Title: Gekijoban Sangokushi IV Released: 1995 Genre: Strategy Developer: Koei Publisher: Koei Regions: Japan Availability: Extremely Rare

Also known as Romance of the 3 Kingdoms IV.

Koei's long running series of strategy games based on ancient Chinese history made an appearance on the Japanese Super 32x and is the sole Japan-only 32x release. Romance of the 3 Kingdoms IV (which has appeared on several consoles) continues the series tradition of old-style, turn-based strategic warfare on a grand scale. You begin the game with a small economic and military power base that consists of a few cities, a select group of generals, and a small army. From there, you must carefully build up your army and manage your resources until you are ready to take on stronger opponents and larger responsibilities. Gameplay is quite "epic" in nature, and campaigns can  take hours to complete. Few, if any, of the Romance games have ever taxed their parent hardware in terms of both graphics and sound, though a number of gamers have definitely been taxed by the game's complex controls. Graphics consist mainly of isometric 2-D grids, interspersed with colorful still images. The soundtrack blends into the background, and while occasional sound effects highlight major events, they don't do so in a particularly striking fashion. None of this really matters to fans of the the series, all of whom know what they are getting themselves into when they begin a game. The Romance games are definitely an acquired taste, and quite a fine meal for those who enjoy this sort of thing. Recommended.

The Romance series made its American console debut on the original Nintendo Entertainment System way back in the 80's and has appeared since then on many different platforms including the Genesis, Super Nintendo, Saturn, and Playstation. The 32x version is supposedly very close to the Super Nintendo port in terms of graphics, soundtrack, and features. Unfortunately, the 32x game is full of Japanese text and it pretty much unplayable for those that don't comprehend the language. Pick up one of the versions released in the States if you're curious.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of  Koei's most popular and longest running series, though it hasn't seen a true Stateside update in several years. The games are based on a three thousand page novel that bears the same name, an epic written in the fourteenth century concerning the wars of the later Han Dynasty, the period from the late second century through to the middle of the third century when China was overrun with warfare and rebellion.