Nobunaga's Ambition

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the video game series. For the second game in the series, see Nobunaga's Ambition (video game).
Nobunaga's Ambition
Wargame, turn-based strategy, tactical role-playing
Developer(s)Koei
Publisher(s)Koei
Koei Tecmo
Creator(s)Kou Shibusawa
Platform(s)
Platforms
First releaseNobunaga no Yabō
March 1983
Latest releaseNobunaga's Ambition: Awakening
July 20, 2022

Nobunaga's Ambition (信長の野望, Nobunaga no Yabō) is a series of

daimyōs
of the time.

Games in the franchise have been released for the

Macintosh as well as MSX, Amiga, and MS-DOS. As of March 2018, the series has shipped more than 10 million copies worldwide.[4]

Gameplay

The player may choose from four campaign scenarios, including "Battle for the East" (beginning in 1560), "Daimyo Power Struggles" (1560), "Ambition Untamed" (1571), and "Road Towards Unification" (1582). In each scenario, the player must allocate resources to raise a capable military force, provide a productive economy to support both military and civilian expansion, and support the peasants in order to sustain their respect and loyalty. Gameplay is taken in turns, with each turn in the map view corresponding to a season, and each turn during battle corresponding to a day. The player may achieve victory through numerous means, among which are forcing the enemy to retreat, destroying the enemy command unit, outlasting an invading force, or prolonging battle until the opposing force has exhausted its supplies.

The player can make many choices during the campaign. According to Evan Brooks of Computer Gaming World: "One may transfer soldiers between fiefs, go to war, increase taxes (which causes a decrease in peasant loyalty which may lead to rebellion), transfer rice or gold to another fief, raise the level of flood control (which decreases productivity), make a non-aggression pact or arrange a marriage, cultivate (which increases productivity, but decreases peasant loyalty), use a merchant (to buy/sell rice, borrow funds, or purchase weapons), recruit for the military (soldiers or ninja), train the army (which increases fighting efficiency), spy on a rival, expand a town (which increases taxes collected, but decreases peasant loyalty), give food/rice to peasants/soldiers (to raise morale), steal peasants from rival daimyos, allocate military strength, recuperate (even a daimyo can get sick), turn over a controlled fief to the computer for administration, or pass a turn."[5]

Games

Release timeline
1983Nobunaga no Yabō
1984
1985
1986Nobunaga's Ambition
1987
1988Nobunaga's Ambition II
1989
1990Nobunaga's Ambition: Lord of Darkness
1991Inindo: Way of the Ninja (spin-off)
1992Nobunaga no Yabō: Haōden
1993
1994Nobunaga no Yabō: Tenshōki
1995
1996
1997Nobunaga no Yabō: Shōseiroku
1998
1999Nobunaga no Yabō: Reppūden
2000
2001Nobunaga no Yabō: Ranseiki
2002Nobunaga no Yabō: Sōtenroku
2003Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power
2004
2005Nobunaga's Ambition: Iron Triangle
2006
2007
2008
2009Nobunaga no Yabō: Tendō
2010
2011
2012Pokémon Conquest
2013Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence
2014
2015
2016
2017Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening
  • Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening (信長の野望・新生, Nobunaga no Yabō: Shinsei) is the sixteenth title in the series. It was released on July 20, 2022, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, and July 20, 2023 for the US.[12]

Mobile platforms

Game Boy
  • Nobunaga's Ambition (信長の野望 ゲームボーイ版, Nobunaga no Yabō Game Boy Ban, lit. Nobunaga's Ambition: Game Boy Version) (1990), loosely based on Nobunaga no Yabō and Nobunaga's Ambition II.
WonderSwan
  • Nobunaga no Yabō for Wonderswan (信長の野望 for ワンダースワン) (1999)
Game Boy Color
  • Nobunaga no Yabō Game Boy Ban 2 (信長の野望 ゲームボーイ版2, lit. Nobunaga's Ambition Game Boy Version 2) (1999), primarily based on Nobunaga's Ambition.
Game Boy Advance
  • Nobunaga no Yabō (信長の野望) (2001), a remake of Nobunaga's Ambition: Lord of Darkness.
Nintendo DS
  • Nobunaga no Yabō DS (信長の野望DS) (2006), a remake of Nobunaga no Yabō: Reppūden.
  • Kuni-tori Zunō Batoru: Nobunaga no Yabō (国盗り頭脳バトル 信長の野望, lit. Province-Taking Brain Battle: Nobunaga's Ambition) (2008), containing board game elements.
  • Nobunaga no Yabō DS 2 (信長の野望DS2) (2008), a remake of Nobunaga's Ambition: Lord of Darkness.
  • Pokémon Conquest (ポケモン＋ノブナガの野望, Pokemon Purasu Nobunaga no Yabō, Pokémon + Nobunaga's Ambition in Japan) (2012), a crossover with the Pokémon franchise.

Sony PlayStation Portable

  • Nobunaga no Yabō: Tenshōki (信長の野望・天翔記, lit. Nobunaga's Ambition: Chronicles of the Ascension)
  • Nobunaga no Yabō: Shōseiroku (信長の野望・将星録, lit. Nobunaga's Ambition: Records of the Star Generals)
  • Nobunaga no Yabō: Reppūden (信長の野望・烈風伝, lit. Nobunaga's Ambition: Tales of the Storms)
  • Nobunaga no Yabō: Ranseiki (信長の野望・嵐世記, lit. Nobunaga's Ambition: Chronicles of Turbulent Times)
  • Nobunaga no Yabō: Sōtenroku (信長の野望・蒼天録, lit. Nobunaga's Ambition: Records of the Blue Skies)

Sony PlayStation Vita

These were released in Asia (in traditional Chinese versions), with physical copies for both versions with and without power up kit, on top of the Japanese versions released.

  • Nobunaga's Ambition: Tendou (信長の野望・天道) (2012)
  • Nobunaga's Ambition: Souzou / Nobunaga no Yabou: Souzou (信長の野望・創造) (2014)
  • Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence English version was seen on various websites such as on Play Asia, but not released.
  • Nobunaga's Ambition: Souzou Sengoku Risshiden (信長の野望・創造 戦国立志伝) (2016)
Nintendo 3DS
  • Nobunaga no Yabō (信長の野望) (2013)
  • Nobunaga no Yabō 2 (信長の野望2) (2015)

Online games

  • Nobunaga no Yabō Internet (信長の野望Internet) (1998), an online battle simulation game for Windows.
  • Nobunaga no Yabō Online (信長の野望Online) (2003), an
    MMORPG
    for PlayStation 2, Windows, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.
  • Nobunaga no Yabō (信長の野望) (2003), a blanket title for several mobile phone games.
  • Hyakuman-nin no Nobunaga no Yabō (100万人の信長の野望, lit. Million-Man Nobunaga's Ambition) (2010), a social network game by Mobage.
  • Samurai Cats (のぶニャがの野望, NobuNYAga no Yabō, lit. Nobunyaga's Ambition) (2011), a cat-themed browser-based online battle/raising simulation game.

Reception

The Nobunaga's Ambition series has garnered several awards over the years. According to Koei's website, various releases in the series have won Log-In magazine's "BHS Prize", the "Minister of Post & Telecommunications Prize", Nikkei BP's 12th, 13th, and 14th annual "Best PC Software" awards, and CD-ROM Fan's "Fan of the Year 2001 Grand Prize".[13]

In

Games International, John Scott called this program "One of the best strategy games around." He gave the game a perfect rating of 10 out of 10 for gameplay.[17]

The console versions had a more lukewarm reception. Reviewing the SNES version, GamePro praised the control interface and combat system but opined that the game essentially offers nothing to set it apart from Koei's previous historical simulators.[18] The magazine rated the Genesis version similarly, saying that "Like all Koei games, Nobunaga has an easy-to-use but detailed menu-driven interface that activates a load of complex commands."[19]

In 1996, Next Generation listed the series collectively as number 34 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", commenting that, "Lead designer Shou Kibasawa is a tactical genius who realizes that domestic and military strategies are interconnected, and that fielding armies can only be accomplished after building an infrastructure to support them. As a result, Nobunaga's Ambition boasts a level of strategic complexity few other series can come close to matching."[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Vestal, Andrew (1998-11-02). "The History of Console RPGs". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 8, 2009. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
  2. Tecmo Koei. Archived from the original
    on 15 February 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  3. 1UP.com. Archived from the original
    on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Nobunaga's Ambition series tops 10 million shipments". 30 March 2018.
  5. ^ a b Brooks, Evan (September 1988). "Nobunaga's Ambition". Computer Gaming World. No. 51. pp. 12, 34, 48–9. Nobunaga's Ambition is a detailed economic / diplomatic / political / military simulation of the unification of Japan in the Sixteenth Century. ... The graphics for Nobunaga's Ambition are among the best that this reviewer has ever seen for the IBM. While much of the graphics are composed of maps, the small touches reveal the craft that went into this product. Thus, when the daimyo distributes rice to the peasants, a vignette shows the lord throwing sheaves to the peasants who gratefully pick it up; as taxes are increased, the peasants flow with tears. When war begins, the screen changes to a 5x10 hex area for the execution of the battle. Terrain is effectively delineated as hill, mountain, village, river, plain, or castle; deployment is dependent on the route of invasion. ... After deciding upon a daimyo, one must select a persona. Akin to role playing games, characteristics are composed of health, ambition, luck, charm, and IQ. Generally, one should reselect if any single characteristic is under 80 (especially luck and/or IQ; there is nothing worse than a stupid daimyo). ... Each turn (year) is composed of four seasons, during which the daimyo ages (and will eventually die of old age). Each daimyo may accomplish one action each season for each fief he personally controls; these actions often affect other parameters of play. ... This reviewer thoroughly enjoyed Nobunaga's Ambition. ... Koei stresses that Nobunaga's Ambition is both a solitaire and a multi-player game. ... Highly Recommended. This reviewer was glued to his computer for 13 hours, stopping at 3:00 am. Not since Gunship has this occurred. The end result is that the computer gamer must have, at least, one Koei game in his inventory!
  6. ^ "Poker, Planes and Platform Games Fuel Players' Ambition". Nintendo of America. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
  7. ^ "Nintendo - Official Site - Video Game Consoles, Games - Nintendo - Official Site".
  8. ISSN 1541-4817
    .
  9. ^ "New Nobunaga's Ambition Game Revealed for Switch, PS4, PC". Anime News Network. April 25, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  10. ^ "シミュレーションゲーム史に燦然と輝く『信長の野望』シリーズの最新作、『信長の野望・大志』がついに始動 - ファミ通.com". ファミ通.com. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  11. ^ "PV第1弾『信長の野望･大志』". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  12. ^ "Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening - Official Announcement Trailer". ign.com. 30 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  13. ^ "KOEI Company Introduction". Archived from the original on 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  14. ^ Brooks, M. Evan (October 1990). "Computer Strategy and Wargames: Pre-20th Century". Computer Gaming World. p. 11. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  15. ^ Brooks, M. Evan (June 1993). "An Annotated Listing of Pre-20th Century Wargames". Computer Gaming World. p. 136. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  16. ^ Randall, Neil (January 1989). "Nobunaga's Ambition". Compute!. p. 94. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  17. Games International
    . No. 14. p. 49.
  18. ^ "Nobunaga's Ambition". GamePro. No. 58. IDG. May 1994. p. 118.
  19. ^ "Nobunaga's Ambition". GamePro. No. 60. IDG. July 1994. p. 126.
  20. Imagine Media
    . September 1996. p. 59.

External links

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