Shingen the Ruler
System: NES
Release Date: June 1990
Developer: Another
Publisher: Hot-B
Genre: Strategy
Take the rule of the famous daimyo Takeda and his son Katsuyori in Shingen the Ruler. As the head of the Shingen clan, you must start in January 1545 with the goal of uniting all of Japan. Shingen was more ruthless and powerful than Nobunaga at his peak, having defeated the combined armies of Nobunaga and Ieyasu before dying under unknown circumstances at the age of 51.
You are given your provincial statistics and have to make a decision of what to do. YLD is the current strength of your production. The higher the number, the greater PRD you will receive at tax time. DST is disaster which increases as bad things happen, causing more bad things to be likely. CLT is culture. Higher levels increase your yield, decrease the price of medicine, and lower the chance of epidemic. LOY measures the loyalty of your subjects, where higher numbers allow you to conscript more infantry and keeps the peasants from revolting. WEL shows wealth, which affects merchant prices and overall peasant happiness.
Buying anything costs $$, which needs to be earned somehow. There are three ways of earning money. The first is buying and selling PRD. Your product (and money) increases in October when you tax your subjects. I hit them with a 100 % tax rate before building them back up. Product and weaponry to upgrade infantry can be purchased by and sold to the merchant. The prices vary among months and provinces, but it is possible to buy low, and sell high if you have the patience. Money also comes monthly from G-M. Each gold mine increases your money by 5 each month. Money also comes from the spoils of war. When you are on the winning side of a battle, the enemies drop cash for you.
Your capital province gets a turn and up to three of your vassal states each month. There are a dozen commands to choose from. Mi allows you to conscript new infantry units, attack neighboring territories, or move soldiers, money, and product to another of your provinces. You can develop your farmland or give aid to the farmers increasing yield, loyalty, and wealth. More gold mines can be dug or you can spend to increase how much you earn monthly. How well these do are up to RNGesus. The doctor can prevent epidemics for a fee, or can sell you the medicine to cure them. Ninjas are used for spying on other provinces, giving you information on their strength. After the birth of Takeda’s son, you can train his statistics up, which will help after he takes over.
There are a number of random events that can occur between turns ranging from storms, ninja sabotage, to a princess being born. Smoke signals from neighboring territories indicate an attack is imminent. You have until the next turn to conscript infantry, upgrade them at the merchant, or move troops from out of town. Battles take 15 to 20 minutes to resolve on average. Your army consists of the Headquarters unit, which is powerful, but you lose if they are lost. Two cavalry units, which move far and hit hard, especially against the ranged attackers. Expensive Riflemen, who shoot from seven tiles away. Cheaper Archers, who shoot from five tiles away. Lancers, who are upgraded infantrymen that seem to work well against cavalry. And Infantrymen, who are the base unit, not strong, but can be recruited in great number.
These battles are turn based. On your turn, you can choose any order of units you want to control. At the end of their move, they can rush an attack, wait and do nothing, end your turn completely, or flee and submit if the battle is going poorly. Terrain plays a role, with forests for example blocking ranged attacks and increasing defensive power. The main determinant of power is an army’s rank. This increases with experience and many other daimyos start with very high rank levels. You need to grind on weak armies for many years to build your troops up enough to be useful. This makes Shingen a long term game with battles taking so long. There is an auto battle option, but it eats your troops away at a steady pace and should only be used when you have a truly impressive advantage. If you attack an enemy and defeat them, you can go for their castle to take over the province, but good luck!
Graphics: 2.0
The graphics are all functional and the portraits are decent.
Sound: 1.5
I was pretty over the repeating music and sound effects.
Gameplay: 2.0
There’s strategy you need to learn, though I felt that the only thing to do if you were low on money was to conscript new infantrymen month after month.
Difficulty: 2.0
The battles take way too long for what they are. You’ll burn out if you have anything else to do in life.
Fun Factor: 1.5
I’d like to give it a higher rating here, but the slog of battle and uselessness of auto battle stops me.
Overall Grade: 1.8
Shingen the Ruler earns a C. It’s a little less than alright, but someone with a lot of time can get a lot more fun out of it than me.