Any fans of classic Koei games here?

[SoulBlazer]

Haven't seen anyone talk about the classic Koei games....from their earliest PC/NES efforts up to the start of the Dynasty Warrior series on the PlayStation. Any other fans of their games here?

 

I'm a history major and have always loved history. Also, I've always loved strategy and simulation games. So when I first saw this weird game for my NES back in 1988 (when I was 12 years old) called Nobunaga's Ambition I was immediately interested. The game sounded unique, nothing like I had played before. Sure, I'd played some strategy and sim games on my C64, but nothing like this....and of course the Atari 2600 didn't have anything even near this. (many years later, when I first played it, I'm quite sure I would have loved Utopia for the Intelivision but I never had one).

 

The game was very unique and well done, with nice graphics, great music, and a wonderful thick manual, explaining the background of 16th Century Japan in the Warring States Period and how to play. It was well written, that manual, not only explaining how to play this, at first looking, complex game but also telling Americans a lot about the setting and background. This was a trademark for most of Koei's games. I liked the game so much that I asked my parents for it, and introduced a number of friends to the game as well (it has a 2 player option). I played the sequel when it came out (not as good as the first, but still fun) and also bought the SNES remake of the game (the one I encourage trying out if you're new to the series).

 

Although the internet didn't exist at the time, I was able to find out by a inquiry to the company that Koei had started in the PC market a couple years earlier, in the mid 80's. Most of their console games were expanded version of the PC offerings, but in some cases (like PTO 2) there were major differences.

 

Over the years I bought every NES and SNES game they came out with. They weren't all war/simulation games also...there were business games like Aerobiz, where you ran a airplane company. And some really unique games also. Liberty or Death is one of the few American Revolution games that have come out. L'Emperor is set during the Napolenic Wars. Their most famous series is probably the Romance of the Three Kingdom games (up to 9, with a 10th not yet released in the west). Gemstar is a fantasy strategy game. PTO 1 and 2 are in depth simulations of the Pacific War of WW 2. And the list goes on and on. Hell, I even bought the port of Nobunaga's Ambition for the Game Boy (which I understand is a somewhat rare game now).

 

The pace continued into the Playstation era, with Kessen (which was a really ground breaking game when it came out), also dealing with the Warring States Period of Japan, more Romance of the Three Kingdom games, and the first Dynasty Warriors, which was a really fun take on the classic hack and slash kind of game. I know Koei came out with other games (such as that shooter for the N64) but I never played them. By the PS2 era my interest in Koei was waning, though. The Dynasty Warriors games were big hits for the company but I found them boring after a while, and even the Romance series was not offering fresh stuff anymore. The last Koei game I bought was around 2006 when Romance IX came out for the PS2.

 

Today, I haven't even followed the company for years, not even sure what they are doing or if they are still active in the US, but I still love playing their NES and SNES games. All of their SNES games were ported to the Genesis also, and I know some games like PTO 2 got released on other consoles like the Saturn.

 

If you haven't played any (or many) Koei games, these five are my personal favorites:

 

Aerobiz: Supersonic (an expanded version of the original game)

Nobunaga's Ambition (remake, SNES)

Liberty or Death (American Revolution game)

Bandit Kings of Anicent China (NES game, set in the same period as the Romance series)

PTO 2 (wonderful game of the Pacific War)

 

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

Bandit Kings of Ancient China and Nobunaga's Ambition I & II was some of my favorite titles from Koei! Gotta play those games again!

 

 

Anthony...

[Reaperman]

I have had a lot of trouble getting into most Koei games, though I do tend to gravitate to the genres they specialize in.

However, Heir of Zendor on sega saturn, did manage to grab me for a good long while--like no other Koei game has. I think the reviews of it are generally pretty poor, but I really liked the setting.

 

Their attention to eastern history tends to turn me off despite my best efforts. It sounds bad, but I have special trouble distinguishing between oriental names and find it difficult to follow character development because of that. heck, when there's a guy and girl talking sometimes I even have trouble figuring out which name goes with which. Many of my most confusing and frustrating gaming moments were koei-related. That's amplified by their games looking like something I'd really like to play. I know they'd never stoop to giving people wildly colored hair, or letting me rename people to 'bill' and 'steve,' but it'd sure make them easier for me to live with.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Reaperman

[SoulBlazer]

I also realized I totally forgot one of my all time favorite Koei games (and one of my best games period) -- Uncharted Waters: New Horizons for the SNES. The original game for the NES was fun (and the remake helped for the SNES), but the second game was much better and has plenty of replay value with the different characters and all the things you can do.

 

Reaperman, I never had a Saturn so I missed that one. And Koei did PLENTY of games that either focused on western history (World War 2, American Revolution, Napoleanic Wars) or were non-war games period (like Uncharted Waters and Aerobiz).

[Cobra Commander]

I've played lots of Nobanoga's Ambition. I'm not very good at the early stages when everyone gangs up on you, so I cheat and play as more than one Shogun till I get my fiefdom up and running.

[high voltage]

I played some Koei games on PC, never on consoles ( to me strategy games were meant to be played on gaming devices with a keyboard, not consoles)

[Blazing Lazers]

I actually received a copy of the Genesis version of Operation Europe: Path to Victory 1939-1945 back around '99 from my WWII-veteran grandfather. To this day I still enjoy it, and it has become a treasured possession I would never part with. So based on that alone I'm a fan of classic Koei games! I'll also always keep the copies of Sonic 2, Vectorman and Virtua Racing he also bought for me

[+thegoldenband]

I really like Koei games in principle, though too seldom have I made time to play them. The big one for me as a kid was Romance of the Three Kingdoms NES, which was surprisingly popular among my circle of friends. I never owned it and wasn't quite able to beat it BITD, but I eventually played through it in emulation with savestates in the early 2000s. I'd like to do it again legitimately, though it's very time-consuming and the fire attacks more or less break the game -- if you know how to use them correctly, even a tiny army can repel most invasions, just by building up massive infernos.

 

I also spent the better part of a couple days playing Genghis Khan II with my other half, and after we got past the initial learning curve it was a lot of fun. I wrote a bit about that here.

 

OTOH I did my best to get into Operation Europe in the middle of last year, when I was trying to beat it for the Sega-16 beat-'em-all, and though I won a few battles I didn't have much luck making sense of the game.

 

Speaking of the beat-'em-all, if anyone here is expert at games like Operation Europe and P.T.O. and wants to pitch in over at Sega-16, we could definitely use the help. Right now, most of the Koei Genesis releases are still available, including ROTK II & III, Genghis Khan II, Nobunaga's Ambition, Gemfire, Uncharted Waters, and the two games I mentioned. (Only the two Aerobiz games, Liberty or Death, and the second Uncharted Waters game have been finished.) Click the link above to hop on board and help out -- Blazing Lazers, your Operation Europe expertise would be most welcome!

 

I'm genuinely intrigued by Heir of Zendor, though I think Micronet developed that one and Koei only published it; something about it looks strangely compelling. And speaking of Micronet, if anyone wants to get involved in a really time-consuming RTS for Genesis, try Warrior of Rome II (not the first game, which is terrible). It takes a while to get going, but the building blocks are relatively simple, and once you get a feel for it, it's quite addictive.

 

BTW there's no shame in finding transliterated Asian names confusing; especially in Chinese, transliterations are missing significant data, like tone and the specific character being used. OTOH they eventually stick with you, especially if you see them in multiple games (e.g. ROTK + Capcom's Destiny of an Emperor). Because of these games, people like Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao, and many others are ingrained in the brains of a small but significant subset of American kids who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s.

[WadeChillywilly]

ININDO was probly my fav. wowz. Also PTO , New Horizons, and ofcourse RTK4 is ClassiC'. Oh and Brandish was quite nice .......~ .... yep.. . And they even teamed up with the 2nd coolest Publisher/Dev TECMO.

At first they called it Kotec but its somthing diferent now.

Yep Koei was best**

[Gabriel]

My favorite is Romance of the Three Kingdoms II. Gemfire is a close second.

 

I used to play a lot of Nobunaga's Ambition. Sadly, I discovered Nobunaga's Ambition II too late to really be able to enjoy it.

 

I never could get into any of the others though.

[WispFollower]

I love KOEI games, and I still need to complete my nes set of them.. Took a break hunting them for a while, as I want minty CIB copies, and they are tough to find in such condition. The music seems to always be exceptional in these games.

[zylon]

My first was the B&W Gameboy version of Nobunaga's Ambition. I had ROTK on the Saturn much later.

[Nebulon]

Fatal Inertia - terrible in-game mechanics with excellent music.

[SoulBlazer]

I never even heard of that one. What year and system? Was it US released?

[Nebulon]

I never even heard of that one. What year and system? Was it US released?

Fatal Interia was released for the 360 and PS3 in 2007/8.

 

Pretty low scores for modeling (ships and terrain) and for the physics side of it. But the score was pretty darned cool.

 

It feels like it was rushed. Cool enough concept though (floating cars on a 'track'). Sort of like Star Wars Pod racing.

[82-T/A]

I really liked Balor of the Evil Eye... horribly stupid name, and I didn't much understand the plot (if there was one), but the music was done very well, and the graphics and attention to detail was quite good.

 

Edited October 12, 2014 by 82-T/A