PC-88 Archives - The Greatest Game Music

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Bushou Fuuunroku Soundtrack (PC-88), Yoko Kanno, 1990

Developer Koei didn’t rock the boat much with this fourth instalment of its Nobunaga’s Ambition franchise. The game continued its predecessors’ brand of menu-heavy strategising, set amongst feuding warlords in Japan during the 16th century. As before, it targeted those gamers who preferred intensely in-depth gameplay over elaborate visuals. Despite the geographically specific subject matter, Koei felt there was an overseas audience for Bushou Fuuunroko, bringing the SNES and Sega Genesis ports to the American market under the title of Lord of Darkness.

Starship Rendezvous Soundtrack (PC-88), Masaharu Iwata / Hitoshi Sakimoto, 1989

At first glance, there is precious little setting Starship Rendezvous apart from the glut of doujin games released during the late 1980s and early 90s on Japanese home computer systems. The game’s laggy, basic top-down shooter gameplay is spread across only four levels. To make matters worse, gamers could only shoot one bullet at a time – and then had to wait for it to leave the screen. At least enemies would only notice players when they ended up in their direct line of view. Then again, none of this was really the point of the game – that would be the “boss” fights against female characters in various states of undress. Yes, it’s an adult game, and per (almost) usual, the gameplay is a mere afterthought.

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