Military Madness

1989 · Strategy · TurboGrafx-16

Overview

Military Madness is a turn-based hex strategy game set on the Moon, pitting Allied forces against the Axis Naxos military in a campaign of 16 battles. The game is widely regarded as one of the finest strategy titles on any console of its era, offering deep tactical play with a variety of unit types across lunar terrain.

Deep Dive

Military Madness — known in Japan as Nectaris — was Hudson Soft's attempt to bring the depth of PC hex wargames to the console audience. Set in a future lunar war between the Allied Earth forces and the invading Axis Naxos faction, the game unfolded across 16 scenarios of escalating complexity. Each scenario was played on a hex grid representing the lunar surface, with terrain features like craters and mountains affecting unit movement and combat effectiveness. Players commanded infantry, artillery, tanks, air units, and specialised siege weapons, each with distinct attack and defence profiles. The game's combat system used a probability-based resolution mechanic — attack and defence strengths combined with terrain modifiers to determine outcomes, requiring players to carefully position units before committing to engagements. Capturing factories replenished unit supplies and unlocked reinforcements, adding a resource management layer to the tactical decisions. The AI was competent enough to provide a genuine challenge across the campaign's later missions, something rare in console strategy games of the period. Military Madness earned exceptional critical praise and developed a cult following that persisted for decades. The Nectaris franchise continued in Japan with multiple sequels, and a remake was released for PlayStation Network in 2009. The original TurboGrafx-16 version is cited by strategy game historians as a landmark title that proved the genre could work on consoles without compromise, influencing later console strategy games including Advance Wars.

Developer Story

Military Madness (Nectaris in Japan) was developed by Hudson Soft. Set on the Moon, it is a turn-based strategy game on a hex grid in which players capture factories and use terrain and supporting units to wear down the enemy across sixteen maps.