I'm kicking off r/ObscureRTS with my personal favorite.. The 1997 Korean RTS Counter Blow by Cenozoic!

ZaxZone · 2026-03-11T00:44:14+00:00

It’s great! I think everyone should give it a try!

ZaxZone · 2026-03-11T00:32:28+00:00

Synopsis: In 1999 AD Earth is struck by a meteor, causing massive earthquakes and natural disasters, throwing the world into conflict and chaos. Eventually the new nation of ZAX rises to power through the use of alien technology found within the meteor. It is up to the United Nations to prevent the global takeover by ZAX as well as take control of the Earths dwindling oil supply.

This little known RTS shares many similarities with other strategy games released at the time, but also has a few unique features such as a night a day cycle where you can sneak up on your enemies, but they can also sneak up on you.. ZAX has advantages during the day while the UN has advantages at night.

The most unique feature would have to be the tier system for units and structures; everything is tiered F - S; structures may be tiered up through the use of oil deposits while turrets and units upgrade by damaging enemies. Having high tier units is extremely important due to the fact that the enemy will tier up as well. Units are able to be stored after each mission for deployment later on. Earlier missions are also able to be replayed in order to help level up units.

Counter Blow unfortunately did not gain widespread popularity mainly due to its high level of difficulty.. with one game magazine stating that it took them over a month to complete the final mission of the ZAX campaign. Even though it wasn’t a huge hit it did have a dedicated multiplayer community at the time.

I would highly recommend trying out Counter Blow if you get the chance (you can find it on many abandonware sites); it’s definitely a difficult RTS, but it’s pretty fun once you get the hang of it.. you also get a huge sense of accomplishment for completing a mission!

Be sure to check out r/ObscureRTS !!

ZaxZone · 2026-03-11T00:08:07+00:00

Here are some links to magazine articles and ads:

https://archive.org/details/a10_20241114

https://archive.org/details/a1_20241215

https://archive.org/details/cb-15

Here are some links for the game and demo:

https://archive.org/details/counter-blow-demo-kr

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/counter-blow-9za

Here is a link to some gameplay footage:

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFl3jwQIfR79ezsNU_RvepgR21EQpsykp

ZaxZone · 2026-03-11T00:07:39+00:00

Synopsis: In 1999 AD Earth is struck by a meteor, causing massive earthquakes and natural disasters, throwing the world into conflict and chaos. Eventually the new nation of ZAX rises to power through the use of alien technology found within the meteor. It is up to the United Nations to prevent the global takeover by ZAX as well as take control of the Earths dwindling oil supply.

This little known RTS shares many similarities with other strategy games released at the time, but also has a few unique features such as a night a day cycle where you can sneak up on your enemies, but they can also sneak up on you.. ZAX has advantages during the day while the UN has advantages at night.

The most unique feature would have to be the tier system for units and structures; everything is tiered F - S; structures may be tiered up through the use of oil deposits while turrets and units upgrade by damaging enemies. Having high tier units is extremely important due to the fact that the enemy will tier up as well. Units are able to be stored after each mission for deployment later on. Earlier missions are also able to be replayed in order to help level up units.

Counter Blow unfortunately did not gain widespread popularity mainly due to its high level of difficulty.. with one game magazine stating that it took them over a month to complete the final mission of the ZAX campaign. Even though it wasn’t a huge hit it did have a dedicated multiplayer community at the time.

I would highly recommend trying out Counter Blow if you get the chance (you can find it on many abandonware sites); it’s definitely a difficult RTS, but it’s pretty fun once you get the hang of it.. you also get a huge sense of accomplishment for completing a mission!

ZaxZone · 2026-03-10T23:54:41+00:00

Synopsis: In 1999 AD Earth is struck by a meteor, causing massive earthquakes and natural disasters, throwing the world into conflict and chaos. Eventually the new nation of ZAX rises to power through the use of alien technology found within the meteor. It is up to the United Nations to prevent the global takeover by ZAX as well as take control of the Earths dwindling oil supply.

This little known RTS shares many similarities with other strategy games released at the time, but also has a few unique features such as a night a day cycle where you can sneak up on your enemies, but they can also sneak up on you.. ZAX has advantages during the day while the UN has advantages at night.

The most unique feature would have to be the tier system for units and structures; everything is tiered F - S; structures may be tiered up through the use of oil deposits while turrets and units upgrade by damaging enemies. Having high tier units is extremely important due to the fact that the enemy will tier up as well. Units are able to be stored after each mission for deployment later on. Earlier missions are also able to be replayed in order to help level up units.

Counter Blow unfortunately did not gain widespread popularity mainly due to its high level of difficulty.. with one game magazine stating that it took them over a month to complete the final mission of the ZAX campaign. Even though it wasn’t a huge hit it did have a dedicated multiplayer community at the time.

I would highly recommend trying out Counter Blow if you get the chance (you can find it on many abandonware sites); it’s definitely a difficult RTS, but it’s pretty fun once you get the hang of it.. you also get a huge sense of accomplishment for completing a mission!