Romance of the Three Kingdoms (video game series)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms for the Nintendo Entertainment System

Sangokushi, the Japanese transliteration of Sanguo Zhi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms), is a computer and video game that originated from Japan, a series of turn-based computerized wargames by Koei. Eleven editions of the series have been published in Japan and Chinese-speaking countries in East Asia. Of the eleven Japanese editions, nine English versions are available as Romance of the Three Kingdoms (ROTK) .

The games are based on the events of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms in China during the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

Gameplay mainly 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, etc. Characters have statistics to reflect his/her fighting prowess, intelligence and loyalty to his/her ruler among other attributes. Most players will spend more time on improving these statistics than waging war against neighboring territories, as the artificial intelligence of the other rulers tends to be peaceful unless the player attacks them first, or unless they have reached a point of the story where war must break out. Even during such situations, rampant warfare is discouraged.

Only editions VII, VIII and X were compounded with RPG aspects, allowing the player to play as a ruler, an adviser, a prefect, a general or a vassal, whereas the player can only control the ruler in other editions. In addition, different characters have various skills to aid them in combat, such as the ability to lure a group of enemy soldiers away from the others or to trick them into retreating.

There are also several spin-offs based on this series, including the more combat oriented Dynasty Warriors and Dynasty Tactics, which is a combination of Dynasty Warriors and Sangokushi.

Koei also published three biographical tactical role-playing games based on three characters in the series. They are Sangokushi Eiketsuden (Liu Bei), Sangokushi Koumeiden (Zhuge Liang) and Sangokushi Sousouden (Cao Cao).

Games in the Series

Release dates given are for original Japanese releases.

NES

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms II

SNES

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire

Genesis

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny

Sega Saturn

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire

PlayStation

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI: Awakening of the Dragon

PlayStation 2

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms X
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI

PC

• Sangokushi (1985)
• Sangokushi II (1989)
• Sangokushi III (1992)
• Sangokushi IV (1994)
• Sangokushi V (1995)
• Sangokushi VI (1998)
• Sangokushi VII (2000)
• Sangokushi VIII (2001)
• Sangokushi IX (2003)
• Sangokushi X (2004)
• Sangokushi 11 (2006)

Portable

• Sangokushi Game Boy (1992)
• Sangokushi Game Boy Color (1999)
• Sangokushi II WonderSwan (2000)
• Sangokushi IV Game Boy Advance (2001)
• Sangokushi DS (2005)

Editions of V, VI, and VII are also planned for release on the PSP.

See also

• Nobunaga's Ambition
• Bandit Kings of Ancient China

External links

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms Discussion at Five Tigers
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms Series at kongming.net
• Website written by a Chinese-American and an American. Focuses on the games with extensive information on the novel and history, biographies in particular.
• Website created principally by Chinese and Southeast Asians. One section, subdivided into several sections, of the forum is entirely devoted to RTK games.
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms at MobyGames