"Game Archeology" PC Game Time And Space In 1991 (1): Three Kingdoms And Martial Arts, The Year Of Domestic Breakthrough

Memories about PC games in 1991 can be roughly divided into two parts: domestic and overseas. This article introduces famous domestic PC games. Overall evaluation of 1991 in the history of PC games: The wave of European and American games sweeping China has not yet begun, and Japanese manufacturers lack new blockbuster games on the PC side. On the contrary, Taiwanese manufacturers like Zhiguan have stood at the center of the stage!

In 1991, domestic PC games, with Taiwanese games as the main force, continued to break ground, which seemed to herald the future pattern of the three forces of "Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and China" competing for dominance in the Chinese PC game market.

Why did Taiwanese PC games succeed first? ——The author believes that it mainly relies on two points: early start and localization.

1. Taiwan’s economy and technology took the lead in taking off in the 1990s, which also led to cultural development. Taiwan not only popularized popular music, movies, and variety shows earlier, but also extended to new things such as computer games. It was especially deeply influenced by Japanese games, which made the local PC game industry the first to sprout.

Soft-World Corp is the epitome of the rise of PC games in Taiwan. It was registered and established in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan Province in 1983, and later became the first game software company to be listed in the three places across the Taiwan Strait. Zhiguan is involved in game software production, agency, and sales, with the goal of "building a global Chinese entertainment software kingdom." Zhiguan is remarkable in the field of self-created games:

In 1989, the first Chinese-produced game "Fruit Plate" was released (it was too old, no information found^_^); the first "Golden Disk Award" leisure software production competition was held, and many outstanding game software designers were discovered. ; "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 1" was released in April 1991, etc. Zhiguan Company is known for its high productivity, and "Game Archeology" will mention Zhiguan and its games countless times later.

Zhiguan Technology Co., Ltd.-Software World

2. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same cultural circle. Taiwan has continued Chinese traditional culture and has become a pioneer in combining tradition and modernization. It can be seen from the several games listed below: most of them revolve around two major themes-the Three Kingdoms and martial arts.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the situation was changing, heroes emerged in large numbers, and the disputes between the Wei, Shu, and Wu kingdoms left countless legends. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the most widely circulated historical novel in China. It is easy to understand, has wonderful characters and plots, and the wisdom of the strategy is impressive... No matter the times have changed, the Chinese people's fascination with the Three Kingdoms has never faded. The culture of the Three Kingdoms has radiated to East Asia and spread throughout the world. overseas. The civil and military struggles and intrigues of various military groups during the Three Kingdoms era have become excellent material for game adaptation. The Japanese have taken the lead in adapting the Three Kingdoms into various types of games such as SLG, RPG, and ACT. Of course, Chinese game producers cannot be absent!

Domestic Three Kingdoms games should win because of cultural accumulation

Martial arts is a popular culture unique to the Chinese cultural circle. Martial arts novels take heroic knights as the protagonists, show miraculous martial arts skills, depict countless rivers and lakes disputes, and tell the protagonist's tortuous and heroic journey of chivalry. On the surface, martial arts culture is full of fantasy and mysterious renderings, but in fact it is closely connected with the spirit of Chinese classical tradition. The thoughts of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism and the feelings of family and country often become the spiritual core of the works. In the past, there were martial arts novels such as "Jin Gu Liang Wen Huang", and later in the popularity of martial arts films from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Martial arts culture is very popular in the Chinese circle and has also become a natural material for game creation.

Jin Yong's martial arts characters

Games are derivatives of culture, and culture is the magic weapon for game creation. Due to cultural differences, although major foreign game companies have absolute technical advantages, it is difficult to produce authentic Chinese-style games such as martial arts RPGs. At the same time, domestic games have always been fighting for precious living space for themselves with enthusiasm and localization in addition to relatively backward technology and industrial creativity. Taiwanese games use traditional culture as a breakthrough point and traditional culture as a moat. They launched games such as "Xuanyuan Sword" in the early stage and achieved success.

List of domestic classic games in 1991:

1. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The (April 1991, Zhiguan Technology)

Zhiguan copied the glorious second-generation DOS version of the "Three Kingdoms" strategy game, which is the famous work of planner Chen Zexiao. It was undoubtedly the number one domestic product in 1991. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was well received after its release. The game sold 170,000 units, becoming one of the highest-selling games in Taiwan's computer game history.

The game adopts the advanced voice system at that time, and the interface has a strong Chinese classical cultural style. At the beginning of the game, the scene of thousands of sails competing against each other on the Yangtze River reflected in the setting sun is paired with the poem "Linjiang Immortal·Rolling Water of the Yangtze River East", which seems to declare that the historical games made by the Chinese will be superior in terms of cultural heritage.

From the perspective of game structure, the large map, management and six-frame combat of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" still benchmark the game settings of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2". After all, in the era when domestic Three Kingdoms games started, it was still inevitable to cross the river by touching KOEI.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" game screen one

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" game screen 2

2. Swallowing the World: Three Gaiden Stories (1991, Zhiguan Technology)

"Swallowing Heaven and Earth: Three Kingdoms" is another Three Kingdoms game released by Zhiguan in the same year, this time it is an RPG game.

Originating from the design prototype of Hiroshi Motomiya's comic "Tenchi Yusei", a Japanese company produced the first generation of the FC version of the classic RPG "Swallowing Tenchi" in 1989. This game by Zhiguan is a PC version of FC's "Swallowing Heaven and Earth", which inherits the passionate appearance of the characters in the comics and the original version.

The game naturally has the style of the Japanese RPG of the same era, and the shadows of "Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy" can be clearly seen - big-headed character shapes, large maps, cities, caves and other terrains, and mine-stepping rounds. Combat, NPC-driven plot, and more. The game follows the orthodox route of the Three Kingdoms, with Liu Guanzhang as the protagonist, and runs through many familiar plots of the Shu-Han line: sweeping away the Yellow Turbans, crusading against Dong Zhuo, overthrowing Yuan Shu, annihilating Yuan Shao, conquering the four counties in the south, and finally unifying China.

Japanese two-dimensional culture has had a profound influence on China for many years. The long-standing culture of the Three Kingdoms has experienced the process of being exported from China, adapted by Japan, and then imported back into China. At that time, it was a pragmatic strategy for Taiwan's gaming industry, which was still in its infancy, to quickly copy Japan's successful model and strengthen the local gaming industry.

"Swallowing Heaven and Earth: Three Gaiden" game screenshot 1

"Swallowing Heaven and Earth: Three Gaiden" game screenshot 2

3. Eight Swords of China (1991, Zhiguan Technology)

"Eight Swords of China" is also a martial arts SPRG game launched by Zhiguan, imitating the game structure of the extremely popular foreign "New World" (1990). The story describes that the protagonist in modern life is sucked into the ancient painting "Hell Transformation" when visiting an art museum. He assists the resistance forces of the eight countries in the painting to fight against the oppressive rule of King Jingnan, and finally eliminates them and rescues the people who were sealed in the painting. The Snow Ring Princess who is more than 1,300 years old. Like the Imperial Warrior, the protagonist's leadership will affect the size of the army and the types of troops that can be recruited, so the protagonist's attributes should be improved as much as possible.

"Eight Swords of China" incorporates many elements of European war chess SLG. The type is very similar to the later 3DO's famous "Heroes of Might and Magic", and even earlier than "Might and Magic". This game also kicked off the future of strategy RPG games and domestic war chess games. It was also the first domestic game to incorporate SLG components into RPG games. A few years later, "Jin Yong's Legend of Heroes" developed by Zhiguan and the war and chess games developed by other companies all have the shadow of this aspect.

"Eight Swords of China" game screenshot 1

"Eight Swords of China" game screenshot 2

4. Legend of Sanctuary (1991, Zhiguan Technology)

It is another role-playing game under Zhiguan, which shows Zhiguan’s ambition to dominate the Chinese game market!

"Legend of Sanctuary" is the winning work of the second "Golden Magnetic Film Award". The story mainly describes that the protagonist is sucked into the book by an inexplicable force while reading a book, and has to explore the six states and defeat the Holy Lord to return to the real world. The entire game is presented in the form of 2D characters lining up in a team turn-based battle mode, making it easier to upgrade, battle, and maze the game.

Judging from today's standards, the production level is obviously relatively primitive, but there is no doubt that the "Golden Magnetic Film Award" has promoted Taiwanese games.

"Legend of Sanctuary" game screenshots

5. The Legend of Knights and Heroes (July 1991, Jingxun Information)

"The Legend of Knights and Heroes" is a martial arts role-playing game produced by Taiwan Jingxun Information Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jingxun"). It later developed into a famous RPG game IP.

The story tells that during the Ming Dynasty, the five martial arts sects (Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, Kunlun and the Beggar Clan) each became a powerful force, and each sect had different views and disagreements. At this time, the Zoroastrian Cult gradually emerged in the Western Regions, and the martial arts in the Central Plains called it the Demon Cult. At that time, the leader of the Demon Cult aimed to unify the martial arts in the Central Plains. There are eight tribes under the leader, namely, the King of Heaven, the Dragon King, the Asura King, the Garuda Yaksha King, the Mahulaka King, the Gandharva King and the Kinnara King. Under the unified command of the leader, he began to unify the martial arts in the Central Plains. . The protagonist was dissatisfied with the reality of the martial arts at that time that the strong bullied the small and the weak. He was even more dissatisfied with the demon sect colluding with the Japanese Japanese pirates to run rampant across China and harm the people. Starting from Guangzhou, he fought in Sichuan and Wuchang, and fought all the way to the demon sect on a small island in Dongting Lake. Lair, wipe out the demonic forces in the Central Plains.

The game is based on the structure of the famous Japanese game "Dragon Quest" and also integrates the time and space background of Chinese martial arts. "Legend of Heroes" is the first truly complete martial arts role-playing game. Although from the current perspective, this game is very simple: the screen only has 16 colors, the standard mine-stepping combat, and the plot is also very simple. Only the domineering opening scene and a cut-scene dialogue can reveal a strong martial arts temperament. However, since PCs had just begun to become popular at that time, "Legend of Heroes" still gave the players of that year a very novel experience and excitement.

"Legend of Heroes" game screenshot 1

"Legend of Heroes" game screenshot 2