Fire Emblem may well have been one of the first, and most famous, tactical RPGs, despite the fact there would be over a decade between the series Japanese and international releases. However, for those of us in the West who fancied overhead wargaming in a fantasy setting, you could do worse than check out the just as good (and slightly more overlooked) Shining Force.
Debuting on the Mega Drive/Genesis, the series was created by first-party studio Sonic! Software Planning (who is often credited as Team Sonic – not at all confusing for Sonic Team), a company which later split from Sega and rebranded as Camelot. Yep, that’s right; the same studio behind the Golden Sun series.
Back when my knowledge of role-playing games was extremely limited and I was only playing because of the draw I felt to elves, centaur knights, and other fantasy tropes, Shining Force was essentially my introduction to the RPG genre – and to the idea of games being much longer form than the quick arcade thrills of Sonic or Streets of Rage that I was used to. Safe to say, though, after renting it from a local video store, it quickly left an impression on me.
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