Virtual Console Reviews

Took a chance on this game and was pleasantly suprised, combat can be suprisingly strategic with terrain and formation all being taken into account. You'll definitley get lots of hours out of this one.

You may have loved such games as Advance Wars and Panzer General (both terrific) and never have heard of Military Madness, the game that I would assume is the inspiration for them both.

The graphics and story may be unsophisticated, the music may get repetitive, but the essential gameplay and strategy are very strong. Overall this is a great example of turn-based warfare, probably the best that will be on VC for some time (until Warsong--dare I hold my breath?) so if you don't mind a game that WILL kick your ass if you dont pay attention, it is definatly worth some time.

p.s. The mobile version of this game has several interface improvements over the VC version. Unfortunatly the AI seems dumbed down to the point of trivializing much of what makes this game exciting.

BEST STRATEGY GAME EVER! The units are very unique, and not a copy from another military game. The sound, and music adds to the dynamic hex game-play! To bad that someone does not make this game like a Battlefield 2142 game!

Wow. I agree with Free on this one. Enjoying the heck out of it. The terrain makes it very interesting, and I'm actually enjoying the low difficulty level. The suspend feature makes it great, too - like coming back to a long running game of chess. Maybe not perfect, but definitely fun!

I've downloaded it and t's pretty similiar to the (Super) Famicom Wars / Advance Wars franchise.

The gameplay is generally the same, even the battles look the same.

After each win you get a short password, so you can continue later on.
It has it's own dark feeling throughout. you need good strategy to know your units and the terrain to kill most of the enemies.
if you like turnbased war games this one's for you. 4/5 stars

I think i might get this... if i can only get two TG-16 games, should this be one of them? I think Bomberman '93 will be one of them, but i'm leaning to either this or Soldier Blade for #2.

Alex: It really depends on what sort of games you prefer. They are all very different. Maybe pose your question on our forum for more suggestions: http://www.vc-forums.com

Best strategy game until we get a SuperFamicom Wars release (HOPEFULLY!!)

I really enjoy the game. And 2 player is pretty good, although I wish there were more maps. I really like that there is a set number of units, and I love how the factories work; It adds a lot to the strategy of the game. And it's something Advance Wars does not have.

This is one of the greatest war games that I've ever played.
I really wanted to beat it, but now I just keep myself occupied with this now that I know the password to every level. I love the way the troops look in battle. Recommended for war/stragety game fans.

Is two player good in this? I'm really interested in it... just need something to tip the scale.

This game is very awesome. A high quality strategy game, and it isn't the easiest one either! Will keep you occupied for a while, methinks. Looking forward to playing the 2 Player against someone else... 4 and a half stars!

Well i found this game to be great .
I downloaded it because it sounded a bit like Advance Wars before i read anr reviews (silly me).
And it turned out great i would even be willing to pay 1200 for a game like this .
Great

Man after all these years of not being able to get a copy for the TG, I got this and was dissapointed. The computer basically flattens me by level 3-4, and after that it's frustrating. Maybe it's me (most likely.) I prefer Metal Marines over this any day.

It's not that hard once you learn the ZOC element. Once you master that it's addictive as hell.

Don't have it for wii, but I have it for mobile. I'd reccomend it. The only problem is that it's a bit too difficult for my tastes, but it's worth it.

Really? I've only had trouble up to the advanced mode near the ending, but I love strats to death

I just downloaded this! It is so much fun with multiplayer, and single player is just as fun

I'm not too crazy for the password systems (and that goes for most games ). I'm just to damn used to saves.

Many hours of play await you. 5/5

YOU HAVE TO LOVE STRATEGY GAMES TO ENJOY THIS! This is NOT a pick up and play, entry level game in the genre. That having been said, if strat games are 'your bag', this is a chance to play a classic and while is can be a bit rough on you at times, it's worth the work. PASSWORDS SUCK. Period. That's a little piece of retro I can't be nostalgic about.

Unedited review, but did I ever touch on the multi-player? If I didn't in the review, honestly its not so good because the maps are hard to balance! Anyways:
Military Madness (developed and published by Hudson Soft), called Netaris in Japan, was one of the earliest titles released for the TurboGrafx-16. This game is a tradition war turn-based strategy game, a lot like Advance Wars…12 years earlier (and without the cartoon feel). In fact, it was really revolutionary back in the day; praised by critics and it sold modestly well in the states despite the TG-16’s commercial disappointments. In turn though, the series never gained a foothold in America, as Hudson would’ve planned, due to the TG-16’s failure in the console wars. But anyway, the game has now been revived on the VC and I had to download it to see if Military Madness had lost its luster, like many other games over the years.
Graphically, the game is very basic especially when compared to other TG-16 titles. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t look horrible or anything, but they’re fundamentally high-end NES graphics. To make matters even worse, the game is set on the moon…so don’t expect any scenery. The good thing is that these sort of games don’t really need good graphics, so it passes in that units, terrain, and so on can be told apart on the map screen. The best graphics that this game has to offer are the battle scenes; while not technically amazing, they tend to be cool and somewhat dramatic. The same goes for music in MM sadly. The soundtrack itself isn’t the problem, it’s fairly done, but the sound quality kills it. The sound effects also are okay if tending to be fairly weak.
Now after all that baggage, I have to say that, Military Madness has some truly great gameplay. Surprisingly, this game has not been made obsolete versus Advance Wars due to some of its own innovations (it wasn’t revolutionary for nothing!). The biggest difference this game has is its support system. Basically, it’s a system that gives units extra attack/defense depending on other surrounding units in the battle. For example, visualize attacking a vastly superior tank with two squads of light, weaker tanks. If you surround the superior tank, its attack and defense will be cut in half trying to fend off both attackers. The system is excellent, because it brings a whole bunch of tactics to the table. Besides that there is also a system called the Zone of Control (ZoC), this system reflects which side has the overall control over the particular zone you are in. The more control you have, the easier it is to move your units about, the less control you, your units will struggle to gain land. Finally there is also an experience system, somewhat like RPGs as units gain war experience through tougher battles. This can be crucial; a veteran artillery unit should be feared and destroyed at all costs upon seeing one, while a rookie anti-air gun won’t cleanly clear your skies for you in one try. All the systems work well, making the game feel fun, challenging, unpredictable, and realistic, especially when considering MM’s age. And not to be boring, there is also a wealth of units in the game, some of which you haven’t seen in other games (like the Rabbit). This rounds the game out nicely since you’ll find yourself weighing if your defensive tank will be able to fight against a squad of berserker like buggies.
Another great thing about the game is how long it is. With 16 long battles to fight and an extra advanced mode (with 16 levels of its own) that have even bigger and riskier battles to contend in; there’s a lot to do. Not to mention that even though the game will start out pretty easy (depending on your tactical mind), a good while into the normal mode it’ll start getting tough and when you get into the advanced mode, those battles are going to be long and nail biting. This game will really give you a run for your money with 40+ hours of war! On the other hand, the value of the game is weird, Hudson has ported this game many times, but only one of those ports ever made it to America. Nectaris: Military Madness was released on the Playstation, but it honestly wasn’t too good of a port and is a hard find itself. This game is pretty rare too; it can go for a pretty penny on eBay. Besides that, if you’re a European gamer, the game and the system never even came to be sold there, besides a weird spin-off released in Germany on the computer, making its first European release (and no extra price tag)!
For 600 points, that’s a seriously good deal and even if by the chance you do have a TurboGrafx-16, buy it here anyway, it’ll be much cheaper. The game itself has some fantastic gameplay, truly one of the best war turn-based strategy games I’ve ever played. I found it also to keep me interested much longer than competing VC games, well worth its small price tag. The only let down that I found with this game is its bland graphics, unattractive sound quality, and its slapped on multi-player mode. Thankfully, all of these things were fixed in the game’s only true sequel, Neo Nectaris on the Turbo-CD. Arguably better than this game, it was set to release in America dubbed Military Madness 2, but it was cancelled due to the death of the TurboGrafx-16. Now that’s an import title I’d love to see on the virtual console.
OVERALL- B+

I'm a fan of Advance Wars so this game interested me. I had never heard of this game and bought it based on the review here. I have to say I'm quite pleased. If you're a fan of turn based strategy games I think you'll find Military Madness is worth every bit of 600 Wii Points.

This is one of the few games that my best friend and I agreed we would never play against each other. We tried it a few times, but it always ended in an argument.

There are 16 levels in the first half, then you play back through the same maps with different equipment for the second half. The levels aren't very even, some are definitely harder than others. There were apparently only a few different ways that battles would go down. Sometimes, the game would give you more of an edge than others. I found that I could play the first battle and know whether I was being given the edge or not. Specifically on the 16th level, NECTOR, I would turn on the TG, play the first battle, and see how many tanks my forces killed. I did this several times and I noticed that the number I killed was not random, but was usually something like 3, 4 or 5. I would keep resetting the game until I got it to kill 5, then I knew it would be easier to defeat that level. It seemed like if it was any less, I would not have enough turns to destroy all the units before it got back to safety or a factory to restore the lost units. It was that slight edge that allowed me to win that level.