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Act out war journals in Samurai Warriors 4's Chronicle Mode
Considering how complex and extensive war timeframes can be, sometimes they just blur together into a mess of endless fighting and capturing territories. Lucky for us, Samurai Warriors 4's officers are an organized bunch: In the incoming hack-n-slasher's new Chronicle mode, players can follow events through the journals of commanding officers, crossing new warriors and unlocking gear throughout their tour. The related press release also noted three new warriors that will join SW4; the strategy-savvy Kojuro Katakura, Li clan leader Naotora and Koshosho, a fighter that bewitches men with her beauty. Pre-existing characters Hanzo, Hideyoshi, Ieyasu, Ina, Masamune, Motochika, Nene, Tadakatsu and Yoshimoto will also return in SW4. If you'd rather start your own legacy in the Warring States era, there's always SW4's updated Create Character mode, which lets you micromanage specifics from armor sets to eye color. For anyone eager to just jump in though, there's bound to be someone within SW4's 55-character roster that works for you. [Image: Koei Tecmo]
Iwata chronicles the history of Samurai Warriors
For his latest Iwata Asks interview, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata put the spotlight on one of the less-examined 3DS launch window titles: Tecmo Koei's Samurai Warriors: Chronicles. He speaks to Hisashi Koinuma, who is in charge of the Warriors series at Koei, and who has been with the company since 1994. Koinuma offers a few details about the 3DS game, like the fact that you can use the touch screen to select from a party of four warlords at any time, but the most interesting things he has to say are about the series in general. For example, while most non-fans can't really tell the difference between the Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors series, except that all the names are Japanese in the former and Chinese in the latter, Koinuma reveals that there are design considerations that separate the two. "In Dynasty Warriors 2, you fight on a wide-open field, but castles are more representative of the Sengoku (Warring States) period, so in Samurai Warriors, we decided to feature castles and the characters surrounding them in order to create a difference." Koinuma also offered the following information, which we didn't expect to be mentioned so openly: "The games in the Samurai Warriors series can be played by pure button-mashing."
Nintendo publishing Samurai Warriors 3 with Tecmo Koei
Following the recent announcement that Dragon Quest IX will be published by Nintendo in North America, the company has revealed another publishing partnership for an exclusive game from a big Japanese publisher: Nintendo will co-publish Koei's Samurai Warriors 3 in North America this fall. It makes sense that Nintendo would take the stewardship role for this game, as it contains a mode featuring characters and locations from Nintendo's Nazo no Murasame-jou ("The Mysterious Murasame Castle"), a Famicom Disk System game designed by none other than Shigeru Miyamoto. In any case, this is one way for Nintendo to ensure ongoing releases of third-party core games on its systems: by plucking existing ones from Japan and publishing them in North America itself. %Gallery-74703%
Koei Tecmo teases new game with dead flowers
Man, Koei Tecmo, you really know how to confuse the hell out of us. You've proven your capacity to perplex with your billion-dudes-on-screen action franchises -- now, you're diversifying your riddlecraft with a teaser site for a heretofore unannounced game. Based on context clues, we're guessing it's the long overdue revival of everyone's favorite classic franchise: Pretty Flower, Dead Flower, Falling Girl. We're kidding, of course. Judging by the Big Dipper which slyly appears at the end of the teaser's video loop, and the fact that the entire Musou (or Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors) team will be in attendance when the game is revealed on October 14, we're guessing it's actually Fist of the North Star Musou. Shame, really -- we were so excited about a current-gen reimagination of PFDFFG. [Via IGN]
Koei reveals first screens of Samurai Warriors 3
Having had our attention turned sharply toward Samurai Warriors 3 by Shigeru Miyamoto, we were eager to learn more about the game itself. And ... well, it looks like any other Warriors/Musou game. But it does look pretty nice! There are a couple of incremental gameplay changes in this one, including "Shadow Techniques," special combos which expend energy from a blue gauge at the bottom of the screen. Triggering one of these with a full gauge will unleash an even bigger attack -- like, in new character Kuroda Kanbei's case, a giant blue fist from the sky. By the way, this game will have over 35 characters, including characters from previous Samurai Warrior games, as well as new ones like Kuroda.Check out more screens at GAME Watch.
Shigeru Miyamoto unexpectedly promotes Samurai Warriors 3
Why should we care about yet another Dynasty/Samurai Warriors game from Koei? Because Shigeru Miyamoto does, that's why. Nintendo's Senior Managing Director surprised press by appearing at Koei Tecmo's press conference for the Wii-exclusive Samurai Warriors 3, and announcing a new gameplay mode based on Nazo no Murasamejou, a samurai-themed Zelda-like game released only on Famicom Disk System.Samurai Warriors 3 will support the Classic Controller, and will be sold in a Classic Controller Pro bundle like Monster Hunter 3. It is due in November, with a playable demo presented at Tokyo Game Show. These things still sell in Japan, so we expect this to move some Wii hardware, as long as it isn't in first person or anything like that.[Via GameSetWatch; original Japanese report via Inside-Games; image via Famitsu]
Warriors Orochi ships over 1.5 million, sequel announced
Despite flirting with futuristic racing, it's no secret that Koei's heart has always belonged to cutting swaths through bad guys, keeping their population under control with the mashing of buttons in such series as Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, or in the case of Warriors Orochi, both at the same time. Warriors Orochi, which fused both franchises for a crossover fiesta, was released last year for multiple platforms, and according to a statement from Koei this afternoon has shipped more than 1.5 million units worldwide. Granted this simply represents the number of copies the company has thrown on the back of a truck, and not how many that players have actually been taken home and played. Even so, this hasn't stopped Koei from confirming that it also plans to bring Warriors Orochi 2 to North America, giving PS2 and Xbox 360 players another means to sacrifice thumbs and delete evil doers en masse this September.
GDC08: Warriors Orochi announced for US release
Koei has just announced the PSP version of Warriors Orochi will be heading stateside. According to the press release, "Warriors Orochi for PSP boasts the massive seamless battlefields of the console versions ... The handheld release includes all 79 playable characters, and features 2-player co-op play via wireless (ad-hoc)."The hack and slash is about the Serpent King Orochi who somehow manages to use his powers to alter time and space, thereby fusing the worlds of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. Warriors from Ancient China and Feudal Japan will have to team up together to fight this supernatural menace.Check out the very first English language screenshots in our new gallery below.%Gallery-16619%
Samurai Warriors: Katana cuts into Wii in January
Koei, the name behind such diverse titles as Dynasty Warriors, Warriors Orochi, and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, has confirmed plans to bring Samurai Warriors: Katana, a first-person Samurai Warriors spin-off title for the Wii, to North America on January 15, 2008. While we have to admit the name carries more appeal than the previous title, Samurai Slash, the announcement of yet another arcade-style title set in Feudal Japan does little to stir our interest, and given the frantic nature of these games our arms are tired just thinking of having to flail madly at never ending waves of on-screen bad guys. Call us lazy, but sometimes, just sometimes, we'd rather just press a button. Even so, with "nearly" 30 hours of gameplay promised on top of an included two player versus mode, Wii owners looking to tap into their inner samurai finally have something to look forward to playing. If you need us, we'll be taking a nap.
Another Wii sword fighter inbound
With the confirmation that Koei's Samurai Warriors spin-off is heading to the North American Wii, we have to wonder how many sword-fighting games we'll be able to handle in the long run before seppuku becomes an attractive alternative. Sengoku Musou Wave will be redubbed Samurai Slash in the West, a title that's impressively accurate in describing the actual gameplay. If slashing things from a first-person perspective sounds familiar, it's because Red Steel attempted the very same thing. The upcoming Dragon Quest: Swords boasts a similar concept as its primary gameplay mechanic and eventually, LucasArts will get around to making that Star Wars lightsaber game. The fun parallels between swinging the Wii controller and swinging a sword essentially demand that such games be made, but just like with any other console, we could eventually face a flood of me-too titles built around the same, unchanging concept. Even on a system that encourages innovation, game developers face the danger of lapsing into a lazy genre trap. Is the "guy with two guns" game any better than the "guy with a sword" game?(And where's the "guy with two sticks" game?)
Metareview - Samurai Warriors 2
After a two-year absence from consoles, you may have thought that Korean publisher Koei had forgotten about its fledgling Samurai Warriors series. Not a chance, tomodachi! It's just too easy for developer Omega Force to feast on the considerable assets of the Dynasty Warriors, Xtreme Legends, and Empires games, and swap out ancient China for feudal Japan. Staying true to form, this entry adds only minor, Madden-like increments to the series. And Koei isn't finished for 2006. Samurai Warriors 2 Empires is due in November for PS2, while Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 for PSP arrives next month. GameSpy (70/100) was the most generous, praising the dynamic battlefields and new modes: "The game could have benefited from one or two full-fledged alternative modes, but it does include a challenging tower mode. There's also a board game mode called Sugoroku, which is a variation on a Japanese board game that somewhat resembles Monopoly." GameSpot (60/100) is calling for a seppuku of the outdated graphics engine, but found one honorable feature: "To its credit, Samurai Warriors 2 does change up the skills and upgrades system a little bit, forcing you to purchase new skills in between levels with gold you collect. Unfortunately, the tangibility of these upgrades isn't always apparent, so it can sometimes feel as though you're plunging money into nothing." TeamXbox (55/100) was disappointed with the limited Xbox Live options: "Koei feels that rather than going up against a friend in any form of real time combat, people would enjoy fighting against a CPU-controlled general while your friend does the same in a time-based competition. Needless to say, they're mistaken. When people take their games onto Xbox Live they want to feel like they're online, not like they're playing the single player game all over again." See also: Metareview - Ninety-Nine Nights
