Ogre Battle: Prince of Zenobia (伝説のオウガバトル外伝 ゼノビアの皇子), released 6/22/2000, developed and published by SNK

After the release of Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre, the main development team for the Ogre games left Quest and joined Square, where they developed Final Fantasy Tactics. OB64 was released in 1999 without their involvement, and (as of 2026) is the last mainline game in the series. After that, there were two “gaiden” (side story) games and then two remakes of Tactics Ogre that are different enough they are almost like new games around the same story.

This game, developed by SNK, was almost like a fan release — it was developed in house by SNK consisting of a team of people who liked Ogre Battle. They licensed the IP from Quest to develop it. What they came up with was a game that is very faithful to Ogre Battle’s system.

As usual you begin with the tarot card questions that determine your initial army makeup and MC stats. The game itself is structured as 13 total stages with 4 secret extra stages, although there are two paths and so you will only play 11 (3 of the 4 extra stages are also route specific) in any one playthrough. The storyline is set during the original OB game, with one of the side characters (Tristan), who tries to take his land back from the enemies.

The gameplay is more or less identical to the original Ogre Battle, although there are some additional unit types, items, and such. But you still liberate towns (based on the alignment of the troops), find hidden areas and items, and fight battles.

The enemies still have very simplistic AI where they just rush you (especially your home base). You do not have to worry as much about your towns being retaken, though, and apparently the drawbacks to sitting on a map for a while to earn money aren’t in this version.

The battles work just like they did in OB; each unit does a set number of attacks depending on their class type and position. After those happen, the battle is over and the “loser” (who took more damage) gets pushed back.

So this game will be appealing for people who liked the original Ogre Battle, and not so much otherwise. As I said in my posts on Ogre Battle (especially the second post), I was not a fan of the original game, and I’m not all that excited about this one either. To me it has all the flaws of the original game plus you have to play it with the more awkward Neo Geo Pocket controls. But, if you liked the original OB it’s worth a play, and there is an English patch.

There is one more original game in the franchise — the Tactics Ogre gaiden game released for the GBA in 2001. After that, it’s just the TO remakes.