Cao Wei and
Eastern Wu
Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < : ''*ŋuɑ''), known in h ...
kingdoms. Gameplay revolves around managing numerical statistics, each representing an attribute of a city or a character. A city is described by statistics such as stored grain supplies, vulnerability to disasters such as floods and earthquakes, treasury funds, domestic affairs and populace loyalty. Characters are numerically characterized by their leadership abilities, melee prowess, intellects and loyalty, as well as special traits or even magical abilities that can be called upon whether during wartime, diplomacy or domestic affairs. Players can increase these numbers before waging war on neighbouring territories or intending diplomatic efforts.
While generally presented as a turn-based strategy game, the seventh, eighth and tenth editions offer role-playing features, allowing the player to play as a rank-and-file character instead of leading a kingdom.
Several
spin-off
Spin-off may refer to:
*Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity
* Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...
s based on the series include the tactical action hack and slash video game series ''
Dynasty Warriors'', ''
Dynasty Tactics'' which is a hybrid of ''Dynasty Warriors'' and ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as the three
tactical role-playing games ''Sangokushi Eiketsuden'' (
Liu Bei), ''
Sangokushi Koumeiden'' (
Zhuge Liang), and ''
Sangokushi Sousouden
The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...
'' (
Cao Cao
Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate Grand chancellor (China), grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the End of ...
). ''
Kessen II'' is a
real-time tactics game on PS2.
Another spin-off is the
mobile game
A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...
''Three Kingdoms Tactics'', based on Koei Tecmo's series. It was published by Chinese company
Alibaba Group in September 2019. It has grossed worldwide , making it Alibaba's most
successful mobile game.
List of games in the series
The release dates provided are for original Japanese releases.
Main series
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' (1985,
PC-88) – Also available on
Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
,
MS-DOS,
PC-98,
MSX
MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...
,
NES (1988),
FM-7,
Sharp X1,
Sharp X68000,
WonderSwan,
Windows (2003), mobile phones.
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
is the second in the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series of turn-based strategy games produced by Koei and based on the historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''.
Gameplay
Upon starting the game, players choose from one of six sce ...
'' (1989, PC-88) – Also available on Amiga, MS-DOS, MSX2, NES,
SNES,
Mega Drive (1989),
Sharp X68000,
WonderSwan, Windows (2000), mobile phones
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny'' (1992,
PC-98) – Also available on MS-DOS, SNES, Mega Drive (1992), Windows (2001),
NDS NDS may stand for:
* Low German ( nl, Nedersaksisch, links=no, german: Niederdeutsche Sprache, links=no, ISO 639-2 language code: nds), a West Germanic language native to Northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands
* Lower Saxony (german: Niedersa ...
(2006)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire'' (1994, PC-98) – Also available on SNES,
Sega 32X,
MS-DOS,
Sega Saturn
The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...
,
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
(1994),
Game Boy Advance, Windows (2001), NDS (2007)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms V
Sangokushi V (三國志V) is the 5th installment in Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. The game was released for MS-DOS, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation Portable.
KOEI Corporation did not plan to release an English version of ...
'' (1995, PC-98) – Also available on Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Windows (1995),
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
(2005), NDS (2010),
3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
(2013)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI: Awakening of the Dragon'' (1996,
Windows) – Also available on PlayStation,
Dreamcast (1999), PlayStation Portable (2005)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII
''Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII'' (三國志VII) is the 7th installment in Koei's famous ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series.
Power up kit
Power up kit includes following features:
*Short play mode.
*New tactical simulation mode. This ...
'' (2000, Windows) – Also available on PlayStation,
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
(2000), PlayStation Portable (2006)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII'' (2001, Windows) – Also available on PlayStation 2 (2002), PlayStation Portable (2007)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX
''Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX'', also known as ''Sangokushi IX'' (三國志IX) in Japan, is the ninth installment in the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' (''Sangokushi'') strategy game series by Koei. The game chronicles the events of 2nd a ...
'' (2003, Windows) – Also available on PlayStation 2 (2004), PlayStation Portable (2011)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms X'' (2004, Windows) – Also available on PlayStation 2 (2005)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI'' (2006, Windows) – Also available on PlayStation 2 (2006),
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
(2007)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII
''Romance of the Three Kingdoms 12'', also known as , is the 12th installment in the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' (''Sangokushi'') strategy game series by Koei. The game was released for the PC in 2012 in Japan and Taiwan and on Decembe ...
'' (2012, Windows) – Also available on
PlayStation 3,
Wii U (2012),
PlayStation Vita
The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...
(2013)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII'' (2016, PlayStation 3,
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
,
Xbox One and Windows) – Also available on
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
and PlayStation Vita (2017)
* ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV
''Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV'', also known as , is the 14th installment in the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' (Sangokushi) strategy game series by Koei. It was released on January 16, 2020, for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows i ...
'' (2020, Windows,
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
,
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
)
Other games
* ''Super Sangokushi'' (SNES)
* ''Sangokushi Eiketsuden'' (SNES)
* ''
Sangokushi Koumeiden''
* ''
Sangokushi Sousouden
The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...
''
* ''Sangokushi Internet'' (1999, Windows) - Koei's first online video game of the series, developed by Koei Taiwan.
* ''
Kessen II'' (2001, PS2)
* ''
Dynasty Tactics'' (2002, PS2)
* ''
Sangokushi Battlefield
''Sangokushi Battlefield'' (三國志 Battlefield) is Koei's real time strategy game for Windows 98, and the 2nd online ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' game for the PC platform. The game was simultaneously released in Japan, Taiwan, and Ko ...
'' (2002, Windows)
* ''
Dynasty Tactics 2'' (2003, PS2)
* ''
Sangokushi Online'' (2007, Windows )
* ''
Yo-kai Sangokushi'' (2015,
Nintendo 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
) - Crossover with
Level-5's ''
Yo-Kai Watch'' series
* ''Sangokushi Mobile'' (Mobile phones)
* ''Sangokushi Mobile 2'' (Mobile phones)
* ''Sangokushi Mobile 3'' (Mobile phones)
* ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms Touch'' (2009,
iOS)
* ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2'' (2010, iOS)
Reception
''Sangokushi'' received positive critical reception in North America when it was released there in 1988.
As of 2020, the main series has shipped more than 8 million copies worldwide.
See also
* ''
Nobunaga's Ambition''
* ''
Destiny of an Emperor''
* ''
Bandit Kings of Ancient China''
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romance Of The Three Kingdoms (Video Game Series)
Video game franchises
Koei games
Koei Tecmo franchises
Turn-based strategy video games
Grand strategy video games
Video game franchises introduced in 1985