Phantom Brave ( ファントム・ブレイブ , Fantomu Bureibu ) is a tactical role-playing game for the PlayStation 2 video game console , developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software . It was released on January 22, 2004 in Japan, on August 31, 2004 in North America and on February 4, 2005 in Europe. The North American release was the first game published by NIS America. The game shipped in two "editions", Normal and Special. The Special edition came with a free soundtrack and shortened instruction manual.
196-573: An expanded remake for the Wii console, titled Phantom Brave: We Meet Again , was released on March 12, 2009 in Japan. A North American release by NIS America was originally set for June, but was delayed to August 14 to include dual audio and as a result of manufacturing issues. In addition to the Wii game disc, NIS America included a DVD which contains official artwork and both animated and non-animated sprites. The game
392-528: A Bluetooth antenna that communicates with its controllers. A USB-based LAN adapter can connect the Wii to a wired Ethernet network. The Wii reads games from an optical media drive located in the front of the device. The drive is capable of reading Nintendo's proprietary discs, the 12 cm Wii discs and 8 cm GameCube discs , but cannot read other common optical media—namely, DVD-Video , DVD-Audio or compact discs . Although Nintendo had planned on incorporating this feature into later revisions of
588-854: A composite A/V cable with RCA connectors , and in appropriate regions such as in Europe, a SCART adapter was also included. A copy of the game Wii Sports was included in most regional bundles. Although Nintendo showed the console and the Wii Remote in white, black, silver, lime-green and red before it was released, it was only available in white for its first two-and-a-half years of sales. Black consoles were available in Japan in August 2009, in Europe in November 2009 and in North America in May 2010. A red Wii system bundle
784-434: A directional pad (d-pad), three face action buttons and a shoulder trigger, and four system-related buttons include a power switch. The Wii Remote connects to the Wii through Bluetooth with an approximate 30 feet (9.1 m) range, communicating the sensor and control information to the console unit. The Wii Remote includes an internal speaker and a rumble pack that can be triggered by a game to provide feedback directly to
980-513: A map in real-time. When two parties meet, the combat plays out with minimal user interaction. The game is notable for introducing a moral alignment system that not only affects the gameplay but where tactical and strategic decisions influence the outcome of a non-linear branching storyline, which is affected by factors such as the moral alignments of the troops used to liberate a city, whether to keep certain liberated cities guarded, making popular or unpopular decisions, concentrating power among just
1176-403: A proprietary port at the base of the controller. The Wii shipped with the bundled Nunchuk —a handheld unit with an accelerometer, analog stick , and two trigger buttons—which connected to this port on the Wii Remote via a 4 feet (1.2 m) cable. Players hold both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in separate hands to control supported games. The Wii MotionPlus accessory plugs into the port at
1372-458: A silicon -based Wii Remote Jacket to shipments of the Wii and Wii Remote, as well as a free offering for existing users. The Jacket wraps around the bulk of the remote but leaves access to the various buttons and connectors, providing a stickier surface in the user's grip to further reduce the chance of the Remote falling out of the player's hand. Accessories can be connected to a Wii Remote through
1568-669: A video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical ( turn-based or real-time ) strategy video games . The formats of tactical RPGs are much like traditional tabletop role-playing games and strategy games in appearance, pacing, and rule structure. Likewise, early tabletop role-playing games are descended from skirmish wargames such as Chainmail , which were primarily concerned with combat. This subgenre of role-playing video games principally refers to games which incorporate elements from strategy video games as an alternative to traditional role-playing game (RPG) systems. Like standard RPGs,
1764-413: A "Very Positive" rating on Steam. The open source, cross-platform X-COM -clone UFO: Alien Invasion is also under development. The Battle for Wesnoth (2005) is another Master of Monsters and Warsong clone, released under an open source license for multiple platforms. It is also continually updated. The tactical isometric cyberpunk/fantasy RPG, Shadowrun Returns (2013), was funded via
1960-538: A 32-bit IBM PowerPC -based processor named Broadway , with a clock frequency of 729 MHz. The reduced size of Broadway—based on a 90 nm process compared to the 180 nm process used in the GameCube's CPU —resulted in 20% lowered power consumption. The Wii's GPU is a system on a chip produced by ATI and named Hollywood ; the core processor runs at 243 MHz, 3 MB of texture memory, digital signal processors , and input/output functions. Additionally,
2156-562: A Wii or for those who wanted a second Wii in a different location. Ryan stated that while removing the online functionality would prevent some games from being played, most Wii games could still be played without it. The Wii Mini is styled in matte black with a red border, and includes a red Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk. According to Ryan, the red coloring was indicative of the planned exclusive release in Canada . A composite A/V cable, wired Sensor Bar and power adapter are also included. The Wii Mini
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#17328802930212352-401: A black Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk, along with New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a limited-edition soundtrack for Super Mario Galaxy . It was released in Europe on November 4, 2011, in a white finish, bundled with a white Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk, along with Wii Party and Wii Sports . A special bundle featuring a blue version of the revised Wii model and Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk with
2548-745: A certain number of turns, that the player must accomplish before the next map will become available. In between battles, players can access their characters to equip them, change classes, train them, depending on the game. A number of early role-playing video games used a tactical form of combat, such as Tunnels of Doom (1982) and Ultima III: Exodus (1983), as well as The Dragon and Princess (1982) and Bokosuka Wars (1983), which introduced party-based, tiled combat to America and Japan, respectively. Further, tactical RPGs are descendants of tabletop role-playing games and wargames , such as Dungeons & Dragons and Chainmail , which were mainly tactical in their original form. Nevertheless, much of
2744-424: A character, or an item to an item. Fusion increases the level cap of the beneficiary by the level of the consumed item or character. By spending mana, the player can improve equipment percentages (stat bonuses given to characters who equip the item or character) and confine percentages (bonuses to characters confined in the item on the field), and even transfer skills to the beneficiary. In Phantom Brave , weapons have
2940-455: A combat system where, following a random encounter , the game transitioned to a separate, graphical, overhead battle screen, and tactical turn-based combat ensued. That same year, Tunnels of Doom used a similar combat system, as did Ultima III: Exodus released in 1983. During the 8-bit era, Bokosuka Wars , a computer game developed by Koji Sumii for the Sharp X1 in 1983 and ported to
3136-578: A concept still used in recent games such as Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor , and Final Promise Story . It was not until the release of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade for the Game Boy Advance , many years later, that the series was introduced to Western gamers, who until then were more familiar with localized precursors like Nobunaga's Ambition , as well as later tactical RPGs partially influenced by Fire Emblem , including
3332-569: A death clock system where each character has a specified time of death, with the player's actions and choices having consequences on who lives and dies. Infinite Space (2009) by PlatinumGames , for the Nintendo DS, is a hybrid of tactical role-playing, real-time strategy and space simulator elements, and features a non-linear branching narrative with numerous choices that can have dramatic consequences, and an epic scale spanning hundreds of planets. Radiant Historia , released by Atlus for
3528-422: A different ending and there are over 75 possible scenarios. Langrisser III introduced a relationship system similar to dating sims . Depending on the player's choices and actions, the feelings of the female allies will change towards the player character , who will end up with the female ally he is closest with. Master of Monsters was a unique title by SystemSoft . Where Langrisser and Fire Emblem used
3724-431: A few units, making deals with thieves, and a general sense of justice. These factors lead to one of 13 possible endings, alongside other factors such as how many and which units are used, how battles are fought, the army's reputation, player character's alignment and charisma, and secrets discovered. The sequel, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together , was originally a 1995 SNES game that was not released outside Japan. It
3920-447: A firm that had developed several patents related to motion detection , to prototype future controllers using their licensed patents. Over the next two years, sales of the GameCube languished behind its competitors—Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox . Satoru Iwata , who had been promoted to Nintendo's president in May 2002 following Hiroshi Yamauchi 's retirement, recognized that Nintendo had not been keeping up with trends in
4116-503: A genre the Metal Gear series is normally known for, along with tactical role-playing inspired by the likes of Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics , infused with card gameplay found in games like Konami's own Yu-Gi-Oh! series. In addition to a turn-based tactical combat layer, the X-COM series also possesses a real-time 3D strategic layer, complete with global defensive map as well as
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#17328802930214312-462: A hit, which spawned many sequels and imitators. It introduced unique features such as how the characters were not interchangeable pawns but each of them were unique, in terms of both class and stats, and how a character who runs out of hit points would usually remain dead forever. The latter mechanic was used to introduce a non-linear storyline to the genre, where different multiple endings are possible depending on which characters are alive or dead,
4508-500: A legion known as the Nine Swords of Ivoire, and Sprout, a renegade soldier whose family was killed by Sulphur many years earlier. While Sprout seems to side with Ash in this fight, he is hellbent on the destruction of Sulphur at all costs. As preparations for the final battle are made, Ash and Marona return to the Isle of Evil and find Raphael is possessed by Sulphur. Marona's team of phantoms
4704-819: A lesser extent, the Nintendo Switch . Each player on a Wii console was encouraged to create their own Mii via the Mii Channel to be used in games like Wii Sports and some of the system software like the Mii Channel. For example, players would select their Mii in Wii Sports , creating their in-game avatar for the game. Miis could be shared with other players through the Mii Channel. Tactical role-playing game Tactical role-playing games (abbreviated TRPGs ), also known as strategy role-playing games and in Japan as simulation RPGs (both abbreviated SRPGs ), are
4900-449: A limited cover system , and real-time hazards, such as interception fire and landmines . The game has been described as "the missing link between Final Fantasy Tactics and Full Spectrum Warrior ". In 2004, Konami released Metal Gear Acid , which combined the stealth game elements of the Metal Gear series with turn-based tactical RPG gameplay of games like Fire Emblem , Final Fantasy Tactics , and Disgaea , along with
5096-414: A major effect on the timeline. The player can return to certain points in history and live through certain events again to make different choices and see different possible outcomes on the timeline. The player can also travel back and forth between two parallel timelines, and can obtain many possible parallel endings . Square Enix 's PSP version of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together , released around
5292-509: A man named Walnut. Walnut prides himself on his status as a Chroma Oxide, one who secretly follows a Chroma on their mission and steals the reward for their work. Walnut regularly tries to meddle in Chroma-related matters involving Marona, but is rarely successful. As they continue their work, Ash and Marona also meet a sickly young girl named Castille. Confined to her bed or wheelchair for most of her life, Castille has been unable to go out into
5488-405: A much greater effect on a character's stats than their natural affinity. The maximum obtainable character level is 9999. While on Phantom Isle, a character class called Dungeon Monk can be asked to create a random dungeon. Some characteristics of the dungeon can be seen before creation, including the type and general number of enemies present, the floor conditions, and if the use of equipped weapons
5684-523: A mustache that sends Marona on a search for Scarlet the Brave. The story's main antagonist and a powerful demon that periodically threatens the world of Ivoire. The very thought of his return causes chaos and widespread panic across all of Ivoire. His power possesses a number of characters throughout the game. After his defeat, Sulphur returns to Ivoire in a bonus battle on the Island of Evil. Another optional battle in
5880-428: A mysterious veil of darkness claimed the lives of all of the peoples of Ivoire, save Marona. A powerful character that appears alongside Carona, this bearded mushroom creature claims to be God. He entices Marona and company to work in his interest under the proposal that if they can defeat Sulfer within a certain number of days, he will revive all of the people who were felled by the darkness that swallowed Ivoire. During
6076-489: A new way to play". The ads began in November 2006 and had a budget of over $ 200 million for the year. The ads targeted a wider demographic compared to ads for other consoles, inviting parents and grandparents to play on the Wii. Nintendo hoped that its console would appeal to a wider demographic than that of others in the seventh generation. In December 2006, Satoru Iwata said that Nintendo did not think of themselves as "fighting Sony", but were focused on how they could expand
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6272-411: A person that makes a living by waiting for a Chroma to near the completion of their assigned job and then takes proof of the work's completion in order to steal the reward. Willing to do anything and step on anyone to achieve his goals, Walnut is the older brother of Marona's newfound friend Castile, and puts aside his Chroma Oxide earnings to pay for an operation for her. Walnut's power, "Psycho Burgundy",
6468-452: A playable cameo. The game received "generally favorable reviews" on all platforms except the PSP version, which received "mixed" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic . Nintendo Power gave the Wii version a favorable review, nearly two months before its U.S. release date. Edge gave the original game a score of seven out of ten, saying, "Nippon Ichi's disregard for
6664-421: A real-time strategy, action RPG, and strategy RPG. Like an RPG, the player can explore the world, purchase items, and level up, and like a strategy video game , it focuses on recruiting soldiers and fighting against large armies rather than small parties. The game's "Gochyakyara" ("Multiple Characters") system let the player control one character at a time while the others are controlled by computer AI that follow
6860-536: A resting position, translating that motion into gesture recognition for a game. For example, the pack-in game Wii Sports includes a ten-pin bowling game that had the player hold the Wii Remote and perform a delivery of a ball; the Wii Remote could account for the player's position relative to the Sensor Bar, and their arm and wrist rotation to apply speed and spin to the virtual ball's delivery on screen. The infrared detectors are used to track emissions from LEDs in
7056-488: A smaller number of stronger ones. If the enemy's HP is reduced to zero before it is thrown out of the stage, its allies will not be granted a level up. The last enemy on the map cannot be thrown O.B., and Marona's team members do not gain levels for falling out of bounds. All characters and weapons accumulate "mana" (a magical currency for increasing a character or weapon's abilities) whenever they kill an enemy. This mana can be spent to fuse two characters together, an item into
7252-490: A square-based grid, Master of Monsters used a hexagonal grid. Players could choose one of four different Lords to defend their Towers and areas on the grid by building an army of creatures to destroy the opposing armies. This game had a sequel for the PlayStation called Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia , which had limited success and was criticized for its slow gameplay. Both Warsong and Master of Monsters were cited as
7448-440: A successful crowd-sourced Kickstarter campaign that raised a total of $ 1.9 million for development. The game is based on the popular Shadowrun pen-and-paper setting by Jordan Weisman , and features tactical combat in a world filled with cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures. Two sequels, Shadowrun: Dragonfall (2014) and Shadowrun: Hong Kong (2015) quickly followed. An online tactical game not directly related to
7644-486: A technology tree that the player must research in order to unlock new weapons and armor. Jagged Alliance 2 features a country sector map with fortified towns and roving bands of enemies that must be defeated before entering the capital city of Meduna. Knights in the Nightmare (2009) combines elements of traditional tactical RPGs with bullet hell –style shoot 'em up gameplay. Sega's Valkyria Chronicles (2008) blurs
7840-521: A top-loading disc drive. In addition to the lack of GameCube support, the Wii Mini removes Wi-Fi support and online connectivity, along with the removal of the SD card slot. It also removed support for 480p and component video output. According to Nintendo of Canada's Matt Ryan, they stripped these features to bring down the price of the console further as to make it an option for those consumers that had not yet gotten
8036-500: A wave of games that combine the RPG and dating sim genres, including Thousand Arms in 1998, Riviera: The Promised Land in 2002, and Luminous Arc in 2007. Final Fantasy Tactics was arguably the most responsible for bringing tactical RPGs to North America. Developed by former employees of Quest , the developer responsible for the Ogre Battle series, it combined many elements of
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8232-459: A young wheelchair-bound girl, whose family was rich before spending most of their fortune on her treatments. She is kidnapped by minions of Sulphur, but rescued by Marona and Ash. Castile learns about Marona's ability to see phantoms, and meets with Ash, and she and Marona become best friends as the events of the story unfold. According to an after-game bonus map in the PS2 game Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of
8428-518: Is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, following the GameCube , and is a seventh-generation console alongside Microsoft 's Xbox 360 and Sony 's PlayStation 3 . In developing the Wii, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata directed the company to avoid competing with Microsoft and Sony on computational graphics and power and instead to target a broader demographic of players through novel gameplay. Game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda led
8624-460: Is a spin-off of the Fallout series of CRPGs by Interplay Entertainment developed by Australian company Micro Forté . Unusual for the genre is the option to choose between real-time and turn-based play, or between "Continuous Turn-Based Mode" (CTB), "Individual Turn-Based Mode" (ITB), and "Squad Turn-Based Mode" (STB) modes as the developers put it. The game even allows the player to switch modes in
8820-460: Is a tactical RPG by Polish developer Metropolis Software featuring elements of survival horror . It is also the first title in a series featuring the main character, Cole Sullivan. Later titles in the series were third-person shooters . The game's reception was mixed. Vantage Master is a series of tactical RPGs similar to Master of Monsters developed and published by Nihon Falcom for Microsoft Windows, beginning in 1997. The first game in
9016-554: Is a tactical RPG co-developed by Russian companies Novik & Co and Nival Interactive , and published by CDV . It is set in the Silent Storm universe and follows the events in the main series. After this came Night Watch (2006) and its sequel, Day Watch (2007), also by Nival Interactive, but instead based on the Russian novels and films of the same name. All three games received mediocre-to-poor review scores despite utilizing
9212-448: Is clueless as to Sienna's true motivations, or what it is about Phantom Isle that makes it so important to her. Besides Phantom Isle, Sienna owns an immense Bottle Mail factory. It is later revealed that she was the legendary hero Scarlet the Brave before she was severely wounded in her battle with Sulphur, and that she gave up being a famed warrior to live a calm life of relative obscurity. A fierce and powerful 85-year-old man whose family
9408-471: Is defeated in battle is added to the selection of phantoms the player may summon. Summoning phantoms requires only a nominal fee, but new phantoms always join at level 1 no matter when they are summoned. Marona's phantoms populate the island, and the player can converse with them. Many classes have a special utility on the island; Merchants sell items, Healers can recover the damage that units have sustained Fusionists can combine characters and items, Witches allow
9604-422: Is forced to engage Raphael in a duel. After Raphael is too injured to continue and comes back to his senses, he entrusts Ash with Heliotrope, his sacred sword, for use in their battle against Sulphur. At the center of the island lies a portal from which Sulphur is entering the world, and upon the heroes' arrival they expect to engage in combat with Sulphur. However, they are intercepted by Sprout. Having gone mad from
9800-449: Is most notable for its unique take on the concept of non-linear branching storylines, which it combines with the concepts of time travel and parallel universes , expanding on the Chrono series. Radiant Historia takes it much further by giving players the freedom to travel backwards and forwards through a timeline to alter the course of history, with each of their choices and actions having
9996-517: Is one of the most 'hardcore' games on the Nintendo Wii. Even though this game has a few pitfalls, overall players will enjoy the experience it offers." Wii The Wii ( / w iː / , WEE ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo . It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It
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#173288029302110192-422: Is primarily because of her unique ability, Chartreuse Gale. This ability not only allows her to see and interact with phantoms, but bind their souls to various objects to grant them a temporary body, using the skill "Confine". Using this power she can summon Ash and other phantoms to the world of the living to aid her in her own endeavors as a Chroma, similar to the work done by her late parents. Because she possesses
10388-483: Is restricted or not. Dungeons also have titles, which are applied to every enemy in the dungeon. As the floors of the dungeon are cleared, the title of the dungeon will improve. These titles can later be removed and placed on player characters or weapons to alter their stats. Random dungeons can also be retitled. A popular leveling trick is to give a random dungeon the "failure" title, allowing the player to beat hordes of high level enemies easily. Random dungeons tend to take
10584-419: Is revealed that Walnut is Castile's older brother who has been stealing money from Chromas in an effort to pay Castile's hospital bills so that she can be cured of the sickness that keeps her bedridden. Ash and Marona meet more people who are aware of the signs signalling Sulpher's return and are making preparations to meet Sulpher in battle, if necessary. Among these individuals are Raphael, a renowned knight from
10780-512: Is set to be released in January 2025. A remaster of The Hermuda Triangle for PlayStation 5 is set to be released on November 7th, 2024. The protagonist of Phantom Brave is a 13-year-old girl named Marona. Marona lives on Phantom Isle in the oceanic world of Ivoire with a phantom named Ash. While he was still alive, Ash worked alongside Marona's parents Jasmine and Haze as a Chroma, a sort of bounty hunter or adventurer for hire. On an assignment on
10976-419: Is still attempting to enter into Ivoire. Walnut appears and sacrifices his own life to sever the portal between Ivoire and Sulphur's domain. Phantom Brave is a tactical role-playing game with battles that take place on an isometric board . Marona dispatches her phantom allies by confining them to objects on the field, such as trees, grass, rocks, and flowers. Different objects grant different stat bonuses to
11172-662: Is the lack of exploration; for instance, Final Fantasy Tactics does away with the third-person exploration of towns and dungeons that is typical in a Final Fantasy game. Instead of exploration, there is an emphasis on battle strategy. Players are able to build and train characters to use in battle, utilizing different classes, including warriors and magic users, depending on the game. Characters normally gain experience points from battle and grow stronger, and are awarded secondary experience points which can be used to advance in specific character classes. Battles have specific winning conditions, such as defeating all enemies or surviving
11368-400: Is the same power utilized by the legendary hero Scarlet the Brave, and is fueled by burning the wielder's soul to create a powerful energy. An alternate universe version of Walnut joins Marona and company as a playable character in "Another Marona", a side story that is exclusive to the Wii and PSP versions of the game. Walnut also makes an appearance in another NIS game, Soul Nomad. Castile is
11564-478: The Final Fantasy series with Tactics Ogre -style gameplay. It also expanded on the isometric grid combat of Tactics Ogre by allowing players to freely rotate the camera around the battlefield rather than keeping the camera in a fixed position. The storyline of Final Fantasy Tactics was also more linear than its predecessor, in order to provide a deeper epic narrative. Thanks to Hiroyuki Ito , lead designer on
11760-560: The Internet Channel , a modified version of the Opera web browser for the Wii which supports USB keyboard input and Adobe Flash Player . The Wii Menu channels feature music composed by video game composer Kazumi Totaka . The Wii introduced the use of player-customized avatars called Miis, which have been continued to be used by Nintendo in the Wii U, the Nintendo 3DS family, and, to
11956-482: The Nintendo DS in 2010, combined the gameplay of traditional RPG titles with a highly tactical grid combat system, with several unique features such as a queue allowing party members to switch turns and perform combo attacks when near each other on the queue, and the manipulation of enemy positions by knocking a target onto another grid space and attack multiple targets when enemies fall onto the same grid space. The game
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#173288029302112152-481: The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) by ASCII in 1985, was responsible for laying the foundations for the tactical RPG genre, or "simulation RPG" genre as it is known in Japan, with its blend of role-playing and strategy game elements. The game revolves around a king who must recruit soldiers and lead his army against overwhelming enemy forces, while each unit gains experience and levels up along
12348-493: The PlayStation 3 utilizes the seventh-generation console processing power by using a distinctive anime/watercolor art style, as well as incorporating third-person tactical shooter elements. After selecting a character in the overhead map view, the player manually controls him/her from a third-person view. This mechanic allows for, among others: free movement to a certain range, manual aiming with extra damage for headshots,
12544-746: The Shining and Ogre series and Final Fantasy Tactics , and Nippon Ichi games like Disgaea . During the 16-bit generation, among the first imitators was Langrisser by NCS/Masaya, first released for the Mega Drive / Genesis in 1991. It was translated for North American release and retitled Warsong . The Langrisser series differed from Fire Emblem in that it used a general-soldier structure instead of controlling main characters. Langrisser , too, spawned many sequels, none of which were brought to North America. Langrisser set itself apart from other tactical RPGs in its time with larger-scale battles, where
12740-702: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Bahamut Lagoon , began Square's (now Square Enix ) famous line of tactical RPGs. Four games from the Ogre Battle series have been released in North America . The first was Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen was released for the SNES in 1993 and was more of a real-time strategy RPG in which the player forms character parties that are moved around
12936-485: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System , with a d-pad, four face buttons, Start and Select buttons alongside the Wii connection button, and two shoulder buttons. Additionally, Nintendo included inputs present in modern controllers, like 2 analog sticks and pressure sensitive shoulder buttons. Players can use it with older games from the Virtual Console in addition to games designed for the Wii. In 2009, Nintendo released
13132-541: The Wii Remote Plus , first released in October 2010. A number of third-party controller manufacturers developed their own lower-cost versions of the Wii Remote, though these generally were less accurate or lacked the sensitivity that Nintendo's unit had. The Classic Controller is an extension for the Wii Remote, released alongside the Wii in November 2006. Its form factor is similar to classic gamepads such as that for
13328-490: The Wii Shop Channel . The Wii also supports wireless connectivity with the Nintendo DS handheld console for selected games. Initial Wii models included full backward compatibility support for GameCube games and most of the console's accessories . Later in its lifecycle, two lower-cost Wii models were produced: a revised model with the same design as the original Wii but without the GameCube compatibility features, and
13524-427: The player character 's relationship with other characters and in turn the characters' performance in battle, the direction of the storyline, and the ending. Later games in the series added several variations, including an action gauge that can be raised up or down depending on the situation, and a gauge that the player can manipulate using the analog stick depending on the situation. The success of Sakura Wars led to
13720-462: The GPU included an additional 24 MB of 1T-SRAM and an additional 64 MB of 1T-SRAM on the motherboard, totaling to 88 MB of memory for the console. The Wii's computational power was roughly 1.5 to 2 times as powerful as the GameCube, but was the least powerful of the major home consoles of its generation. The Wii's motherboard has a WiFi adapter which supports IEEE 802.11 b/g modes, and
13916-514: The GameCube controller ports, and memory card slots found on the original model. This means that this model is incompatible with GameCube games alongside the GameCube Controller for Wii games that support it. This model is sometimes referred to as the "Wii Family Edition", the name given to the bundle in which it was first sold in Europe. Additionally, it does not include a stand, as it is intended to be positioned horizontally. Nintendo announced
14112-433: The Isle of Evil, a fragment of a malevolent being known as Sulphur attacked the group, mortally wounding them. Using the last of his life energy, Haze attempted to revive the party after the battle. However, there was only enough life left in him to bring Ash back as a phantom. Haze and Jasmine's dying wish was for Ash to watch over their then infant daughter Marona. Marona is the only one able to see Ash in phantom form. This
14308-533: The Nintendo Famicom in 1990, Fire Emblem would become an archetype for the whole genre, establishing gameplay elements that are still used in tactical RPGs today, though many of these elements were influenced by earlier RPGs and strategy games . Combining the basic concepts from games like Dragon Quest and simple turn-based strategy elements that the development team gained experience with in their 1988 release Famicom Wars , Intelligent Systems created
14504-621: The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection were discontinued in May 2014, while the Wii Shop was closed in January 2019, effectively ending all online services for the console. The Wii Mini continued to be manufactured for some time after. Despite the Wii's discontinuation, some developers continued to produce Wii games well beyond 2013. Ubisoft released Just Dance games for the Wii up to Just Dance 2020 (2019). Vblank Entertainment's Shakedown: Hawaii along with Retro City Rampage DX are
14700-569: The PS2 game Soul Nomad & the World Eaters reveals both how Sulfur came back to Ivoire and Walnut's fate after Phantom Brave's final battle. These characters were originally introduced in Phantom Brave: We Meet Again for the Nintendo Wii (and its PSP port, Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle ), in the new campaign "Another Marona". The Marona of an alternate reality, she shares the same phantom-related Chartreuse powers that
14896-409: The PSP version. Michael Lafferty of GameZone gave the original game a score of 7.8 out of 10, calling it "A mixed bag that goes from simple (and a tad frustrating) to thoughtfully compelling in the combat." Later, however, Michael Knutson gave the Wii version 7.9 out of 10, calling it "a very interesting game that players will love to get their hands on. This game offers numerous hours of playtime and
15092-711: The Photo Channel which could be used to view and edit photos stored on an SD card; the Wii Shop Channel to purchase new games and applications; the Forecast Channel and the News Channel. In addition to default channels that came with the Wii, new channels could be added through system updates, downloaded applications from the Wii Shop Channel, or added by games themselves. Shortly after launch, other free channels created by Nintendo were made available to users, including
15288-455: The PlayStation 2. In 2001, Sakura Wars 3 for the Dreamcast introduced a new combat system that incorporates action elements, and abandons the use of grids in favour of allowing each character to move around freely across the battlefield but with a limited number of moves each turn illustrated using a bar at the bottom of the screen. This type of combat system would later be the basis for
15484-563: The PlayStation Portable has a strategic command-based battle system where enemies learn from previous skirmishes. The characters can also die permanently during gameplay which in turn affects the game's storyline. Many Western PC games have utilized this genre for years, as well. Western games tend to have stronger military themes, without many of the fantasy elements often found in their console (and mainly Japanese) counterparts, as well as greater freedom of movement when interacting with
15680-595: The Revolution controller at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005. At this stage, the controller unit resembled the final Wii Remote device along with the separate Nunchuk attachment. Iwata demonstrated its motion sensing gameplay capabilities, and incorporated commentary from developers, such as Hideo Kojima and Yuji Horii , who had tested the controller and believed people would be drawn in by it. The console's name
15876-464: The Sacred Tome , Castile eventually recovers from the sickness that keeps her in bed and becomes healthy enough to fight alongside Marona, while searching for signs that her brother Walnut may still be alive. Sienna is a beautiful and elegant businesswoman who owns Phantom Isle, Marona's home. She is generous and polite to a fault, but her calm demeanor holds a few secrets. Even her assistant, Murasaki,
16072-611: The Sand region under the influence of Sulphur, which fuels his impersonation into a belief that he really is Raphael. After he is defeated again, he is shown to be a member of the Raven clan, the Fighting Beasts, under Captain Drab. Bijou, along with many other characters that show up in the original game's story, is a playable unit in the Wii and PSP exclusive side story "Another Marona". A Chroma Oxide,
16268-556: The Third Reich (2005) - both by Irrational Games - are two examples of comic book superhero tactical RPGs that are played in real-time instead of turns. Both games received favorable reviews from critics. Paradise Cracked (2003), COPS 2170: The Power of Law (2005), Metalheart: Replicants Rampage (2004) and Shadow Vault (2004) are poorly received tactical RPGs by MiST Land South , Akella and Mayhem Studios of Russia and Slovakia, respectively. Paradise Cracked
16464-492: The Vitality Sensor had been shelved, as internal testing found that the device did not work with all users, and its use cases were too narrow. Despite this, Nintendo has continued Iwata's quality of life program with further products on later consoles and games. A number of first- and third-party accessories were developed that the Wii Remote could be slotted into and then used in a more physical manner that took advantage of
16660-465: The White Wolf Army; a group of Ravens ( a large team of professional demon slayers ), Raphael is one of the warriors known as the 9 Swords of Ivoire. He is first seen in the quest to find the rainbow bird. His signature technique is called Heliotrope Blade . An alternate version of Raphael fights by Marona's side in the Wii and PSP exclusive side story, "Another Marona". A dignified old Scrabbit with
16856-537: The Wii Classic Controller Pro, which was modelled after the GameCube and PlayStation 2 controllers form factor and amongst other additions, adds grips on the bottom of the controller and rearranges the placement of the shoulder buttons. However, unlike the GameCube and original Classic Controller, the Classic Controller Pro does not have pressure sensitive shoulder buttons. The Wii Balance Board
17052-557: The Wii Menu, the main user interface for the Wii, was led by Takashi Aoyama of Nintendo's Integrated Research & Development Division. The project, named the "Console Feature Realization Project", was to figure out what the Wii interface could show running in a low-power mode on an around-the-clock schedule that would be of interest for people to look at if they were not playing games. The idea of having continually updated weather and news reports made logical sense from testing, and this led to
17248-410: The Wii Mini for a few years afterwards, and offered a subset of the Wii's online services through 2019. Shortly after the release of the GameCube , Nintendo began conceptualizing their next console. The company's game designer Shigeru Miyamoto said that, in the early stages, they decided they would not aim to compete on hardware power, and would instead prioritize new gameplay concepts. The console
17444-513: The Wii Mini's release. The Wii Mini was never released in countries outside of Canada, Europe and the United States. The console has many internal features made available from its hardware and firmware components. The hardware allows for extendability (via expansion ports), while the firmware (and some software) could receive periodic updates via the WiiConnect24 service. The development of
17640-414: The Wii Mini, a compact, budget redesign of the Wii which further removed several features, including online connectivity and SD card storage. Because of Nintendo's reduced focus on computational power, the Wii and its games were less expensive to produce than its competitors. The Wii was extremely popular at launch, causing the system to be in short supply in some markets. A bundled game, Wii Sports ,
17836-445: The Wii channels. Users could expand their storage for downloaded games and saved games, as well as provide photos and music that could be used with some games and Wii channels, through SD cards (and later SDHC cards ) inserted into an external slot on the console located under a front panel. A later system update added the ability to launch Wii channels and play Virtual Console and WiiWare games directly from SD cards. The rear of
18032-399: The Wii from commercial off-the-shelf hardware rather than seek out customized components. This helped to reduce the cost of the Wii system to consumers. Miyamoto said "Originally, I wanted a machine that would cost $ 100. My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software." The console's central processing unit is
18228-417: The Wii had broadened the demographics that they wanted, the core gamer audience had shunned the Wii. The Wii's successor, the Wii U , sought to recapture the core gamer market with additional features atop the Wii. The Wii U was released in 2012, and Nintendo continued to sell both units through the following year. The Wii was formally discontinued in October 2013, though Nintendo continued to produce and market
18424-502: The Wii in China in 2008, but failed to meet the requirements to circumvent the ban on foreign-made consoles the Chinese government had put in place. Nintendo announced the successor to the Wii, the Wii U, at E3 2011 . Nintendo had recognized that the Wii had generally been shunned by the core gaming audience as it was perceived more as a casual gaming experience. The Wii U was aimed to draw
18620-427: The Wii served part of this, but Nintendo developed additional accessories to give awareness of one's health as a lead-in for the company to break into the health care field. At E3 2009 , Nintendo had presented a " Vitality Sensor " accessory that would be used to measure a player's pulse as a lead-in to a larger quality of life initiative, but this product was never released. In a 2013 Q&A, Satoru Iwata revealed that
18816-450: The Wii's design, as the company found that the DS's novel two-screen interface had drawn in non-traditional players and wanted to replicate that on the new console. Designer Ken'ichiro Ashida noted, "We had the DS on our minds as we worked on the Wii. We thought about copying the DS's touch-panel interface and even came up with a prototype." The idea was eventually rejected because of the notion that
19012-495: The Wii, the demand for the console meant a delay in their schedule, until the feature lost interest. The slot of the optical drive is backed by LED lights which show the system's status. For example, it will pulse blue when the system is communicating with the WiiConnect24 service or when reading a disc after being inserted. The Wii includes 512 MB of internal flash memory for storing saved games and downloaded content from
19208-531: The ability to affect the relationship points between different units/characters. This in turn affected both the gameplay and storyline, with the different possible relationships in the first generation of the game's plot leading to different units/characters appearing during the second generation, ultimately leading to different possible outcomes to the storyline. The 32-bit era saw many influential tactical RPGs, such as Konami 's 1996 Vandal Hearts series , which feature branching storylines that can be altered by
19404-445: The ability to see and speak with the dead, many assume that she is either controlled by or cooperates with evil spirits, and are afraid to even interact with her, much less employ her for Chroma work. In the early portions of the story, people who offer Marona employment would rescind any rewards upon completion once they discover that she was a phantom-possessed Chroma. As she continues her Chroma work, Marona's path crosses with that of
19600-468: The accelerometer and gyroscopic functions of the controller. Some copies of Mario Kart Wii shipped with the Wii Wheel , a plastic steering wheel frame with the Wii Remote could be inserted into, so that players could steer more effectively in game. Rhythm games that used plastic instruments, such as Guitar Hero III , shipped with instruments that the Wii Remote could be slotted into; the remote powered
19796-461: The base of the Wii Remote and augments the existing sensors with gyroscopes to allow for finer motion detection. The MotionPlus accessory was released in June 2009 with a number of new games directly supporting this new functionality, including Wii Sports Resort which included the accessory as part of a bundle. The MotionPlus functionality was later incorporated into a revision of the controller called
19992-417: The border of the battle maps do not have barriers around their edges. Most characters and objects can be thrown off, hit off, fall off, or slip off of the field of battle and sent O.B. (out-of-bounds). Characters and objects that are O.B.'d are gone for the rest of the battle. When an enemy is O.B'd, the level of each of the remaining enemies rises by one, so the player can trade a large force of weak enemies for
20188-495: The cast of the Disgaea games as enemies. After defeating these characters they will join the player's pool of playable characters as "phantom doubles". While the first couple of extra maps can be completed immediately after the main story, the later extra maps are very difficult and require a large amount of time invested into the game to be spent leveling characters and fusing weapons before they can be completed. The main protagonist of
20384-451: The character jumps down from a ledge. On slippery surfaces, it is possible to make the characters "ice skate" by moving very short distances (consuming few dm) and letting them slide to their destination. In addition, the hold and throw system inherited from Disgaea: Hour of Darkness allows characters to pick up and throw objects and even other characters (including allies) toward a desired location. Unlike most tactical role-playing games,
20580-593: The character units, a concept which would be adapted and popularized by later console-based series like Fire Emblem . Unlike many other early titles in the genre, Master of Monsters made its way to the west via a port to the Sega Genesis in 1991, albeit only in North America. However, the genre did not become prolific until Nintendo published the game that set the template for tactical wargame RPGs, Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi . Developed by Intelligent Systems and released exclusively in Japan for
20776-412: The characters that are confined to them, making it advantageous to confine certain characters to certain things. A soldier, for example, often benefits from the stat bonuses found on a rock because of his physical combat abilities, whereas a witch works better when summoned out of a flower or another object that increases its magical abilities. Up to 14 phantoms can be dispatched during any given battle, but
20972-419: The choice. President of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aimé justified the new name over Revolution by saying that they wanted something short, distinctive, and easily pronounceable for all cultures. The Wii was made available for a press demonstration at E3 2006. Planned launch titles were announced at a press conference alongside the unveiling. At the same conference, Nintendo confirmed its plans to release
21168-536: The combat system in Valkyria Chronicles , developed by much of the same team in 2008. The Sakura Wars series would not be released in the West until the fifth game, Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (2005). The Front Mission series also continued on to the PlayStation 2, with Front Mission 4 and 5 , the latter of which never saw a Western release, but a fan translation. The Game Boy Advance would also see
21364-554: The combination of moves between characters, and the capture of NPCs and having them play on your side. Sega 's Sakura Wars , released for the Sega Saturn in 1996, combined tactical RPG combat with dating sim and visual novel elements, introducing a real-time branching choice system where, during an event or conversation, the player must choose an action or dialogue choice within a time limit, or not to respond at all within that time. The player's choice, or lack thereof, affects
21560-528: The company calls "Smart Pause Mode" in an attempt to heighten realism; Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge began its life as Jagged Alliance 3D before Strategy First withdrew the rights to the series name; Jagged Alliance: Back in Action is a 3D, real-time remake of Jagged Alliance 2 . Lastly, Jagged Alliance: Flashback was released in 2014 following a successful Kickstarter . The developer Full Control gained notoriety, however, for feuding with its backers, and
21756-489: The company stopped making games shortly thereafter. Additional titles inspired by X-COM include UFO: Aftermath (2003), UFO: Aftershock (2005), UFO: Afterlight (2007) and UFO: Extraterrestrials (2007) by Czech developers ALTAR Interactive and Chaos Concept; as well as Xenonauts (2014) by Goldhawk Interactive. ALTAR's UFO series features real-time play; Chaos Concept's UFO: Extraterrestrials received only mixed reviews; and Xenonauts currently has
21952-482: The console by the end of 2006. Nintendo announced the launch plans and prices for the Wii in September 2006. The console was first launched in the United States on November 19, 2006, for US$ 249.99 . Other regional release dates and prices included Japan on December 2 for ¥25,000 , followed by Australasia on December 7 for A$ 399.95 , and was later launched on December 8 in the United Kingdom for £179.99 and for
22148-791: The console features the unit's video output and power connections along with two USB ports. The top of the console, when placed vertically, includes a panel that includes four ports for GameCube controllers and two GameCube memory cards. The Wii was Nintendo's smallest home console at the time (the current smallest is hybrid home-portable console Nintendo Switch, when in portable mode); it measures 44 mm (1.73 in ) wide, 157 mm (6.18 in) tall and 215.4 mm (8.48 in) deep in its vertical orientation, slightly larger than three DVD cases stacked together. The included stand measures 55.4 mm (2.18 in) wide, 44 mm (1.73 in) tall and 225.6 mm (8.88 in) deep. The system weighs 1.2 kg (2.7 lb ), making it
22344-528: The console's development under the codename Revolution . The primary controller for the Wii is the Wii Remote , a wireless controller with both motion sensing and traditional controls which can be used as a pointing device towards the television screen or for gesture recognition . The Wii was Nintendo's first home console to directly support Internet connectivity, supporting both online games and for digital distribution of games and media applications through
22540-496: The core audience back in with more advanced features atop the basic Wii technology. The Wii U features the Wii U GamePad , a controller with an embedded touchscreen and output 1080p high-definition graphics that serves as a secondary screen alongside the television. The Wii U is fully backward-compatible with Wii games and peripherals for the Wii, including the Wii Remote, Nunchuk controller and Wii Balance Board, and select Wii U games including support for these devices. The Wii U
22736-431: The cult of stagnated updates is at once exhilarating and unnerving. It's exhilarating because it leaves the player wondering exactly where these craftsmen of the strategy minutiae will go next, and it's unnerving because Phantom Brave ' s reworking is a bridge too far for all but the most dedicated of videogame strategists." In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 33 out of 40 for the original game, and 32 out of 40 for
22932-405: The dark power that he has stolen from the minions of Sulphur that he killed and by Sulphur's increased influence in the area, Sprout attacks Ash and Marona. When he loses to Ash he kills himself with his sword, Shiva, in an attempt to stop Sulphur within him, but Sulphur materializes anyway. Ash and Marona battle it out with Sulphur, but in spite of their best efforts, Sulphur is merely weakened and
23128-449: The development of tactical RPGs has diverged on each side of the Pacific, and the term "tactical RPG" is sometimes reserved only for those titles that were created in Japan. One of the earliest Japanese RPGs , Koei 's The Dragon and Princess , was released on NEC 's PC-8001 home computer platform in 1982. This game can also be considered a precursor to the tactical RPG genre. It used
23324-453: The enemies present to continue. To leave a random dungeon, one must either clear every floor, or use a Dungeon Monk's Return skill, which costs money proportional to the current depth. While between battles, Marona can return to her home; Phantom Island, where she can summon (create) new phantoms to aid her in future battles. The player starts off by being able to create characters from a limited selection of classes, but each class of enemy that
23520-556: The final battle of "Another Marona" it is revealed that he is actually the fabled Merchant of Death , and was responsible for the spreading darkness that killed everyone. Four characters that originate from the Disgaea series (Laharl, Etna, Flonne, and Vyers) become playable characters upon completing certain post-game content. Myao, one of Marjoly's henchwomen from the Marl Kingdom series game Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure , also makes
23716-554: The first major steps Iwata had made based on the company's research was directing the development of the Nintendo DS , a handheld incorporating dual screens including a touchscreen , to revitalize their handheld console line. In 2003, Iwata met with Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda to discuss their market research. Iwata instructed Takeda "to go off the tech roadmap" for this console, but said it had to be appealing to mothers. Iwata wanted their next console to be capable of playing past Nintendo games, eliminating clutter in houses. Takeda led
23912-470: The form of a linear series of floors, although occasionally a floor may have a special named layout ( for example, "Self-Styled God" floors have a stronger enemy in the center of a terraced layout ). These floors occur randomly and confer an extra bonus upon completion. Unlike in Disgaea, where to descend to the next floor one may merely move a character to a certain panel, in Phantom Brave one must defeat all
24108-442: The freedom to choose their own destiny, with difficult moral decisions, such as whether to follow a Lawful path by upholding the oath of loyalty and slaughter civilian non-player characters on the leader's command, or follow the chaotic path by following a personal sense of justice and rebelling, or instead follow a more neutral path. Such factors affect the game's ending, which is also affected by decisions such as whether to obtain
24304-481: The game, it also successfully implemented a modified job system , previously used in Final Fantasy V , which allowed the player to change a unit's character class at any time during the game and learn new abilities from job points earned with each class. The game was acclaimed for both its highly tactical gameplay and its well-written storyline that touches on issues such as class, privilege, religion, and politics. The game's reputation led to other developers adding
24500-484: The game, players in Europe were only offered the downloadable PSN version. The game was ported to Steam on July 25, 2016. The PC version has all of the added content in both The Hermuda Triangle and We Meet Again . It was also released on August 31, 2021 on Nintendo Switch and PC as part of the Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 1 compilation. A sequel, titled Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero ,
24696-403: The game. Marona is a 13-year-old girl who has the ability to see and communicate with phantoms, a set of abilities collectively known in-game as "Chartreuse". This power enables her to make a living as a Chroma, a kind of adventurer-for-hire, despite being at such a young age, but it also makes her feared and shunned by other people, many thinking that she is possessed. She lost her parents when she
24892-497: The gaming demographic. This proved to be a success as the Wii would become a social phenomenon globally throughout 2007. It took several years for the Wii to launch in other regions. It was released in South Africa on September 30, 2007, South Korea on April 26, 2008, Taiwan on July 12, 2008, India on September 30, 2008, and Hong Kong on December 12, 2009. Nintendo had planned work with its localization partner iQue to release
25088-632: The gaming industry. BBC News ' technology editor Alfred Hermida wrote that Nintendo's struggle to match Sony and Microsoft in the home console market made success crucial. The console, still named "Revolution", was formally presented to the public at E3 2005 . The motion controller interface had not yet been completed and was omitted from the unveiling. Iwata held the console above him with one hand to emphasize its size relative to its rivals. A smaller device meant it would draw on less power as to not overheat, and thus appealed to parents who were willing to have an attractive, small, power-efficient device in
25284-408: The highly regarded Silent Storm engine . Other titles inspired by Jagged Alliance include Brigade E5: New Jagged Union (2006) and its sequel, simply titled 7.62 (2007), by Russian developer Apeiron; Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge (2007) by GFI Russia; and Jagged Alliance: Back in Action by bitComposer Games. The Brigade E5 series incorporates an innovative hybrid real-time system
25480-405: The idea of presenting these similar to a row of televisions each set to a different television channel as if in an electronics shop, creating the "channels" concept. A user can navigate to any channel window to bring that to the forefront, whether to launch the game or application or to get more information that was being displayed. For example, the Forecast Channel would display a brief summary of
25676-430: The included Sensor Bar , which is placed just above or below the television display, as to track the relative orientation of the Wii Remote towards the screen. This gives the Wii Remote the ability to act as a pointing device like a computer mouse on the television screen, with an approximate 15 feet (4.6 m) range for accurate detection. In addition, the Wii Remote features traditional controller inputs, including
25872-511: The inclusion of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games was released in Europe on November 18, 2011, in collaboration with Sega . Nintendo later revised the North American bundle by replacing the prior pack-in game and soundtrack with the original Wii Sports duology; the new bundle was released on October 28, 2012. The Wii Mini (model RVL-201) is a smaller, redesigned Wii with
26068-555: The inspirations behind the 2005 turn-based strategy computer RPG, The Battle for Wesnoth . The first game in the long-running Super Robot Wars series is another early example of the genre, initially released for the Game Boy in 1991. Another influential early tactical RPG was Sega 's Shining Force for the Sega Genesis, which was released in 1992. Shining Force used even more console RPG elements than earlier games, allowing
26264-553: The item to confine another phantom or take items back from the battlefield permanently, or for bomber units. Depending on their class, each phantom has a certain chance of acquiring the item he is confined to, bringing it back to Phantom Isle when the battle is won. Phantom Brave has a gridless system in which each character can move a certain number of dm in each turn. The terrain also has traction and pliability characteristics, which affect how long characters continue to slide along after they stop moving and how high they bounce when
26460-478: The leader, and where battles are large-scale with characters sometimes filling an entire screen. Master of Monsters , developed by SystemSoft and released in 1989 for the MSX2 , added fantasy characters and magic attacks to the gameplay of the wartime combat Daisenryaku series, which had instead opted for tanks, planes, and other vehicles of real-world modern combat. Master of Monsters also added experience bars for
26656-414: The lightest of the three major seventh-generation consoles. The Wii may stand horizontally or vertically. The Wii Remote is the primary controller for the console. The remote contains a MEMS-based three-dimension accelerometer , along with infrared detection sensors located at the far end of the controller. The accelerometers allow the Wii Remote to recognize its orientation after being moved from
26852-408: The line between a role-playing game, turn-based grand strategy wargame , and simulation video game . Similarly, Kure Software Koubou's Silver Ghost (1988) combined elements of both tactical RPGs and action RPGs, while Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen (1993) blurred the line between a tactical RPG and a real-time strategy. Metal Gear Acid (2004) blurs the line between a stealth game ,
27048-439: The line even further by incorporating tactical RPG gameplay with both real-time strategy and third-person tactical shooter elements, including over-the-shoulder manual aiming and a cover system . This has led to the game being described by one source as "the missing link between Final Fantasy Tactics and Full Spectrum Warrior ". In an interview with Eurogamer, X-COM developer Julian Gollop mentioned how surprised he
27244-425: The living room. Iwata reportedly used a stack of three DVD cases as a size guide. The prototype held by Iwata was black, but at release the following year, the console was only available in white. In their book on the console, two Loyola University Chicago professors suggested that Nintendo was inviting comparisons with Apple 's first iPod line. Iwata later unveiled and demonstrated their current prototype of
27440-505: The local area's temperature and short-term weather forecast, while clicking on the channel brought up an interactive globe that the user could manipulate with the Wii Remote to explore real-time weather conditions across the Earth. The Wii launched with six channels: the Disc Channel which was used to launch Wii and GameCube titles from an optical disc; the Mii Channel to create Mii avatars;
27636-449: The majority of Europe for €249.99 . Nintendo planned to have around 30 Wii games available by the end of 2006, and anticipated shipping over 4 million consoles before the end of the year. As part of its launch campaign, Nintendo promoted the Wii in North America through a series of television advertisements (directed by Academy Award winner Stephen Gaghan ); its Internet ads used the slogans "Wii would like to play" and "Experience
27832-491: The middle of play. The game received generally favorable reviews from critics, though was not as well-received as the series' more traditional RPG titles. Soldiers of Anarchy (2002) is a squad-based real-time tactics computer game by German developer Silver Style Entertainment . Gameplay involves squad tactics, vehicles and a wide variety of weapons and ammunition. The game received mixed reviews from critics. Freedom Force (2002) and its sequel, Freedom Force vs.
28028-627: The most powerful class, which can only be acquired by making a tragic sacrifice. Another feature was "Warren's Report", a type of database on the land, people, encounters and races of Valeria (similar to, but much more expansive than, the troves of knowledge in Mass Effect ). Although this game defined the genre in many ways, it was not widely recognized by American gamers because it was released to American audiences several years later. Final Fantasy Tactics shared some staff members with Tactics Ogre and shares many of its gameplay elements. A prequel to
28224-414: The most recent Wii games, which were released on July 9, 2020 (more than 13 years after the Wii's launch). On January 27, 2020, Nintendo announced that it will no longer repair any faulty Wii consoles in Japan starting on February 6 due to a scarcity of spare parts. In building the Wii, Nintendo did not aim to outpace the performance of their competitors. Unlike the company's previous consoles, they built
28420-435: The most successful to date, and was the second Nippon Ichi game released in North America, the first being Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (published by Atlus). Throughout this generation, companies have recognized the large audience and popularity of these types of games, particularly Atlus and Nintendo. La Pucelle: Tactics and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness , which Atlus re-released due to high demand, have become cult hits for
28616-416: The new revision in August 2011 as a replacement for the original Wii model which it was discontinuing in certain regions including Europe and the United States. The new unit in its bundles was priced at $ 149.99 , a further reduction for the Wii's MSRP at the time of $ 199.99 established in September 2009. The console was first released in North America on October 23, 2011, in a black finish, bundled with
28812-423: The offline Wii Mini, though the Wii Shop Channel remained available. Nintendo discontinued production of the Wii in October 2013 after selling over 100 million units worldwide, though the company continued to produce the Wii Mini unit primarily for the North American market. The WiiConnect24 service and several channels based on that service were shuttered in June 2013. Support for online multiplayer games via
29008-460: The only one to "survive" their unfortunate demise. He is usually careful and well-intentioned, if overprotective of Marona, but is sometimes known to frighten the unwary when he accidentally speaks aloud while concealed in his phantom form. He frequently objects to Marona's selfless behavior. A werewolf who impersonates Raphael of the White Wolf Army in order to steal from people who have heard of Raphael's renowned fighting prowess. He later returns in
29204-591: The original Tactics Ogre , Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis , was later released for the Game Boy Advance. A remake of Let Us Cling Together was later released for the PSP in 2011. In 1996, the tactical role-playing game Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War also featured a non-linear branching storyline, but instead of using an alignment system, it used a relationship system resembling dating sims that gave players
29400-513: The original Marona has. In order to avoid confusion amongst the people of this reality's world she goes by the name 'Carona' instead. Whereas Marona is both carefree and optimistic, Carona is usually serious and pessimistic, although she does show a twisted sense of humor. Her goals and intent are both unknown, and she mostly keeps to herself when she's not training Marona and company for their upcoming battle with Sulpher. Carona appears in Ivoire just after
29596-415: The phantoms can only be confined to the physical world for a particular number of turns. The number of turns that a character can stay confined is based upon their class. For example, a witch can stay on the field for three turns, while a soldier lasts eight. While a high confine is desirable for continuous use of the character, a low confine number is actually advantageous if the player intends to either reuse
29792-414: The player could control over thirty units at one time and fight against scores of enemies. Since Der Langrisser in 1994, the series offered non-linear branching paths and multiple endings . The player's choices and actions affected which of four different paths they followed, either aligning themselves with one of three different factions or fighting against all of them. Each of the four paths leads to
29988-584: The player to progress through the game and the story in whatever order they wish. In addition, instead of having separate screens or maps for exploration and battle, the game features a seamless transition between exploration and battle. This time period also saw the Western debut of Fire Emblem in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (simply titled Fire Emblem outside Japan). On seventh-generation consoles, Sega 's Valkyria Chronicles (2008) for
30184-556: The player to reorder a character or weapon's spells and skills, and Blacksmiths combine mana with weapons to either level them up or to awaken latent skills hidden in the weapon. Phantom Isle hides several secret items and character classes, such as the Changebook, which allows the player to switch the character they explore the map with. Phantom Brave has a series of extra maps following the main storyline. These post-game maps offer more powerful enemies and feature cameos by some members of
30380-524: The player to walk around towns and talk to people and buy weapons. It spawned sequels, Shining Force II for Sega Genesis and Shining Force CD for Sega CD, besides the Shining Force Gaiden 1, 2 and 3 for Sega Game Gear and Shining Force III for Sega Saturn. The game's creator, Camelot Software Planning 's Hiroyuki Takahashi, cited Kure Software Koubou's 1988 tactical RPG, Silver Ghost , as his inspiration. One game released solely in Japan for
30576-440: The player typically controls a finite party and battles a similar number of enemies. Like other RPGs, death is usually temporary, but this genre incorporates strategic gameplay such as tactical movement on an isometric grid . Unlike traditional RPGs which are traditionally single-player, some tactical RPGs feature multiplayer play, such as Final Fantasy Tactics . A distinct difference between tactical RPGs and traditional RPGs
30772-524: The player's dialogue choices that lead to different endings, as well as Sega's 1997 Shining Force 3 , SCEI 's Arc the Lad Collection (1996–1999), and Square's 1997 Final Fantasy Tactics and 1999 Front Mission 3 . Konami's Vandal Hearts was an early PlayStation title that helped popularize tactical RPGs in the US. It was released by Konami and featured a 3D isometric map that could be rotated by
30968-400: The player's hand. Up to four Wii Remotes could connect wirelessly to a Wii, with LED lights on each remote indicating which controller number the Remote had connected as. The remote is battery -operated, and when the Remote is not powered on, these LED lights can display the remaining battery power. A wrist-mounted strap is included with the Wii Remote, with one end affixed to the bottom of
31164-491: The player. A sequel was subsequently released, also for the PlayStation. One of the first 32-bit tactical RPGs, Guardian War , was developed by Micro Cabin and released in 1993 on the Panasonic 3DO . While the game lacked in story, it included many game mechanics that are seen throughout many of the 32-bit tactical RPGs; like isometric camera rotation, interchangeable and hybridization of "jobs" or "classes" for each character,
31360-415: The players had to direct, oversee and command multiple characters. Unlike later tactical RPGs, however, Silver Ghost was not turn-based , but instead used real-time strategy and action role-playing game elements. It also featured a point-and-click interface, to control the characters using a cursor. A similar game released by Kure Software Koubo that same year was First Queen , a unique hybrid between
31556-513: The previous three games, Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown , was released to less-than-positive reviews in 2015. In 2014 the tactical RPG Blackguards based on the German The Dark Eye pen-and-paper setting was released to mixed or average reviews. A sequel, Blackguards 2 , was released one year later. In 2014, The Banner Saga was released, the first chapter of a TRPG trilogy that would lead to two sequels . 2015 saw
31752-718: The random-draw, forethought and resource management appeal of card battles like in Konami's own Yu-Gi-Oh! games (1999 onwards). Developer Kuju Entertainment released Dungeons & Dragons Tactics for the PlayStation Portable in 2007. The game intended to adapt the rules and mechanics of the popular table-top role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons , but suffered from a poor interface and awkward camera controls. The Atlus title Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (2009) blended together both traditional and tactical RPG gameplay along with non-linear adventure game elements. It also featured an innovative demon auction system and
31948-701: The range of exercises using the Wii Balance Board, the accessory can be used in other third-party games that translated the player's balance on the unit into in-game controls such as Shaun White Snowboarding and Skate It . Namco Bandai produced a mat controller (a simpler, less-sophisticated competitor to the Balance Board). One of Iwata's initiatives at Nintendo was focused on "quality of life" products, those that encouraged players to do other activities beyond simply sitting and playing video games as to promote physical wellbeing. The use of motion controls in
32144-468: The red Wii system bundles feature the Wii Remote Plus, with integrated Wii MotionPlus technology. The prefix for the numbering scheme of the Wii system and its parts and accessories is "RVL-" for its codename , "Revolution". The base Wii console had a model number of RVL-001, for example. A cost-reduced variant of the Wii (model RVL-101) was released late into the platform's lifespan that removed
32340-600: The release of Invisible, Inc. for OS X, Windows and Linux. It has been described as a "tactical RPG that mixes stealth with procedural generation", since it introduces elements of espionage and roguelike gameplay. It received generally favorable scores from reviewers. A version for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch has been released. In March 2017 the German indie developer Overhype Studios released its tactical RPG Battle Brothers out of Early Access to generally favorable reviews. This mercenary company simulation
32536-507: The release of Rebelstar: Tactical Command (2005) by X-COM creators, Nick and Julian Gollop . The game would be highly praised for adapting the combat mechanics of the highly detailed and acclaimed PC strategy series, but would also receive criticism for sub-par presentation, a lackluster storyline, and lack of link-mode support. The game ended up receiving an average score of 77.83% at GameRankings . In early 2006, Idea Factory 's Blazing Souls featured nonlinear gameplay that allows
32732-615: The same developer, Julian Gollop . They did not, however, feature the statistical character development and strategic map of the later series. Bokosuka Wars (1983), a game regarded as the progenitor of the strategy/simulation RPG genre, is also difficult to clearly define. While often referred to as a strategy/simulation RPG, it is also sometimes referred to as a prototype real-time strategy , an early reverse tower defense game, and an early action role-playing game . Nobunaga's Ambition (1983) and later Koei titles as well as Capcom's Destiny of an Emperor (1989) have blurred
32928-522: The same time, featured a similar "World" system that allows players to revisit key plot points and make different choices to see how the story unfolds differently. Atlus title Growlanser IV: Wayfarer of the Time (2012) features a unique battle system that blends turn-based and real-time strategy. The player controls each character in turn, but the actions play out in real-time. Imageepoch 's title Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari ( Final Promise Story ) for
33124-400: The series was never released outside Japan , South Korea and Taiwan . The latest game, Vantage Master Portable for the PSP , was released on April 24, 2008. Jagged Alliance is a tactical turn-based RPG series developed by Sir-Tech Canada released in 1995, with a sequel released in 1999 . A third game in the series , developed by Haemimont Games and published by THQ Nordic ,
33320-704: The surrounding environment. Notable examples include the Jagged Alliance series (1994-2018) and the Silent Storm series (2003-2005), with many titles owing considerably to the X-COM series (1994-2016) of strategy games. In fact, Western PC games in the genre were largely defined by X-COM in much the same way as Eastern console games were by Fire Emblem . Lords of Chaos (1990) came about when Julian Gollop wanted to add more role-playing elements to his 1985 video game Chaos: The Battle of Wizards , which
33516-402: The team building the console's hardware components, and Miyamoto spearheaded the development of a new type of controller, based on Gyration's motion-sensing technology. Iwata had proposed that this new console use motion sensing to simplify the gaming interface, increasing appeal to all audiences. An initial prototype was completed within six months. The Nintendo DS was said to have influenced
33712-480: The two gaming systems would be identical. Miyamoto also stated, "if the DS had flopped, we might have taken the Wii back to the drawing board." Prior to E3 2004, Iwata had referred to Nintendo's upcoming console offering as the GameCube Next (GCNext or GCN). Iwata first unveiled some details of Nintendo's new home console at E3 2004 under the codename "Revolution", as Iwata believed the console would revolutionize
33908-479: The unit. Nintendo strongly encouraged players to use the strap in case the Wii Remote accidentally slipped out of their hands. Nintendo recalled the original straps in December 2006 and provided a free, stronger strap as a replacement, as well as packaging the new strap in future bundles after the company faced legal challenges from users that reported damage to their homes from the Wii Remote slipping from their hands while playing. In October 2007, Nintendo also added
34104-430: The various buttons on the controller and relayed that to the Wii. The Wii launch bundle included the console; a stand to allow the console to be placed vertically; a plastic stabilizer for the main stand, one Wii Remote, a Nunchuk attachment for the Remote, a Sensor Bar and a removable stand for the bar to mount on a television set, an external power adapter , and two AA batteries for the Wii Remote. The bundle included
34300-411: The video game industry, such as adapting to online gaming. He also thought that video gaming had become too exclusive and wanted Nintendo to pursue gaming hardware and software that would appeal to all demographics. Nintendo's market analysis found that their focus on novel hardware had created consoles that made it difficult for third-party developers to create games for, hampering their position. One of
34496-464: The way. It is also considered to be an early prototype real-time strategy game. Another notable early example of the genre was Kure Software Koubou 's 1988 PC-8801 strategy RPG, Silver Ghost , which was cited by Camelot Software Planning 's Hiroyuki Takahashi as inspiration for the Shining series of tactical RPGs. According to Takahashi, Silver Ghost was a simulation action type of game where
34692-524: The word "Tactics" to their titles to indicate the tactical RPG genre. It was later ported to the PSP as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions and is still regarded as one of the greatest tactical RPGs of all time. On sixth-generation consoles, a loyal American fan-base has been established by Nippon Ichi , makers of the PlayStation 2 games La Pucelle: Tactics , Phantom Brave , and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness . Of these games, Disgaea has been
34888-530: The world and make friends. However, after helping Castille's family on an assignment, Marona and Castille become friends. Marona leaves Putty (a mischievous nature spirit found on an assignment) with Castille to keep her company when Marona is unable to do so. Signs of Sulphur returning to Ivoire in full force become more apparent. Earthquakes increase in frequency and monsters plague the land, with lesser forms of Sulphur known as Wraiths appearing to attack Ash and Marona. Marona and Walnut are forced to team up, and it
35084-611: The world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion." The name resulted in criticism and mockery. Forbes expressed a fear that the console would be seen as juvenile. BBC News reported the day after the name was announced that "a long list of puerile jokes, based on the name," had appeared on the Internet. Some video game developers and members of the press stated that they preferred "Revolution" over "Wii". Nintendo of America's Vice President of Corporate Affairs Perrin Kaplan defended
35280-496: Was also the first to bear the name "Tactics" in the title, a term gamers would come to associate with the genre. Not only are characters moved individually on a grid, but the view is isometric, and the order of combat is calculated for each character individually. The game also expanded the non-linear alignment system of its predecessor, with three types of alignments for each unit: Lawful, Neutral, and Chaos, neither of which are portrayed as necessarily good or bad. The game gives players
35476-458: Was available in Japan on November 11, 2010, commemorating the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. The European version of the limited-edition red Wii bundle was released on October 29, 2010, which includes the original Donkey Kong game pre-installed onto the console, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Sports . The red Wii bundle was released in North America on November 7, 2010, with New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Sports . All of
35672-483: Was considered the killer app for the console; other flagship games included entries in the Super Mario , Legend of Zelda , Pokémon , and Metroid series. Within a year of launch, the Wii became the best-selling seventh-generation console as well as a social phenomenon in many countries. Total lifetime sales of the Wii had reached over 101 million units, making it Nintendo's best-selling home console until it
35868-670: Was described as a "cleverly constructed, carefully balanced board game". Other games combine similar mechanics, but typically belong in other genres. Tactical wargames such as the Steel Panthers series (1995–2006) sometimes combine tactical military combat with RPG-derived unit advancement. Avalon Hill's Squad Leader (2000), a man-to-man wargame utilizing the Soldiers at War engine, has also been compared (unfavorably) to X-COM and Jagged Alliance . Rebelstar (1984) and Laser Squad (1988) were precursors to X-COM created by
36064-517: Was first released on December 7, 2012, exclusively in Canada with a MSRP of CA$ 99.99 . It was later released in Europe on March 22, 2013, and in the United States on November 17, 2013. The Canadian and European releases did not include a game, while Mario Kart Wii had been included in all launch bundles in the United States. Nintendo added several best-selling and critically acclaimed Wii games to its Nintendo Selects label and marketed those alongside
36260-404: Was first released on November 18, 2012 in North America; November 30, 2012 in Europe and Australia, and December 8, 2012 in Japan. Nintendo continued to sell the revised Wii model and the Wii Mini alongside the Wii U during the Wii U's first release year. During 2013, Nintendo began to sunset certain Wii online functions as they pushed consumers towards the Wii U as a replacement system or towards
36456-481: Was firstly named "GameCube Next" as a placeholder. The price of the new console was originally envisioned to be as low as 100 euros but the NAND flash memory desired by Satoru Iwata would force that price to slightly more than the double. Miyamoto cited Dance Dance Revolution 's unique game controllers as inspiration for developing new input devices. Later on September 24, 2001, Nintendo began working with Gyration Inc.,
36652-495: Was five, but Ash, a friend of her parents and a former Chroma-turned-phantom, came back to protect Marona after the demise of her parents and himself. Ash is the phantom of a young man who protects Marona. When he was alive he worked alongside Marona's parents as a Chroma. After dying along with them, he found himself stuck between life and death, thanks to the efforts of Marona's father. He has since sworn to watch over and protect Marona, feeling that he owes Marona's parents for being
36848-456: Was formally announced as the Wii in April 2006, a month prior to E3 2006 . Nintendo's spelling of "Wii" (with two lower-case "i" characters) was intended to represent both two people standing side by side, and the Wii Remote and its Nunchuk. In the company's announcement, they stated: "Wii sounds like 'we', which emphasizes that the console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around
37044-530: Was inspired by cyberpunk works such as The Matrix , Blade Runner , Ghost in the Shell , and Philip K. Dick novels; and Metalheart: Replicants Rampage is a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk tactical RPG inspired by Jagged Alliance , Syndicate , and Fallout . COPS 2170: The Power of Law is set in the same "Reality 4.13" universe that first appeared in Paradise Cracked . Hammer & Sickle (2005)
37240-570: Was later ported to the PlayStation , along with Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen . Both of the PlayStation re-releases were marketed in North America by Atlus , as was Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber for the Nintendo 64 . Tactics Ogre's gameplay is more similar to the genre of tactical RPGs that Final Fantasy Tactics belongs to (which was developed by former members of Quest and created/written/directed by Yasumi Matsuno ), complete with battles taking place on isometric grids. It
37436-479: Was more of a tactical wargame. Incubation: Time Is Running Out (1997), part of the Battle Isle series, was one of the first strategy titles to use fully 3D graphics and support hardware acceleration on the 3dfx Voodoo . Other titles in the series are mainly tactical wargames featuring vehicle combat and base capturing. The game was generally well received by critics. Gorky 17 (1999, a.k.a. Odium )
37632-476: Was ported to the PlayStation Portable with added features under the title Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle . Siliconera teased gamers with a "puzzlehunt", giving them the quote "Maybe that means thank you?" This puzzlehunt eventually came to be the announcement that Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle was set for release in North America and Europe. While US players got both PSN and UMD versions of
37828-436: Was released alongside Wii Fit in December 2007. It is a wireless balance board accessory for the Wii, with multiple pressure sensors used to measure the user's center of balance . Wii Fit offers a number of different exercise modes which monitored the player's position on the board, as well as exercise gamification, as to encourage players to exercise daily. In addition to use in Nintendo's Wii Fit Plus that expanded
38024-449: Was released in 2023. Shadow Watch (2000) is a video game adaptation of the Tom Clancy's Power Plays novel of the same name developed by Red Storm Entertainment . It has also been compared to X-COM , though it features a different action point system and is missing the latter game's upgradable units. The game's reception was mixed. Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (2001)
38220-435: Was slain by Sulphur's hand 30 years ago. Once the famed wielder of a holy sword, he has sworn to kill Sulphur and avenge his family, turning to the use of dark powers in order to achieve his revenge. He is the former mentor of Raphael, and one of the warriors known as the 9 Swords of Ivoire. His signature technique is the power "Dark Eboreus". An alternate version of Sprout joins the player's party in "Another Marona". Leader of
38416-466: Was surpassed by the Nintendo Switch in 2021. As of 2022, the Wii is the fifth-best-selling home console of all time . The Wii repositioned Nintendo as a key player in the video game console marketplace. The introduction of motion-controlled games via the Wii Remote led both Microsoft and Sony to develop their own competing products—the Kinect and PlayStation Move , respectively. Nintendo found that, while
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