Classic Game Room - HERZOG ZWEI 2015 review for Sega Genesis

Herzog Zwei review!!
Classic Game Room re-reviews the amazing HERZOG ZWEI for Sega Genesis / Sega Mega Drive by Technosoft released in 1989!! The ultimate realtime strategy game is so good that CGR review it twice. Control a transforming mech and launch waves of tanks as you battle a computer or human opponent and destroy their home base.

[@Bluith]

HERZOG ZWEI MUST BE RE REVIEWED EVERY YEAR FROM NOW ON

[@ianduarte1992]

+Bluith we have spoken! now that shall be the profecy until the end of the world!

[@iftekharahmed6799]

Bluith Sega announced at the Tokyo Game Show that they now own the property.

[@elsquibbs]

Herzog Zwei was one of the best 3 games on the Genesis IMO.

[@steve5123456789]

+elsquibbs The reviews at the time trashed it.

[@elsquibbs]

steve5123456789 Yes that is true.

[@patrickdunigan3485]

TyrantsHerzog ZweiGeneral Chaosmy fav 3 sega games

[@rootykazooty351]

Wow, it's amazing to hear that Herzog Zweii got bad reviews on release. Maybe they didn't understand this genre. Herzog Zwei is often considered the first real-time strategy game, although RTS elements can be found in several earlier games. The Japanese version of HZ is in English, and a lot less expensive to buy.

[@henrymyatt1298]

the other two games are truxton and truxton

[@defset]

Favorite Genesis game.

[@pumataino]

I played HZ tons as a kid. One of my favorite Genesis games so I'm happy to see the love it gets on CGR. I play AirMech now which I believe was created by fans of HZ since it never got a proper sequel.

[@133col]

This game was too much ahead of it's time.

[@rootykazooty351]

Agreed. it's really stood the test of time. Great game. Apparently it wasn't very well received back then. Possibly they didn't understand this genre. Herzog Zwei is often considered the first real-time strategy game, although RTS elements can be found in several earlier games.

[@MusicWizard85]

Starflight on Genesis which was ported from PC was even more ahead of its time. It literally inspired Star Control 2 and the Mass Effect series. Plus the booklet that came with the game was huge and contained lots of back story.

[@roguerifter9724]

There were RTS elements in older games but a lot of major PC RTS games and franchises had developers who were inspired by playing this.

[@parallaxcraze958]

The Mega Drive / Genesis has such a fantastic library with incredible depth overall whether in terms of gameplay & / or content including many games with cool concepts like here with Herzog Zwei or the Road Rash serie; Gaiares; Ecco; Toejam & Earl..

[@gpl992]

Yes even the RPGS and Action Adventure

[@ForeverLacey09]

Awesome review, this is by far my most played Genesis game of all time!

[@alldamnnamesaretaken]

What I loved to do was build up a huge army of infantry but huge, and then sending them all on the attack, it was tedious but the army on the march and raining bullets on his base was fun

[@lazarushernandez5827]

Once I took over all of the sub-bases, I liked to surround the enemy's base with SAMs, turrets and supply trucks, and then send infantry from all over to make their way to the base and whittle away at it. The enemy player was helpless as he would be blown up as soon as he spawned.

[@samfrito]

Fan boy Mark has pretty good taste. HZ was the first rts I ever played on console and it rocked my world in proper Tecnosoft fashion.

[@trollmastermike52845]

HZ was my first RTS ever

[@Archades6969]

This game is on my top 5 older gen games of all time. Anyone else feel like it is kind of Obscure?

[@RyanKentBarnhart]

The great grandfather of the modern real time strategy game. When this game first came out the media clearly didn't understand it - Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a whopping 4.25 out of 10 rating. My friend Andy and I could teach college level classes on this game, we played it to death. And 25 years later I'm still playing and enjoying it, take that EGM!

[@HyperioGames]

And your first review convinced me to drop the 30$ on what became one of my favorite genesis games of all time. Neat that you gave it another review too, hopefully inspiring others to do the same.

[@ChrisXMetal]

The most underrated game on the Sega Genesis. One of my favorites ever!

[@Warmaker01]

I loved this game, and me and my friends had some long, intense matches against each other. What's funny was my Dad got the game for me at the same time he got the Genesis for me. He loved this game more than I did. It's a 1989 game. I graduated from high school in 1993, shipped off to Boot Camp that summer. When I went on Leave to visit my parents throughout the 1990s, my Dad still had that old Sega Genesis hooked up. He still played Herzog and Dune on it. Dad never had a fancy computer at home, I was never able to show him the majesty of Starcraft in the late 1990s.

[@Frozen_Sherbet]

Is this what Airmech was based off of?

[@LeafhopperV]

+CyberDinosaur87 Damn sure seems like it doesnt it?

[@segagenesis1989]

+Leafhopper +CyberDinosaur87 +John Heater +JediWindex +XrossFade That's because it is.

[@huskpl3yz358]

better than this 8-Bit version imo

[@whosaidthat84]

11んÐ尺ムアムん乇レЏノζ乇刀イ乇ん 16 bit*

[@Ostnizdasht206]

Airmech definitely was inspired by Herzog Zwei that's for sure.

[@papajohnbrazil7284]

this is my childhood game. so amazing. thanks for uploading

[@Toyaddict81]

I couldn't resist and bought the game! Thanks for such a great review.

[@trackermusicforever]

Just got this game recently on Switch, it is so much fun, and this review really brings that out! That last battle you showed on hard mode was super impressive

[@Geforcefly]

CGR Mark knows that this is something special when a game is reviewed more than once, just like Berzerk on the Atari 2600.

[@VezixHaikal]

heck its even A VERY DETAILED REVIEW!! DO MORE LIKE THIS MARK

[@expectingbrainchild1707]

Mark is the best reviewer because he's knowledgeable and passionate about games.

[@RetroGamePlayers]

One of my favorite Genesis games ever! I also like Dune which is pretty cool and another early RTS.

[@LedmeisterOnYouTube]

+Retro Game Players Dune rocked. Back in the day I played that, Herzog, and Star Control on the Genesis relentlessly. Good times. :)

[@SwankeyMonkey]

+Ledmeister Aaahhhhhhh.... Star Control on the Genesis. Good times. Excellent 2 player game to spend many hours playing, in any one sitting.

[@RetroGamePlayers]

+Dyskhord yeah I love Dune, so if you can get it for around 17 or less I would say grab it! And yes Buck Rogers is a great game by SSI!! Thanks for subbing and I'm on my way to check out your channel now..

[@LedmeisterOnYouTube]

+Dyskhord Just for some clarification in case anyone's wondering: There was a game for Genesis/Megadrive CD simply called Dune; But what I was referring to in shorthand, and what I think Retro was referring to, is 'Dune: The Battle for Arrakis', which is a somewhat scaled-back and streamlined port of a PC game that was originally titled 'Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty' (re-titled 'Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis' in Europe). Many elements of these games were later folded into the first Command & Conquer game, starting that whole series off. Anyway, Dune: TBFA is a great game if you're looking for Real-Time Strategy gameplay on your Sega. A bit similar to Herzog Zwei in some ways, but deeper and more complex overall.

[@RetroGamePlayers]

Ledmeister Yep Dune the Battle for Arrakis was so much fun, and had much in common with Command and Conquer. There was also a Dune game on Sega CD, which was not an RTS but a good game in its own right.

[@pirategreytooth]

almost 30 years later and this music will still play in the background in my brain at any given time. There's a wonderful comfort to it, I can't put my finger on it, just has the best feel.

[@giffwingsg3402]

omg i thought i was the only one that loved this game. my fav of all time. the problem is i can't find it

[@NeoVejiita]

Not used to seeing you playing games "smart" :P This game looks like it was way ahead of its time!

[@witheredmedia]

this soundtrack has been stuck in my head for 30+ years

[@noherekruger3738]

My favorite game on Raspberry Pi. Just never gets old.

[@SSGLGamesVlogs]

A *critical* discovery we made quite a few battles after, is that you can *change* the orders of units that already have been made. True, doing that costs extra cash, but it allows you to mass tanks up before quickly going over each one and then change their orders. A friend did not knew that trick, and could not understand why his base was suddenly under attack by many tanks at once. Comparing Herzog to Airmech Arena (XB360) is was very sad to discover the latter didn't have splitscreen, thus the reason I never played that. Also, it appears units do not run out of fuel and ammo, making Herzog superior in the logistical part of battles. Here's hoping Airmech 2 has splitscreen. All there is now is Nintendo's Pikmin series.

[@Blazer1988]

This game is so great. I played it over and over back in the day. I was going to bring up how I remembered the reviews not being too good but someone did it for me. Any way they were wrong, big time.

[@ClassicDOOM]

Yay, #1 Reviewer reviews #2 Duke for the, um, zwei-th, time! Love it. Except that it was just last week when I finally got the game's music tracks out of my head. Now it's gonna be at least another couple decades...

[@glitchunicorn]

I wish Sega would re-release this game!

[@JediWindex]

If you like this game and can't find it try playing Air Mech Arena. I'm not sure but it looks like it was heavily inspired by Herzog Zwei.

[@kenwheeler3637]

Had never heard of this one, Mark. Looks like something that demands all of your attention. I'll have to try it out.

[@stanmilkowski3550]

This game is awesome. It would be fun to see a live stream of you and CGR staff playing this. Or another multi-part episode review in a playlist. Very cool.

[@hue4512]

This brings back a lot of memories!

[@Player-wp6fp]

This game has sort of been reimagined as air mech arena

[@jimmay1988]

Air Mech Arena was a knockoff remake of this game on Steam, not as fun tho.

[@TheL1arL1ar]

Wow a minute in and I'm paying attention to the music and it rocks!

[@nattdal4985]

I would love to see a re-review of Truxton :D

[@chriscalvert4609]

natt dal *TRUXTON

[@gamehulk]

Man, I dumped countless hours into that game as a kid. Thank you for re-reviewing it in HD. However, I was hoping for the full-on onslaught: surrounding one of your bases with 30 tanks with stationary orders, then changing orders on all of them to "base attack" all at the same time (tossing in about 5 boats for good measure too), ensuring they all hit at the same time. There is no sweeter victory. Maybe 50 motorcycles would be fun to watch too. :)

[@Thraith]

What a great game. The great memories of all those 2v2 vs friends. This and Master of Monsters.

[@shadowontheson]

I love this game Mark, as a child I never knew how to pronounce it but I spent a small fraction of my childhood protecting my base and sending fleets to divide and conquer all of my friends, love sneaking up to the opponents base and dropping a tank at their backdoor lol

[@nervecentral]

This was the first game soundtrack that blew me away when I was a kid.

[@jopiaspieder1184]

One of the best Sega Genesis games ever made. The soundtrack was awesome, game play was great.

[@AnTran147]

Welp, I have Truxton, so I now I need this game for my Nomad.

[@pixelatedicon6579]

Fond memories of playing this with my brother. Amazing game.

[@jexthegamer]

Mark, I like how your channel is evolving again. Great stuff.

[@beefcurtainz69]

We need Q&A Thursdays again!!!! Damn those were so great!

[@antoniusmaximus3174]

I loved this game as a kid, I can see where Air Mech got their ideas from.

[@kooky216]

I like this format, do more!

[@genocidekhaos9775]

I was lucky to have this game. Very fun, yet challenging.

[@sewart]

You have the most incredible taste in games!

[@lyrand6408]

That type of game-play reminds me of MOBA games (I.E. one "main" hero unit to do everything with, and let the A.I. of your other units do the work). I never played Herzog Zwei unfortunately but I've heard about it a couple of times before. I'll definitely try to buy it at some point, it looks pretty fun.

[@Undeadspelldragon]

i can't believe this game exists, this si so cool!

[@devoncecchinelli4130]

we need a review for the switch re-release, the hud addons are gamechangers

[@moxy1701]

Great music and a very captivating game!🙂

[@googleBot89]

Where is the review for Herzog Eins ? ;)

[@jellydonut0]

According to Wikipedia Herzog Zwei is the first MOBA ever made.

[@Danowarthemanowar]

I’m excited to play this on the switch.

[@FunkMastaMegaFlex]

I remember your old review of this game!!!! fuck it looks awesome, but also very challenging!!!

[@angryretrogamer7313]

Best rts game to this day Thanks for the video

[@johneygd]

1989, formed not only the beginning of the sega genesis but also become the beta age of the 2000's.

[@muhanc.a.9299]

Ethel The Cyborg Ninja is back!

[@leocalinawan8429]

could be, that pronunciation isn't so important but 'z' in German is pronounced as 'ts'...eventually goes: Her(ts)og or (ts)wei ...awesome review and bring on more of it)))

[@gochadc]

I love that you love it so much :), gonna check the game out.

[@leoviper]

We need now Truxton 2015.

[@ImmortalInflames]

Was very enjoyable watching you play!

[@Ostnizdasht206]

Such an underrated game. I played this a lot as a kid.. that is until a "friend" of mine stole it.

[@DerekDomino71]

I loved this game and wish I still had it. My friend kicked my ass every time, but damn, it was fun.

[@GraveUypo]

having played air mech arena, which is just this game if it was made in 2014, i can assure you, it's fun as hell

[@riseagainstfb]

omg fav game ever for Genesis .... so many hours ... there's a game on the xbone called air meck and wow it's great and though not exact it's very close ... should check it out awesome people ...

[@gamerguy425]

you might want to re-work the title. You had me thinking Technosoft suddenly rose from the grave (again) and released a remake/sequel to this on the genesis. Even a review as awesome a yours can't live up to that kind of hype (although to be fair that game was kind of made, it's called airmech store.steampowered.com/app/206500)

[@jimmay1988]

I still hold deep grudge of my brother kicking my ass every time in this great sega RTS. There needs to be an online server made for this game's PC emulator.

[@Sega_is_all_i_cd]

This reminds me of Air Mech Arena that I use to play on my Xbox 360

[@emmapeel38]

Comic World in Winnipeg had this ('91), there were only 3 used Genesis games that day, I had played the other two, it was only $5, so what the hell, sold. I couldn't have been less enthused getting it, got home, and a friend and I quickly got the hang it, played it the whole weekend, and it felt like I had struck gold. This game was so ahead of its time. This game and Star Control in particular, got TONS of gameplay from '91-'93. What a gem!

[@suukbang]

One of my favorite games of all time!

[@Axonteer]

So as i understand you can either let your units drive/walk/sail to the enemy by themselfs or you carry them one by one there?

[@lazarushernandez5827]

I know, late reply... Both actually. Each unit had commands available to it: Stationary, Patrol, Defend, Attack the nearest base, Go to Nearest base(exclusive for infantry) and attack the main base. Not every command was available for every unit: for example the turret had no means of locomotion, so didn't have any movement commands obligating you to carry these units to the field. Once you ordered a unit to be built though, it could be picked up from any base under your control. One strategy was to build up multiple units with the Stationary command (the cheapest one), and when you have a small force built change their instructions to Attack a base or the main base.

[@johnheater6697]

Airmech reminds me of this game.. But to be honest, this game is probably like 10 trillion times better

[@1simo93521]

That's because Air mech is a modern remake of Herzog Zwei. Without the licence they had to call it something else.

[@bryonmiller4326]

Technosofts soundtrack completes this almost perfect gaming package. I wish AirMech was able to get technosoft to do the music for their game. Or at the very least, a mod of some sort to put the Genesis sound files into their current game and play that music instead of what came with airmech.

[@MillzSzn]

The game was shouted out on the song Proto Culture

[@cj694x2]

I like your hat, Mark

[@gamesthatiplay9083]

Well now I know where Air Mech got its ideas.

[@brunovelhote8344]

Nice art man... and this voice... im not gay but I love it!

[@Michirin9801]

Nice music!

[@RetroClash95]

I recently got this game and find it difficult to dive into and enjoy right away. I feel like i need a Herzog Zwei tutor.

[@fazr6103]

How did he get Ron Burgundy to do the voice over for this video?

[@crimsonshadow1140]

this needs a port for on switch as a part of the sega ages series

[@nonlegend]

Reminds me a bit of Comet Crash on PSN.

[@gl0wyymage]

This might be a weird question but is there any explanation for his different intros? There always really cool but im always confused lol

[@Jesses001]

It is somewhat rare to see a game like this all the way that far back. Most systems did not have the power to handle a game like that, and it looks like the Sega barely makes it.

[@1simo93521]

It really was the first RTS game ever made. It directly inspired Westwood to make dune2 and command and conquer. The old Megadrive really does well with this game, it could handle a lot of sprites and it this game it does.

[@saigokun]

This looks like a great game. Thanks for posting it. Have you ever played the first version?

[@widdowson91]

Awesome game, but I find it hard as fuck. I've actually learned quite a bit on how to improve my tactics from this video, so thank you.

[@VernonParker]

Thank for the updated review. I do not agree with your strategies however.

[@toddalexander3813]

top 10 games of all time for me, and I have many hundreds. I put in soooo many hours playing this game. loved playing on OASE map, I could muster 30+ tanks to hit enemy base by building them in advance and then releasing them sequentially and moving closer and closer to the enemy base as I did it. All the tanks would hit at roughly the same time, from left side, boats from the sea and many tanks from the south side. It was so satisfying.

[@zacziggarot]

I have this but I can't win any battles, it's cool to see some strategies for it

[@Ninja.Master.Yi.]

This game is really the new airmech arena game how great was SEGA

[@SoftAsABaboonAss]

Revisit the Timesplitters trilogy!

[@MCHellshit]

Have you played General Chaos Mark? I have a feeling SEGA fanboy Mark would love it

[@LordDeBahs]

that was cool game player vs player

[@opuofbengal5935]

What do you think of air mechs, it's a free to play game on the 360 and pc that has very very similar gameplay. I always have a lot of fun with that game.

[@dorkanderson4963]

Used to just load up home base with AA missiles.

[@faradaysage15]

there was another game that looked exactly like this, you actually capture those little square bases and I don't believe you could transform out of the plane. I don't remember... I know it had a German name and I'm thinking this is the same thing but it's not.

[@faradaysage15]

oh maybe this is the same game. it was at least 26 27 years ago

[@SaltyRamen.]

there is an exact copy of this that is free to play right now

[@brandontatum9929]

+XrossFade airmech.com I wouldn't call it an exact copy, but you can definitely tell where the inspiration comes from.

[@SaltyRamen.]

I agree with you. Not to start an argument or anything, but I am saying an aircraft that can be transformed into ground mode and drop your units while RTSing. I am saying an unique and extended complex of gameplay can constitute calling a game clone. ie anything anywhere close to Dungeon keeper is called a keeper clone. :) just my thought.