Sakura Wars (2019) Hands-On Preview – A Dramatic Adventure at its best! (Playstation 4)

Sakura Wars has been a popular Japanese game franchise and media since the release of the original game in 1996 on the SEGA Saturn in Japan. It was known for its hybrid gameplay between dating simulation and turn-based tactical strategy. The franchise would later grow a cult following in the west through anime releases in the late nineties and the release of Sakura Wars: So Long My Love for Playstation 2 and Nintendo Wii by another publisher, NIS America. Since the release of So Long My Love, the franchise laid in dormant until SEGA made a surprising announcement in 2018 during SEGA Fes that a brand new entry to the series was in the works as a soft reboot and will be released worldwide.

With only 12 days to go with the release of Sakura Wars (2019) for Playstation 4, I’m going to share my hands-on experience of the game, courtesy of SEGA. Please note that this preview is the 1.0 version of the game before the Day One update with a full review coming to SEGAbits on April 27th. You can read my hands-on preview of Sakura Wars (2019) in full after the break!

The History of Sega Japan R&D Part 5: The Road to 2020 is Complete

It was 2015 when I posted the four part retrospective of Sega of Japan’s game development. 2015 was the year where they announced a new initiative and went as far as to make their previous corporate divisions their own separate companies. Such as Sega Games, Sega Interactive for arcades and so on (which they are already undoing again in April). Sega Game’s new president, Haruki Satomi, promised that he would right the wrongs of the past, gain back the trust of consumers and also shareholders with their “Road to 2020” initiative. Of course this encompasses the evolution of their Japanese in-house studios, which are arguably the core of Sega.

SEGA confirms that ‘Project Sakura Wars’ is coming West

SEGA has updated their twitter letting their fans know that the new Sakura Wars project, that just got a trailer at SEGA Fes 2019, will be coming West. Can I just say how much I love these sort of announcements that go along with Japanese reveals? I hope we have more in store.

It looks like SEGA’s Zack Reese had some tweets on how he will be working on Project Sakura Wars:

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]
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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]

SEGA teases possible New Sakura Wars game presentation during Tokyo Game Show 2018 talk


If you guys didn’t already know, SEGA will be reviving the Sakura Wars franchise with a brand new game which was announced at SEGA Fes 2018 this past April. As far as that announcement, SEGA and the team have been pretty hushed on details until it was brought up on SEGA’s latest Sega-Nama broadcast, a official Japanese SEGA news variety program hosted by Toshihiro Nagoshi.

Hit the jump to check out Nagoshi and co-host Anyana Tsubaki discuss the possibility of a Sakura Taisen presentation set for ‘summer’:

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]