Nobunaga's Ambition

It is the second game in the Nobunaga's Ambition series and the first Nobunaga's Ambition title to be released in English. The player has the objective of unifying Japan as Oda Nobunaga or as any of the other daimyos present in the game. Several revisions were made to the gameplay since the first game, as well as a 50-province mode which expanded the game's map to feature all of Japan. Hamster Corporation released the NES version as part of their Console Archives series for the Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 in March 2026.

• Title — Nobunaga's Ambition • Developer — Koei • Publisher — Koei • Series — Nobunaga's Ambition • Composer — Yoko Kanno • Released — PC October 1986 Famicom March 18, 1988 NES June 1989 MSX SNES GenesisSeptember 15, 1993 • Genre — Turn-based strategy • Modes — Multiplayer • Platforms — MSX, NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-9801, NES, Game Boy, Genesis, SNES, MS-DOS, Mac OS, Amiga, 3DO, PC Engine Super CD-ROM²

• Illustration — MS-DOS screenshot The player may choose from four campaign scenarios, including "Battle for the East" (beginning in 1560), "Daimyo Power Struggles" (1560), "Ambition Untamed" (1571), and "Road Towards Unification" (1582). In each scenario, the player must allocate resources to raise a capable military force, provide a productive economy to support both military and civilian expansion, and support the peasants in order to sustain their respect and loyalty. Gameplay is taken in turns, with each turn in the map view corresponding to a season, and each turn during battle corresponding to a day. The player may achieve victory through numerous means, among which are forcing the enemy to retreat, destroying the enemy command unit, outlasting an invading force, or prolonging battles until the opposing force has exhausted its supplies. The player can make many choices during the campaign, such as, according to Evan Brooks of Computer Gaming World: "One may transfer soldiers between fiefs, go to war, increase taxes (which causes a decrease in peasant loyalty which may lead to rebellion), transfer rice or gold to another fief, raise the level of flood control (which decreases productivity), make a non-aggression pact or arrange a marriage, cultivate (which increases productivity, but decreases peasant loyalty), use a merchant (to buy/sell rice, borrow funds, or purchase weapons), recruit for the military (soldiers or ninja), train the army (which increases fighting efficiency), spy on a rival, expand a town (which increases taxes collected, but decreases peasant loyalty), give food/rice to peasants/soldiers (to raise morale), steal peasants from rival daimyos, allocate military strength, recuperate (even a daimyo can get sick), turn over a controlled fief to the computer for administration, or pass a turn (hint: when one has no idea of what to do, train the troops.)"