New Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends details

TOKYO--The latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation 2 magazine has revealed new details about the "Xtreme Legends" version of Samurai Warriors (Sengoku Musou) for release in Japan. The game's existence was previously revealed by a teaser on the official Japanese-language Samurai Warriors Web site.

Like the Xtreme Legends versions of Koei's other medieval tactical hack-and-slashers, Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends and Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends, Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends (Sengoku Musou Moushouden) is an expansion pack/pseudo-sequel to the first Samurai Warriors. While Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends can be played without the original Samurai Warriors disc, only the newly added content will be playable. To experience the game in its full capacity with all the stages and modes unlocked, players will need both games.

Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends will add four new characters to the roster of 15 characters from the original Samurai Warriors. Out of the four newly announced characters--Imagawa Yoshimoto, Hashiba Hideyoshi, Honda Tadakazu, and Inahime--only details on Yoshimoto and Hideyoshi have been revealed by Koei at the current time.

Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560) was known historically as a politician without military skills. In the game, he is portrayed with a courtly look, wearing a robe rather than armor and looking out of shape. Aside from slicing with his sword, Yoshimoto also fights by using his Kyoto-style kicking ball.

Hashiba Hideyoshi (1536-1598) was born as a peasant but became a great warlord who fought under Oda Nobunaga. After Nobunaga was assassinated, Hideyoshi took over Japan and changed his name to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends, Hideyoshi fights using a sansetsukon, a Chinese weapon made of three sticks connected with chain that gives him a long reach.

Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends will have a new single-player mode and a new two-player mode. In single-player, gamers can fight their way through a randomly generated castle dungeon to acquire items and points that can be used to power up weapons. The new two-player mode is a one-on-one mode, where the two players can directly fight against each other.

Aside from new characters and game modes, Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends will have a number of game balance changes from the original Samurai Warriors. The enemy thugs that became too strong when the player's character advanced will be toned down for the sake of brisker gameplay. Two new levels of game difficulty, named heaven and hell, will offer players a very easy and a very difficult setting, respectively.

The character growth system in Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends will be different as well. All the attributes and skills of the characters can be raised to max without having to score high on each of the stages. There will also be level-6 weapons for the characters, which have become a tradition in Koei's Xtreme Legends releases.

Samurai Warriors will be released on September 16 at the retail price of 4,494 yen ($41) alongside two special editions of the game. A 9,240 yen ($85) deluxe edition called Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends Treasure Box will come with a Honda Tadakazu figure model, a game strategy guidebook, character cards, and a CD-ROM that contains powered-up character data. The 10,290 ($95) Samurai Warriors Premium Pack will feature the original Samurai Warriors game and the CD-ROM with powered-up character data.