Bandit Kings of Ancient China
1989 · Koei
Source book
- Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan) — traditionally linked to Shi Nai'an
Koei's strategy game of the Water Margin. The Japanese title says so outright.
Platforms
MSX, MS-DOS, Amiga, Macintosh, NES, PlayStation, Sega Saturn
Fidelity
Released in 1989 for MSX, MS-DOS, Amiga, and Macintosh, in 1990 for the NES, and remade in Japan in 1996 for Saturn and PlayStation. The Japanese title is Suikoden: Tenmei no Chikai, which Wikipedia glosses as Water Margin: Oath of Destiny. It is a turn-based campaign of that outlaw epic, not a chapter-by-chapter telling I can claim from the source page.
Read first?
01
When to read first
Read the novel first if you want its versions of the 108 outlaws before a strategy game turns them into officers. It is a long book. The game does not replace it.
02
When playing first is fine
Play first. You are running a rebellion, not reading the episodes. The names will mean more after the book, and the book will not be spoiled scene by scene.
03
Why
A Koei historical has always been a system first. Here the system is wearing a novel, and the novel is still mostly unread when the campaign ends.
Source
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandit_Kings_of_Ancient_China
The call above is an editorial reading of that public page. If the page and this note disagree, believe the page.
