With a summer release date, Tactics Ogre Gaiden is right around the corner in Japan, and new information has surfaced on a Japanese website about the game's mechanics and place in the overall Ogre Battle scheme of things. Tactics Ogre Gaiden will not comprise an entire chapter of the game's storyline, but will rather fill in the space between Ogre Battle 64 and Tactics Ogre. In another twist, the game will follow the story of the Lodis knight, a Galician. Up until now, Galicia has been cast as the enemy in the games; the Lodis knight, who the player will take the role of, marks a change in this regard.

Many hallmarks of the Ogre Battle series return in Tactics Ogre Gaiden, including the laborious training mode. To ease the pain of this mode, however, players will now be able to train head-to-head with a friend using the GameBoy Advance link cable. Map tilesets will be similar to Tactics Ogre; sizes of up to 32 tiles squared will be possible, and up to eight units can be used in battle. Also returning from the original will be terrain compatibility, which depends upon the weather and a character's elemental alignment; statistical bonuses will be received for proper conidtions, and more powerful spells will be available to change field conditions. Elements such as direction and terrain elevation will also play a factor.

Tactics Ogre Gaiden should be available in Japan this summer. No North American release information has been forthcoming at this point, but a release is probable. Tactics Ogre Gaiden is for the GameBoy Advance.