Romance of the Three Kingdoms (series)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國志, Sangokushi in Japan) is a computer and video game that originated from Japan on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is a series of turn-based computerized war games by Koei. Eleven editions of the series have been published in Japan and Chinese-speaking countries in East Asia and the games often feature a Chinese vocal track.

The released games are based upon events of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms in China from the 2nd and 3rd centuries. This game is seen by many as the predecessor to Dynasty Warriors and Dynasty Tactics, the former being more combat-based where the latter more strategy oriented.

Overview
Gameplay here mainly revolves around managing numerical statistics, each representing an attribute of a city or character. Examples are 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, and so forth. Characters have statistics to reflect his/her fighting prowess, intelligence and loyalty to his/her ruler among other attributes. Many players of this game spend more time on improving these statistics than waging war against neighboring territories since the artificial intelligence of the other rulers tend to be peaceful unless the player attacks them first, or they have reached a point of the story where war must break out. Even during such situations, rampant warfare is discouraged.

Editions VII, VIII and X saw the addition of 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. Also, 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.

Recently, original characters and fictional foreign settlers have also been included.

For Amiga

 * Romance of Three Kingdoms
 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms II

For MSX

 * Romance of Three Kingdoms

For MSX2

 * Romance of Three Kingdoms (different from MSX1 version)
 * Romance of Three Kingdoms II

For Nintendo Entertainment System

 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms
 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms II

For Super Nintendo Entertainment System

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

For Sega Genesis

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

For Sega 32X

 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire

For Sega Saturn

 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire

For PlayStation

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

For 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

For PC

 * Sangokushi (1985)
 * 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: Legend of Cao Cao (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 Internet (1999)
 * Sangokushi Battlefield (2002)
 * Sangokushi Online (2007)

For Wii

 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (2007)

For Game Boy

 * Sangokushi Game Boy (1992)

For Game Boy Color

 * Sangokushi Game Boy Color (1999)
 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms II WonderSwan (2000)
 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire Game Boy Advance (2001)

For PlayStation Portable

 * Sangokushi VI PlayStation Portable (2005)
 * Sangokushi VII PlayStation Portable (2006)
 * Sangokushi VIII PlayStation Portable (2007)

For Nintendo DS

 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms DS (2007)
 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms DS 2 (2007)

For Mobile Phones

 * Sangokushi
 * Sangokushi 2
 * Sangokushi Mobile
 * Sangokushi Mobile 2
 * Sangokushi Mobile 3

Related Merchandise
Koei released a series of drama CDs dedicated to the games between 1992~1996. They chose voice actors for the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series rather than their Dynasty Warriors counterparts.