Samurai Warriors 3

Samurai Warriors 3 (戦国無双3, Sengoku Musou 3) is the newest title in the Samurai Warriors franchise that has been announced as a Wii exclusive. Like Dynasty Warriors 6, the game aimed to completely revive the series. Character designs and animations were redesigned to be different than before to create a "refreshing action game".

The Classic Controller Pro set has goods usually made for Treasure Box releases, such as the game's soundtrack and a figurine of one of the characters (Kai).

Gameplay
The Charge, Normal, and Special action types remain from Samurai Warriors 2 and are renamed Power Attack, Normal Attack and Special Skill respectively in English. C5s and C9s from the Xtreme Legends expansion also return. Musou moves still have the same slow motion effect and continues to allow players to act freely until the gauge is empty. The slowdown effect, however, is emphasized more.

The previous character stories are replaced with a different story system, which is separated into three phases. It essentially follows events of the Kanto big three -which features daimyo such as Shingen, Ujiyasu and Kenshin, the three unifiers' actions for unification, and the Sekigahara Campaign.


 * Spirit Gauge - a gauge that builds up and allows players to cancel certain attacks in exchange for more powerful ones. The rate at which this occurs as well as the power behind the attack depends on the level of the gauge. Spirit cancels can be used to interrupt the player's combos.
 * Ultimate Musou - combines the powers of the Spirit Gauge and Musou together. Highly destructive and free for the user to control to their liking. Uses unique camera angles during this sequence.
 * Most battlefield items are now determined before the stages starts. Players can equip their characters from three sets and may use them in battle as they please. To gain more items, players may complete missions during each stage to unlock more. Healing items can still be found scattered in objects on the field, but enemies will not drop them anymore.
 * Like Dynasty Warriors 6, weapons are now categorized under Normal, Power and Speed types. The biggest contrast from its spiritual predecessor is that each character has an unique weapon. As a callback to the series' first title, most of these weapons are named after Japanese gods. The requirements for getting these weapons merely require characters to finish key stages in their respective story; there is a probable chance that the unique weapon will appear. It is possible to even obtain these unique weapons by ignoring all obstacles and by simply defeating the enemy commander. Unique weapons cannot be altered in any way, and they boast a higher attack base than a character's Normal weapon.
 * Similar to Dynasty Warriors 5, characters narrate information regarding battles during the pre-planning stage. Players can read it before marching into battle.
 * Certain stages allow players to interact with objects in the environment called devices. They can shoot from stationary cannons at Osaka Castle and can invade Odawara from the skies by gliding down from hawks.
 * The shop feature returns but is altered slightly. Gold has been replaced by a system of colored stones, which players collect as they finish missions and stages. These stones can be used to improve a character's weapon, armor, gauntlets and leggings. Improving a character's equipment increases their attributes, such as stats and their ability to build up the Spirit Gauge.
 * Two player action remains relatively the same with the split screen gameplay. Each player can choose different items and characters from one another. They can also share devices in stages.

Unlike Samurai Warriors: Katana, players can use either the Wii controllers or the Gamecube controllers with this title.

Story Mode
Relatively the same as before except that Dream stages no longer exist. Each story is limited to five stages. Yoshimoto, Okuni, Katsuie, Toshiie, Nō, Ranmaru and Kotarō are not selectable in this mode.

Free Mode
Similar as before but allows players to select different variations of the same stage.

Murasame Castle
Based on the Nintendo game, The Mysterious Murasame Castle. It is an extra mode in the game like Sugoroku from the previous installment. It is also possible to control the main hero of the original title, Takamaru, during this sequence. As players complete the main game, they will be able to unlock more stages and missions for this mode.

Historical Mode
Edit characters return and will have extra downloadable content like Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires. Players can create their character's story in a choose-your-own-adventure fashion by selecting missions and having their characters reenact certain parts of history. Up to twenty characters can be made at any time.

Dojo
As players clear through the game's modes, they will be awarded with koku or rice currency. They can use rice to purchase other characters in the game and unlock certain weapons. Players can also create their original characters here as well as color edit existing characters. Rice can be earned from any of the other modes in the game, including the Murasamejō Mode.

Masanori and Aya can have their outfits edited when the stories for Kiyomasa, Mitsunari, Kenshin, and Kanetsugu are cleared. Their models can also be used as a base for edit characters.

Characters
Gracia, Musashi Miyamoto, and Kojiro Sasaki do not return. Characters with the asterisk after their name are starting characters.

Returning

 * Yukimura Sanada *
 * Keiji Maeda
 * Nobunaga Oda *
 * Mitsuhide Akechi
 * Kenshin Uesugi *
 * Oichi *
 * Okuni
 * Kunoichi
 * Magoichi Saika
 * Shingen Takeda
 * Masamune Date
 * Nō
 * Hanzō Hattori *
 * Ranmaru Mori
 * Hideyoshi Toyotomi
 * Yoshimoto Imagawa
 * Tadakatsu Honda
 * Ina
 * Ieyasu Tokugawa
 * Mitsunari Ishida
 * Nagamasa Azai
 * Sakon Shima
 * Yoshihiro Shimazu
 * Ginchiyo Tachibana *
 * Kanetsugu Naoe *
 * Nene
 * Kotarō Fūma
 * Toshiie Maeda
 * Motochika Chōsokabe
 * Katsuie Shibata

New

 * Kiyomasa Katō *
 * Kai *
 * Kanbei Kuroda
 * Ujiyasu Hōjō
 * Muneshige Tachibana
 * Hanbei Takenaka *
 * Motonari Mōri

Unique Non-playable Characters

 * Masanori Fukushima
 * Aya

Murasamejo Characters

 * Takamaru
 * Ayame
 * Lord Aosame
 * Lord Akasame
 * Lord Ryokusame
 * Lady Momosame
 * Murasame

Stages

 * Kawagoe Castle
 * Suruga-Sagami
 * Okehazama
 * Kawanakajima
 * Mt. Inaba Castle
 * Mimasetōge
 * Kantō
 * Kanegasaki
 * Anegawa
 * Tonegawa
 * Odani Castle
 * Yogoko Lakeside
 * Mikatagahara
 * Nagashino
 * Kizugawa
 * Tedorigawa
 * Kōzuki Castle
 * Chūgoku
 * Honnoji
 * Iga
 * Shinpu Castle
 * Yamazaki
 * Shizugatake
 * Komaki-Nagakute
 * Ueda Castle
 * Kyūshū
 * Odawara Castle
 * Oshi Castle
 * Oshū
 * Kyoto
 * Numata Castle
 * Fushimi Castle
 * Ōtsu Castle
 * Ishigaki Plains
 * Hasedō
 * Kusegawa
 * Sekigahara
 * Osaka Castle

Murasame Castle Stages
Like the battlefields in the main game, these stages come with their own unique devices.
 * Mysterious Valley
 * Mountain of Madness
 * Forest of Everlasting Darkness
 * Shrine Shrine of Bewilderment
 * Shizumo Village
 * Aosame Castle
 * Asasame Castle
 * Ryokusame Castle
 * Momosame Castle
 * Murasame Castle

Spin-offs
The recently announced Samurai Warriors title for the Nintendo 3DS uses visuals from this game.

Related Media
Two sets of chibi figurines are being released by Cafe Reo. A third set featuring the rest of the cast was also announced. The illustrations used to model these figurines later appear as amulet presents for people attending Koei's Sengoku-jidai event. Koei also participated in a marketing campaign with Lawson featuring original cast figures. Gamecity published three follow along history guides regarding the warriors under Nobunaga, the young warriors at Sekigahara, and exciting other episodes during the time period. Renders of Masamune and Kanetsugu adorned the poster for the Ohu Sengoku Tourist Cooperation Meeting.

A drama CD, Sengoku Musou 3 ~Hikaka Ryōen, was released on December 23, 2009. Similar to the first drama CD, it features various stories primarily for the male cast, a character image duet song with Hanbei and Kanbei's voice actors and an image song for Masamune. A character image song CD Sengoku Musou 3 ~Sen Retsu Uta Ougi~ was also released on March 24, 2010. It features a Mitsunari and Kiyomasa duet, a Oichi and Nagamasa duet, and new individual character image songs for Yukimura, Nobunaga, Motonari, Motochika, and Muneshige. It also includes the previous duet songs from the first drama CD and Hikaka Ryōen.

Koei and Fuji TV staged a massive Sengoku-jidai themed media event, called the Sengoku Bushou Matsuri, on March 6~7 in 2010. Attendees could view live events such as pro-wrestlers fighting under the names of select historical figures in battles whilst in Samurai Warriors 3 inspired costumes, mascot appearances, and on-stage performances by several vocalists and voice actors. Game fans were able to visit the Nobunaga's Ambition corner to see the illustrations for all of the main titles and could line up to gain an autograph from the original artist of some of the game covers, Tsuyoshi Nagano. They could also play test Hokuto Musou, Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2, Winning Post 2010 and fifteen other titles. A report of the first day can be seen here and the second day can be seen here.

On October 3, 2009, Mitsunari and Yukimura's Japanese voice actors performed a special talk show regarding this game and their character image song for the 2009 Uzumasa Sengoku Matsuri event. A October 2010 voice actor event sponsored by Koei has also been announced.

Image Songs

 * 斬 -Zan-
 * Setsugekka -The end of silence- (雪月花)
 * Performed by Gackt

* used for commercials and the game's credits. Clearing Kenshin's story allows Zan to be heard as a normal song during the final battles in the game. In the Sengoku Bushou Matsuri, Gackt revived his Kenshin attire from the NHK Taiga drama, Fuurin Kazan, and performed Setsugekka and Zan live for attendees.