Unlike other strategy games, you can watch and participate in battles in Dragon Force.

One of the reasons Dragon Force is such an addictive experience is that, despite the fact that there are already eight generals to play as, there is a ton of hidden stuff in the game. You'll find everything from secret locations to explore to hidden characters to fight (including a vampire and a robot) to secret items. The only catch--and it was a doozy--was that the game required 284 blocks of memory for a save file, which meant you could only have one saved game in your Saturn (and not much else) at any given time. Fortunately, the game supported the RAM backup cartridge for game saves. In fact, Working Designs encouraged you to use the cartridge by including a Dragon Force sticker for it.

Dragon Force featured an RPG-esque storyline that pitted you against an evil god who was a little crabby after being imprisoned.

The strategy genre has always been a tough one to break out to the masses. On paper, the chance to direct armies in epic battles against enemy forces certainly looks appealing. Unfortunately, strategy games rarely deliver such a heady experience in practice. Venerable strategy franchises, like Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, end up offering deliberately paced experiences that are heavy on menus and text and low on action. However, back in 1996, Sega bucked that trend with Dragon Force, a strategy game for its Saturn console that blended the visceral pleasure of seeing massive armies clash in real time with the more cerebral resource management typical of the genre. A first-party release in Japan, the title would've missed a US release had it not been for Working Designs, longtime publisher and champion of the fan favorite import, who released the game in the US later the same year.

Dragon Force's story was pretty typical for an RPG but not so much for a strategy game. The massive continent of Legendra (you just have to love those old-school names) is in a bit of a bind. The ancient and evil god Madruk is trying to escape his magical prison just when a war is brewing among the eight major countries. The game lets you play as a general from one of the kingdoms and charges you with "uniting" the land in order to stop Madruk from escaping. In this case, "unite" means "beat everyone into submission until they agree to help." It seems the key to keeping Madruk imprisoned lies with the eight leaders coming together. While that's a tough order, given their interpersonal strife, it's nothing a little overwhelming military force can't cure.

At first blush, the game looks a lot like any other old strategy game, with its menu-driven interface and mandatory interaction with your advisers (where you managed your forces between the various territories you occupied). But when you moved around the world map and tried to take a property, things changed drastically. While you weren't able to take direct control of your military forces in battle, you could change their formations. The array of warriors you could assemble was a nice assortment of normal and mythic creatures. You'd find standard human soldiers and cavalry, along with dragons, mages, and harpies, among the ranks of potential fighters. The contests took place on themed battlefields that let you get a good look at your army, which could grow to be up to 100 strong. You had the option of involving your general in the fight (a man who ordinarily stood immobile at the back of his forces) by executing different attacks that inflicted serious damage to the opposing forces. Best of all, if the opposing armies finished each other off, the generals in charge of each force would duke it out one-on-one.

The graphics in Dragon Force followed the same deceptive tack as its gameplay. The world map and menus were pretty unremarkable, but the graphics for the battles were incredibly cool. The opposing armies were displayed in massive formations of animated sprites that you would see attack and advance. The battles were always an extremely cool roll of the dice as the various soldier-types had a rock-paper-scissors relationship to each other's attacks. For example, archers were the spectre of death to harpies, who themselves were devastating to standard soldiers. There was nothing better than seeing wave after wave of enemies drop because your troops had the advantage over their forces. At the same time, there was nothing worse than the beginning of a fight wherein your proud army of harpies was about to engage a horde of archers. Toss in the dramatic special attacks by your general, which caused all kind of onscreen mayhem, and you had a fine blend of strategy and visceral gameplay that was eminently satisfying.

In the end, Dragon Force stands as the rarest of strategy games. The game managed to walk the fine line between offering an experience that featured a good amount of strategy and resource management with accessible gameplay. As an added bonus, cool visuals captured the charm of massive armies clashing. It's an achievement that's rarely been accomplished on a console, and it's is one that has yet to be matched on a current system, which is why Dragon Force is one of our greatest games of all time.

While I'm a fan of strategy games, I have to say that they require a distinct mind-set to play. The menu-heavy interfaces, the copious amounts of reading, and the constant gauging of the virtual moods of the various forces you're battling against doesn't really pass for a light and breezy experience. But, whereas all that resource management and diplomacy is traditionally a chore, Dragon Force's light approach offered an accessible experience that veterans could dig and newcomers to the genre could develop a taste for. The battles were the first of their kind on a console, pitting opposing armies of up to a hundred warriors against one another. Additionally, they offered a nice change of pace from resource management. The sound, especially the roar of the armies, was really outstanding for its time. The sheer volume of stories to play through, coupled with the extras that became available when you went through the game, offered meaty adventures that were so engaging that you didn't mind playing through the game several times. I ended up logging in something like 80 hours as I went through the game with every general. I can honestly say it was quality time. There haven't been many games on consoles that have managed to offer such a good mix of strategy and action in such an accessible package.