News roundup: The third official Sengoku Basara: Sanada Yukimura-den broadcast was today

I was at work when the special hour-long Sengoku Basara: Sanada Yukimura-den broadcast aired earlier today, so I checked out the timeshifted version in the evening.

Host Saaya started the broadcast off by introducing series producer Kobayashi Hiroyuki (KobaP) and series director Yamamoto Makoto (YamamotoD). It's been a really long time since YamamotoD appeared to help promote the series! I've missed him.

After the staff introductions, seiyuu Hoshi Souichirou (Sanada Yukimura) was welcomed into the studio. KobaP kicked things off by wishing the Sengoku Basara series a happy anniversary; the broadcast fell on the eleventh anniversary of the first game's release. Don't miss the tribute illustrations from Sengoku Basara mangaka Itou Ryuu and Yoshihara Motoki.

The first topic of conversation was the brand new promotional video which had been released for Sengoku Basara: Sanada Yukimura-den a few hours earlier.


The video confirmed a bunch of small details about the game which I've added to my guide, but it also confirmed that there are two sets of Six Coin Challenges in each chapter heads: (red) and tails (gold). Here are the challenges from Chapter 5.

Six Coin Challenges (Red):

1. Reach SUPER FEVER status (??? Monsen Coins)
2. Defeat 25 mounted soldiers (??? Monsen Coins)
3. Defeat Hideyoshi before you defeat Mitsunari (??? Monsen Coins)
4. Defeat Matabee with a Basara technique (??? Monsen Coins)
5. Defeat 20 enemies while in Bushin Telepathy mode (??? Monsen Coins)
6. Clear Chapter 5 (??? Monsen Coins)

Six Coin Challenges (Gold):

1. Raise your Bushin Level to six (??? Monsen Coins)
2. Reach SUPER FEVER status three times (??? Monsen Coins)
3. Defeat 20 enemies while in Bushin Telepathy mode (??? Monsen Coins)
4. Successfully parry bosses seven times (??? Monsen Coins)
5. Defeat Hideyoshi with a parry (??? Monsen Coins)
6. Defeat Mitsunari without taking damage (??? Monsen Coins)

Furthermore, Personal Styles are teased for each character (including the non-story characters) and it looks as though the new versions of Yukimura and Masamune have separate Personal Styles to the old versions.

(Raindrops' note: While OneSanitarium crushed my hopeful speculation about the other character costumes being available in modes such as survival mode by pointing out that they could just mean the hidden backstory stages, I choose to remain optimistic as the wording! Furthermore, the scene with Keiji attacking Hideyoshi and Mitsunari around 2:35 in the new video looks a lot like part of Masamune's story from Chapter 5 - and it's definitely not part of the Sanada Trials because the interface is wrong. Some kind of Free Mode? Don't let me down, Capcom!)

KobaP then rapidly summarised the latest updates from Weekly Famitsu.

In any case, they didn't waste any more time before launching straight into the first gameplay demonstration. YamamotoD took control of Masayuki and Nobuyuki on The First Ueda Conflict: Tokugawa Invasion stage while KobaP explained what was going on. Hoshi chipped in with his own reactions periodically. The audio balance made it quite difficult to hear KobaP's commentary over the dialogue from the game, which is a shame as they were saying some interesting things in the background.

The pop-up screen explains that the main objective is to defend the bridge system. There are four large contraptions which look like rollers, and enemy occupation chiefs will rush them. The vertical bar in the centre of the mini map represents the bridge system's current durability; if it runs out the bridges will fall and grant the invaders access to Ueda Castle.

The chapter started off with a powerful cutscene with an aerial Ieyasu challenging the Sanada clan from a position high in the sky atop Tadakatsu. Masayuki and Nobuyuki defended for a while, then the action abruptly shifted to the other 'minigame' where Yukimura has to race towards the castle on horseback.

I'm guessing this is the same way that Sasuke's stage will fit into the The Second Ueda Conflict: The Path To Sekigahara chapter later on; it will cut to show what Sasuke is up to then switch back to the main conflict. I'm going to have to figure out a good way to summarise the objectives in my guide.

The controls are simple with X serving as the Jump button. You can see the little 'speed MAX' symbol in the middle of the screenshot (sorry about the quality). This appears when you gather the 'acceleration carrots'. I don't think the controls will present anyone with any problems even with a language barrier.

Once Yukimura reached his goal, the action switched back to the team of defenders at the castle. YamamotoD put both of the new characters through their paces well and made them look fun, especially Masayuki (who hadn't shown us so much of his gameplay to date).

As usual, they ended the demonstration before the end of the stage and went through some more background details about the game. There are apparently more than ten secret backstory chapters, and both their difficulty and mechanics vary depending on the stage in question. The next gameplay demonstration was Shibata Katsuie's hidden backstory. YamamotoD kindly lost immediately to allow me to translate the Game Over screen...

The reason he lost was that he had a strange combination of Bushin abilities equipped, presumably to make things more challenging and demonstrate some of the options the system offers. He did much better on the second attempt.

It was weird seeing Katsuie all fired up and full of life in this story. I'm much more used to the miserable version.

The next gameplay demonstration was Katakura Kojuurou in Sanada Trials mode. This gives me a good excuse for a gratuitous picture of Kojuurou.

They let Saaya pick some slightly later stages for once instead of running through the first few. A team of Kanbee and Matabee took YamamotoD down on the thirteenth stage. On his next attempt he got past the two 'bee's then lost to Yukimura a couple of stages later. The boss fights seem reasonably punishing and they will probably require players to master the Bushin system if they don't want a hard time.

Hoshi took over the controller after YamamotoD wiped out and chose Yukimura (of course) for a quick run through the very first trial. Hoshi is always great because he's not amazing at the game but clearly really enjoys playing it anyway (like me?)

Here's the current list of Sanada Trial stage objectives from the various demonstrations we've seen so far. More than 30% done! If only all guides were this easy to write.

#	JP	Opponent	Objectives	Reward
1	第一戦	Masayuki	Successfully perform a 'desertion' dodge	300
2	第二戦	Soldiers	Successfully perform a 300-hit combo	300
3	第三戦	Soldiers	Defeat 15 soldiers using a Basara move	300
4	第四戦	Soldiers	Win without taking damage	300
5	第五戦	Soldiers	Successfully perform a 'desertion' dodge	300
6	第六戦	Soldiers (cavalry)	Win without taking damage	300
7	第七戦	Sakon	Successfully perform a parry	300
8	第八戦	Soldiers (formations)	Defeat 15 soldiers using a Basara move	300
9	第九戦	Soldiers	Successfully perform a 300-hit combo	300
10	第十戦	Mitsunari, Yoshitsugu	Defeat the boss using a Basara move	300
11	第十一戦	Soldiers	Successfully perform a 300-hit combo	300
12	第十二戦	Soldiers	Win without taking damage	300
13	第十三戦	Kanbee, Matabee	Successfully perform a parry	300
14	第十四戦	Soldiers	Successfully perform a 500-hit combo	300
15	第十五戦	Yukimura	Successfully perform a parry	300
16	第十六戦	Soldiers	Win without taking damage	300
17	第十七戦
18	第十八戦	Soldiers	Defeat 15 soldiers using a Basara move	300
19	第十九戦
20	第二十戦
21	第二十一戦
22	第二十二戦	Soldiers	Successfully perform a 500-hit combo	300
23	第二十三戦
24	第二十四戦
25	第二十五戦
26	第二十六戦
27	第二十七戦
28	第二十八戦
29	第二十九戦
30	第三十戦
31	第三十一戦
32	第三十二戦
33	第三十三戦
34	第三十四戦
35	第三十五戦
36	第三十六戦
37	第三十七戦
38	第三十八戦
39	第三十九戦
40	第四十戦
41	第四十一戦	Soldiers	Successfully perform a parry	300
42	第四十二戦
43	第四十三戦
44	第四十四戦
45	第四十五戦
46	第四十六戦
47	第四十七戦
48	第四十八戦
49	第四十九戦	Akatsukimaru (Rising Sun) - 2 versions	Win without taking damage	300
50	第五十戦
51	第五十一戦
52	第五十二戦	Benmaru, Bontenmaru	Win without taking damage	300
53	第五十三戦
54	第五十四戦
55	第五十五戦
56	第五十六戦
57	第五十七戦
58	第五十八戦
59	第五十九戦	Takeda Shingen	Win without taking damage	300
60	第六十戦
-	Bonus	Daruma dolls	Earn bonuses by defeating coloured dolls	-
	???	Masayuki, Nobuyuki, Yukimura	Successfully perform a 'desertion' dodge	300

It was then time to run through a bunch of general Sengoku Basara news announcements, most of which I'd already covered in previous posts on this blog.

The special Capcom TV LINE keywords are now being collected over at the official website here, so you can catch up on any smartphone wallpapers you missed that way. A new LINE picture was released for the broadcast, too; Itou Ryuu has drawn a very summery illustration of Chousokabe Motochika and Mouri Motonari.

After this weekend's in-store preview event in the Sofmap store in central Sendai, there's going to be another on Saturday 30th July 2016 at a GEO store in Nagoya.

The Sengoku Basara: Sanada Yukimura-den Official Complete Guide: Ultimate Tome Of Secrets will be released on 25th August 2016 via Futabasha. It will contain all of the usual spoilers and gameplay information for those who want to blow the game's secrets wide open right after it's released, along with the game's script, CG artwork and design illustrations.

There was a reminder about the special free talk show with KobaP and Hoshi at the Sanada Juuyuushi Garden Place on 30th July 2016.

The final segment was an interactive quiz for the viewers with prizes on the line. The questions were super-easy and referred back to gameplay terms which had already been mentioned during the show. I wish I could have participated; it's the main drawback of watching on a time delay!

And that was all! I am adding the new gameplay information to my reference materials post as usual.