''Military Madness'' is a 1989
turn-based strategy
Strategy video game is a major video game genre that focuses on analyzing and strategizing over direct quick reaction in order to secure success.
Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, the strategy genre is most commo ...
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
originally developed and published by
Hudson Soft
was a Japanese video game company known for releasing numerous titles across video game consoles, home computers, and mobile phones. Headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo, it also maintained an office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. F ...
in Japan and
NEC
is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...
in North America for the
TurboGrafx-16
The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation of video game con ...
. It is the first entry in the ''
Nectaris'' series. Set in the year 2089, players take command of the Allied-Union forces in a desperate offense against the Axis-Xenon Empire army on the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
before they launch the S.A.M. (Supreme Atomic Missile) weapon to obliterate
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
. Its gameplay consists of moving units into positions to confront enemies in turn-based encounters determined by multiple factors, capturing factories to produce resources and repair units in order to occupy the enemy prison camp or destroy all enemy forces.
''Military Madness'' was later
ported
In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...
to other
platform
Platform may refer to:
Arts
* Platform, an arts centre at The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow
* ''Platform'' (1993 film), a 1993 Bollywood action film
* ''Platform'' (2000 film), a 2000 film by Jia Zhangke
* '' The Platform'' (2019 film)
* Pla ...
s, each one featuring several changes and additions compared to the original TurboGrafx-16 version, in addition of re-releases through download services for other systems, among other ways to play it. The game garnered positive reception from critics, some of which praised the audiovisual presentation and favourably compared its gameplay with other titles in the same genre such as ''
Desert Commander
''Desert Commander'' is a 1988 turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Kemco in Japan and North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is themed after the North African theatre of World War II in the 1940s, where pla ...
'' and ''
Advance Wars
''Advance Wars'' is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the seventh title in the Wars (series), ''Wars'' series of video games, and the first in the ''Advanc ...
'' but others criticized several aspects, while other versions were also met with similarly positive reception from reviewers as well. It was also cited as a key influence on ''
Dune II
''Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty'' (titled ''Dune II: Battle for Arrakis'' in Europe and ''Dune: The Battle for Arrakis'' in North America for the Mega Drive/Genesis port, respectively) is a 1992 real-time strategy game developed by Westwoo ...
''. A sequel, ''Neo Nectaris'', was released in 1994 for the
PC Engine Super CD-ROM²
The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched in ...
add-on.
Gameplay
''Military Madness'' is a
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
-themed turn-based strategy game where players assume command of the Allied-Union across sixteen increasingly difficult maps that take place at the Moon in 2089, each one giving a pre-determined set number of units to use, on a desperate offense against the Axis-Xenon Empire before they launch their doomsday weapon S.A.M. (Supreme Atomic Missile) to obliterate Earth.
[''Military Madness'' manual (TurboGrafx-16, US)] Available modes of play include the main single-player campaign that carries the main storyline, a tutorial mode dubbed "Manual" to learn about the game's overall rules and a two-player versus mode.
A password system used to keep progress of the single-player campaign.
After completing the first basic set of maps, the game starts again but at a more difficult advanced set of 16 maps once the last basic map is cleared.
The main gameplay objective is to either occupy the enemy prison camp to free prisoners or destroy all opposing forces on the playfield and the player that does so first wins.
Players command their units on a
hex map
A hex map, hex board, or hex grid is a game board design commonly used in simulation games of all scales, including wargames, role-playing games, and strategy games in both board games and video games. A hex map is subdivided into a hexagonal ...
, using a command box function, and each unit have different mobility range that varies according to their type except aircraft units in addition of possessing different shooting range.
Terrain plays an important role during battle sequences, as it can affect the outcome of encounters in terms of terrestrial unit's mobility, attack and defense.
Each unit also gains experience when involved in combat, becoming stronger with every encounter, while offensive and defensive capabilities are increased if friendly units are near to another friendly unit.
Units cannot be produced, but the Allied-Union forces can capture enemy units if they are in factories, or find unsecured factories and gain units from them. Units can also be repaired by returning them to factories under Allied-Union control, however a stored unit cannot be moved until the current turn ends.
Transport units are also available to carry terrestrial units across the map.
Selecting the "End" command results with players finishing their current turn.
A unique gameplay feature is the "Zone of Control" system;
players can surround an enemy unit by forming a circle that decreases both its offensive and defensive capabilities, however players can move to one hex position after a unit was surrounded by enemy units.
Synopsis
In the twenty-first century, humans made a foray into the Moon but great powers were in fierce conflict over the scarce lunar resources and the Axis-Xenon Empire insisted on their occupation. On 6 April 2089, the Axis-Xenon Empire sent their army to the Moon to occupy almost the entire location and all lunar factories fell into the hands of the Axis-Xenon Empire, mass-producing weapons one after another. Those who disobeyed were captured and placed into prison camps around the Moon, while the Axis-Xenon Empire is preparing to launch the doomsday weapon S.A.M. (Supreme Atomic Missile) to attack Earth. Those who knew the plan, the Allied-Union forces, escaped from their captivity and headed towards the launch base of S.A.M. to thwart the ambitions of the Axis-Xenon Empire.
Release
''Military Madness'' was first released for the TurboGrafx-16 in Japan by Hudson Soft on 9 February 1989 under the name ''Nectaris'' and later in North America by NEC on 15 February 1990.
The game was re-released for
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
's
Virtual Console
The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...
worldwide in December 2006, also marking its first appearance in
PAL region
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25& ...
s.
The title was also recently included as part of the
TurboGrafx-16 Mini
The TurboGrafx-16 Mini, also known as the in Japan and PC Engine CoreGrafx Mini in Europe, is a Dedicated console, dedicated home video game console modeled on NEC's TurboGrafx-16, released in 2020. It is developed by Konami, who owns the prope ...
across every regional variant in 2020.
''Military Madness'' was first ported under its Japanese name ''Nectaris'' by
SystemSoft
, formely known as SystemSoft Alpha Corporation, is a Japanese software development company.
Formerly just "SystemSoft", they have a long series of mainly military strategic simulation games (generally hex-based) popular in the Japan market. ...
in Japan to the
PC-9801
The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or simply , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit Personal computer, personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2003. While based on Intel processors, it uses an in-house architecture making it inc ...
on 17 September 1993 and later to the
X68000
The is a home computer created by Sharp Corporation. It was first released in 1987 and sold only in Japan.
The initial model has a 10 Megahertz, MHz Motorola 68000 Central processing unit, CPU, 1 Megabytes, MB of Random Access Memory, ...
on 25 September of the same year.
In 1995, the game was ported to
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...
by
Sunflowers
''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising around 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to ...
and published by Hudson Soft in Europe under its original ''Nectaris'' name, featuring new units not found in the original TurboGrafx-16 release.
The title later received a
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...
conversion as part of the CD-appendix included with the August–September 1997 issue of Japanese magazine ''LOGiN'' and was later distributed by Hudson at their official website as
freeware
Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...
, featuring a unit placement editor unique to this port.
A
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was the second operating system in the 9x line, as the successor to Windows 95. It was Software ...
version was released in 1999 as well.
An updated version for
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
was developed by
Matrix Software
, commonly referred to as Matrix Software, is a Japanese video game developer located in Tokyo. Founded in July 1994 by former members of Climax Entertainment and Telenet Japan, the company has since created games for a number of systems begin ...
and published by Hudson in Japan on 26 February 1998 and later in North America by
Jaleco
was a corporate brand name that was used by two previously connected video game developers and publishers based in Japan. The original Jaleco company was founded in 1974 as Japan Leisure Company, founded by Yoshiaki Kanazawa, before being renamed ...
under the name ''Nectaris: Military Madness'' on 22 January 1999, featuring new maps and battle sequences rendered in 3D.
The PlayStation version was later re-released by
Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
for
PlayStation Network
PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...
in Japan on 14 May 2008. A mobile version for
BREW
Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW, also known as Brew MP or Qualcomm BREW) is an obsolete application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile phones, featuring third-party a ...
was developed by Flying Tiger Development and published by Hudson on April 19, 2005.
An
Android
Android most commonly refers to:
*Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google
* Android TV, a operating system developed ...
version was also released on 12 May 2009, featuring a new interface for touch controls and redrawn graphics.
Reception
''Military Madness'' received positive reception from critics since its release on the TurboGrafx-16,
selling 200,000 copies in Japan,
but did not sell well in North America due to the platform's failure to break into the market led by
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
and
Sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
.
''
Aktueller Software Markt
''Aktueller Software Markt'' (literally ''Current Software Market''), commonly known by its acronym, ''ASM'', was a German multi-platform Video game journalism, video game magazine that was published by Tronic-Verlag from 1986 until 1995. It was ...
''s Ottfried Schmidt praised the visuals and sound but criticized the music for being short in length.
Michael Hengst of ''Power Play'' commended the game for its guidance to players, graphics and atmospheric music while criticizing the lack of additional maps to play but nevertheless recommended it to strategy enthusiasts.
''
Electronic Gaming Monthly
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
History
The magazine was fou ...
''s four reviewers also commended the game positively for its moon setting and compared it favourably to ''Desert Commander''.
Ray of ''Play Time'' noted its complexity with simplistic operation and understandable ruleset, recommending the title to strategy fanatics.
Tetsuya Inamoto of Japanese website ''Game Watch'' wrote that the rules were easy to understand for players despite being a full-scale strategic simulation.
''Military Madness'' garnered a "Best War Game" award and ''
Video Games & Computer Entertainment
''VideoGames & Computer Entertainment'' (abbreviated as ''VG&CE'') was an American magazine dedicated to covering video games on computers, Video game console, home consoles and Arcade game, arcades. It was published by Larry Flynt Publication ...
s "1990 Best Military-Strategy Game" award.
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' editors ranked it as the 48th best console video game of all time in 1997, describing it as "both easy to learn and incredibly rich in gameplay complexity", noting how the opening tutorial effectively teaches players the basics and the later levels introduce new mechanics and challenges at a manageable pace.
Hiroaki Kageyama of ''Oh!X'' reviewed the X68000 conversion titled ''Nectaris'', feeling disappointed for the visuals due to not making use of the X68000's graphic capabilities, while criticizing game's the overall strategies.
However, the X68000 version proved popular among the X68000 userbase in Japan.
The MS-DOS conversion, also titled ''Nectaris'', was met with positive reception from critics as well. Manfred Duy of ''
PC Joker
''PC Joker'' was the first German-language video gaming magazine for IBM PC-compatible computers. It was published by Joker-Verlag alongside Amiga Joker.
References
Computer magazines published in Germany
Video game magazines published in G ...
'' criticized both visuals and sound for being a straightforward conversion to DOS but commended the gameplay for being timeless.
Likewise, ''
PC Games
''PC Games'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine published by the Computec Media GmbH in Germany.
History
''PC Games'' was founded in 1992 and included a 3½-in floppy disk, which was changed to a CD-ROM in 1995. By 1999 it became the ...
''s Lars Geiger criticized the graphics and sound, remarking that the maps were not complex as those in ''Battle Isle 2'' but noted the game being fun.
''
PC Player''s Jörg Langer remarked that the title was interesting from a "historical" and experience the "forefather of today's hex field tactical games up close", regarding it to be fun due to the multiple units, number of maps and the simple but playful concept but Langer noted it could not compete with more modern games in the same genre due to being outdated.
''Power Play''s Ingo Horn also criticized the graphics and sound as well but stated that strategists would not find a game as deep as ''Nectaris'' for DOS.
The PlayStation iteration was also well received by critics.
''
AllGame
RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel.
Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...
''s Joe Ottoson praised the map and vehicle designs, faithful rendition of the original HuCard music, responsive controls and replay value, stating that "''Nectaris'' holds up well despite the age of the game".
''
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' commended Hudson Soft for revamping the original TurboGrafx-16 game from a visual perspective, the addition of construction mode and two-player action, noting that the title's strength lies within its simplicity and complexity, regarding it to be one of the best strategy games on PlayStation.
''
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
''s Peter Bartholow regarded it as a solid title, commending its two-player component and graphical improvement to the maps but remarked that the polygonal battles were dated for the system visual-wise, as well as the music.
Likewise, the mobile BREW version also garnered positive attention from reviewers.
''Military Madness'' was also met with equally positive reception from reviewers since its re-release on the Wii's Virtual Console. ''
Nintendo Life
Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...
''s Damien McFerran remarked that although the gameplay is not for everyone, he regarded it as one of the premier games of its type alongside ''
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'' a ...
'' and ''
Shining Force
''Shining Force'' is a 1992 turn-based tactical role-playing game for the Sega Genesis console. It is the second entry of the '' Shining'' series of video games, following '' Shining in the Darkness''. While primarily a traditional fantasy-them ...
''.
''
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network.
In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
''s Kristan Reed noted similarities with ''Advance Wars'' titles but nevertheless regarded it as a solid effort that justifies its place on the Virtual Console for being playable and well designed.
Likewise, ''IGN''s Lucas M. Thomas also noted similarities with ''Advance Wars'' but said that "''Military Madness'' is a lot of fun and certainly worth a look if you're a fan of turn-based, grid-based, moon-based strategy".
''GameSpot''s Frank Provo claimed the title was ahead of its time, as it presented similarly complex turn-based battles as ''Advance Wars''.
Legacy
''Military Madness'' was adapted to a manga titled ''The Shape of Happiness'', published in the Famitsu Comix collection from March 1989, drawn by Tamakichi Sakura. A game with similar gameplay mechanics titled ''Earth Light'' was released for the
Super Famicom
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
in 1992, coded by the same programmer who worked on ''Military Madness''. A sequel titled ''Neo Nectaris'' was released in 1994 for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² and later re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console, taking place ten years after the events of the first game.
In 1998, a portable entry titled ''Nectaris GB'' was also released for the
Game Boy
The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...
and published by Hudson Soft in Japan. A
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...
, ''
Military Madness: Nectaris'', was released for
WiiWare
WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...
,
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...
and PlayStation Network in 2010.
An
iOS
Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
version, ''Military Madness: Neo Nectaris'', was also released in February 2010. The game was cited as one of the key influences on the seminal 1992 real-time strategy game ''Dune II''.
''Neo Nectaris''
In 1994 Hudson Soft released a sequel/remake of Nectaris for the PC-Engine Super System CD² called ''Neo Nectaris''. Neo Nectaris covers the events of the first game but then escalates to Mars, featuring new enemies known as Bioheiki as well as several other changes. It was never released in North America due to the discontinuation of the TurboGrafx-16 line in the region.
There is an English port of the game for iOS from 2010, but the game's AI does not work properly.
Notes
References
External links
''Military Madness''at
MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...
''Nectaris (DOS)''at
MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...
''Nectaris: Military Madness''at
MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Military Madness
1989 video games
Android (operating system) games
DOS games
Flying Tiger Entertainment games
Freeware games
Hudson Soft games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
NEC PC-9801 games
PlayStation (console) games
PlayStation Network games
SystemSoft Alpha games
TurboGrafx-16 games
Turn-based strategy video games
Video games developed in Japan
Video games scored by Jun Chikuma
Virtual Console games
Windows games
X68000 games