Sengoku Basara 2

Infobox VG
title = Sengoku Basara 2


caption =
developer = Capcom
publisher = Capcom
designer = Makoto Yamamoto (director)
Makoto Tsuchibayashi (character design)
Hiroyuki Kobayashi (producer)
series =
engine =
released = ^JP July 27, 2006

genre = Hack and slash, Action-adventure game
modes = Single player
ratings = CERO: B 12+
platforms = PlayStation 2
media = 1 DVD
requirements =
input = DualShock 2
picture format = 480i (SDTV)

"Sengoku Basara 2" is the sequel to "Sengoku Basara" (known outside Japan as "Devil Kings"), released in Japan on July 27, 2006 for the PlayStation 2. A revision with additional features named "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes" was released in November 29, 2007.

New characters

New characters added in "Sengoku Basara 2" (also with voice actor; the four characters in brackets below refer to their "titles"):

Playable characters

; Maeda Keiji:* Voiced by Masakazu Morita:* His element is wind.: Adopted nephew of Maeda Toshiie and Matsu. Keiji is what people call a happy-go-lucky man. He enjoys festivals, as well as pulling pranks at Toshiie. Despite his demeanor towards his step-family, he loves them though shows resentment at them due to their objection to his lifestyle. Accompanying him is a small monkey named Yumekichi. His weapon is a ludicrously oversized nodachi. Despite its length, he can use it one-handed. He also uses its sheath, but rather than carry it around he throws it in to the sky, having it come down just when he needs to use it. He receives a three stage gaiden in "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes", where he used to be friends with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but loses him due to Hideyoshi's lust for power.

; Toyotomi Hideyoshi:* Voiced by Ryōtarō Okiayu:* His element is light.: Second of the Three Unifiers. Unlike his real and Samurai Warriors counterparts, he is depicted as a giant man, whose ambition is to rule all of Japan and form it into a formidable, prospering nation, which causes him to declare Nobunaga as a source of chaos that must be annihilated. Even though he has good intentions, he is drunk with power and will use any means, no matter how ruthless, to achieve it (though he is still charismatic and caring to his subordinates, unlike Motonari). With just his bare hands, he can destroy an entire platoon in just seconds. His weapons are his hands, which can be strengthened with magical arm guards. : "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes" reveals that he used to be friends with Keiji and was sane (joining Keiji in making pranks here and there), before the hunger for power (fueled by being humiliated by Matsunaga Hisahide) corrupted him into the man he is in "Sengoku Basara 2". It's even hinted that he killed his historical wife in Keiji's story to achieve more power.

; Takenaka Hanbei:* Voiced by Akira Ishida:* His element is darkness.: Toyotomi Hideyoshi's strategist. He is intelligent and extremely loyal to Hideyoshi. Around his enemies, he is narcissistic, cold and very cruel. Given the chance, he can wipe them all out by swinging his weapon. His favorite methods of assassination are back-stabbing his opponents at his weapon's reach and snaring his opponents when they are not looking. Despite his physique, he suffers from tuberculosis. He is somewhat similar to Zorro in style and look (the face mask). His weapon is a whipsword.

; Miyamoto Musashi:* Voiced by Daisuke Namikawa:* He is elementless.: A master swordsman who is portrayed as a wild man itching for a fight to prove that he is the strongest man in Japan. Players can encounter him at random on Unification mode. Earning 50+ points in Unification mode unlocks Musashi as playable in Unification, Free and Arena modes only. He however is limited to only two moves. Wields an Eku and a wooden sword. During battle, he constantly taunts the opponent, calling them "Baka" (or "stupid"), which does damage when his spit touches his enemy.

; Katakura Kojūrō:* Voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa:* His element is lightning.: Date Masamune's strategist and bodyguard in battle. He seems to agree with Masamune at some points in battle. Wields a katana and wakizashi set. He is also noted to be the only left-handed character in the game. He is playable in "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes", where he gains a 'super' mode by charging his power and revamps his moveset to resemble more into a yakuza swordsman.: His story revolves around him chasing Matsunaga Hisahide after the latter took the majority of Date retainers captive, and sapped Masamune's will to fight by stealing his six swords. Eventually during his adventure, his power exceeds causing him to awaken his 'super' mode.

; Azai Nagamasa:* Voiced by Kōji Tsujitani:* His element is light.: A former ally of Oda Nobunaga, now rebelling against him. He is a man fighting for justice and vows to destroy anybody who creates chaos, namely Nobunaga. Wields a long sword and a folding buckler. His fighting style and mannerism are similar to that of a typical superhero, preferably the Metal Heroes. He's also often seen roughly telling Oichi to shut up or stop crying, only to shyly declare his love (sometimes with flowers), making him a male tsundere. He is playable in "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes".: His story revolves around ridding Japan of the chaos, preferably Nobunaga, and his relationship with Oichi which started out with love, then turn to hatred and eventually leads back to loving her again. Nagamasa's story can be looked at a tokusatsu point-of-view due to certain elements of the genre present.

; Oichi:* Voiced by Mamiko Noto:* Her element is darkness.: The wife of Azai Nagamasa and sister of Oda Nobunaga. She is depicted as a depressed woman who worries about Nagamasa and the friction between him and Nobunaga. While considered innocent looking, she also has a dark side which can become dangerous once she snaps. She wields a double bladed naginata, which she can separate and chainlink to its bar. She is playable in "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes".: Her story, considered to be the most tragic, revolves around her witnessing Nagamasa being killed by Nobunaga in Anegawa and was forced to fight on Nobunaga's name, slowly losing her sanity due to her the loss of her husband and her brother's ruthless methods. In the end, she succumbs to her own dark powers, which leads her to kill his retainers (Nōhime and Ranmaru) and eventually Nobunaga himself. After killing her brother in Honnō-ji, Oichi regains her sanity for a little while, broke down in tears for her atrocity to her family and clan, before the temple collapses; she's presumed dead afterwards. Oichi is the only character with a unique ending sequence; her image song, "Nemure Hi no Hana" sung by Mamiko Noto, her own seiyuu.

; Fūma Kotarō:* (He has no voice actor due to being portrayed as a silent man who never talks):* His element is wind.: A ninja serving Hōjō Ujimasa. He is depicted as a man who never talks, but takes action immediately. Like Kasuga and Sarutobi Sasuke, he can create duplicates of himself. His weapons are giant shuriken. He is playable in "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes", where he uses a pair of ninjatō instead. Unlike Kasuga and Sasuke who need bird familiars to glide down, Kotarō can glide straightforward with just his body and can further glide when paired with his air attack.: His gaiden in "Heroes" revolves around his elimination of Hideyoshi and Hanbei, with little help from Kasuga and Sasuke. After killing Hideyoshi, Kotarō has no use for the two anymore and so ends up defeating them.

; Honganji Kennyo:* Voiced by Shinpachi Tsuji:* His element is light.: The Chief Abbot of the Ikkō sect. He is depicted as a greedy man who thinks of nothing but money; in fact he believes that everything can be bought with money, especially victory. His fortress is surrounded with chests and pots full of gold coins. In order to win battles, he resorts to bribing his enemies in order to join him. Wields a monk staff in Takeda Shingen's style. He is playable in "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes" where additionally he thinks he's a macho man due to his moveset.

"Heroes" exclusive NPCs

; Matsunaga Hisahide:* Voiced by Keiji Fujiwara:* His element is unknown, but is assumed to be fire due to his abilities.: A very shrewd daimyo. He is shown as a manipulative, scheming man whose weapons are a sword and gunpowders. He is involved in various back stories, such as taking most of the Date retainers hostage and incited Kojūrō's anger by humiliating Masamune. In another story, he humiliated and defeated Hideyoshi, causing him to be drunk on power and turned him from a sane man in vein of Keiji into a power-hungry ambitious man he is in "Sengoku Basara 2". One of his noticeable traits is that he likes taking hostages and tying them to a pillar. He is usually assisted with three death themed nameless generals, which fans dubbed the, "Miyoshi Death Trio" (Hisahide was related with the daimyo Miyoshi Chōkei in history). Noticeably, he walks slowly, but sidesteps with great speed.: Hisahide also becomes an interruption man in the Unification Mode, just like Musashi.

New features

New modes

In addition to the familiar Unification Mode (similar to the first game's style of map-based Conquest, but now with treasure boxes that contain weapons and items) and Free Mode (whereby a player can play any field he/she wants) are the new Story and Arena Modes. Each character has his/her own individual Story Mode. Arena Mode consists of 100 rounds of varying opponents, though some rounds can be considered "rest" rounds (i.e. only three guys carrying gold chests!). After every ten rounds, you get the option to quit and retain the XP and gold you have earned—and you get to start from where you left off, though your XP and gold is reset to zero (this matters only in terms of ranking). Winning all 100 rounds will give that character his/her final weapon as well as third armour.

Rankings & titles

The playable characters are ranked according to: how many battles you have completed with it, how many enemies you have defeated with it, and the highest combo score you have achieved with it. Only the top ten are listed at any one time. There is also a ranking page for the Arena Mode, whereby ranking is determined by the total amount of XP gained and the number of stages completed. Note that the number of stages completed will trump XP; that is, if one character completes 50 stages with XP and another completes 80 stages with no XP, the latter gets ranked higher.

Titles are on a separate page filled with symbols of open fans. Some titles give you more points than others, depending on its difficulty; i.e. successfully unifying the country with each playable character earns you one title, but it is worth only one point each. Some titles go as high as 50 points. The number of points accumulated unlocks new stuff in the game.

Former NPCs & "character clones"

Chōsokabe Motochika and Mōri Motonari are playable as opposed to mere NPCs. Additionally, the issue of "character clones" is removed; in the first game, Uesugi Kenshin and Matsu shared the same moveset and weapon. The same could be said to Sarutobi Sasuke and Kasuga. In the second installment, Matsu wields a naginata and has the power to summon animals. Kasuga wields four kunai per hand connected to razor-sharp wires while having new skills connected to light energy. Kenshin and Sasuke's weapons and skills remain the same as the first installment. But is not totally, because Kennyo and Shingen have the same fight style

New enemies

New enemies to deal with, including Oni soldiers, ice and fire ninjas, dragon tanks, and five elemental mercenaries parodying the Super Sentai series known as the "Gohon Yari".

Musashi stage

When playing in the Unification Mode, a player may encounter Miyamoto Musashi. He/she will face him on a little island and there is a time limit on the fight, which is actually an amount of money counting down to zero. The more quickly the player finishes him off, the more money he/she gets. If the player fails to defeat him when the money counter reaches zero, he backs off from the battle and the round is over but the player is left to continue Unification Mode. "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes" adds Matsunaga Hisahide as another interloper between the Unification Mode.

Battle Drive & Basara Attack

The Basara Attack (Fury Drive in "Devil Kings") gauge is filled by killing enemies and taking Basara-items, or when a taunt is performed uninterrupted in the presence of enemies. The Battle Drive is filled by kill count at 100, 200, and 300. You can get to the second and third-level Drive only if you kill the required number of enemies straight without using a Drive in between. The Battle Drive increases your attack and speed, with third-level Drive lasting the longest. When you activate your Basara Attack while your Battle Drive is still on (i.e. your character is glowing), the character's "mon" (i.e. clan logo) appears on the screen—it is the Ultimate Basara Attack.

Money

Money can be earned throughout the game. Blue chests contain gold coins, as well as yellow boxes carried by enemy soldiers. Stringing combos increase the amount of money you get for killing enemies, too. With the coins earned, player can avail of the Basara Shop, where they can buy upgrades, accessories and weapons. Certain items will have to be unlocked in order to be bought and some items require a certain difficulty to be unlocked.

Unique character items

There are also unique items meant for one playable character's exclusive use, granting the characters varying degrees of usefulness at different handicaps. For example, when equipped with his unique item Date Masamune will have unlimited usage of all six of his katanas at once (without the unique item, he can only use all six katanas for a few seconds after his Basara Attack, or when he uses his WAR DANCE skill) at the cost of lowering his defense and being unable to guard or evade.

"Heroes" exclusive features

Multiplayer support

"Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes" now allows two players to play the game; though it is limited to Unification, Versus and Tournament modes.

Data transfer

If a "Sengoku Basara 2" save file is present, a player may transfer the data to Heroes to carry over character levels, skills and certain items. Money and some items however cannot be transferred to Heroes.

Priming

The American version of "Sengoku Basara" called "Devil Kings" introduced priming as a special attack. In "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes", some of the special moves of the characters can do priming damage, as indicated by the yellow text of the move. It should be noted that this is the first time in the Japanese version of "Sengoku Basara" to use priming since it originated in "Devil Kings".

Lottery system

"Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes" introduces the lottery system. After a battle, one of the prizes a character can get is a red piece of paper. That is the lottery ticket which can be used in the Basara Shop. Three prizes of two kinds can be won: gold in 100, 1000 or 10000 denomenations, or price discounts ranging from 20%, 50% and 100% (the chance of getting 100% is extremely low) on the items that are sold. However, if you fail to get any of the prizes, the player will be penalized 100 gold. A player can only carry 100 tickets.

Versus Mode

New to "Heroes" is the Versus mode. This allows two players to compete with each other in eight mini-games. The following are the mini-games found in Versus mode:; Daruma Beating Battle: The objective of the game is to hit the Daruma heads in a time limit. Red daruma racks up 100 points, red stacked ones are 500 points, gold are worth 1000 and black takes away 1000 points.; Superhuman Spirit Struggle Battle: The objective is to collect all four green spirit spheres under a time limit. A player can take away a spirit sphere from his/her opponent by knocking him/her off. There are traps and enemies that will knock off the players as well.; Huge Army Destruction Battle: The objective is to beat opponents up. Each soldier has specific points. But beware of Keiji Maeda and Matsu as they will charge in and batter the player(s); defeating them is worth a huge number of points.; Survival Competition Battle: The player who reaches his/her life points to zero is the loser. Killing ten soldiers summons a bomb soldier to the opponent's side. Racking up combos also generates bomb soldiers in specific numbers.; Biggest Combo Battle: The player with the biggest combo is the winner.; Union Battle: A two-on-two duel. The objective is to knock down both player(s) opponents. If the player only knocks down one of them and don't knock out the other one, he/she will recover.; Strongest Decision Battle: A one-on-one duel. The player who defeats his/her enemy three times is the winner.; Superhuman Spirit Struggle Battle 2: Same as the first one, only this time, the spirits balls are colored and have an specified effect. The red sphere powers up the player, the blue one speeds up the player, the purple one speeds down the player and the black one will not allow a player to use a Basara attack.

New Tournament system

There are two new arenas to choose from: Grand Tournament (in the Japanese version of the game, it is referred to as Dokubai), where the player earns extra points for fulfilling specific tasks, and Ultimate Tournament, where the player is given a time limit to finish off the opponents; both arenas can be played by two players. In single player mode, the player can use the new 'Tag Team' system; a player can choose two characters and 'tag' his/her partner anytime and when a tag is made, everytime the active character makes a kill, his/her partner will get healed. Also to complete the arena, the player(s) may only go for the main officers. The roulette interface is no longer present to obtain rewards.

Hisahide stage

When playing in the Unification Mode, Matsunaga Hisahide may be encountered the same way Musashi can be encountered. He however utilizes the old gate defense stage from the first "Sengoku Basara". The objective is to defend the gates from charging enemies and to make sure that the gates stay intact. Hisahide however added new twists to the stage: more soldiers of all sorts, tied-up allies, and white golems. Eventually, he will charge in to defeat the player.

Trivia

* With the release of "Sengoku Basara 2", there is a total of seven seiyu who voiced characters in the "Gundam SEED" series.
** Soichiro Hoshi (Kira Yamato)
** Akira Ishida (Athrun Zala)
** Takehito Koyasu (Mu La Faga)
** Ryotaro Okiayu (Andrew Waltfield)
** Masakazu Morita (Aul Nader)
** Kazuya Nakai (Reverend Malchio)
** Romi Paku (Nicol Amarfi in GS Special Edition)
** *Of the above seiyu, the first three also voiced characters in "Samurai Deeper Kyo", an anime based on the Sengoku period. In "Samurai Deeper Kyo", the character who Ishida voices (Sarutobi Sasuke) was voiced by Koyasu in "Sengoku Basara".
* Other than the "Gundam SEED" series, many of the seiyu voiced characters from other Gundam series.
** Tesshou Genda (voiced characters in multiple Gundam series)
** Keiji Fujiwara (voiced characters in multiple Gundam series, recently as Ali Al-Saachez in "Gundam 00")
** Show Hayami ("" as Rear Admiral Ginias Saharin)
** Tsujitani Kouji ("Mobile Suit Gundam F91" as Seabook Arno)
** Ryuuzou Ishino ("Gundam Wing" as Chang Wufei)
** Toshiyuki Morikawa ("After War Gundam X" as Shagia Frost, "Gundam Wing" as Otto, "Mobile Suit Victory Gundam" as Kill Tandon, Kuffu Salomon and Metchet Rubence)
** Shigeru Nakahara ("Gundam Wing" as Trowa Barton)
** Daisuke Namikawa ("SD Gundam Force" as Guneagle and Hogaremaru, "" as Alfred Izuruha, "Gundam 00" as Michael Trinity)
** Kouzou Shioya ("Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ" as Mondo Agake, "Mobile Suit Z Gundam" as Roberto and Saegusa, "Mobile Suit Gundam Seed" as Al Jairi)
** Norio Wakamoto ("Mobile Suit Gundam" as Gene, "Mobile Suit Gundam F91" as Lieutenant Bardo)
* With the release of "Sengoku Basara 2", there is also a total of seven seiyu who voiced characters in the BLEACH series.
** Masakazu Morita (Ichigo Kurosaki)
** Ryotaro Okiayu (Byakuya Kuchiki)
** Romi Paku (Toshiro Hitsugaya)
** Tomoko Kawakami (Soifon)
** Show Hayami (Sousuke Aizen)
** Toshiyuki Morikawa (Kaname Tousen/Isshin Kurosaki/Tsubaki)
** Daisuke Namikawa (Ulquiorra Schiffer)
* The addition of Mamiko Noto as Oichi may be another insider joke: Kasuga is voiced by Natsuko Kuwatani, Mamiko's co-star in the anime version of "Negima". To add to the Negima joke, Koyasu, Ishida and Norio have also voiced characters in the same anime.
* Another inside joke is Sho Hayami as Mitsuhide and Ryotaro Okiayu as Hideyoshi. Sho Hayami once voiced Nobunaga in "Samurai Deeper Kyo", while Ryotaro Okiayu voiced Nobunaga in "Kessen III", and now they are voicing the ones who would compete for power right after the death of Nobunaga.
* Musashi Miyamoto's VA, Daisuke Namikawa, has also voiced Musashi in the anime Gundou Musashi.
* Takeda Shingen's VA, Tesshō Genda, voiced Honda Tadakatsu in Capcom's Onimusha 3.
* A few seiyu have already worked together in the Saiyuki series. Akira Ishida and Souichirou Hoshi mainly (Cho Hakkai and Son Goku), but also Tomoko Kawakami (Lirin), Daisuke Namikawa (Kami-sama), Tōru Ōkawa (Crow Man) and Toshiyuki Morikawa (Homura).
* The opening song of the first game is "Crosswise" by TM Revolution.
** The opening song of "Sengoku Basara 2" is "DIVE into YOURSELF" by HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, while the ending song is "Brave" by Tomiko Van. Perhaps a remarkable coincidence, both TM Revolution and HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR had contributed songs to the "Gundam Seed" soundtracks.
** The opening and ending song of "Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes" is "BLADE CHORD" by abingdon boys school. Oichi's ending song in her story is "Nemure Hi no Hana" by Mamiko Noto.
* The game's player select and menu screens feature the same guitar riff as used in the first level of the "Die Hard With a Vengeance" game on Die Hard Trilogy. Possibly both lifted from an existing song.
* In "Devil Kings", when you are equipping a certain item, a hidden song of the game is played during the battle. This song is actually from the first "Devil May Cry" game, and it is called "Lock & Load". In "Sengoku Basara", the song is the opening BGM "Crosswise".

External links

* [http://www.capcom.co.jp/sengoku2/ Official "Sengoku Basara 2" website]
* [http://koeiwarriors.simgames.net KOEI Warriors - More "Sengoku Basara" series information, walkthrough, soundtracks, trailers, etc...]