Sakura Wars

Time to beat

Main story

36.5 h7 reports

Main + extras

54 h4 reports

Completionist

80 h3 reports

Median of the hours reported by players who completed the game.

Synopsis

Sakura Wars is a cross-genre video game developed by Sega and Red Company and published by Sega in 1996. It is the first installment in the Sakura Wars series, created by Oji Hiroi. Originally released for the Sega Saturn, it was later ported to other systems including the Dreamcast, and had a remake for the PlayStation 2. Defined by Sega as a "dramatic adventure" game, Sakura Wars combines overlapping tactical role-playing, dating sim, and visual novel gameplay elements. Set in a fictionalized version of 1923 in the Taishō era, the game follows the exploits of the Imperial Combat Revue, a military unit dedicated to fighting supernatural threats against Tokyo while maintaining their cover as a theater troupe. Imperial Japanese Navy Ensign Ichiro Ogami is assigned leader of its all-female Flower Division, a group of women with magical abilities that defend Tokyo against demon attacks using steam-powered armor called Kobus. He becomes embroiled in both the group's latest conflict with the Hive of Darkness and the personal lives of its members. Hiroi created the concept for what would become Sakura Wars in 1990. In 1993, his small team in the Planning Department of Red Company began elaborating on his concept, with full development beginning the following year after being approved by Sega. Several prominent figures were brought on board the project including writer Satoru Akahori, composer Kohei Tanaka, and character designer Kōsuke Fujishima. Although the game was only published in Japan, an English-language fan translation was released in 2019. The game was a critical and commercial success, becoming one of the highest-selling titles for the Saturn, and spawned many successful sequels and supplementary titles in the form of the Sakura Wars series. A direct sequel, Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die, was released in 1998.

Text license: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Details

Type

Game

Release date

September 27, 1996

Genres

dating sim, tactical role-playing game

Platforms

Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Windows

Created by

Red Entertainment, Sega

Countries

Japan