One Piece: Pirate Warriors

One Piece Kaizoku Musou (ワンピース海賊無双; Literally "One Piece Unparalleled Pirates") is the third Warriors collaboration project, following in the footsteps of Dynasty Warriors: Gundam and Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage. The game's story and characters are based on the famous Japanese manga and anime, One Piece. This game is the first One Piece title to ever be made available on the Playstation 3.

The title is being made with the hopes of creating the "ultimate game", as developers claim that it personifies the "comrades" (仲間, nakama) and Warriors themes in a grand adventure. Hisashi Koinuma stated that the collaboration began when he was specifically approached by Shin Unozawa (Vice President of D3 Publisher) for a One Piece title. Kouji Nakajima (Bandai-Namco producer) remarked that Dragon Ball was another popular candidate that was considered.

According to Unozawa, the game was just going to be called One Piece Musou. The current title of the game took shape when manga creator, Eiichiro Oda, changed it himself.

Nakajima has said that each character model is being remodeled from scratch to have a system faithful to the One Piece world. He noted that the game is being targeted to fans who have watched the One Piece anime, but he expects the game will appeal to a wider audience. Both producers remark they are working hard to preserve the quality expected from a One Piece work, trying to keep the heart of Oda's work intact to the best of their abilities.

The Treasure Box edition will include a visual book for this game, an original soundtrack CD, and 15 custom pins. A special Gold Edition lets players own a golden PS3 with matching One Piece themed controllers; an extra downloadable theme is included with this boxed edition. Consumers who pre-order the title can obtain two downloadable serial codes. One of them allows buyers to obtain nine Straw Hat custom themes for their Playstation 3. The other code can be used to obtain a rare figurine in the Mobage social game, One Piece Grand Collection.

Gameplay

 * The world, character actions, facial expressions and other visual cues are being recreated as faithfully as possible. The game strives to be as real time and seamless as possible to match the comic's pacing.
 * Charge attack combinations lets players use a character's trademark attacks to beat foes. Super Techniques are an all-mighty super attack that can be executed by pressing.
 * Characters can change their method of attacking by using different stances. Accessing Luffy's Gear Second for instance changes the execution of his entire moveset.
 * Players can initiate a "Comrade Strike" in battle. This lets players mix and match characters in battle for various combination combos. Characters can attack, perform counters, and so on.
 * A quick dash/evasion feature is available.
 * Tapping R1 lets players access a character's special technique. When the icon flashes on the screen, players can press it to gain an advantage over their opponent.
 * Quick Time Events will appear during in-game cutscenes.
 * There are two main phases in the game: the Adventure Stage and the Warriors Stage. The former stage allows players to explore various gimmicks found within an area with Luffy while the latter is a standard Warriors set up.
 * A camera lock-on feature will be available for boss fights.
 * Colored still images from the comic will also appear throughout the game.
 * Like other Warriors titles, characters can increase their strengths by collecting items dropped by defeated enemies. This game encourages players to collect treasure throughout the stage to level up their character. The higher the bounty at the end of a completed stage, the more strengths and skills a character earns.

Main Log
Story mode that is faithful to the original comic story. So far, the press releases hint that this mode will mainly have Luffy as the focus.

Another Log
Original story with "what if?" situations that features the other Straw Hats.

Straw Hat Pirates

 * Monkey D. Luffy - playable
 * Roronoa Zoro - playable
 * Nami - playable
 * Usopp / Soge King - playable
 * Sanji - playable
 * Tony Tony Chopper - playable
 * Nico Robin - playable
 * Franky - playable
 * Brook - playable
 * Going Merry
 * Thousand Sunny

Other

 * Whitebeard - playable
 * Portgas D. Ace - playable
 * Nefertari Vivi
 * Buggy the Clown
 * Don Krieg
 * Arlong
 * Mr.1
 * Mr.2
 * Wapol
 * Lapins
 * Spandam
 * Rob Lucci
 * Kaku
 * Blueno
 * Jabura

Seven Warlords of the Sea

 * Dracule Mihawk
 * Crocodile
 * Jinbe
 * Boa Hancock - playable

Marines

 * Akainu
 * Aokiji
 * Sentoumaru
 * Pacifista
 * Smoker

Stages

 * Orange Town
 * Restaurant at Sea Baratie
 * Arlong Park
 * Drum Island
 * Alabasta
 * Water Seven
 * Enies Lobby
 * Thriller Bark
 * Underwater Prison Impel Down
 * Marineford
 * Archipel Sabaody

Related Media
The game was introduced at Bandai-Namco's stage event at Tokyo Game Show 2011. It shared the stage with another One Piece game in the works, One Piece Gigant Battle 2. A pre-recorded introduction by Ikue Ōtani (Chopper) was included before the games' producers (Kouji Nakajima and Hisashi Koinuma) popped on stage for the opening act. After their preface the trademark opening song for the anime, We Are!, was performed live on stage by vocalist Hiroshi Kitadani. The following voice actors appeared on the stage: Kappei Yamaguchi (Usopp), Hiroaki Hirata (Sanji), Kazuki Yao (Franky), and Misa Watanabe (Vivi). They chatted about scenes that moved them from the series, personal issues like losing weight, and their reactions to the present fanbase. Nakajima and Koinuma returned to join the chat for the games. Kitadani ended the event by singing the opening song for the Nintendo DS One Piece game, We Go!, a remixed version of We Are!.

A trial version of this game was available at the Bandai-Namco Games and Sony Entertainment booths at Jump Festa 2012. The special One Piece stage will have Mayumi Tanaka (Luffy), Kazuya Nakai (Zoro), Kappei Yamaguchi (Usopp), and Hiroshi Kitadani appear on the 17th; Tanaka, Kazuki Yao (Franky), and Akemi Okamura (Nami) appear on the 18th. This title was the focus. Attendees of the event had a chance to win the Treasure Box edition of the game, One Piece figurines, or an original clear file for participating in the play testing.

Masahiko Saito (V Jump representative) and Kouji Nakajima appeared on Bandai-Namco Live TV to chat and promote this game for Jump Festa 2012. Saito spent the majority of his time explaining the Jump Festa event. He introduced the event's history, this year's layout, and revealed special merchandise exclusive to the event. The Bandai-Namco Games booth was introduced by showing lengthy promotional videos for the newest Dragon Ball and Naruto video game titles before they were read by one of the show's hosts; the special stages received the same treatment. Nakajima introduced the game very quickly for interested fans after showing the game's promotional trailer (same as TGS 2011) and said the miniature Luffy would appear again at Jump Festa. Since he didn't talk about the miniature character at the event, his comment likely alluded at his cosplay of Luffy whilst carrying a Chopper doll.

Players who are interested in the title can play the game early in Japan in the game's series of store front meetings. They will occur at the end of January until the start of March at various outlets and locations.