Tom-Tom by Sega for overseas editions.
Monster World IV is an action-adventure platform game developed by Westone and released in Japan by Sega for the Mega Drive in April 1994. The game title is slightly confusing: It is the sixth game in the Wonder Boy series and the fourth game in the Monster World subseries. It was later released for the PlayStation 2 on March 8, 2007, as part of the Sega Ages 2500 series under the name Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 29: Monster World Complete Collection. It was released on the Wii's Virtual Console service in Japan on January 15, 2008. An English-language version was released in North America and Europe for Virtual Console on May 10, 2012, with a release on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network to come on May 22, 2012. Monster World IV was the last Wonder Boy game to both be published by Sega and developed by Westone Bit Entertainment. A remake by Artdink, titled Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, was released in May 2021.
A tile-based video game, or grid-based video game, is a type of video game where the playing area consists of small square graphic images referred to as tiles laid out in a grid. That the screen is made of such tiles is a technical distinction, and may not be obvious to people playing the game. The complete set of tiles available for use in a playing area is called a tileset. Tile-based games usually simulate a top-down, side view, or 2.5D view of the playing area, and are almost always two-dimensional.
Daisenryaku is a series of war strategy video games by SystemSoft and SystemSoft Alpha in Japan. The series debuted in Japan in 1985 with Gendai Daisenryaku exclusively for the NEC PC-98.
Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II is a 1992 role-playing video game by Nihon Falcom. It is part of the Dragon Slayer series and the second entry in The Legend of Heroes subseries. The game first released for the NEC PC-8801 before being ported to the NEC PC-9801, FM Towns, PC Engine, Mega Drive, Super Famicom and MS-DOS.
SystemSoft Alpha Corporation is a Japanese software development company.
Galaxy Force is a rail shooter video game developed and released by Sega for arcades in 1988. The player assumes control of a starship named the TRY-Z, as it must prevent the Fourth Empire from taking over the entire galaxy. Gameplay involves shooting down enemies using either a laser shot or a limited supply of heat-seeking missiles, all while avoiding collision with projectiles or obstacles and making sure the ship's energy meter doesn't fully deplete. It ran on the Sega Y Board arcade system, and was released with a motion simulator cockpit arcade cabinet version like previous Sega Super Scaler games.
Lords of Thunder is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Red Company and published in 1993 by Turbo Technologies and Hudson Soft for the TurboDuo. It is the unofficial follow-up to Gate of Thunder. The player controls the knight Landis, donning the armor of his ancestor Drak on a confrontation against Zaggart of Garuda Empire, who resurrected the evil god Deoric, and his six dark generals across the land of Mistral.
Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner is a turn-based role-playing video game developed by Gaia and published by Sony Computer Entertainment and Atlus for the PlayStation Portable console. The game was released in February 2006 in Japan and in February 2007 in North America.
Kamen Rider: Climax is a Bandai Namco and Eighting video game series featuring the protagonists in the Kamen Rider Series.
Alex Kidd is a platform video game series developed by Sega, and starring the titular Alex Kidd.
