Persona character designer creates a new character for Project Sakura Wars

We heard not that long ago that SEGA and Atlus are working on a new game for next generation consoles, but it seems that development teams are already working together. It was announced that Persona character designer Shigenori Soejima actually worked on a unique character for Project Sakura Wars, introducing Hakushu Murasame (pictured above).

She was revealed during a Project Sakura Wars Japanese stream, where it showed her talking to her student, Sakura Amamiya and Seijuro Kaimiyama. She plays a competent, composed character through the presentation. We also know she will be voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro who played Elizabeth from the Velvet Room attendant and made her debut in Persona 3. While Hakushu Mursame is getting the attention, it seems that Ken Sugimori (Pokemon) is also making a character for the game, which is shown off in this new video.

You can check out the two hour Project Sakura Wars stream right here. So this project has the redesign done by Tite Kubo (Bleach), Shigenori Soejima (Persona), Ken Sugimori (Pokemon), and even Noizi Ito (Fire Emblem Heroes)? That’s quite the art team.

Project Sakura Wars Release Date announced for Japan and more info on gameplay

SEGA has finished their recent Sakura Wars Imperial Theater Propaganda Department Report stream by showcasing character theme songs, new characters (Shanghai Kagekidan members, Shaolong and Yui), and a battle system vastly different from the original Sakura Wars games.

While the previous entries used a traditional turn-based battle system, Project Sakura Wars seems to use a different approach with more of a platforming and hack/slash combat style game play. You can check out the game play in action here.

SEGA has also announced that the game will be released in Japan on December 12, 2019 with pre-orders to be available with a special PS4 Theme, and the limited edition will have a soundtrack with over 60 songs from the whole series, and an artbook.

A upcoming fan event will also take place on August 21st for Japanese players to get their first hands on Project Sakura Wars. Check out screenshots of the new characters and battle system right after the break!

New Sakura Wars to ‘reveal a little bit’ at SEGA Fes 2019

It seems that Japanese SEGA fans can’t wait to see the new upcoming Sakura Wars title, which is being titled right now ‘New Sakura Wars‘ (tentative title). Is it surprising? Not really considering it was the Japan’s most requested IP back in 2016 by a large margin.

While back SEGA’s Chief Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi suggested that we would get a reveal during April 2019, but SEGA Fes 2019 takes place between March 30 to 31st… which is cutting it close. This is what he had to say during the latest SEGA Nama broadcast:

“People have been saying things like, ‘Let me see it!’ and ‘What’s going on?,’ but we’re going to reveal a little bit [at Sega Fes 2019],”Toshihiro Nagoshi
Its going to be interesting to see what they show off at SEGA Fes and what they will keep for its April unveiling. Maybe they’ll show off some art assets and wait for April to show off gameplay? What do you think they’ll show off in a few days?
[Source: Gematsu]

SEGA trademarks the English ‘Sakura Wars’ name in Japan


If you missed the news, last year SEGA announced at SEGA Fes 2018 that there will be a brand new Sakura Wars title and so far we haven’t heard much about it. But SEGA has now filed for a new trademark in Japan for the name ‘Sakura Wars’. That’s right, the English version of the name has been trademarked and not ‘Sakura Taisen’. The application was filed by SEGA Games on February 26, 2019 to be used in video games, music, movies, streaming services, and more. Expect SEGA to have more Sakura Wars news at SEGA Fes 2019 this upcoming March 30th.

Outside of this Sakura Wars will have a couple of art exhibits this year, but what I really want is for a new modern take on the series and a re-release of the originals (that finally come to America!).

[Source: Siliconera]

SEGA Fes 2019 to feature Exhibitions for Sakura Wars & Atlus Games, Giant Saturn Controller and more

At this year’s SEGA Fes event taking place in Japan, SEGA plans to have exhibitions for Sakura Wars and Atlus Games which will be taking the center stage at the event. The Sakura Wars series will have an exhibition on the 2nd floor with displays of various memorabilla and artwork from it’s game development. For Atlus, they will be celebrating it’s 30 year anniversary by showcasing various games developed by the company, including Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, Etrian Odyssey, and more.

To expand on Sega Saturn’s 25th Anniversary in 2019, a giant Sega Saturn controller will be present with playable classics like Fighters Megamix, Dynamite Cop, and Hanagumi Taisen Columns.

Aside from this, the main stage will feature news on upcoming games, new game reveals, and a Puyo Puyo E-Sports tournament. SEGA Fes 2019 will be held from March 30-31, 2019 in Japan at Bellesalle Akihabara, Tokyo.

Source: Siliconera

Sonic Team / SEGA CS2 developing upcoming Sakura Wars game

In the latest Famitsu magazine, they covered a SEGA Games’ recruitment talk where they recruited for new planners, producers, programmers and designers. One of the guest speaking at this event was Shun Nakamura, Producer of Sonic Forces and director of Sonic Team/SEGA CS2 where he revealed that Sonic Team/SEGA CS2 are the ones making the upcoming Shin Sakura Wars game announced last year.

During the speech Nakamura did mention that SEGA has finally re-organized the teams behind the new Sakura Wars and Valkyria Chronicles game, which where folded into Sonic Team/SEGA CS2 years ago. It really did seem for awhile that SEGA was killing off smaller teams to fold into Sonic Team, since Sonic the Hedgehog was so massive. But now it seems SEGA is happier to reorganize these teams and allow them to work on older IPs? Is this good?

So far the only people we have really heard talk about the upcoming Sakura Wars game has only been Toshihiro Nagoshi and now Shun Nakamura, really want to see the people actually working on the game talk about it. But I guess we shall see next year what the new Sakura Wars will be like.

[Via: Siliconera]

New Sakura Wars will be shown soon, in “surprisingly good quality” according to Toshihiro Nagoshi

For a while, New Sakura Wars (aka Shin Sakura Taisen) has been in limbo since it’s initial April announcement back at SEGA Fes 2018. Since then, there’s been nothing concrete over what the game is about, with only rumors such as a planned Q1 2019 release date and possibly appearing on Playstation 4 and Xbox One being the closest things to concrete information. But it seems like a proper reveal will happen soon. According to SEGA’s Toshihiro Nagoshi, development on New Sakura Wars has been positive so far, specifically noting how the staff have been “fired up” over the project and how the game is in “surprisingly good quality”. Because of this, it won’t be long until something is announced in the future.

While the reassurance is always welcome, nothing specific has been dropped at this time. So we’ll still need to wait just a tad longer for what New Sakura Wars will be about.

[Source: SEGA Nama, Gamestalk]

Job Listing for the New Sakura Wars Game hints on PS4 & Xbox One release.


After SEGA CEO, Haruki Satomi, announced a new Sakura Wars game in the works a few months ago during SEGA FES in Japan, there has been a new job listing for the game that just opened up recently focusing a release on Playstation 4 and Xbox One consoles. New job listings were posted at Creative Job by SEGA that state that a staff is required for the New Sakura Wars game which includes:

  • Background Designers
  • Character Designers
  • Mecha Modelers

Each staff member would also need prior experience with developing on Playstation 3/4 and Xbox 360/One console hardware along with using high-end game engines. The new Sakura Wars game does not currently have any confirmed platforms or release date but SEGA has stated that the game will released by the end of the current fiscal year.

[Source: Siliconera]

New Sakura Wars Game out before March 31, 2019

If you have been waiting since 2005 for a brand new Sakura Wars game, you might not have to wait much longer. According to SEGA’s the latest financial statement, the new Sakura Wars game should be out before March 31, 2019.

The New Sakura Wars game is listed with other titles that are suppose to release as packaged goods including: Yakuza 6: The Song of LIfe, Shenmue I & II and “New Sakura Wars (working title)”. As far as what the new Sakura Wars will be, it is not known. We do know that Sakura Wars V or Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love featured a brand new cast of characters and a new setting.

I guess we will find out more about the game very soon, expect more information in September during the Tokyo Game Show.

[Via: SIliconera]

Check out all the SEGA & Atlus’ merchandise for Tokyo Game Show 2017

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Its that time of year again, when SEGA of Japan loads up Tokyo Game Show with a ton of amazing SEGA merchandise that makes us westerners scream, “Take my money!” I would say that SEGA’s Tokyo Game Show 2017 lineup is actually really good compared to last year, so expect a ton of great merchandise to follow. SEGA is not only set on bringing you merchandise for upcoming games like Sonic the Hedgehog,  Yakuza, Puyo Puyo, Hatsune Miku, and a ton more. But they are also doing Retro SEGA console merchandise which is very appealing. To add the cherry on top SEGA will also be selling Atlus merchindise including Persona 3, Persona 4 and Persona 5 stuff!

So lets get into it:

SEGA News Bits: SEGA Survey Results for What Franchise Fans Want Revived

This past week, SEGA of Japan put out a survey asking fans what brand they are most invested in, who their favorite character is, and which franchise they want to see revived. Now that the survey has ended, the results were posted and there were quite a few surprises! In this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry discuss the results and share their thoughts on the fan submitted entries. Did your favorite franchise make the cut? Check out the video above and once your done sound off in the comments below.

If you like our SEGA News Bits segments, make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube. Thanks for watching!

SEGA survey results reveal what franchise fans want to see return

Sonic___SEGA_All-Stars_Racing-PCArtwork4539Sonic_Racing_GroupHave you been looking forward to the SEGA survey results for the brand Japanese consumers want to see revived? If you guys didn’t know about the SEGA survey, we did a post about it earlier this week. SEGA has revealed not only what franchise fans want to see revived, but also what brand their most invested in and their favorite characters. Get ready for some unexpected results!

So hit the jump to see all the answers, including how many people voted for each brand, after the jump.

[Via: NeoGAF]

Rumor: SEGA Blast Heroes a new mobile SRPG gets leaked

SEGA-Blast-Heroes

According to the mobile game website PocketGamer there is a new mobile game by SEGA, which features classic game IPs. Not only that, mobile ads for SEGA Blast Heroes (the games name) have been popping up. The ads describe the title as a ‘strategy RPG’. The Facebook page behind the ads leads to a page called ‘SEGA Mobile’ which has a bit over 150 likes at he moment. If you click to download the app from the ad, it takes you to StoreMaven, which is a service to help test upcoming app store conversion rates.

Below are some screenshots of the supposed game called SEGA Blast Heroes. Of course, it looks like it would play like Chain Chronicle. Just looking at the screenshots leaked so far I see Samba De Amigo, Space Channel 5, Sakura Wars, Valkyria Chronicles, Jet Set Radio, Wonder Boy, Alex Kidd, and a lot of unknowns populating the screens. It also seems that you will be fighting generic looking villains, which is a bummer.

This game doesn’t surprise me considering SEGA’s mobile division put out a survey asking fans about classic SEGA franchises. What are your thoughts on the rumor? Would you play SEGA Blast Heroes?

[Via: Segalization]

Sakura Wars 20th Anniversary event coming to Japan in September

Sakura-Wars-20th-Anniversary

The Japanese SEGA franchise Sakura Wars is turning 20 years old, and to celebrate it, a special event will be hosted in Japan. Titled “Chisa Yokoyama’s Sakura Wars 20th Birthday Party”, it will feature a total of five talk events from the varies voice actors who have been involved with the franchise in both the games and the special OVA Sakura Wars: The Radiant Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms. This event will span between September 23rd to September 25th, which is coincidentally a few days before the release date of the SEGA Saturn version of Sakura Wars that started it all.

Sakura Wars has not made a presence for itself outside of Japan, but in Japan it’s one of the most beloved franchises from SEGA. Combining strategy RPG and visual novel elements, the series has had the longevity to produce 5 mainline titles, several prequels, gaiden, and spin-offs titles, and anime and manga. Most games take place in an alternate universe in the early 1900’s after the first World War, with the key difference from our timeline is that it involves advanced steam powered machinery and the concept of spiritual power or reiryoku (霊力).

For information on pricing, talk events scheduling, and location, click the Read More tag.

GranBlue Fantasty X Sakura Taisen Collab Event

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GranBlueFantasy developer CyGames has published details of the collabration event just in time for the Sakura Wars series 20th Anniversary this year titled “Maiden Kakeru Sakura Wars ~ sky ~ loaded with new character designs by series illustrator, Kosuke Fujishima, and story for the event. The event will be implemented on to the servers from May 13th to the 23rd.

When you participate, Sakura Shinguji, the main series heroine & title character, will be your temporary companion and continues to follow you even after the conditions are met. Erica Fontaine can be unlocked by obtaining the Tresure during the event along with a weapon. Gemini Sunrise has also been included in the event. For more inside look of the designs which includes Ichiro Ogami & Shijiro Taiga, be sure to hit the jump!