 Turbo Drunk Do you like games like Advance Wars? Well, back in February 1990, Hudson Soft released a tactical strategy game called Military Madness for the TurboGrafx-16. It's included in the TurboGrafx Mini, and it's easily one of the best games in that collection. While the title makes it sound like it could be Henry Kissinger's autobiography, the game itself is straightforward and you'll recognize a lot of familiar-looking scenes, like the transition to combat, which looks just like Famicom Wars released in Japan a couple years before this. The basic gist of the gameplay is also very similar, and if you're at all confused about how these games work, Military Madness actually has the manual in the game itself. It explains what each unit is on the map and how the map's topography can work for or against you. It explains direct attacks, indirect attacks, defense, and so on. This intro is 15 minutes long, but if you're already somewhat familiar with turn-based tactical games like this, you'll find everything pretty intuitive, even if you skip this. The story takes place at the end of the 21st century. Earth is overcrowded, so it's time to start firing people off to the moon to live there instead. But there exists an evil Axis Empire that wants to use the moon to launch a supreme atomic missile, which will destroy the earth. Why? Uh-uh, for fun, I guess. So it's up to you to fight the Axis Empire in a series of turn-based battles. There's 16 basic maps to complete, finish those, and you'll unlock 16 advanced maps. Each map provides a set number of units you can use. Throughout the game, you'll get up to three kinds of infantry, seven types of ground units, three kinds of aircraft, three types of artillery units, as well as two kinds of missile units, two kinds of anti-aircraft defense units, two kinds of transports, and even mines you can place to block areas. In other words, right from the get-go, this game gives you a lot of stuff to manage. The goal of each map is to either capture the enemy prison camp, or just, you know, completely wipe out the enemy entirely. The game starts out real simple. You select the unit you want to control, then select the shift option in the upper right to move it, with each unit having its own range. I do like how the game uses an hexagonal map instead of a basic grid. That adds a bit of a wrinkle and gives the player more options on how to proceed. After you place your unit, you can attack, and the battle plays out in a cutscene. It starts out easy-peasy, but the game does a great job slowly escalating the difficulty of each map. Eventually, you'll have to deal with different kinds of terrain, and that's a big focus that you'll need to get familiar with. Each unit has its own stats that'll show you how effective it will be, and that's really the name of the game here. Familiarizing yourself with each unit type and putting them in the best possible position to succeed, and that's a lot easier said than done. Here's an example of how a battle plays out. This map is gonna force us to go all the way around up top to get to the enemy base, so you load your infantry into transports to get them going, while baiting your opponent into an attack with your air units. That keeps your opponent distracted and allows you to come around and take over these factories here, so you can repair any units that have been damaged in battle. You can't be too aggressive, so don't move in too closely, or you'll be in range of enemy fire from their aircraft, where they'll have a clear advantage. You'll notice before each attack, the game quickly calculates how the battle will go, depending on terrain, the type of units fighting, and the placement of other units that might be nearby, among other things. You get extra firepower if you're able to get more than one unit in enemy range, they don't attack directly, but they offer support. You're always gonna wanna look to exploit mismatches, like here, where you can take your Eagle aircraft units and just bomb the heck out of these Hawkeye anti-aircraft missile units. That's an easy example, but the game really ramps up the complexity and difficulty as you progress. Battles start out only about 10 or 15 minutes long, but later battles can last well over an hour. The advanced maps are no joke. Thankfully, there is a password system, so you don't have to beat this one in one sitting. But hey, if you're sick of playing against the computer, Military Madness does support a second player, and despite the learning curve, it's still relatively easy to get the hang of compared to other strategy games. One thing I gotta point out is the music. Overall, it's really good, which I find to be pretty important in strategy games like this, where there's a lot of plotting, scheming, and strategizing. But I can't help but be distracted by the song that plays when you first start, because it sounds like It Doesn't Matter 2 by Depeche Mode. I would compare it directly, but this video would probably get flagged for copyright. So you'll just have to take my word for it as I lay here with you and the shame lies with us, and we talk of love and trust. That doesn't matter. So yeah, Military Madness isn't just an anti-war song written by Graham Nash. It's also one of the best games for the TurboGrafx. It does have a bit of a learning curve, but having the manual IN THE GAME is fantastic. It makes everything much easier. The difficulty balancing is great, the flexibility to try different approaches with different units is always fun, and though some battles may drag a bit, most of them fly right by. Military Madness got a whole bunch of ports, mostly for computer systems like the PC9801 and the Sharp X68000, and it also got an updated edition on PlayStation under the title Nektaris Military Madness. There's also a sequel you can check out called Neo Nektaris that was released only in Japan for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM add-on. So if you like strategy games like this, you can't go wrong here, and even if you're brand new to strategy games, Military Madness is noob-friendly, so check it out any way you can. Alright, I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day!