Quest's cult tactical RPG, with majestic staging and an original alignment system. Long, dense, still spellbinding today.
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Category
Tactics1 player12+
Description
Epic Quest strategy in which an army liberates a continent from an empire's grip, American version. Published by Atlus, released in the USA in 1995. Troop deployment on maps, automated battles, moral alignments shifting with actions and complex adult political scenario. American version of Yasumi Matsuno's Ogre Battle masterpiece.
Ogre Battle - The March of the Black Queen review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
Quest dresses its military fresco in tarot imagery: every card drawn between battles is a full page illustration, a medieval allegory painted with workshop care. On the field the tiny units advance across a dense campaign map, and the recruitment portraits are a constant reminder that an army is a sum of faces.
From the pen of Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, the music deploys a medieval orchestra of rare nobility and breadth, worthy of a grand martial epic. Each liberation battle rises to the scale of a fresco, supporting the strategy with gravity. This symphonic finesse already heralded the duo's genius.
Leading a rebellion against a tyrannical empire, a young commander sees his choices weigh on the fate of a whole continent. Reputation, morality and multiple endings weave a political tale of surprising maturity for its time. This epic tactics game, demanding and branching, left its mark on lovers of narrative strategy.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"Mild"
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Assembling your units, deploying them on the map, then watching over your reputation blends real-time tactics and moral management with rare depth. Liberating a city, recruiting a creature, or aiming for a better ending constantly throws up fresh objectives. The system demands patience, but this strategic epic grips for the long haul anyone who takes the time to tame it.
Difficulty
"Difficult"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Freeing an entire continent from imperial grip is no sprint: you deploy composite units across vast maps, chain automatic battles and, above all, watch a moral alignment that shifts with your choices and shapes the ending you earn. Recruiting the best troops, unearthing hidden units and chasing a flawless reputation invite fresh runs toward the ideal finale. That blend of demanding tactics and Matsuno's mature scenario fuels its lasting cult status.
Complete: box, manual and disc/cart very clean. Lightly handled.
Q1 damagedQ6 completeQ10 new
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Collector interest
A 1995 US SNES Atlus/Enix release, the Western localisation of Quest's 'Densetsu no Ogre Battle'. The US cart was distributed in very limited quantities at the end of the SNES cycle, which makes US boxed CIB one of the most expensive tactical RPG grails on the market. Graded sealed prices climb hard, sustained by extreme physical scarcity and by the global stature Yasumi Matsuno gained from his later Square work.
Is Ogre Battle - The March of the Black Queen still worth playing in 2026?
Densetsu no Ogre Battle - The March of the Black Queen is a tactical RPG by Quest, sitting between real time strategy and JRPG. Composed units move across a strategic map and trigger automated battles whose outcome depends on placement and moral alignment. The Ogre Battle political fresco is sweeping and the multiple endings encourage replays, provided the player accepts a calm pace and a demanding system. Recommended to fans of dense SRPGs and grown up fantasy frescoes.
