Samurai Warriors (series)

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

After Hisashi Koinuma worked on Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends, he sought to create a Warriors title that represented one of his original interests in Koei. He thought that if Dynasty Warriors is the action version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it would be natural to create a version based on the Nobunaga's Ambition franchise. When he pitched the title, Koinuma directed his concern to "refresh" the one versus a thousand theme.

Changing the setting alone created more leeway for focusing on the characters and their future, he argued. Compared to the Three Kingdoms' giant battlefields, the Warring States could become more concentrated on smaller incidents and sieges. He has also wanted to create a game where the player could witness each characters' different fates within a united story, one that doesn't completely follow history or common portrayals found within fiction. Doing so was his belief of making historical figures within this game unique and interesting. With these ideas in mind, Koinuma supported the creation of this series. He actively listens to the responses from fans in Japan and works to make their biggest requests possible.

His choices to move the series to Nintendo's systems are usually motivated by his desire to tinker with new hardware for the company and series. His desire to create Samurai Warriors Chronicles on the Nintendo 3DS began after he tried a test demo of the Animal Crossing title for the hand-held console. Although skeptic, he was blown away and sought to ignite the same experience with Samurai Warriors fans.

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

Guest Characters

 * Lu Bu (Samurai Warriors)
 * Dynasty Warriors 4 cast (Samurai Warriors: State of War)
 * Takamaru (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Lord Aosame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Lord Akasame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Lord Ryokusame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Lady Momosame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Murasame (Samurai Warriors 3)
 * Yoshitsune Minamoto (Sengoku Musou Chronicle 2nd)
 * Benkei (Sengoku Musou Chronicle 2nd)
 * Shuten Dōji (Sengoku Musou Chronicle 2nd)
 * Gyūki (Sengoku Musou Chronicle 2nd)

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, became playable in the expansion)
 * Nagamasa Azai (Samurai Warriors, became playable in Samurai Warriors 2)
 * Ieyasu Tokugawa (Samurai Warriors, became playable in Samurai Warriors 2)
 * Hideyoshi Toyotomi (Samurai Warriors, became playable in the expansion)
 * Kennyo Honganji (Samurai Warriors)
 * Teacher, Saya, and Dokkimaru (Samurai Warriors)
 * Katsuie Shibata (Samurai Warriors 2, became playable in the expansion)
 * Kojiro Sasaki (Samurai Warriors 2, became playable in the expansion)
 * Gonnosuke, Ji (Samurai Warriors: Katana)
 * Masanori Fukushima (Samurai Warriors 3, became playable in the expansion)
 * Aya (Samurai Warriors 3, became playable in the expansion)
 * Ayame (Samurai Warriors 3)

Games

 * Samurai Warriors
 * Samurai Warriors: State of War
 * Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends
 * Pachislot Sengoku Musou
 * Samurai Warriors 2
 * Samurai Warriors 2: Empires
 * Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends
 * Samurai Warriors: Katana
 * Samurai Warriors 3
 * CR Bikkuri Pachinko Sengoku Musou MAX EDITION
 * Pachislot Sengoku Musou ~Moushouden~
 * Sengoku Musou 3: Moushouden / Sengoku Musou 3 Z
 * Samurai Warriors Chronicles
 * Sengoku Musou 3: Empires
 * Sengoku Musou 3 Z: Special
 * Hyakuman-nin no Sengoku Musou by GREE - services ended March 18, 2013; new characters/events in this social game have no impact on future Samurai Warriors titles.
 * Sengoku Musou Chronicle 2nd
 * Pachislot Sengoku Musou 2
 * Sengoku Musou 4 - scheduled to be a February 2014 release to celebrate the series's ten year anniversary; Koinuma wants to introduce big changes to the series and hopes for the time to properly create them with the team. He hopes for everyone's continued support. He says he is in a creative slump at the moment, but he will overcome his personal problems and accept everyone's criticism.

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.