PC Classics - "Sword of the Samurai" Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. When starting a game of "Sword of the Samurai", the player is asked to select a difficulty level. There are four levels, represented by different-length blades used by the Samurai of Japan's warrior age. Which blade represents the easiest difficulty level, and was used by Samurai to commit ritual suicide?

Answer: Tanto

Tanto is a short, one-edged dagger, which was used primarily to commit ritual suicide by plunging it into the abdomen and opening a lethal gash. It was also the customary weapon for females, who were never permitted to wear a sword.

2. Before a game begins, the budding Samurai must select his province of origin out of over thirty porvinces in ancient Japan. Which province, right at the center of Honshu, Japan's main island, was the home to the imperial city of Kyoto, and is roughly round with a lake right in its midst?

Answer: Omi Province

An interesting Province to choose, well-rounded in the advantages it bestows on the player, but difficult later on when enemies are all around. It borders no less than 8 other provinces! The ruling clan of Omi province is the Asai clan, and their emblem resembles their province - a diamond with a hole in its center, as the province with the lake in its midst.

3. To become the leading Samurai amongst your peers in the eyes of your lord, you must constantly be improving your four main attributes: Honor, Generalship, Swordmanship, and the amount of land you control. Which of these attributes is the most prone to change as result of your actions and the actions of the other samurai?

Answer: Honor

Honor will keep swaying up and down as you play. You gain it by performing great deeds, like rescuing a village from bandits, or defeating an assassin that was sent to kill your lord. Failing to accomplish such deeds that you have set out to perform will lower your honor, and other Samurai as well as yourself may engage in actions that will lower the honor of your peers, like kidnapping their family members, or stealing precious artifacts from their homes.

4. One of the more frequent mini-games to be played is the melee battle, in which you will be fighting many enemies at a location that corresponds to the plot, be it a village, a rice field, or even your own home. Which of the following enemies will you never encounter while playing the lower difficulty levels of the game?

Answer: Riflemen

Spearmen are tough and have longer reach than your trusty sword. Bowmen take a while to load their arrows, giving you a moment to shoot them first. There are also swordsmen who fight only in close-range. Ninjas may appear as part of the storyline, when you are ambushed while travelling in the countryside, but will also accompany any rival Samurai who attempts to break into your house while you are present there. Riflemen appear only at higher difficulty levels, and rightly so - they're murderous!

5. Kenjutso, the martial art of the sword, is as an integral part of the game as it was in Samurai life in that period. In a one-on-one fight, how many hits can you (or your opponent) take before succumbing to the pain, or to death?

Answer: Four

In truth, a slash from a well-made katana was capable of cutting through flesh and bone quite easily, if used properly. In the game however, you're allowed four hits. There are moves that can be used in the game's Kenjutsu mode that allow inflicting two "hits" with one blow of the sword, but they are often much slower, and open you for attack by a quick and attentive enemy...

6. Your troops will often march to the battlefield to protect your fief (your land) or your master's fief, or to carry the battles to the enemy. Which of the following unit types does not exist in the game, and did not exist in medieval Japan at all?

Answer: Artillery

Indeed, artillery was not a part of Japanese warfare of that period. In fact, even riflemen were considered highly dishonorable in combat, being an impersonal way of killing a warrior. The Japanese army had not had much luck with rifles either - local gunsmithing skills were poor and thus armies had to rely on gun shipments from European powers.

7. One way of advancing to the next rank in the Samurai Hierarchy is to murder your master. This has no effect on your honor whatsoever.

Answer: True

You can travel out of your home disguised as a poor Ronin (masterless Samurai) and travel to your lord's home. There you must scour his castle and find the room where he is staying while avoiding (or slaughtering) all of his guards. Once there, a swordfight ensues.

As long as no one discovers that you were the assassin, and as long as you were highest up for promotion, you will climb one rank higher in the Hierarchy without losing honor.

8. Can you name the order of ranks that a player can achieve in the game (from worst to best)?

Answer: Samurai, Hatamoto, Daimyo, Shogun

Samurai were men who pledged allegience to their lords, and fought for them as high-ranking soldiers. They were of a different "Caste" than commoners and peasants, and for a long period there was no class mobility in Japan - If your father was a Peasant, you could be nothing other than a peasant yourself. Samurai were allowed to wear two swords, the Katana and the Wakizashi, as a symbol of their honor and caste. Hatamoto were the close personal guards of a warlord, the Daimyo - who himself was the leader of one clan or province. Shogun is similar to a king - a warrior who has gained control of the majority of Japan, and coerced the Emperor to grant him official recognition as undisputed ruler.

9. Things can go very bad at times, especially if you did something very naughty and were discovered. When this occurs, your lord and master may decide that you have brought too much dishonor to him, and will command you to commit ritual suicide. What is the PROPER (as opposed to colloquial) name for this ritual?

Answer: Seppuku

The PROPER name for ritual suicide is Seppuku while Harakiri is the colloquial name. Kamikaze is the name given to Japanese suicide-pilots in World War II, after the Typhoon that dismissed Kublai-Kahn's invasion. Matsushita is a Japanese surname.

Seppuku is a gruesome ritual, meticulously planned and very carefully executed. The Samurai sits in his finest garments and plunges a Tanto (short dagger) into his abdomen, slicing it from left to right and then upwards, thus allowing his intestines to spill out. The Samurai's best friend, or his closest retainer, stands ready behind him with a Katana (longsword) - if the Samurai fails to complete his suicide, his friend will commit the final act of friendship by ending his misery - he chops the Samurai's head off his shoulders in one swift slash. Sounds cruel? Well, in Ancient Japan, performing this the right way could redeem your whole family from Dishonor - and honor was then (and sometimes now too) the most important thing a person could have.

10. Which long-since defunct computer game publisher gave us this wonderful jewel of a game, so long ago?

Answer: Microprose

Microprose made several games that followed the general idea of open-ended role-playing interspersed with both strategy and action sequences, including "Pirates!" and "Covert Action", to name a few. MPS Labs' leading man, Sid Meier, only had a few touches in this game, but it certainly resembles many of his celebrated creations in years to come.

Source: Author headrock

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

PC Classics - "Sword of the Samurai" Quiz

An ancient game in today's standards, and yet remembered fondly by all those who've had the pleasure of playing it in the older days of PC games. Do you have what it takes to unify all of Japan?

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