Romance of the Three Kingdoms (video game series)
Turn-based strategy wargames set in ancient China.
Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms series is a turn-based tactical role-playing simulation grand strategy wargame franchise. First released in Japan in 1985, fourteen installments have been published across Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, and North America.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Koei (now Kou Shibusawa)
- Publisher
- Koei (now Koei Tecmo)
- Creator
- Yōichi Erikawa
- Genre
- Strategy
- First release date
- 10 December 1985
- Latest release version
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV
- Latest release date
- 16 January 2020
- Spinoffs
- Dynasty Warriors
Facts from the source article.
Overview
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms video game series is based on both the famous novel and the historical records of China’s Three Kingdoms period. The story unfolds during the Han dynasty, where factions like Shu Han, Cao Wei, and Eastern Wu fight for control. Gameplay focuses on managing numbers that represent city and character attributes. Cities have stats for grain, disaster risk, treasury, domestic affairs, and loyalty. Characters are defined by leadership, combat skill, intelligence, loyalty, and special abilities—some magical—that can be used in war, diplomacy, or administration. Players boost these numbers before attacking neighbors or negotiating. The seventh, eighth, and tenth games add role-playing elements, letting players control a single soldier rather than a whole kingdom. Spin-offs include the action hack-and-slash Dynasty Warriors series, the hybrid Dynasty Tactics, and three tactical RPGs: Sangokushi Eiketsuden, Sangokushi Koumeiden, and Sangokushi Sousouden. Kessen II is a real-time tactics game for PS2. The mobile game Three Kingdoms Tactics, published by Alibaba Group in September 2019, became Alibaba’s most successful mobile game.
List of games in the series
Release dates are for original Japanese releases. The series began with Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1985, PC-88), later ported to Amiga, MS-DOS, PC-98, MSX, NES, FM-7, Sharp X1, X68000, WonderSwan, Windows and mobile phones. Romance of the Three Kingdoms II (1989, PC-88) appeared on Amiga, MS-DOS, MSX2, NES, SNES, Mega Drive, X68000, WonderSwan, Windows and mobile phones. Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny (1992, PC-98) was released on MS-DOS, SNES, Mega Drive, Windows and NDS. Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire (1994, PC-98) came to SNES, 32X, MS-DOS, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, Windows and NDS. Romance of the Three Kingdoms V (1995, PC-98) appeared on Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Windows, PlayStation Portable, NDS and 3DS. Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI: Awakening of the Dragon (1996, Windows) was on PlayStation, Dreamcast and PlayStation Portable. Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII (2000, Windows) reached PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII (2001, Windows) was on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX (2003, Windows) appeared on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. Romance of the Three Kingdoms X (2004, Windows) was on PlayStation 2. Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (2006, Windows) came to PlayStation 2 and Wii. Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII (2012, Windows) was on PlayStation 3, Wii U and PlayStation Vita. Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII (2016, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows) also appeared on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Vita. Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV (2020, Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch). Other titles include Super Sangokushi (SNES), Sangokushi Eiketsuden (SNES), Sangokushi Koumeiden, Sangokushi Sousouden, Sangokushi Internet (1999, Windows), Kessen II (2001, PS2), Dynasty Tactics (2002, PS2), Sangokushi Battlefield (2002, Windows), Dynasty Tactics 2 (2003, PS2), Sangokushi Online (2007, Windows), Yo-kai Sangokushi (2015, Nintendo 3DS), and mobile entries Sangokushi Mobile, Sangokushi Mobile 2, Sangokushi Mobile 3, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms Touch (2009, iOS).
Frequently Asked Questions
Who developed Romance of the Three Kingdoms (video game series)?
Romance of the Three Kingdoms was developed by Koei (now Kou Shibusawa).
Who published Romance of the Three Kingdoms (video game series)?
Romance of the Three Kingdoms was published by Koei (now Koei Tecmo).
More in Koei Tecmo Franchises
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced