You'd be forgiven for thinking that Dune II was the first RTS game. It was certainly the one influenced the development of Command and Conquer, but the first? No. That honour goes to Herzog Zwei which was released in 1989 by Sega for their Genesis/Megedrive console.
In Herzog Zwei you control a transforming mech in a top-down view. Your mech has three modes; air fighter, ground combat and air freighter. Other units you could construct, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, attack boats, infantry and armored cars, could be programmed with certain tasks and then left to their own devices.
You could play HZ against a pal in split-screen mode or against the computer. The aim to destroy the enemy bases and stop them from destroying yours. In addition to your primary base there were several sub-bases on the map which could be captured. Capturing them increased the amount of money generated and consequently increased the amount of additional units you could field. Since your mech and your units had limited fuel, capturing sub bases was an absolute necessity if you wanted to reach your opponents base.
For a game which is 35 years old it actually hold up quite well. Sure, it looks dated; it was an early 16-bit title after all, but once you get passed the retro look and feel, it's a pretty fun alternative RTS game.
Herzog Zwei was panned on release with many critics thinking it was an overly complex arcade shooter rather than a strategy game, but it regularly features in many top 100 games lists, and is one of the most influential titles of all time.
In Herzog Zwei you control a transforming mech in a top-down view. Your mech has three modes; air fighter, ground combat and air freighter. Other units you could construct, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, attack boats, infantry and armored cars, could be programmed with certain tasks and then left to their own devices.
You could play HZ against a pal in split-screen mode or against the computer. The aim to destroy the enemy bases and stop them from destroying yours. In addition to your primary base there were several sub-bases on the map which could be captured. Capturing them increased the amount of money generated and consequently increased the amount of additional units you could field. Since your mech and your units had limited fuel, capturing sub bases was an absolute necessity if you wanted to reach your opponents base.
For a game which is 35 years old it actually hold up quite well. Sure, it looks dated; it was an early 16-bit title after all, but once you get passed the retro look and feel, it's a pretty fun alternative RTS game.
Herzog Zwei was panned on release with many critics thinking it was an overly complex arcade shooter rather than a strategy game, but it regularly features in many top 100 games lists, and is one of the most influential titles of all time.