Romance of the Three Kingdoms (USA)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國志, San guo zhi, lit. "Records of Three Empires"), or Sangokushi in Japanese, is a series of turn-based tactical role-playing simulation grand strategy wargames produced by Koei. Originating from Japan in 1985, twelve installments of the game have been published in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and North America to date. While the game's title as it was released in English refers the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義) by Luo Guanzhong, the title as it was released in Japan refers to the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms (三國志) by Chen Shou.
The games are based on events that took place in China during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, when the land was divided between the Shu Han, Cao Wei and Eastern Wu kingdoms. The games draw ideas mainly from the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms.
Gameplay revolves around managing numerical statistics, each representing an attribute of a city or character. For example, a city will have statistics indicating the amount of food stored within its walls, its vulnerability to disasters such as floods and earthquakes, how content the people are with its ruler or governing officer, etc. Characters have statistics to reflect their fighting prowess, intelligence and loyalty towards their respective lords, among other attributes. Players can spend time increasing these numbers before waging war on neighbouring territories, since the artificial intelligence of other lords tends to be peaceful unless the player attacks them first, or unless they have reached a point in the story where war is inevitable.
The seventh, eighth and tenth installments are compounded with RPG aspects, allowing the player to play as a lord, an adviser, a governor, a general or a vassal of another lord, whereas the player controls an entire force in the other editions. In addition, certain characters possess (or can learn) special skills to aid them in war, diplomacy or governance. For example, a general or adviser with high intelligence statistics can lure an enemy unit into a trap or cause the unit to retreat.
There are also several spin-offs based on the series, including Dynasty Warriors, a tactical action video game series, as well as Dynasty Tactics, a hybrid of Dynasty Warriors and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Koei has also published three biographical tactical RPGs based on three characters in the series. They are Sangokushi Eiketsuden (Liu Bei), Sangokushi Koumeiden (Zhuge Liang), and Sangokushi Sousouden (Cao Cao).
The games are based on events that took place in China during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, when the land was divided between the Shu Han, Cao Wei and Eastern Wu kingdoms. The games draw ideas mainly from the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms.
Gameplay revolves around managing numerical statistics, each representing an attribute of a city or character. For example, a city will have statistics indicating the amount of food stored within its walls, its vulnerability to disasters such as floods and earthquakes, how content the people are with its ruler or governing officer, etc. Characters have statistics to reflect their fighting prowess, intelligence and loyalty towards their respective lords, among other attributes. Players can spend time increasing these numbers before waging war on neighbouring territories, since the artificial intelligence of other lords tends to be peaceful unless the player attacks them first, or unless they have reached a point in the story where war is inevitable.
The seventh, eighth and tenth installments are compounded with RPG aspects, allowing the player to play as a lord, an adviser, a governor, a general or a vassal of another lord, whereas the player controls an entire force in the other editions. In addition, certain characters possess (or can learn) special skills to aid them in war, diplomacy or governance. For example, a general or adviser with high intelligence statistics can lure an enemy unit into a trap or cause the unit to retreat.
There are also several spin-offs based on the series, including Dynasty Warriors, a tactical action video game series, as well as Dynasty Tactics, a hybrid of Dynasty Warriors and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Koei has also published three biographical tactical RPGs based on three characters in the series. They are Sangokushi Eiketsuden (Liu Bei), Sangokushi Koumeiden (Zhuge Liang), and Sangokushi Sousouden (Cao Cao).
Technical
CPU
- maincpu N2A03 (@ 1 Mhz)
Chipset
- N2A03 (@ 1 Mhz)
Display
- Orientation Yoko
- Resolution 255 x 240
- Frequency 60.098 Hz
Controlers
- Number of players 4
- Number of buttons 2
- Kind of controler
- triplejoy (8 ways)
- triplejoy (8 ways)
- triplejoy (8 ways)
© Copyright author(s) of Wikipedia. This article is under CC-BY-SA
Clones of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (USA)
List of games in the series
The games are sorted according to platform. The release dates provided are for original Japanese releases.
Amiga
Amiga
- Romance of Three Kingdoms
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
- Romance of Three Kingdoms
- Romance of Three Kingdoms (different from MSX1 version)
- Romance of Three Kingdoms II
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms V
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI: Awakening of the Dragon
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms V
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI: Awakening of the Dragon
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII (2000)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII (2002)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX (2004)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms X (2005)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (2006)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII (2012)
- Sangokushi V (2005)
- Sangokushi VI (2005)
- Sangokushi VII (2006)
- Sangokushi VIII (2007)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX (2011)
- Sangokushi (1985)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1988)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms II (1989)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny (1992)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire (1994)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms V (1995)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI: Awakening of the Dragon (1998)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII (2000)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII (2001)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX (2003)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms X (2004)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (2006)
- Sangokushi 12 (2012)
- Sangokushi Internet (1999)
- Sangokushi Battlefield (2002)
- Sangokushi Online (2007)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (2007)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII (2012)
- Sangokushi (1992)
- Sangokushi 2 (1999)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire (2001)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms II (2000)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms DS (2006)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms DS 2 (2007)
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms DS 3 (2010)
- Sangokushi
- Sangokushi 2
- Sangokushi Mobile
- Sangokushi Mobile 2
- Sangokushi Mobile 3
- Romance of the Three Kingdom Touch (2009)
- Romance of the Three Kingdom 2 (2010)
Reception
Several years after its Japanese release, Sangokushi received positive critical reception in North America when it was released there in 1988. In Computer Gaming World, the game was reviewed by Dungeons & Dragons creator Dave Arneson, who wrote that it is "a great historical simulation and will keep players at their keyboards for many a night in order to win their empires. It has economics, intrigue, bribery, covert action, diplomacy, war, and more! There are many ways beyond simple conquest to accomplish one's goals." He concluded: "I most heartily recommend Romance to all serious game players out there."
See also
- Nobunaga's Ambition
- Bandit Kings of Ancient China