Title: Murasame Jou no Shihai (Reign of Murasame Castle)
Platforms: Wii U for optimal experience/3DS if focused more on sales
Genre: Action/Action-Adventure
Rating: T
Plot Summary: Murasame returns to Japan, and takes over Japan once again. Takamaru, now middle-aged (though retraining his classic design), and his samurai protege Shun, meet up with the shrine maiden Ayame and spring into action to save Japan from Murasame once again. The three travel the country and save The Four Daimyo from the first game, who recognize Takamaru and give him their weapons upon being returned to normal. Their weapons are reminiscent of the same that they used in
Samurai Warriors 3.
The story meets a breaking point as Takamaru, upon nearly defeating Murasame in its castle, is attacked by a ninja by the name of Hotaka, who manages to wound Takamaru and force the group to retreat. As Ayame treats his wounds at Momosame Castle, Takamaru reveals to the group that the man who attacked him was the leader of a chaotic group of mercenaries that he took down years ago.
He tasks Shun with defeating the four generals of the mercenary group: Taichi, a thick bodied man who fights with an
ōtsuchi; Akemini, a woman who fights with a
bo-hiya; Seiko, a woman who fights with
kama; and Hotaka, who fights with
kyoketsu-shoge. As with the Daimyo from before, upon defeat, Shun receives their weapons. All of the mercanaries are fought in castles that they have taken over.
After Seiko is defeated, she reveals to Shun that she was a former shrine maiden, who was seduced to join Murasame when he took over, and Shun manages to show her the error of her ways. She joins with Shun and becomes a playable character when levels are replayed.
Shun tackles Murasame Castle on his own, which is now deadlier than ever before. Seiko tags behind and assists as an AI controlled character. As they reach the top of the castle, they encounter mysterious alien forces, the likes of which Shun has never seen before. Seiko sends him off ahead and tells him to let her deal with the aliens.
Shun is almost defeated by Murasame, who has now taken a form alike the aliens outside, when suddenly, Takamaru, sporting his
Samurai Warriors 3attire, The Four Daimyo, and Seiko dramatically enter the room and assist. Eventually, Murasame retreats to the inner sanctuary of the castle, with Takamaru hot in pursuit. Takamaru defeats Murasame and the alien threat inside, and peace returns to Japan.
Voice Cast: I'm not familiar with voice actors, but I feel that Nintendo is capable of hiring a good enough voice cast nowadays that I shouldn't need to worry. Takamaru's Japanese voice actor from
Samurai Warriors 3, Hiroshi Okamoto, was really good though,; his performance fit the character well.
Gameplay: A 3D action game with shooter elements. The playable characters have access to light and heavy attacks, which string together to form combos, and the right shoulder button can be held down to aim limited projectiles, and tapped to fire them straight ahead. Left shoulder button activates a lock-on. There is a ranking system, and all of the power-ups from the first game are still intact, but using some like the Inazuma Lightning drops the rank. After enemies you gain an amoun of gold dependent on how well you fought the enemy. Gold can be invested into items, skills, abilities and alternate versions of weapons with different stats.
There is light exploration and multiple paths to the castles alike the first game. Exploration is encouraged and the fastest, most linear path to the finish is much harder than taking the side paths. You can optionally save villages from Murasame's troops on your journey, and saving all of them rewards you with alternate costumes for the playable characters. You can also collect Tanuki statues scattered about the levels, and collecting all of them unlocks a playstyle for Takamaru more reminiscent of his original NES days, along with an NES Takamaru palette for his standard costume.
Characters: Takamaru: The samurai from the original game and the main protagonist of the series. His gameplay style consists of technical strikes and precision timing, alike Ryu Hayabua from modern
Ninja Gaiden. He also has the weapons of the four daimyo. He gets a story related upgrade after returning to defeat Murasame at the end of the game, where he wields a blade forged from the weapons of The Four Daimyo, which packs the elements of The Four Daimyo into one weapon.
The Four Daimyo: Playable after defeating them. Plays with the same movesets Takamaru has with their weapons, with stat alterations to fit their personalities. Each one has a different element associated with their playstyle, carried over from their
Samurai Warriors 3 incarnations.
Shun: Playable after Takamaru is wounded. Unlike his mentor, he fights with speed and style, alike Dante from
Devil May Cry 3/4,minus the cuhrazy. Has access to the weapons of the four mercenaries after defeating them.
Seiko: Plays like Shun does with her weapon, but is slower and requires more precision. Very good at racking up combos and juggling enemies. Unlocked after defeating her boss character in story mode.
Modes: Story mode: the previously described story. Ten castles, twenty-one levels (one transitional level in-between every castle), ten mandatory bosses as well as optional ones in the villages. All levels can be selected from the menu and replayed individually. Villages are like mini levels, and can be replayed separately at any time after they are found and saved.
Murasame Castle Mode:Three hits before death. Only for hardcore fans of the series. Unlocked from the beginning, but not recommended until characters are beefed up.
Murasame Gauntlet: An arena where you're pitted against every enemy in the game (including bosses) in combinations and numbers not found in the main game. Unlocked after completing story mode and saving all villages.
Music: Traditional Japanese styled, but with a lot of energy. Area themes in the style of the
map theme from Murasame Castle Mode of
Samurai Warriors 3, and battle themes like
this one featured in
Nintendo Land would work wonders.