October 29, 2021, Guangzhou. Guan Yu anime model at the China International Comics Festival animation game exhibition. (Photo/Chen Jimin/China News Service )
The Three Kingdoms became a popular element of modern culture, which is largely attributed to the popularization and promotion of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
The wonderfulness and legendary nature of the story itself have made the "Three Kingdoms" a "popular IP" in China from ancient times to the present. Whether it is the historical records of temples, common people, or literati and poets, they have been celebrating the history of heroes fighting and heroes from generation to generation.
is both "popular" and "exciting". In theory, the "Three Kingdoms" is very suitable as the material selection object for electronic games: it is well-known and loved, which means that there is no threshold for players to accept this subject; there are many forces and each has its own rise and fall, full characters and both civil and military, which means that all kinds of game types can be combined with the "Three Kingdoms".
But the reality is that "China cannot do the Three Kingdoms game well" has become an old problem that has plagued players for more than 20 years.
Take the mobile game that dominates the game market as an example. Searching with keywords in the App Store can find 71 games in operation that clearly indicate the "Three Kingdoms". But what is significantly compared with the quantity is their reputation. In fact, looking at today's domestic Three Kingdoms theme games, there is indeed no excellent work that can truly satisfy the quality and influence of the Three Kingdoms game enthusiasts.
Japanese game Love Three Kingdoms: A cultural reverse output
"The box that can realize your dreams!" In 1979, Yoshikawa, the president of Gwanggou Co., Ltd., described to his wife the "personal computer" he saw in a magazine. On his birthday, he received a gift from his wife spent all his savings and purchased - the Sharp MZ-80C worth 400,000 yen, and the history of the game changed subtly.
Glory was a dye company on the verge of bankruptcy. After striking to the software field, "historical fan" Yoichi Kazuka took the lead in developing Asia's first strategy simulation game "Kawanashima Joint War". Subsequently, the Japanese Warring States history-themed game " Nobunaga's Ambition " gave the company a firm foothold in the gaming industry.
Later, glorious topic selection eyes were aimed at the "Three Kingdoms" that are also familiar to Japan.
html At the end of the 116th century, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was translated into Japan, and several adaptations made it lasting in modern times."National Writer" Yoshikawa Eiji Japanese novel "Three Kingdoms" created in the mid-20th century is the basis of the Three Kingdoms culture in Japan; in 1971, Yokoyama Guanghui began to serialize the comic version "Three Kingdoms"; from 1982 to 1984, NHK played "Three Kingdoms" puppet drama , which set off a wave of "Three Kingdoms craze" throughout Japan.
1985, the world's first Three Kingdoms-themed electronic game "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" came into being. It was widely praised for its popular themes and excellent quality, and won the first place in the BHS Award (readers vote for the best software of the year) selected by the magazine LOGIN. The gameplay of
is basically a replica of "Nobunaga's Ambition". Players can play the role of the monarch of the Three Kingdoms period, continuously expand their power through internal affairs, diplomacy and military means, and ultimately unify the world. Although
has a good reputation, the sales volume of the first generation of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was not impressive. The main reason is that the price of personal computers and computer software was quite high at that time. A NEC PC-8801 was priced at 228,000 yen, and a "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" game was sold for 14,800 yen. In comparison, the FC game console of Nintendo was only 14,000 yen.
Therefore, when home computer games and arcade games are becoming more popular, seizing the initiative cannot "win the Central Plains".
1988, Namco also began to make FC game consoles, namely the "Red and White Machine" version of the Three Kingdoms Strategy Game. The second generation of the series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2: The Overlord's Continent" is more mature in terms of gameplay. This game once entered the Chinese market and is the enlightenment of strategy games for many players on the "Red and White Machine".
Capcom launched the comic adaptation "Devour the World" in 1989. The second generation of its series "Devour the World 2: Battle of Red Cliff" was once a must-install game in domestic arcade halls. The designs such as "eating buns" by turning the rocker and being able to use long weapons after getting on the horse have become a collective memory of a generation.
But Glory is still persistent in the field of the Three Kingdoms themes. In the early 1990s, Glory released three "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in succession, each generation has different degrees of innovation. In 1994, the war chess game "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms Heroes" was also launched. The game removed the internal affairs elements in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" series and focused more on war gameplay. At the same time, RPG elements were added, players can operate the monarch to move around cities, talk to NPCs, discover talents, shop, etc. The new
series launched its last work "The Legend of Cao Cao" in 1998. The chess mode explored by it has become the main gameplay of sequels such as "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms 6" and "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms 7".
"The Legend of Cao Cao" in Japan has not sold well, and has gained a lot of fans in China. Fans have produced many MODs for it, including " Biography of Liu Bei HTML " and "Biography of Lu Bu" which are strengthened based on the original work, as well as "The Legend of Yue Fei", "The Legend of Yang Family Generals", "The Legend of Wagangzhai" and so on.
htmlIn the late 190s, the 2D "Qing Edition" action games that grew and flourished in arcades gradually declined, and the picture expressiveness of home machines was constantly improving."PlayStation 2 has very powerful hardware performance, and may be able to make an action game that reproduces the battlefield as it is." Glorious producer Ryohiro Suzuki once recalled. In 2000, the first generation of " True · The Three Kingdoms " was released with PS2 as the "first release escort".
, and "True Kingdoms 2" became the first work with sales of more than 1 million copies after Glory was founded.
At this point, we have two major types: historical simulation and unparalleled action. The game platform has extended from computers to home computers, and has gloriously become the company that has "waves all the heroes" in the Three Kingdoms game market.
During the period when domestic web games and online games were growing wildly, the character portraits and action sound effects in a large number of game advertisements were copied from "The Three Kingdoms" and "The True Three Kingdoms Invincible", especially famous characters such as Guan Yu, Cao Cao , Zhao Yun , and Zhao Yun are the most common.
This phenomenon has gradually disappeared with the opening of the market and copyright regulations in recent years, but it is still a special memory of Chinese players.
July 30, 2021, Shanghai. The game "True Three Kingdoms" is exhibited at ChinaJoy. (Photo/IC)
A spark of fire, extinguishing
Before the fire of prairie fire, and in the Chinese world, the first game dealers in Taiwan tried the theme of the Three Kingdoms.
1991, Zhiguan Technology released its first Chinese Three Kingdoms game "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", with sales of 170,000 copies, but this game is actually a copy of Glory "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2".
Other manufacturers in Taiwan have successively developed " The Three Kingdoms Generals Fight for the Hegemony " (1993) and "The Three Kingdoms of the World" (1994), and have tried fighting, puzzles and other types, but due to poor management and rough quality, these games have failed in the market one after another.
It was not until the late 1990s that several "hot" of the Three Kingdoms games emerged.
In 1998, " Three Kingdoms Heroes " released by Autin Technology was popular in Internet cafes all over the country after entering the mainland market. The gameplay part of the
game consists of the internal affairs system and the combat system. The internal affairs system is also borrowed from "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The combat system is similar to the Japanese game "The Power of the Dragon" in 1996. The two armies will be separated from both sides of the screen and give instructions as the players give. All arms can charge and fight face to face.
The same period "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 6" is still using avatars, numbers and sound effects to convey battlefield information. "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms" is a real-time battle system, with a scroll-like real-life battlefield and a high-definition picture with a resolution of 640×480, which makes it more popular among Chinese players and more intimate when playing traditional Chinese. " Three Kingdoms War Chronicles" launched by
官网网站 in 1999 is still loved by a large number of players in the context of the end of the arcade era.
The first generation of "The Three Kingdoms War Chronicles" took a different approach in the plot, and chose "Sealing the River to Rescue Adou" as the beginning of the story, which is no longer the conventional "Yellow Turban" or "Red Cliff".Because Elder Electronics started out in a fighting game, it has accumulated some action design and impact feel. Every character in the game has a unique killing skill. Players can make gorgeous combo
with a little practice. Compared with the Japanese factory Capcom's "Swallowing the World", the characters in "The Three Kingdoms War Chronicles" are closer to traditional Chinese stories. The operable characters include not only the Five Tiger Generals of Shu Han who are consistent with the description of the novel, but also the well-known Zhuge Liang , Diao Chan, etc.
In 2000, the first multiplayer online game in China, "0,000 Kings of Kings ", was launched, and it reached 10,000 people online at the same time in one month.
Zhiguan Technology also smelled the new trend brought by online games, followed "King of Kings" and launched "The Three Kingdoms of the Internet" and entered the mainland market. This is the first online game with the Three Kingdoms theme. The game itself is mediocre and its popularity is far less than that of "Legend" and "A Chinese Odyssey" of the same period, but it did launch the "first year of online games" in China, together with other games.
After the "first year of online games", the Three Kingdoms game that can be remembered by players was born in the mainland.
However, this year, the state has issued the "Opinions on Carrying out Special Governance of Electronic Game Business Places", namely the "Game console ban".
The long-term rampant piracy further squeezes the living space of stand-alone games.
In the context of the decline of stand-alone games, the target software "The Three Kingdoms" released in 2001 became the first domestic game to be exhibited at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Exhibition), and it was also one of the few games translated into English and released overseas at that time.
In the memories of players, the target software is often called "China's Blizzard ". When his 2002 work " Qin Shang " re-released on Steam in 2022, the introduction page quoted many media praises - "There was a moment when domestic games reached the top of the world" and "has amazed the world, comparable to "Diablo". These works are more like elegies to the past era. "The Three Kingdoms" came to an abrupt end after the release of the expansion pack "Three-point World". The developers changed to online games, no longer had heavyweight products, and their reputation gradually disappeared.
There is also a classic "Biography of Zhao Yun in the Three Kingdoms", which was a relatively rare domestic ARPG game at that time. The game takes Zhao Yun as the main perspective. The story starts with his young learning and ends with the fictional "Breaking the Five Elements Formation".
In terms of gameplay, the skill system and equipment system of "The Legend of Zhao Yun of the Three Kingdoms" are relatively mature, and players can feel the tension and stimulation of a single-handed battlefield.
The backbone of its developer Zhuhai Third Wave Studio is basically a former employee of Xishanju . He has participated in the production of games such as "Swordsman Love 2" and "Mine Warfare". When the game was developed to the middle, the team experienced a collective departure, which resulted in the final product being incomplete. The easter eggs in some guide books were not reflected in the game, but instead added a bit of legend to the players' hearts.
After completing the "Biography of Zhao Yun in the Three Kingdoms", the initial team went their separate ways, which also led to the fact that its sequel was ignored due to quality issues.
Three Kingdoms game entered the Bronze Age?
20 years ago, there seems to be no widely recognized Three Kingdoms game in China.
Some online games have been popular for a while, such as the web game " Hot-blooded Three Kingdoms " in 2008, and the MOBA game " Dream of Three Kingdoms " in 2009, but they are not representative among the same category.
's former IP has also launched some online versions, such as "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms OL" and "The True Three Kingdoms OL", but the quality is very different from the original game.
, looking at reputation alone, is probably the only one that can still be remembered by people. The RPG map of Warcraft "Real Three Kingdoms Warriors" made by players; if you look at the spread, the " Three Kingdoms Kill " launched in 2008, reached 100 million registered users in a few years. But their nature is different from video games in the general sense.
Until 2019, the 3A-level real-time strategy game "Total War: Three Kingdoms" produced by the British company Creative Assembly once again touched the nerves of Chinese players.
Before becoming the Three Kingdoms, "Total War" was already a mature IP, and has launched 10 main series and several metaphors. When talking about why the Three Kingdoms were chosen as the historical background, the game designer said that the Three Kingdoms "has a rich and diverse geographical environment, a large-scale war and vivid characters, which is very consistent with the gameplay of "Total War".
Obviously, the potential of the Three Kingdoms as a large-scale game material selection object will not change in any era.
After the launch of "Total War: Three Kingdoms", the high purchasing enthusiasm of domestic players also responded to the game quality. On the first day of its launch, Creative Assembly revealed that the number of Chinese players in the game may exceed two-thirds, "This has created the history of the 'full war series' and also refreshed our understanding of the proportion of players in the European and American game products."
In just one week, the sales of "Total War: Three Kingdoms" exceeded 1 million copies.
Although there are few outstanding works in China, with the rapid expansion of the mobile game market, there are not many games on the Three Kingdoms theme. According to statistics from the data platform DataEye-ADX, in 2020, the advertising volume of the Three Kingdoms game category accounted for 7.13% of the total buying volume of , the market .
But on the other hand, gameplay innovation is quite lacking, and the scale of strategy management games alone accounts for 75% of all Three Kingdoms games.
"Three Kingdoms" is indeed a large IP that can be recycled. However, the excessive development of similar themes has also caused players' aesthetic fatigue.
Now that the "Three Kingdoms Game" is mentioned again, it will no longer remind people of the surprise of turning into heroes on ancient arcades and home machines more than 20 years ago, but it will make people instinctively wonder whether it is another fast-moving consumer goods that are just for plundering wallets.
Even the glorious Three Kingdoms and "True Three Kingdoms" are each in bottlenecks. The gameplay reform of " True Three Kingdoms 8" has been criticized and has become the worst-rated generation in the series.
However, these are more like the inevitable laws of the development of the long-term series. In terms of the Three Kingdoms theme alone, domestic games have not yet burst out with energy that can break through the "theme monopoly" overseas for many years.
In 1995, a player wrote to the first domestic game magazine " electronic game software ", and accused with grief and anger: "When will we see the Chinese people making their own games in your magazine!"
Almost 30 years later, a large number of domestic games have successfully gone overseas, creating an overseas market of more than US$30 billion by 2021.
But if you want to see a world-renowned Three Kingdoms game "made by the Chinese themselves" again, you may still need to wait.
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