Herzog Zwei

Herzog Zwei (Zwei is pronounced Tsvai, German word for 2) was an early Real Time Strategy game developed by Technosoft and released in 1989 for the Sega Genesis. It is the sequel to the Japan-only 1988 Strategy Game Herzog for the MSX. Some think that Herzog Zwei introduced most of the conventions of the Real Time Strategy genre and is the earliest example of a game with a feature set that falls under the contemporary definition of modern Real Time Strategy. The game is thus incorrectly regarded by many to be the Ur Example of the Real Time Strategy genre, predating Dune II by several years. Bet these people never heard of Nether Earth (which came out two years earlier on several 8-bit platforms and is suspiciously similar in description and gameplay), but saw a much more narrow distribution (Commodore 64 never reached the popularity of the Mega Drive).

In the game, two opposing players each control a robot that can transform into a fighter jet. This robot is used to build and deploy weapons such as motorcycles and tanks across a battlefield. Infantry can be used to capture neutral and enemy bases, which provide fuel for the mecha, money, and places to deploy weapons from. If one player's mecha is destroyed, it simply regenerates at its headquarters after a few seconds. The game is won by using units to destroy the enemy's headquarters.


 * All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The game introduced the ability to capture bases and the goal of destroying the enemy base.
 * Artificial Stupidity: Given that it was an early real-time strategy, the unit pathfinding abilities are... less than impressive. It's not uncommon to see, for instance, tanks driving into ravines.
 * Competitive Multiplayer: The game introduced the competitive multi-player feature to the strategy genre.
 * Easy Logistics: Early aversion. Both the mecha and units require fuel and ammunition; the mecha regains them from a base (in addition to repairs), while the units regain them from supply trucks.
 * Excuse Plot: The entire plot is summarized on the back of the box and never mentioned in-game outside of the ending.
 * Glass Cannon: The cannon unit. It can kill even the player mecha in a few shots, but has little health for its price.
 * Gratuitous German: The title and level names.
 * Hero Unit: The mecha, from which the player does everything.
 * Money Sink: Issuing orders costs money. For the most part, this is cheap enough that it only slightly slows the player down, but ordering a unit to attack the enemy headquarters will often cost more than the unit itself. This can either drag things out or give the losing player the edge needed to make a miraculous recovery.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Inverted. The mecha's weapon can't damage a headquarters, so it must be done by deployed units.
 * Spiritual Successor: The Brutal Legend multi-player is inspired from Herzog Zwei, and plays like a Heavy Mithril hybrid of Zwei and Sacrifice.
 * Oh, and have we mentioned Battlezone 1998 and Tanktics already?
 * And Guilty Gear 2: Overture, although it deviates a bit more from the formula than some of the other successors.
 * Air Mech now joins the rest of the successors.
 * Transforming Mecha: The player's vehicle.
 * Trope Maker: The game popularized, if not introduced, most of the details which will be later brought into the RTS genre as a minimum. However, both Herzogs were the first ones to introduce the multi-player mode to this medium.
 * Worker Unit: The introduced the creation and use of worker units to collect resources.
 * You Require More Vespene Gas: The game introduced the need to acquire resources in order to construct more units.