Winning Post

"Fittingly, a winning game!"

This is an old, barely-known-in-America, horse racing based video game. Is anyone surprised to know that it sold about a half dozen copies here? Probably not. But you MAY be surprised to know that Koei's `Winning Post` is another in the long line of this company's fine, quality simulations, which this time successfully and pleasingly substitutes colts, jockeys, and race-betting instead of the gloomy skies of Liu Bei & Cao Cao era China.

Let's get one thing straight off the top: I'm not even going to comment on graphics and sound, because I don't feel it's necessary. They're both doable- lush but static 2D BGs and slow but jazzy fun tunes- but like any sim they're nothing particularly special (except the handful of still photos of your gorgeous assistant Sakura Arima... mmmm). In fact, I turn off the music to make the game run and load faster on my Saturn! Aye, the creamy filling of this gaming cookie lies in the gameplay... And let me tell you, before I played this son of a gun, I had NO idea about horse racing or breeding at all. But now? I can tell you what a quinella or a steward's inquiry is, and I could tell you exactly when mares give birth and what the biggest race in Japan is every year.

You start out with a nominal amount of cash and 2 horses, a 3 year old and a 2 year old. You name them, and get ready for the season. After choosing a trainer (who does all the hard work until your capability rises, a trait represented with experience points gained for every positive result!), you begin your first week in January. Each week consists of overseeing the training your horse, planning your races, choosing jockeys, and later on (much later, baby), breeding, selling, buying, auction-patronizing, syndicating, and setting up your farm.

If I can get across one thing in this review, it's the sheer amount of information and control this game possesses. You are in charge of EVERYTHING in your equine empire, my friends. When you race, where you race, whether you go to the track or not to watch, how much you bet or if you bet at all, which jockey with whom you'll forge a lasting relationship, etc etc etc. Horses win, lose, get injured, recuperate, age, retire, go into a hall of fame, and anything else you could possibly imagine!

My character, whom I named after myself, is literally a billionaire and well over 100 years old by this point. THAT is how much fun this game is, and that is how long you'll want to play Winning Post, truly one of the best sims of any sort to ever be produced in the medium of electronic gaming.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/01, Updated 06/23/01