Samurai Warriors (series)

Samurai Warriors (戦国無双, Sengoku Musou) is the second franchise of Warriors games created by Omega Force set in feudal Japan. The first Warriors series, Dynasty Warriors, crosses over with this one in the Warriors Orochi universe.

Differences
While the basic hack and slash combat stays the same, there are several distinct differences in the two series the most significant being the mission system. The player objectives that can be accomplished to further the battle and gain experience and or gold, which can in turn is used in a more RPG like leveling system which is simpler than the individual stat system in the Dynasty Warriors games. After activating a musou, you can either use your musou attack or use freeform combos in a sort of bullet time. The first Samurai Warriors was the first Warriors game to have capturable gates, a feature that was implemented into Dynasty Warriors 5.

In the second game, the ranged attack is replaced with a character specific "technique" that can vary from a powerful attack to a stat boost depending on character. You can also fill up 3 musou bars, allowing the use of more powerful musous. Movesets differ with some characters being able to charge only up to 3 attacks, but can charge them 3 times. Others are able to charge up to 7 attacks once or like the first moveset charge twice in exchange have a more powerful technique. Less notable differences include music fusing techno and traditional Japanese instruments, the ability to jump on horses as well as horse stamina gauges, and select arrows. In the second game, a combo counter was added the showed the total number of hits as opposed to per character. Several of these features were introduced into Dynasty Warriors 6.

Characters
Characters are organized by the game where they make their first appearance as a playable character. The Xtreme Legends and Empires expansions are merged with their respective games.

Guest Characters

 * Lu Bu (Samurai Warriors)
 * Takamaru (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Ayame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Lord Aosame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Lord Akasame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Lord Ryokusame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Lord Momosame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Murasame (Samurai Warriors 3)

Unique NPCs
This list of characters refers to uniquely designed non-playable characters in the series. Most of them become playable at one point in the series.


 * Yoshimoto Imagawa (Samurai Warriors)
 * Nagamasa Azai (Samurai Warriors)
 * Ieyasu Tokugawa (Samurai Warriors)
 * Hideyoshi Toyotomi (Samurai Warriors)
 * Kennyo Honganji (Samurai Warriors)
 * Teacher, Saya, and Dokkimaru (Samurai Warriors)
 * Katsuie Shibata (Samurai Warriors 2)
 * Kojiro Sasaki (Samurai Warriors 2)
 * Masanori Fukushima (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Aya Gozen (Samurai Warriors 3)

Games

 * Samurai Warriors
 * Samurai Warriors: State of War
 * Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends
 * Pachislot Samurai Warriors
 * Samurai Warriors 2
 * Samurai Warriors 2: Empires
 * Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends
 * Samurai Warriors: Katana
 * Samurai Warriors 3

Related Merchandise
When the series came out, the two franchises shared a similar publication titled Musou Fan Field (無双FanField). A drama CD called Sengoku Musou ~Hyakka Kyoen was released on September 23, 2009. It contains both humorous and serious stories from the male cast in Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends. The image song on the CD was performed by Yukimura, Mitsunari, and Kanetsugu's voice actors. The same song was performed live by the voice actors at the Sengoku Busho Matsuri. A limited edition Sengoku Busho Matsuri CD was released to include seven tracks from the first and second drama CD. This copy includes original monologues from Yukimura, Mitsunari, and Kiyomasa.

Character image songs for Nobunaga and Hideyoshi were also created for the previously mentioned live event. Nobunaga's song is titled, Goku ~Karetsu Gonen~, while Hideyoshi's song is Taiga Tōtō.