The first video game in the series,
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, was released in 1993 for the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan, and two years later in North America. The title was a
real-time strategy role playing game, set in a
medieval fantasy world. The second game in the series,
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, was released in 1995 in Japan. It was a turn-based
tactical role-playing game making use of
isometric graphics, and the title is largely considered to be "exceptionally influential" to the genre. Two subsequent games in the
Ogre Battle series –
Ogre Battle 64 and
Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia – follow the real-time strategy gameplay of the original title in the franchise, while
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis follows the turn-based tactical role-playing gameplay elements of the second game in the series.
The Knight of Lodis, released in 2001, is the last original release in the franchise. In 2010,
Tactics Ogre was remade for the
PlayStation Portable as
Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fortune, but the characters, story and setting are identical to the 1995 release. The creator of the series,
Yasumi Matsuno, directed the remake of the game. Matsuno was also responsible for another highly influential title,
Final Fantasy Tactics, originally released in 1997. Though the title bears no relation to the
Ogre Battle series,
Final Fantasy Tactics is considered by some critics to be a spiritual successor to
Tactics Ogre. As of 2016, the franchise mostly remains active through re-releases of the first two games for the Nintendo's
Virtual Console service in Japan, North America and Europe. Both "Ogre Battle" and "The March of the Black Queen" were titles to
Queen songs from their 1974 album
Queen II. In addition, "Let Us Cling Together" is the subtitle to their song "
Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" from 1976's
A Day at the Races. ==Video games==