Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Introduction
Romance of the Three Kingdoms was developed and published by Koei, released for the NES in 1990 as a home console adaptation of the studio’s PC grand strategy series based on the classical Chinese novel of the same name. Players take control of one of many warlords during China’s Three Kingdoms period, managing cities, recruiting officers, training armies, and negotiating or warring with rival factions across a turn-based campaign that can span dozens of in-game years. Its scope was unusually ambitious for the NES, translating a deep PC strategy sim into console form with menu-driven city management and large-scale battle resolution rather than direct action. It introduced many Western console players to Koei’s strategy catalog for the first time, laying groundwork for the studio’s long-running Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Nobunaga’s Ambition series on later hardware.
