I wrote this a few weeks back and, reading today on publication, it seems a little dry and clinical. That’s probably because for the past month I’ve played Disgaea at every available opportunity, my enthusiasm deepening with each level up. It’s the first game that’s managed to get me reaching into my bag for the PSP daily.

Still, as I have tendency to be Captain Hyperbole at times, perhaps the more reserved tone is a good thing. I wrote the Edge review of Disgaea back when it was first released on PS2 in 2003 and, while playing through before anyone really knew anything about the game and there were no associated expectations was desperately exciting (and an increasingly rare privilege), playing today when I have some tactics and plans for my team right from the start is even better.

That the PSP should receive heavily embellished ports of two of the greatest strategy RPGs ever made within weeks of one another is, at once, cause for wild celebration and cause for mild irritation. Celebration because both Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea are astounding achievements of intelligent design, assured form and delightful function; annoyance because the proximity of their second comings will force free time-impoverished players to choose one over the other when, in all honesty, both are fiercely individual games and both make for essential playing.

Disgaea is the younger game by some stretch. First released for the PlayStation 2 in 2003 (as Disgaea: Hour of Darkness) it arrived without fanfare, the creation of an obscure Japanese developer, Nippon Ichi, known only to the most dedicated importers for the musical RPG Rhapsody. Until Disgaea’s arrival the SRPG was a genre deeply entrenched in tradition, the grid-based mechanics – where games play out like two generals moving toy soldiers across a tactical map in a battle for domination – solid and immovable, nobody willing to venture far from their strict rules. Indeed, following 1997’s Final Fantasy Tactics, the near perfect expression and realisation of ten years of preceding tradition, virtually no developer or publisher tried their hand at the genre.

All of which made Disgaea’s arrival all the more of a surprise and goes to show how meteoric the rise of the game and its developer’s reputation actually was. Rather than trying to compete with the strait-laced storyline and aesthetic of all that had gone before, Disgaea instead opts for an irreverent art style and storyline in the style of a universally appealing comedy anime show (Excel Saga springs to mind). Set in the esoteric Netherworld, the game pulls back the curtain on the prissy but loveable anti-hero Laharl as he awakens from a two-year sleep in the belly of a hellish castle. Heir to the underworld kingdom, Laharl’s slumber has meant he missed his father’s passing and, with it, his chance to take the throne. Within moments he’s off, tracking down the usurping rival demon Vyers, who comes to be disparagingly known as ‘Mid-boss’ as the game progresses.

You can read the rest over at Eurogamer here.