Super Famicom version The Super Famicom version is similar to the Sega Mega Drive version, except there are more themes in addition to the
medieval Europe theme. There is a futuristic theme with robots, a fast food theme with French fries and soft drinks attacking
health food, a
Three Kingdoms era theme, and a
fairy-tale theme. The game is automatically paused until someone presses the
Start button, so there is unlimited time for making alliances in the Super Famicom version—until the start button is pressed. This mode gives the player the advantage unlike the Sega Mega Drive version because the player may take time to choose a strategically advantageous ally. The Super Famicom version of
Lord Monarch was one of the few games to support the
Super Famicom mouse. A later version of the game was broadcast exclusively for Japanese markets via the Super Famicom's Satellaview subunit under the name
BS Lord Monarch.
Mega Drive version The object is to destroy all the camps and
peasants of all the player's rival kingdoms under a strict time limit. Players can play in either campaign (which consists of helping a king eradicate a rebel force) or battle mode (where players take on three rival kingdoms simultaneously while expanding their own nations). In battle mode the player can choose from a large array of different art styles, such as playing as a foreign Japanese army, animals trying to take over a forest, monsters in hell or even as a fast food business. These modes do not effect the gameplay in any way however each mode has its own unique levels. The simplistic
diplomacy system can never be used in a match after five minutes in the game, making it useful only for delaying war with a neighboring kingdom. Human units as well as
orcs and demons are used for peasants, soldiers, and knights. Also, a leader can be a warrior, a
magician, or a
shaman. The player has a leader
avatar that must liberate hanged men from the gallows to be his assistant, collect
treasure chests from the countryside in order to gain a mass influx of gold, and force nearby cities to pay taxes. This turns the city's banners into the player's colors and at a random time, a
taxman appears and brings gold pieces to the player's castle to help with the war effort. Taxes must be controlled or else the player will go bankrupt and lose the game. Even the three computer controlled opponents must control their tax rates. There is a
medieval environment to the game in all levels of the game. ==Release==