LogFAQs > #970853043

the long awaited NES game ported to Sega Genesis write up

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/0/1/AAZU_LAADOyZ.png
9. Nobunaga's Ambition (Genesis)

Extremely simple but satisfying strategy game. I've been playing Koei Strategy Games since I was about 12 years old and this was the first time I EVER completed a campaign from start to finish. I want to replay this again at some point, I might do it this year. I'd played the original NA before, though I don't remember which version, and that might matter. The NES version has a lot less polish than this.

Either way it 100% clicked with me this time and it got me into the habit of playing more Koei stuff for the remainder of 2022. I'm for sure always going to remember this playthrough of Nobunaga's Ambition where I united all of Japan under Uesugi Kenshin's banner, and it inspired me to get back into Koei Strategy games for months afterwards.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/9/9/AAZU_LAADOyX.png
I would probably not actually recommend this game to anyone. You spend 95% of the time looking at a map of japan, either the zoomed in map above or an even bigger map divided into DOZENS of territories. So basically the way Nobunaga's Ambition gameplay works is that for each territory you control you get one action. As you conquer more territories you have more actions per turn but also more fronts that you need to defend. There's a LOT more depth here than a game like, say, Risk, because in addition to building troops you need to manage your gold and troop economy, the loyalty of each province, and other micromanagement stuff that only appeals to insane people such as myself.

There's a market but from my playtesting it seems to suffer from constant inflation over time, making it tough to know what is actually 'buying low' or 'selling high' for that matter.

Additionally there's a strategy you can use to send ninjas into rival territories and mess with them. Apparently you can win the entire game by utilizing mostly ninjas, but I didn't use them much. Other Koei strategy games that came later would have FAR more advanced subterfuge, espionage, and political mechanics... which led to me enjoying them even MORE than this experience.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this but there is a random check during various seasons to see if something like flooding or a plague happens. I got this presumably rare instance at the very end of the game where after I conquered the final territory, the game rolled for seasonal events at the end of the turn. I was treated to a cutscene and a message about a plague sweeping over Japan, affecting several territories, and then the game transitioned over to the 'you united all of japan and won the game' cutscene and the ending. Another reason why this playthrough is always going to be super memorable to me.