''Master of Monsters'' is a

turn-based strategy game A turn-based strategy (TBS) game is a strategy game (usually some type of wargame, especially a strategic-level wargame) where players take turns when playing. This is distinguished from real-time strategy (RTS), in which all players play sim ...

developed by SystemSoft for the MSX and

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

PC8801 The , commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan. The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the three major Japane ...

. It was ported to a variety of consoles and PCs including the

PC Engine CD The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, though ...

, NEC PC9801, and

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan a ...

. While it never had the same success as its SystemSoft stablemate Daisenryaku, the game garnered a loyal following. Its success in the North American market on the Sega Genesis proved sufficient for a sequel on the Sega Saturn, and an

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

art-style enhanced

Sony PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divi ...

version titled ''Disciples of Gaia'' with a

Japanese role-playing game While the early history and distinctive traits of role-playing video games (RPGs) in East Asia come from Japan, many have also been developed in South Korea and in China. Japanese role-playing games Japanese computer role-playing games O ...

feel. ''Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia'' was released in 1998.

Gameplay

Gameplay engages players by permitting them to summon and move monsters around a board in an effort to capture towers and to eventually defeat the opponents (which are controlled either by other humans or by the computer program). Moves are based on a hexagonal board structure, such that every tile on the board is adjacent to six other tiles. Other notable features were the large variety of monsters, upgrading ("leveling up") of veteran units and control of a "Master" character who, if killed, can end the game for that player. The focus of the game is strategic, despite the fantasy-type characters that might imply an RPG element. Other than the existence of the Master character and magic in the game, the gameplay is very similar to System Soft's more hardcore modern warfare strategic wargame series '' Daisenryaku'', with the exception that some versions of the ''Master of Monsters'' (such as ''Master of Monsters – Final'') series allow equippable items, weapons and armor.

Comparisons

The later '' Lords of Chaos'' by

Julian Gollop Julian Gollop is a British computer game designer and producer specialising in strategy games, who has founded and led Mythos Games, Codo Technologies and Snapshot Games. He is known best as the "man who gave birth to the '' X-COM'' franchise ...

Mythos Games Mythos Games was a British video game developer company founded by Julian Gollop with his brother Nick in 1988 as Target Games. It is best known for its 1994 strategy game '' X-COM: UFO Defense''. Following the closing of Mythos Games in 2001, Go ...

shares many of the same elements of summoning and tactics, along with the earlier title Chaos from 1985. David White, creator of the open-source

turn-based strategy A turn-based strategy (TBS) game is a strategy game (usually some type of wargame, especially a strategic-level wargame) where players take turns when playing. This is distinguished from real-time strategy (RTS), in which all players play si ...

game ''

The Battle for Wesnoth ''The Battle for Wesnoth'' is a free and open-source turn-based strategy video game with a high fantasy setting, designed by Australian-American developer David White and first released in June 2003. In ''Wesnoth'', the player attempts to build ...

'', cited ''Master of Monsters'' as an inspiration. ''Master of Monsters'' was also compared to later games such as the role-playing video game series '' Pokémon'' (which also revolves around commanding monsters) and the

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...

game '' StarCraft''.

Updates

System Soft Alpha returned the game to its strategy-based roots, and the two entries in the ''Master of Monsters'' series as originally popularized on the NEC 9801 PC were updated by System Soft Alpha with new graphics and

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pl ...

features. Two more sequels were made for Japanese Windows. Released on Japanese language Windows-based systems, the remakes include ''マスターオブモンスターズIII Special Edition'', ''マスターオブモンスターズ4 ～光と闇の争覇～'', ''Master of Monsters Value Edition'' (the original game, updated and with expansion packs added in), and ''真・マスターオブモンスターズ Final''. A spin-off of the game targeted towards the younger audience was titled ''Masumon Kids''. A mobile version of the game was released in Japan.

References

External links

*{{moby game, id=/master-of-monsters 1988 video games Video games about dragons Fantasy video games Microcabin games MSX2 games NEC PC-8801 games NEC PC-9801 games PlayStation (console) games Sega Genesis games Sega Saturn games Sharp X1 games Single-player video games TurboGrafx-16 games Turn-based strategy video games Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Video games scored by Hayato Matsuo Windows games SystemSoft Alpha games