samurai games

[Hayai]

Check out this game!

Sword of the Samurai.

It's really old, but a lot of fun!
I used to play it all the time as a kid.

You can do all sorts of things like fighting duels, melee battles, donate rice to the local priests, rise through the ranks, defend your territory from invaders, defend your home from ninjas, sneak into other samurai's homes and steal stuff, or kill assasinate them, even get married and have kids.

You gain rank by gaining the favor of your superiors and then taking their place.
You can gain favor, by helping them fight off invaders or protect them from assassins, or join them for tea ceremonies. Be careful about what you choose to say though. It could have a very negative effect if you insult them.

First, you must become a Hamoto, then a Daimyo, and then Shogun. There might be one more before Shogun, I forgot.
Each rank has four members of the previous rank below them. You must be the best of the four to gain a new rank.

To replace your superior, they must die. A quick way to do this is to sneak into their houses at night and kill them. Don't trip the alarm though, then you will have to duel them. It is easier to kill them in their sleep. That sure is dishonerable, and honor is very important. The game is very fun, and somewhat open-ended. Everyone should try it. You will have to learn the controls for each type of battle, though.

Make sure you learn the controls first, though.
Enter is the selector/accept/attack button.
Spacebar can pause.
F1 brings up a comparison menu that compares you to your rivals.
F2 brings up a map of Japan.
F3 brings up a status menu that shows what everyone is doing.

In military battles (with your troops):
+ turns and moves your legion to your selected destination.
* turns your legion.
- moves your legion to a selected destination.

When at your home:
alt-s saves the game in a selected slot.
alt-r restores a game.
alt-q quits the game.
alt-n starts a new game.

When in a duel:
The direction arrows and enter are used to swing your sword.
Enter swings the sword.
The direction arrows allow you to choose to swing at either side or fron above.
There is a block button, but I forgot what it was. I think it might have been ~ or ` or \ or |. You'll have to play around with it.