The historical figure Oda Nobunaga was a ruthless warlord who conquered much of Japan before committing ritual suicide to escape enemy capture. What people don’t know is that many 16th century daimyo fought their battles with magical creatures called “Pokémon,” or Pocket Monsters. Tecmo Koei and Nintendo teamed up to bring the true story of this bloody conflict to Japan as Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition, but since Americans are easily frightened by large, foreign words it was retitled Pokemon Conquest for its English release.

You play as a generic boy or girl who has somehow managed to befriend an Eevee, despite apparently not knowing how to “Link” with wild Pokemon. Luckily, historical figure Oichi comes along and teaches you the ropes, kicking off your journey to unify all of Ransei (AKA Japan), in order to attract the attention of a legendary Pokemon. Unfortunately, the ambitious Nobunaga also has his sights on conquest, and he has already gained the power of at least one legendary monster….

As strange as the concept sounds, Conquest is actually a brilliant experiment. Pokemon spin-offs are always widely successful, regardless of quality, while SRPGs have failed to really gain mainstream appeal despite occasional hits like Final Fantasy Tactics and niche series like Valkyria Chronicles. By fusing these two intellectual properties together, the publishers ensured that the game will make money, but also that it will pave the way for future strategy games.

Come at me, bro-san.

Therefore, the game itself lives or dies by its accessibility. Veterans of the genre have more “hardcore” titles like Gungnir to sink their teeth into, but players only brought in by the promise of Pikachu will most likely be quickly overwhelmed by such layers of depth and intricacy. Luckily, most of the game is simple. You move your units around the grid-based battlefield just like you would in any other SRPG, but instead of a complex system of skills and classes, each species has only one attack, which varies in range and properties. Variety is added by passive abilities and Warlord (i.e. trainers) techniques, but combat never becomes too cerebral of an affair.

Familiar mechanics from the core Game Freak RPGs make a return in one form or another. Fire still beats Grass, Grass beats Water, etc. Instead of catching Pokemon in Poké Balls, you just walk up to wild monsters and “Link” with them, which manifests as a timing-based minigame. Said links take the place of the traditional leveling system, as each battle will increase a warlord’s link with his mon. Better links equal stronger Pokemon, and certain percentages are required for evolution. It’s all pretty simple stuff.

taste my strategy!

Where the game gets less straightforward is in the elements that exist outside of battle. The world map consists of interconnected kingdoms, each type-themed like the gyms from the main games. Selecting each new one that becomes available is perfectly obvious if you just want to advance through the plot, but all of the micro-managing that is possible with your army becomes bogged down in menu after menu. Furthermore, some of the executions of the menus are unintuitive. Want to switch which Pokemon your warlord is going to take into battle? You have to click on the kingdom in which they are stationed, go to “List,” then swap monster assignments. While not terribly confusing or anything, the implementation is just circuitous enough that it presents a barrier of entry to younger or more inexperienced players.

Some mechanics may even be unclear to more seasoned players. At a certain point in the tutorial you gain the ability to delegate tasks to troops stationed in conquered kingdoms. While it is explained that you can tell those warriors to train, raise money, or search for allies, the extent and efficiency of these orders is a mystery. Is it better to delegate training or manually grind? Is delegated fundraising more lucrative, or should I send my soldiers into the mines? These things become clear after some amount of trial-and-error, but I would have preferred a more comprehensive explanation from the software itself, especially in light of the aforementioned importance of accessibility.