Master of Monsters

Master of Monsters is a turn-based fantasy strategy that reached the Sega Mega Drive in 1991 under the Toshiba-EMI label. Unlike the military wargames dominating the genre at the time, it recruits monsters rather than tanks: as a summoner-lord, the player calls creatures into being and marches them across a hex map against rival armies.

The core loop is elegant. Units gain experience and evolve into stronger forms, key points on the map supply the energy for further summoning, and battles frequently turn on who reads the terrain better. It is a slow, deliberate game - the exact opposite of the action-first reputation Sega's console cultivated in those years.

The entry lists support for one or more players, and two people trading turns at a single console was the natural summit of 1990s turn-based strategy - passing the controller gave matches the character of a board game.

Console strategy titles were scarce at the start of the decade, all the more so on Western markets. Master of Monsters therefore stands as a reminder that the Mega Drive was not only home to hedgehogs and shooters but could carry contemplative genres too. The title's roots reach back to Japanese home computers, where hex-based wargames took hold earlier than anywhere else. The console version simplified controls for a gamepad and gave units bolder graphics, while keeping the original's unforgiving logic: no luck will save a badly positioned army.

Better still, OldGame.cz lets you launch this one straight in your browser, so the hex battlefield is a single click away, no installation required.