Lord Monarch - Tokoton Sentou Densetsu (Mega Drive)

 I first tried this game out a few years ago, when the translation patch first got released, and I immediately bounced off of it. It seemed to be a boring, passive game that mostly played itself, with little input or agency for the player. I recently gave it another chance, though, ans this time, I don't know what's different, but it really clicked with me, and got me hooked!

 

So, it's a real time strategy game for the Mega Drive (a cohort which is stronger than you might think, also including games like Herzog Zwei and Dune II, which is basically the start of what people think of as real time strategy games), and since it's from a time befroe the genre was really codified, it's pretty unique one. You mostly don't have to take charge of building or directly controlling units. They'll just kind of do that themselves. Your soldiers will build forts and roads, and the forts will generate more soldiers.

 

Your input, especially in the ealry stages is pretty much managing the tax rate in real time, and even there, there's a marker advising you on where the best place to put it is. Building forts (and bridges, and other projects) takes money, and your income is determined by some secret algorithm that takes into account the number of forts you have and how high the current tax rate is. However, you need soldiers to do your building and fighting, and their generation is controlled by a similar algorithm that takes into account the number of forts and how low the current tax rate is. 

 

For the first few stages, you'll probably be able to get by pretty easily by just adjusting the tax rate how the game tells you to. Before long, though, you'll have to start telling soldiers to do things like building bridges and fences, sealing up monster-spawning caves, and even directing the directions in which they expand your territory, rather than just letting them spreadout wherever's closest. Another thing you'll start finding use in is ignoring the tax guide and setting it to maximum or minimum for short bursts when you feel like you need a quick injection of either resource.

 

Something I haven't yet mentioned that deserves a mention is how the game looks. Lord Monarch was originally released on Japanese microcomputers, and has been ported to a bunch of different systems. I think the Mega Drive port might be the best looking of them! The graphics ingame are small but detailed, being both full of character as well as clear and readable. Out of actual gameplay, there's an overworld map and a bunch of cutscenes, both of which look amazing. The map is full of really nice isometric graphics, while the cutscenes are made up of big, beautiful pieces of still pixel art. And in all cases, the colours are incredibly bright and bold. It doesn't make use of any special trickery like some Mega Drive games have, but it's still one of the best-looking games on the system.

 

Lord Monarch is a really great game! It's a shame that it never got officially translated at the time of its release, but luckily, yet again, twenty-first century fans have stepped in to fic the mistakes of twentieth century corporations. It's a little odd, and very different to most other strategy games, but it's definitely worth giving it a try. Or even two tries, as my story attests.