INTRODUCTlON: JAPAN 1600 AD.

Although two lords, Yoshi Toranaga Lord

of the Kwanto and Ishido Kazunari Master
of Osaka Castle, had gained ascendancy,
it was possible for any natural leader with
a strong army to seize control. The
daimyo exercised power through the
military might of the bushi or samurai. In
peacetime samurai had the task of ruling
the peasant farmers and collecting
taxes. Thev also ruled the servants and
craftsmenwho lived a more itinerant
existance. The samurai lived bv a Code of
Honour in which it was more important to
commit suicide than to lose face.
Despite the feudal order, continuous
wars and often violent nature of their
society, the Japanese were highly
civilised in many respects. Buddhism
taught that an individual progresses
towards enlightenment through many
rebirths.
Japanese social behaviour was highly
refined, inevitably more so amongst
nobles, merchants and craftsmen.
Everything, from fortresses to kimonos,
was designed to be aesthetically
pleasing. Europeans seemed to the
Japanese to be barbarians
by comparison.
Your aim in this game is to live out a
character life amid this turmoil and to
make that characterthe supreme military
ruler-The Shogun
 GATE OF HEAVEN EAST PALACE

BRIDGE OF DREAMS
GATE OF DAWN

GENERAL LAYOUT OF THE AREA OF PLAY FOR SHOCUN

Designed and programmed by Steve Lee. highlighted alternately. Press FIRE when
Graphics by Ian Mathias. CAME is highlighted to begin play. When
Conversion by Synergistic Software. you select DEMO, you may choose a
character and watch the game play
INSTRUCTIONS through automatically. Lord lshido is a
Insert the system diskette that came with good one.
your PC into the disk drive. Turn your PC A caption line is just below the playing
on. When vou oet to the A> remove vour screen. This keeps you informed of where
system diskette and insert your game you are, what is currently happening
diskette. Tvoe AUTOEXEC and hit on-screen, and also of recent events
RETURN. The game will load and run. elsewhere.
At the beginning of each new game a There are four pockets which will fill as
short “set-up” time is needed before you vou pick UD obiects. The central box
can play. This sets up the random displays your S T R E N G T H (red and yellow
elements in the game. strips). STRENGTH is depleted only by
Select your character by moving the fighting. Your money is displayed under
joystick left and right then press ARE to YEN. Your foIlowers (if any) are displayed to
choose. The words GAME and DEMO will be
 the right, you need 20 before you are have to do this more than once to find out
considered worthy of becoming Shogun. all you need, but be careful not to annoy
This number indicates your popularity people in the process!
throughout the land and your follower The ORDER icon (exclamation mark etc.)
count is updated at regular intervals. It will let you tell people what to do IF they
goes down when your followers are agree. You must first choose the person,
swayed or are killed and up when others then between a selection of orders on the
become loyal to you. caption line. You may give up to two
The icons, from left to right, represent orders at a time, the first one will have
TAKE, DROP, GIVE, EXAMINE, ORDER, PAUSE, BEFRIEND, priority. If you only want one order choose
ATTACK, YIELD and SAVE/LOAD to disc. END. (TIP - to ensure the person returns to
Food and money replenish STRENGTH and YEN you after carrying out an order, get them
Immediately and are not placed in a to “befriend” you as their second order!).
pocket. People may sometimes ignore you simply
because they are already busy carrying
ICONS out an order, or else because they don’t
like you or what you have asked them to
T o s e l e c t a n i c o n press FIRE. The joystick do!
allows you to highlight the icon of your
The PAUSE icon (hour glass) pauses the
choice. press FIRE to select. The icon will
game until you press FIRE. All the
stay highlighted until you have finished characters in the game are displayed and
that action.
the theme tune plays.
The TAKE icon (hand receiving object) The BEFRIEND icon (heart) conveys feelings
allows you to pick up an object, food or of friendship to the chosen person. If your
money by passing over it. friendship is appreciated the heart icon
The DROP icon (hand dropping object) will “throb” for up to 10 seconds, you may
allows you to choose an object from your quit by pressing FIRE.
pockets to drop. The ATTACK (Katana) icon will allow you to
The GIVE icon (two hands) asks you to enter into combat with a chosen
choose an item from your pocket, or character. The border will change to
money to give someone. Use up-down yellow, when you attack or are attacked.
joystick movement to adjust amount of Try to get as close as possible to your
money, then choose the recipient. opponent during the fight. Press FIRE
The EXAMINE icon enables you to find out to yield.
about people on the screen, you will be The YIELD (flag) icon allows you to
asked to select which character. You may
surrender in combat. When you are next to prevent their responses becoming
fighting press FlRE and you will be asked if too predictable. EXAMINING someone
you wish to yield. Be prepared to lose (unless they are too hostile or Indifferent
everything if you do. YES or NO will be to answer a few polite questions) will give
highlighted alternately. you some idea of what sort of person they
The SAVE/LOAD icon enables you to save and are.
restore the game position. NOBLES are often very ambitious and are
As soon as you have 20 followers you will unlikely to become your followers They
receive orders from the Buddha for your often already have followers or are quick
final task. to recruit new ones. Even when they are
friendly you cannot depend on them to
BEHIND THE SCENES carry out your orders
You can choose to become Blackthorne SAMURAI are excellent fighters Mostly they
or any of the 40 or so characters are not ambitious but they are very loyal
and follow orders faithfully They are not
Your position in life makes a great easy to sway to your side but they tend to
difference to the difficulty of the game A remain loyal once swayed.
warlord with a large following and ready
supply of money has a head start. A PEASANTS and SERVANTS are not usually good
samurai has the advantage of martial fighters and often yield easily As they
skills but lacks followers. A peasant or are poor they are often swayed by gifts or
bribes. They are easily distracted and do
servant starts from the bottom and has
the hardest time becoming Shogun. not always carry out orders reliably.
Priests can be reasonable fighters and However they can be very sociable if
are often clever. Bandits can often fight encouraged’
well, but can be more trouble than they BANDITS may be good fighters and, as you
are worth. would expect, can be very aggressive
Each person has varying degrees of They can be persuaded to take orders but
beware, any mischief they get up to while
ambition. fighting skills, aggression.
intelligence, gullibility. loyalty and acting on your behalf will have
friendship. The last two are “feelings” repercussions on you!
directed towards other people These PRIESTS are enlightened souls but they can
characteristics can all change with time, be surprisingly ambitious and even
for example success in combat will aggressive for holy men. You may be able
Increase fighting skill or possession of a to persuade a few to enter your service.
valuable object will add to ambition. However, Zen Master lkematsu IS a rather
People also change from one game to the notable exception and not worldly at all
This is an approximate guide to the reminded of such practical things.
various classes, but naturally there will Although all recent events cannot be
be Individuals who do not conform to the recorded, you will often be informed of
general pattern! Don’t forget that, your follower’s activities in the course of
although someone may appear gullible time.
and dimwitted at the beginning of the If you are in a hopeless position you can
game, they may change as the game always take the honourable way out by
progresses. ordering a follower to kill you.
You can influence people in various Each character starts life in a different
ways. location, so you will begin the game on
BEFRIENDING conveys feelings friendship to different screens when you choose
the chosen person. If your friendship is different characters
returned they will stay around to receive Being Buddhists, it is only natural that
your overtures. The closer you are characters are reincarnated after death
together on the screen the more Due to the way in which people
successful you will be. If your good accumulate bad karma, by killing,
feelings are not reciprocated they may stealing, etc, they tend to reappear
leave the area or even attack you! somewhat lower in the social order.
BRIBERY can often sway people to your Another character may become Shogun
cause. Some people will doanythingfora in the course of the game. You will be
few yen and a new shield. offered the choice to become his or her
ATTACKING can produced a variety of results. follower, if you accept the game will end,
A person who is not very proud, or is fairly if you refuse everyone in the land will
clever, may attempt to run away. They become your enemy for a while! However
may even yield to you. If you order an people do forgive and forget and you may
attack and your follower’s opponent well beabletoregainyourformerstatus.
yields, his respect for you will increase
too but the opposite also applies. Those
who yield will lose their possessions.
ORDERING is very useful. You cannot do
everything and this allows you to
delegate. It will be up to you to select the
most useful task for anyone agreeing to
obey you. Cleverer people will not need to
be told to collect a weapon before
attacking but others will need to be