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The story
On 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyō G” board, a thread blew up discussing why there are countless games set in the Sengoku period but almost none covering the Genpei War (1180s). Posters pointed to reasons like the small scale of the conflict — only a few thousand warriors involved — the fact that the era’s equipment, such as ōyoroi armor and naginata, wasn’t suited to group combat, and the fact that everyone already knows the war ends at the Battle of Dan-no-ura. The discussion expanded to cover the gap in treatment between the Three Kingdoms era and the Chu-Han Contention (Xiang Yu vs. Liu Bang), as well as the scarcity of games set in Korean peninsula history, evolving into a broader debate about which parts of history lend themselves to becoming games.
What people said
That's not the Taira clan though.
Isn't it the Taira clan though?
"Taira clan" (Heike) refers to the Ise Taira.
Taira (Heishi) and Minamoto (Genji) refer to ALL the people who went from imperial family members to retainers.
So they're not necessarily relatives.
The "Genji" and "Heike" clans specifically mean the lineages of Kiyomori's faction and Yoshitomo's faction within that broader group.
Even if someone pitches it, it won't get greenlit.
It's a business — they won't make what doesn't sell.
Next year and the year after, they're rarely doing the Bakumatsu era two years running.
Should be more promising than this year.
How many guys were actually there when they panicked and fled because of that flock of waterbirds? (the legendary Fujigawa incident)
Next year it's Oguri Tadamasa, the year after it's John Manjiro.
Oguri's fine, but John's story is gonna turn into some wild fantasy.
There's Xiang Yu and Liu Bang games though.
Old Koei did technically release one, but since the setting is basically the same as Three Kingdoms, it comes down to what kind of game you'd even make.
Well, it's about name recognition in Japan.
The Sixteen Kingdoms period barely even had a proper Wikipedia article until about five years ago.
Would you even want to play a Mao Zedong vs. Chiang Kai-shek game?
T-there's Water Margin…
Even Three Kingdoms games had a lot of blank, unclaimed territory in the early stages.
In reality there should've been provincial governors and administrators actually running those regions though.
It could've been something like 3,000 vs 1,000.
So a single mistake could flip the whole battle.
Great armor (ōyoroi) was also purpose-built defense against arrows.
And naginata are swung sideways rather than thrust, so they weren't suited for group combat.
That's why they seriously fought these dumb-sounding battles where warriors called out their names one by one before dueling.
Spears only started getting used in the Nanboku-chō period, by Kusunoki and Akamatsu.
Even then it was for urban street fighting, to trip up enemy horses.
Apparently even before the Genpei War, back in the Heian period, that name-announcing custom was already considered old-fashioned and not really practiced. How true is that?
For starters, it's just unfamiliar to Japanese audiences.
The periods that could work as material — the Korean Three Kingdoms era and the Imjin War — both involve Japan and China heavily, so it's hard to figure out how to shape them into a game.
And the Later Three Kingdoms period, which is self-contained within the peninsula, is kind of… underwhelming.
Taira no Masakado would work fine, he's from a period of warfare too.
Well, he lived about 200 years before the Genpei War, so…
What are you even talking about?
Strictly speaking, "Heike" and "Genji" don't necessarily refer to Kiyomori's or Yoshitomo's lineage specifically — they're terms for particular branches of the Taira and Minamoto clans.
It's just that those particular branches are so famous that "Heike" and "Genji" usually end up meaning those specific families.
Wait, so does that make the Hōjō clan Genji too?
Start in Kamakura, flip Yoshitsune and Benkei in Hiraizumi to your side right away, and unifying Japan is basically guaranteed.
Then you invade the Korean peninsula from there.
There's Taiheiki.
Are you dissing Genpei Tōma Den? (the classic Namco arcade game)
It's super interesting though!
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The Genpei War was a civil war fought between the Taira and Minamoto clans in the 1180s, ultimately settled at the Battle of Dan-no-ura (1185). While Sengoku-era battles involved tens of thousands of troops, Genpei-era battles are believed to have involved only a few thousand, and equipment of the time, such as ōyoroi armor and naginata, was suited to individual combat, making it hard to depict large-scale group tactics in a game — a point raised repeatedly in the thread. That said, it’s worth noting that the famous episode of the Taira army fleeing in panic at the sound of startled waterfowl is largely a narrative element drawn from the Tale of the Heike, and its historical accuracy is disputed. The discussion also extended to Chinese historical material less well-known than the Three Kingdoms era (the Chu-Han Contention, the Sixteen Kingdoms period) and to Korean peninsula history, highlighting how much the audience’s or player’s existing background knowledge shapes which subjects get chosen for taiga dramas and history games.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyō G) thread “[Proposition] Why are there tons of games set in the Nobunaga era but none set in the Genpei era?“.
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