release date of June 22, 2000. The team held a launch party to celebrate with their families, before they were dispersed into other projects. Along with the standard release, SNK also released a limited edition packaged with the NGPC. The release was supplemented by a guidebook published by Enterbrain in July, and a novelization written by Masaru Takeuchi and published by MediaWorks in September. The novel's cover art was created by Ogura. The game was never announced for a Western release, and the commercial failure of the NGPC meant it would never happen: Aruze acquired SNK and shut down its North American offices in 2000. It remains the only Ogre Battle title not to have an official English release. A fan translation is currently being worked on, with the most recent update in 2019. Reception During its first three days on sale, Prince of Zenobia reached eighth place in game sales charts, selling over 14,200 units. This was noted as high sales for an NGPC game, which had a very low market share compared to other portable consoles. In a preview of the game, IGNs Peer Schneider positively noted its many replicated mechanics, and expressed excitement for any possible Western release. GameFans Eric C. Mylonas, in a preview of Ogre Battle 64, criticized the lack of localization for Prince of Zenobia in reference to the niche status of Ogre Battle as a whole. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu was generally positive about the title, calling it an accurate reproduction of the Ogre Battle series gameplay, with criticism focusing on shortcomings caused by its hardware limitations. Spanish gaming magazine GamesTech noted Prince of Zenobia as SNK's "definitive attempt" to attract fans to their platform, citing its graphics as some of the system's best and noting its ease of play. In 2014, HobbyConsolas listed Prince of Zenobia as one of the twenty best games for the NGPC. Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 described the title as "not remarkable, but it’s definitely worthwhile", noting both its replication of series gameplay on the platform and its scaling back of mechanics following the release of Ogre Battle 64. Both Kerry Brunskill of Nintendo Life and Siliconeras Graham Russell mentioned Prince of Zenobia as a Neo Geo title deserving a modern re-release. In 2023, Time Extension also identified Prince of Zenobia as one of the best games for the NGPC. References Notes External links 2000 video