Samurai Warriors

''This article is about the first game in the Samurai Warriors series. For the whole series, see Samurai Warriors (series)''.

Samurai Warriors (戦国無双, Sengoku Musou) is the first game in the Samurai Warriors series that is a spinoff of Dynasty Warriors. Instead of taking place near the end of China's Han Dynasty, Samurai Warriors is set during the Japanese Warring States period. The game was planned to be dark and grim to set the mood for Nobunaga's time in power.

According to Hisashi Koinuma, the game's director, the game's earliest prototype concept was to have four or five characters team up to fight a single boss. He felt that online multiplay was too premature to fulfill this goal and focused on creating a Nobunaga's Ambition-like game. Koinuma believes the game sought to appeal to Dynasty Warriors fans who were asking for an action equivalent for this particular historical setting. The idea was approved by summer of 2002, but production was stalled due to the development for Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends. After that game's completion, Koinuma gathered interested developers to form the separate Samurai Warriors team who sought to deliver a different experience than its base.

Gameplay
Instead of automatic growth, the game's growth system is slightly different. Weapons are no longer leveled up, instead they are found by defeating various generals. Characters also get experience boosts by finishing sub-missions, the number of KOs they get, and time they finish in. Also, characters get "Ability Points" that allow for further development by "buying" abilities that when combined enable other abilities. Characters are also associated with a particular element and will do more damage when they have the element on their weapons.

Another difference from Dynasty Warriors is that throughout a map, missions will appear that offer extra gold or experience used to develop the character used. Further changes include the addition of castle levels, in which each division in the castle only has one exit in each level. Most castles contain 5 sub-levels with a variety of enemies to defeat and booby traps ranging from cages, spikes, and wall blades all to get to the boss at the top(or the bottom, as the case may be).

Story Mode
The mode is much like Musou Mode from Dynasty Warriors where the player chooses a character to play their personal story. Completing their story unlocks an alternate costume for the character. Depending on the choices made during certain missions, the story will branch off in an alternative path. Many of the battles and stories which take place revolve mostly around the rise of Oda Nobunaga, with notable tales from the rivalry between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen.

Free Mode
In Free Mode, players can participate in story battles with any character.

Survival Mode
While offering two similar but different challenges, some "rules" remain in both. Difficulty cannot be selected. When the life meter reaches 0 the game is over. Any acquired weapons/items can be used in the other modes. There is a rest period every 3 floors where the player's life meter is restored and allowed to save the game.

Abyss
In this challenge, the player travels down into the depths of the earth where a mysterious character awaits them. The time limit in this mode is 60 minutes but can be increased by completing missions throughout the challenge.

Tower
The only difference in this challenge is that the time limit is 20 minutes and the goal is to clear as many floors as possible in the amount of time given. Time can also be increased by completing various missions.

Challenge Mode
There are 7 challenges to partake in that also double as the training exercises in New Officer Mode.
 * Melee - Get as many enemy KOs as possible.
 * Musou - Defeat enemies using only the Musou attack.
 * Combo - Get the longest combo attack possible.
 * Archery - Defeat oncoming enemies using only ranged attacks.
 * Deflect - Defeat enemies by deflecting arrows.
 * Burst - Reach the destination point as quickly as possible.
 * Riding - Get through the course by steed as quickly as possible.

New Officer Mode

 * See also: Edit Characters (Samurai Warriors)

Samurai Warriors has a unique character creation process the player must undergo a training session in order to use their character. At the end of their training, players must pass a final test or the character will be lost. If the character passes, then the character is saved and can be used in Story Mode or Free Mode.

Characters

 * Yukimura Sanada
 * Keiji Maeda
 * Nobunaga Oda
 * Mitsuhide Akechi
 * Goemon Ishikawa
 * Kenshin Uesugi
 * Oichi
 * Okuni
 * Kunoichi
 * Magoichi Saika
 * Shingen Takeda
 * Masamune Date
 * Noh
 * Hanzō Hattori
 * Ranmaru Mori

Unique NPCs
Ieyasu, Kennyo, and Nagamasa can be made playable by using a cheat disk.
 * Ieyasu Tokugawa
 * Hideyoshi Hashiba
 * Nagamasa Azai
 * Yoshimoto Imagawa
 * Kennyo Honganji

Expansions

 * Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends
 * Samurai Warriors: State of War

While it is based on the sequel, Samurai Warriors: Katana also uses select models from this game.

Related Media
Aside from the guide books, developer commentary and character illustration book, and a character encyclopedia, Koei officially funded the following publications for this game:


 * Comic Sengoku Musou ~ Samurai Wars Vol. 1 - collection of four panel parody comics created and illustrated by fans. ISBN: 4-7758-0180-5
 * Comic Sengoku Musou ~ Samurai Wars Vol. 2 - ISBN: 4-7758-0195-3
 * Comic Sengoku Musou ~ Samurai Wars Vol. 3 - ISBN: 4-7758-0196-1
 * Comic Sengoku Musou ~ Samurai Wars Vol. 4 - following issues also include the Xtreme Legends expansion. ISBN: 4-7758-0243-7
 * Comic Sengoku Musou ~ Samurai Wars Vol. 5 - ISBN: 4-7758-0261-5
 * Comic Sengoku Musou ~ Samurai Wars Vol. 6 - ISBN: 4-7758-0296-8
 * Comic Sengoku Musou ~ Samurai Wars Vol. 7 - ISBN: 4-7758-0316-6
 * Comic Sengoku Musou ~ Short Stories Vol. 1 - collection of lengthier fan comics with serious or comedic stories. ISBN: 4-7758-0217-8

Image Song

 * Be the One
 * Performed by BoA

Allusions

 * The models and equipment used for the Edit characters later appear in Nobunaga's Ambition Online.
 * Guan Yu and Dong Zhuo appear as portraits inside Osaka Castle.
 * Goemon's WANTED poster can be seen on walls during Survival Mode and while running around Kyoto.