Koei will forever be linked to deep turn-based strategy games for most retro gamers. This company brought some of the longest, and hardest, strategy games ever to the Nintendo Entertainment System (later the Super NES and the Sega Genesis). While they are well known for their turn-based strategy titles such as Nobunaga’s Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is one fantasy-based turn-based strategy game I want to focus on here. A title that is often forgotten when fans recount some of their favorite, or best, Koei titles during the 8 and 16-bit era. Gemfire.

Set in a fictional Isle of Ishmeria, Gemfire tells the story of greed, murder, backstabbing, deception, more murder, and of course, fantastic beasts and soldiers. I won’t bore you with the full on back story here, that is available on the Wikepedia page for those interested. What I do want to discuss is the fact that Gemfire is a great entry level turn based strategy title if you are new to the genre.

Playing Gemfire feels like a light strategy title. There are stats to pay attention to, but they are kept to a minimum and are easy to understand. Icons are clear and well defined. You have an advisor available that will help you get a grasp of the situation as you play – should you attack a nearby province owned by an opposing family? Should you build up the crops, so the citizens have more food, and so do your soldiers? Should you fortify the land for the upcoming storm season? Often your advisor will have the direction that you need.

Battles are handled on one screen, again the icons are clear and well defined for easy understanding of where you stand at a glance. Each province has dangers in the battlefield to contend with. Choke points, obstacles, and then the enemy of course. There are two ways to win a battle – capture their flag or defeat all of their troops. Now, if you are fighting a well manned defense/offense that has brought a powerful magical creature with them then your best bet is obviously that flag. If the enemy is smart, they will guard that flag with their lives. This is not always the case as you can lure the enemy out with a bit of planning, leaving their flag horribly unguarded.

Gemfire is not perfect, the music can get grating after long sessions and graphically, there is not exactly a lot going on. That is to be expected though as you are playing  a turn-based strategy game and this genre in general is not about the graphics or sound.

What is here is great. Koei created some detailed graphics that get the point across. The families have nicely detailed portraits for instance. Battles can cost you more than you realize as you play and get spread thin so watch for that.

If you want to grab a copy of Gemfire then I suggest eBay. Koei has not been keen on keeping this game available for modern fans. For my thoughts on the Super Nintendo version, check it out here.

Carl Williams

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