was the first Ogre Battle to be developed for a handheld game console. The title was produced by Kazuto Kono, and had a team of five programmers led by Kaneko Michiaki. Unlike a standard production, the team assembled itself from across SNK based on self-recommendation and love of the Ogre Battle series, leading staff to compare the game's development to a doujin production. Due to cartridge limitations, some areas and battles from March of the Black Queen needed to be cut. The production proved turbulent for the team, particularly during the mastering process when major bugs were detected. The title was a point of heavy discussion. While "Ogre Battle Gaiden" was chosen at an early stage, the scenario was still in flux and the subtitle was ultimately suggested by Kono in reference to the planned storyline. While the game acted as a side story to March of the Black Queen, it was an original story created by SNK, requiring effort to keep events consistent with the original game's narrative. The scenario was co-written by Hideto Kanzaki and Shinji Goto. Fairly late into production, once the gameplay systems were mostly solidified, the team felt that their narrative was lacking compared to the original. While it was too late to change the overall narrative without a delay, Kanzaki agreed to rewrite the dialogue to be more mature. Still, the game was delayed so the gameplay could be polished and the rewrite could be finished, leading to more costs that could only be covered with a higher sales target. The characters for Prince of Zenobia were designed by Eisuke Ogura, an in-house artist recognised for his work on SNK's Fatal Fury series. When choosing who would create the artwork, all team members submitted artwork in secret to be judged by the team as a whole, and Ogura's artwork of protagonist Tristan was chosen at the suggestion of the game's graphic designer, an artist credited as Shinbo. The staff were impressed at Ogura's competence with the illustration work as he was a relative newcomer in the company. In addition to character designs, Ogura created promotional artwork for magazines. Ogura continued working even through an illness, impressing the rest of his team. Release In September 1999, Prince of Zenobia was announced for release in March 2000. It was later rescheduled for April. SNK displayed the game at the 2000 Tokyo Game Show, with a final