Nobunaga's Ambition (Zenkokuban; NES), from Koei's manuals and Wikidata

Wikidata dates Nobunaga's Ambition (Nobunaga no Yabō Zenkokuban) to 1986, its Famicom release in Japan to 18 March 1988, and its NES release in North America to June 1989; it also carries a second North American NES date, April 1991. nobunagas-ambition/release

Wikidata's NES platform (Q172742) includes the Famicom. None of the console dates has a reference on Wikidata, and the item doesn't say what the 1991 date is.

Cited by: Nobunaga's Ambition

The Japanese computer manual serves several machines, with key notes for the MZ-2500 among them, and its copyright line reads 1986 and 1987. nobunagas-ambition/computer-manual

Translation (the atlas's) of the second quote, "On the MZ-2500 you don't need to release the kana key lock."

Cited by: Nobunaga's Ambition

The computer manual says part of the program was built with C compilers for each processor family, LSI Japan's LSI-C for Z80 machines such as the PC-8801 and X1, Introl's cross C compiler for 6809 machines such as the FM-7, and Microsoft C with Phoenix Software Associates' PLINK86 linker for 8086 and V30 machines such as the PC-9801. nobunagas-ambition/toolchain

The notice reads, in full, "本製品はプログラムの一部が, PC-8801, X-1などのZ80マシンに対しては, エル・エス・アイジャパン社のLSI-Cコンパイラ, FM-7, FM-77などの6809マシンに対しては, イントロール社のイントロール・クロスCCコンパイラ, PC-9801, FM-16, B16などの8086, V30マシンに対しては, マイクロソフト社のマイクロソフトCコンパイラ及びフェニックスソフトウェアアソシエイツのPLINK86を用いて製造されています。" Translation (the atlas's), "Part of this product's program was built with LSI Japan's LSI-C compiler for Z80 machines such as the PC-8801 and X-1, Introl's Introl cross CC compiler for 6809 machines such as the FM-7 and FM-77, and Microsoft's Microsoft C compiler and Phoenix Software Associates' PLINK86 for 8086 and V30 machines such as the PC-9801, FM-16, and B16." The text layer splits the notice across a two-column layout, so the quote keeps the fragments it reads cleanly. It doesn't say which part of the program is C, or whether the NES port shares any of it.

Cited by: Nobunaga's Ambition

The NES manual calls Nobunaga's Ambition a bestseller in Japan for over five years and says the American version was improved many times before it arrived. nobunagas-ambition/bestseller-nes

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Both scenarios start in spring 1560. One covers the 17 fiefs of central Japan, and the other all 50 fiefs of Japan; the goal is to unify them. nobunagas-ambition/scenarios

{
 "start": 1560,
 "centralFiefs": 17,
 "allFiefs": 50
}

The NES text layer reads the first start date as "1960", an OCR error; the second reads 1560. The PC-98 manual dates the start to spring 1560, the year of the battle of Okehazama.

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One to eight people can play, each answering the setup questions in turn. nobunagas-ambition/players

Value: 8 players

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A turn is one season, four to a year, and each fief the player rules gives one order per season, so a player with more fiefs gets more orders. nobunagas-ambition/turns

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Action points

{
 "turnsPerYear": 4,
 "ordersPerFief": 1
}

Translation (the atlas's) of the PC-98 quote, "Since it is one order per country, if you hold two or more territories, the turn to give an order comes round each season as many times as the number of countries you rule."

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The PC-98 manual says every one of the 50 (or 17) countries gives one order each season, one country at a time, in an order that changes at random every season; the season ends when all have given theirs. nobunagas-ambition/fief-order

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Turn order

Translation (the atlas's), "A year divides into four seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter, and each season all 50 countries (17) give one order each. When every country has given its order, the season [ends] … changes at random each season." The text layer scrambles the sentence about the order ("1国ずつ順番に命令を出すわけですが,順番は毎季節ランダムに変化します", "orders are given one country at a time, and the order changes at random each season"), so the quote keeps only the words it reads cleanly. The NES manual doesn't describe the order.

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The NES main display offers 21 commands, Move, War, Tax, Send, Dam, Pact, Grow, Marry, Trade, Hire, Train, View, Build, Give, Bribe, Assign, Rest, Map, Grant, Other, and Pass; each fief's one order a season is chosen from them. nobunagas-ambition/commands

Value: 21

The command table's names are partly lost in the text layer; the names here come from each command's own heading on pp. 19–23.

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The PC-98 manual lists the same 21 commands in the same order, from Move (移動) and War (戦争) to Rest (休養), Grant (属領命令), Other (その他), and Pass (PASS). nobunagas-ambition/commands-pc98

Value: 21

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Some actions don't use up a fief's order. On the NES, a loan from the merchant leaves the order free; the PC-98 manual says the same of Grant orders for vassal fiefs and of the Other options. nobunagas-ambition/free-orders

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Action points

Translations (the atlas's), "Orders for vassal territories don't count toward the number of commands. You can give another order in the same season," and, of Other, "not counted in the number of orders."

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A daimyo has five abilities, health, drive, luck, charm, and IQ. At setup the player's daimyo can start no higher than 109 in each, and play can raise them as far as 210. nobunagas-ambition/abilities

{
 "startMax": 109,
 "max": 210
}

The PC-98 manual says the player sets each value with the space key and can redo it as often as he likes; translation of the quote (the atlas's), "The highest value the player can set for each element here is 109."

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Health falls every spring and whenever there is an epidemic, and a daimyo whose health reaches zero dies. A healthier daimyo is less likely to fall ill, and a sick daimyo can't give some commands. nobunagas-ambition/health

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Character aging

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The PC-98 manual says a daimyo falls ill when an epidemic strikes his country or his health is low; illness lowers health, limits his commands, and usually clears by the next season, though it can last two seasons or more. On the NES, a sick daimyo can't move. nobunagas-ambition/illness

Translation (the atlas's) of the PC-98 quote, "if his health value is low, the daimyo may fall ill, and his health value falls. … the illness may last two seasons or more."

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Every spring each daimyo grows a year older and every health value drops by one point, and a daimyo whose time has come dies of old age then. High health can lengthen his life. nobunagas-ambition/aging

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Character aging

{
 "healthLossPerSpring": 1
}

The text layer interleaves the Age paragraph with the ability table beside it, so the quote is split at the line breaks. The paragraph ends "A high health value can lengthen your life."

Cited by: Nobunaga's Ambition

The PC-98 manual says each daimyo's lifespan is fixed in advance and never shown. In spring an old daimyo may die when it runs out, but a high health value can save him. nobunagas-ambition/lifespan

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Character aging

Translations (the atlas's), "[An old daimyo] may die when his lifespan comes, but if his health value is high he may be saved. The daimyo's lifespan is not shown anywhere," and "Each daimyo's lifespan is set individually, but if this value is high it may stretch somewhat."

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Rest raises the daimyo's health. The player names how many seasons to rest, and the computer runs the game for him meanwhile, defending against any attack. The PC-98 manual caps a rest at 10 seasons, and says a daimyo whose home country falls while he rests dies, which ends the game. nobunagas-ambition/rest

{
 "maxSeasons": 10
}

Translation (the atlas's), "if you lose the war, you too are dead, and the game is over. … You can rest for no more than 10 seasons at a time."

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Plague can break out in any season. It lowers the daimyo's health, can kill a weak one, and reduces his men. nobunagas-ambition/plague

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Random events

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Typhoons come only in summer and lower a fief's rice output; a high dams value limits the damage. nobunagas-ambition/typhoons

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Random events

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Fall is tax time. The rice and gold collected depend on the fief's output, town value, and peasant loyalty and wealth; the men must be paid and fed then, and leave if the fief can't support them. Debts to the merchant are taken from the gold in fall. nobunagas-ambition/fall

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Military revolts come when army morale is low and the daimyo is unpopular, and peasant uprisings when peasant loyalty is low and the daimyo is unpopular. In the home fief the daimyo fights a revolt himself, and he can pay off an uprising or fight it. Fief 21, Kaga, in the 50-fief game and fief 4 in the 17-fief game never have peasant uprisings. nobunagas-ambition/rebellions

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The main display shows a current market price, which changes through the year. The PC-98 manual says the year's base rate is set in spring, and that buying rice raises the rice price and selling lowers it. nobunagas-ambition/market

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Commodity trading

Translation (the atlas's), "the year's base rate … when you buy rice … the rice price rises … when you sell rice … the rice price … falls." The same table has borrowing, hiring soldiers, hiring ninja, and buying arms raising their own rates.

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When a neighboring daimyo is killed by peasants or dies of sickness, the game asks the player whether to bid for his land, paying from the home fief's gold. nobunagas-ambition/bidding

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Dynastic succession

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The PC-98 manual says that when a daimyo dies in spring, a newly appearing daimyo may rise to rule his country; otherwise it becomes vacant land and goes to auction. nobunagas-ambition/vacant-fief

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Dynastic succession

Translation (the atlas's), "A country left without a daimyo either has a newly appearing daimyo raise his banner to rule it, or becomes vacant land with no one to rule it and is put up for bids." The manual doesn't name the new daimyo as an heir of the old.

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The PC-98 manual says a successful military revolt makes the country's ruler a new daimyo, whose independent state attacks its former lord's countries first. nobunagas-ambition/revolt-new-ruler

Translation (the atlas's), "When a revolt succeeds, the ruler of that country becomes a new daimyo." The text layer misreads 謀反 here.

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A ninja hired with Hire can try to assassinate a rival daimyo; a large army or a high IQ makes the target hard to kill, and a failed attempt will probably still lower his health. nobunagas-ambition/assassination

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An attacker who wins takes the losing fief, and all the loser's vassal fiefs too if the losing daimyo was in it. A defender who wins keeps the soldiers, rice, and gold the loser left, and all the attacker's vassal fiefs if the attacking daimyo was killed. nobunagas-ambition/war-outcome

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The PC-98 manual says the game is over when the player's daimyo is killed in war or dies at the end of his lifespan, and mentions no heir. With several players, one player's death doesn't end the game, which goes on until all of them have died or one has unified the country. nobunagas-ambition/game-over

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Dynastic succession

Translations (the atlas's), "if the daimyo you chose is killed in battle or dies of his lifespan along the way, the game is over. … When several people play, even if one of them dies [the game does not end; it goes on until] everyone playing has died [or someone unifies the country]," and "If the daimyo you chose is killed in war or leaves this world by his lifespan, [GAME OVER] is displayed and the game ends." The manual's section on the game's end has no heir or successor.

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The PC-98 manual says a daimyo who leads his army doubles its strength, but if his first unit is wiped out he is killed; a daimyo still in a country that loses a war, unable to flee, is killed too. If that daimyo is the player's, the game is over. nobunagas-ambition/battle-death

Translations (the atlas's), "if the first unit, where the daimyo is, is wiped out, the daimyo has died in battle and the game is over," and "that daimyo is killed by the enemy. If, unluckily, you were that daimyo, the game is over."

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In battle the defender places its units first, anywhere on the map, and the attacker places its own near the fief it attacked from. Each day the defender gives one command to each of its units, then the attacker does, and a day passes. nobunagas-ambition/battle-order

About: Nobunaga's Ambition Turn order

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A war ends when one side runs out of rice, loses its command unit, or retreats. If the battle doesn't end within a month, or both sides are destroyed at once, the defender wins. nobunagas-ambition/victory

Cited by: Nobunaga's Ambition