Video Game Meta

Hototogisu

Hototogisu

Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
TV Standard: Region Not Set
Developer(s): Tamtex
Publisher(s): Irem Corp.
Release Date: 1988-08-19
Co-op: No
Type: Strategy

A Sengoku-era war simulation game developed by Tamtex for the Famicom in 1988. It was never released outside of Japan.

Hototogisu, which is a common cuckoo in Japan and appears in a lot of its culture, is a war simulation game based in the Warring States era, also known as the Sengoku period. It is also the same historical period in which many other Japanese war simulation games, such as Koei's Nobunaga's Ambition, are set. As with those games, the goal is to balance one's duties as a daimyo - feudal lord - with expanding and increasing one's territories through warfare and diplomacy.

Hototogisu would be followed up many years later in 2008 with Sengoku Efuda Yuugi: Hototogisu Ran for the PSP. It uses the basic structure of its NES forebear but also introduces a collectible card game element to the strategy as well.