Initial release date 1988 Artist Yoshitaka Amano | Developer Kure Software Koubou Mode Single-player video game | |
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Genre(s) Real-time strategy RPG
Action RPG Platforms Super Nintendo Entertainment System, PC-9800 series, Microsoft Windows, X68000 Publishers Culture Brain, Kure Software Koubou Similar Culture Brain games, Tactical role-playing games, Other games | ||
First Queen (ファーストクイーン, "First Queen") is a real-time strategy-action RPG video game developed by Kure Software Koubou. It was first released on the Sharp X68000 and NEC PC-9801 computer platforms in Japan in 1988, and then subsequently released on the Super Famicom as First Queen: Ornic Senki in 1994 and Microsoft Windows as First Queen 1 in 2001. The game had three sequels. The series was also notable for featuring art work by Yoshitaka Amano, who would later gain fame for the Final Fantasy series.
Gameplay
First Queen was a unique hybrid between a real-time strategy, action role-playing game and tactical role-playing game. Like a role-playing video game, 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, where the player controls a large army rather than a small party. The game introduced the "Gochyakyara" (ゴチャキャラ "Multiple Characters") system, where the player controls one character at a time while the others are controlled by the computer's artificial intelligence that follows the leader, and where battles are large-scale with the characters and enemies sometimes filling an entire screen. Kure Software Koubou employed this "Gochyakyara" system in their later games.
High fantasy creatures are controlled like later Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness characters. The object is to defeat all the enemy forces and occupy their villages. The player chooses where to start the battle. Winning means moving on the next battlefield and losing usually means game over. Unlike Warcraft II however, new buildings or villages cannot be built, making it more of a war game.
