Weekly Famitsu magazine reveals the final four Sengoku Basara 4 characters: Sourin, Muneshige, Hisahide and Kotarou

Well, the suspense of this final character announcement was greatly reduced by last week's reveal in the Taiwanese gaming press. Given that it wasn't taken down, I'm presuming that Capcom knew the cat was out of the bag but didn't want to damage their relationship with Weekly Famitsu by acknowledging it in public. It doesn't matter any more though as we now have official confirmation of the final four characters for Sengoku Basara 4, bringing us up to a grand total of 40 characters (with 32 of them playable!). The promise to finish revealing the playable characters by the end of the year has officially been kept.

Tomorrow's issue of Weekly Famitsu (dated 2nd January 2014) has the full scoop as usual. The game is now ranked in 6th place in their chart of upcoming titles, a major improvement since the last time I checked. Here's a translation of the article.

Ootomo Sourin 大友宗麟
Character image phrase: 古今奔放 Kokon Honpou ('Uninhibited In Any Era')
Seiyuu: Sugiyama Noriaki
Weapon: Kudou Kunikuzushi ('The Destroyer Of Provinces Drive' i.e. the Xavi tank)
Playable: Yes
Description: The young head of his house who leads the Ootomo forces. Holding a firm belief in the shady religion 'Xavism', Sourin bothers those around him by preaching at every opportunity. He heads off on a journey with his loyal retainer Tachibana Muneshige to make the most of the turbulent era and construct 'Xavi Land' parks all over the land of Hinomoto. On the battlefield, Sourin rides on the Kudou Kunikuzushi and gains more believers even while he's fighting.

"The popularity of Xavi Land will bring Xavi-sama back to the land of Hinomoto once more!"

Caption: By using his unique skill 'Sou, Anata No Omokage' ('Yes, Your Visage'), the Kudou Kunikuzushi gains limbs and becomes capable of high-speed attacks for a set time.

Tachibana Muneshige 立花宗茂
Character image phrase: 青天白日 Seiten Hakujitsu ('Found Innocent Of All Charges')
Seiyuu: Inada Tetsu
Weapon: Raikiri (dual chainsaws)
Playable: Yes
Description: A commander who serves Ootomo Sourin. Overflowing with loyalty, Muneshige is known as a man of integrity but that's not all; he's also regarded as a paragon of great courage in the land of Hinomoto. Even while he's being ordered about by the self-centred Ootomo Sourin, Muneshige is firmly loyal to his lord - and his famous blade Raikiri is renowned on the battlefield.

"Tachibana of the Western Skies is here...let anyone who has cause be my opponent."

Matsunaga Hisahide 松永久秀
Character image phrase: 天我独尊 Tenga Dokuson ('Divinely Self-Important')
Seiyuu: Fujiwara Keiji
Weapon: Treasure sword and gunpowder
Playable: Yes
Description: Hisahide is someone who doesn't think twice before trampling on other people and uses any means necessary to get what he wants. Although he's working on behalf of the Ashikaga faction, it's only because he's looking for 'something' himself. In battle Hisahide releases explosive techniques utilising his signature gunpowder, together with his treasure sword.

"To be scorched by flames or cut to pieces...well, there isn't all that great a difference."

Caption: Scatter the enemies before you with flowing movements!
Caption: When his enemies have been covered in gunpowder from Hisahide's attacks, he can wait for something to set them ablaze, or ignite the gunpowder-coated enemies for additional damage.

Fuuma Kotarou 風魔小太郎
Character image phrase: 疾風翔慟 Shippuu Shoudou ('Soaring Gale')
Seiyuu: None
Weapon: Ninjatou (dual ninja swords)
Playable: Yes
Description: The legendary shinobi who once served the Houjou family. Kotarou is a mysterious being who simply keeps on fighting according to the orders of his employer, without speaking a single word or displaying his intentions. In Sengoku Basara 4, he's been hired for 'a certain reason' that Matsunaga Hisahide has in mind, fighting all over the land of Hinomoto as ordered. In battle Kotarou's quick, ninja-like movements toy with his enemies as he releases a continuous flurry of attacks.

".............................."

Caption: Kotarou has plenty of aerial skills at his disposal, and abilities which launch enemies up into the air.

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The bulk of the rest of the article is devoted to the game's boss, Ashikaga Yoshiteru. It's mostly duplicated information as shown in the NPC trailer already, such as the three coloured 'modes' he can adopt in boss fights (red, black and gold) and an introduction to his three weapon transformations.

We also have some new information about four of the game's stages.

A stronghold of the Ashikaga army, 'Eiroku Palace'.

Ashikaga Yoshiteru's residence, luxuriously decorated with splendid ornaments. The commanders protecting this castle include three of Kyuushuu's military powers: Shimazu Yoshihiro, Ootomo Sourin and Tachibana Muneshige. Matsunaga Hisahide and Fuuma Kotarou are standing by too. On top of all of this, it seems that special traps have been set up which are unique to Eiroku Palace. If you're lucky enough to be able to get past the traps, it might be possible to avoid a confrontation with a powerful foe...

(The screenshots show Hisahide and Kotarou in a purple/gold room surrounded by troops.)

A stronghold of the Ashikaga army, 'Ruins of Ounin'.

Another of the Ashikaga forces' major strongholds, where the scars of the fierce war which once raged still remain. Many warriors of the Ashikaga faction lie in wait in the area, such as Tsuruhime. Prepare for a ferocious battle and advance!

(It's the devasted castle we've seen before. Tsuruhime is shown taking aim at Masamune as he fights a bunch of Ashikaga soldiers.)

The stronghold of the Ootomo army, 'Xavi Land'.

Xavi Land, a place with a cheerful atmosphere. If you look closely, your eye will occasionally catch sight of vulgar ornaments. Muneshige appears wrapped up in the body of the mascot character 'Jumbo Xavi-kun'!

(The pictures show lines of soldiers playing trumpets with confetti flying through the air, and Muneshige wearing a huge stuffed Xavi suit - exactly like a fairground mascot character. He's wielding his chainsaws even while wearing the costume.)

The stronghold of the Amago forces, 'Izumo: Shiraga Castle'.

A desert-like stage. Invading requires that you open up the 'wall of sand' which blocks the way. However, you should take care around the Amago Juuyuushi ('Amago Ten Braves') who ride on waves of sand and specialise in tactics which make use of the local geography.

(It's the same desert stage we've seen in several videos. The pictures show the Amago Ten Braves - a line of nine identically-dressed soldiers standing in front of a gate with Shikanosuke and Oyassan in the middle. Another image shows them surfing across the sand again.)

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This reveal is actually more interesting for what it doesn't include than the confirmations of the four characters we were already expecting. It seems that poor Houjou Ujimasa really is the only one of the playable characters from Sengoku Basara 3 Utage to have failed to earn a place in Sengoku Basara 4, with the theory that he'd turn up as a surprise non-playable character now looking less likely. It's still possible that he'll appear later on as a surprise - perhaps at the Basara Matsuri event or during a late magazine reveal next month - however, even the most ardent Ujimasa fans must be swiftly losing hope. He came dead last in the Sengoku Basara 3 Utage characters in the BSR48 poll, behind several of the unplayable regional warlords, and his face probably doesn't sell much merchandise. On the bright side it will be easy for them to add him as a paid downloadable character and Odawara Castle would make a nice bonus stage pack one day...

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Errata: I previously gave Shikanosuke's element as ice, but after quickly rewatching last week's Nico Nico special I realised that this was incorrect. Shikanosuke's element is light.

Here's Ieyasu's elemental icon from the broadcast:

And here's Shikanosuke's from the weekend's event coverage:

I apologise for the confusion caused; I thought Ieyasu's was rounder and yellow while Shikanosuke's was more angular from memory. Here are the icons I've seen so far.

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Although this is outside of the scope of my usual news coverage Capcom fans might get a kick out of these Ichiban Kuji lottery prizes for a February promotion. The Capcom Girls cushion uses one of my favourite pieces of artwork...

Anyway, we're in for a number of treats tomorrow. The next live video broadcast is taking place at 20:00 Japan time and the official website update might bring one of the two new videos from last weekend along with it. I'm going to try to write a report after I get home and view the broadcast on a delay as usual, then save my next report until the rumours from this weekend's Jump Festa event start appearing. Let's enjoy Xavi - I mean, let's look forward to the next batch of information!

Update: Added the profile pictures now that the website has updated. 4Gamer, Gamer, Famitsu and Dengeki Online have published their usual reports, and the new video is below.

News roundup: Today's Hagi-Toko broadcast on Nico Nico included an Azai Nagamasa demonstration

Today's Hagi-Toko broadcast on Nico Nico Live included some new Sengoku Basara 4 content as promised once again. This time, the guest was series producer Kobayashi 'KobaP' Hiroyuki and the beginning of the show went over all of the cool stuff that happened at yesterday's Shinagawa demo event including some too-short glimpses of Shikanosuke's gameplay demonstration.

Then it was straight into the gameplay demonstration with the first of the 'returning' Sengoku Basara 2 characters, Nagamasa. The stage was Keiji's glitzy Kaga: Maeda Kabuki Matsuri festival and Nagamasa's battle comrade was, of course, Oichi. KobaP talked the hosts through Nagamasa's various moves and showed off his charge techniques. I'm looking forward to playing as him more than ever (and Oichi seemed to be having as much fun watching him in action as the audience was).

The festival battle seemed excellent; both Toshiie and Matsu appeared and I'm very happy to see them getting proper appearances outside of their own boss stage. It also sounded as though Morita Masakazu (Keiji's seiyuu) was having a lot of fun with his lines.

It was soon time to show off the pair's Giga Basara attack.

Oichi's Basara-e illustration is easy to understand; a demonic dark hand dotted with beautiful lilies. Her two-character title is 'Scarlet Hands'.

Update: Even though I thought they were regular white Asiatic lilies, I now accept the suggestion of the commenter with better eyesight than me who thinks they're scarlet spider lilies - it fits Oichi better after all.

Nagamasa's title is 'Justice' and the accompanying ink painting needs a little more interpretation; he was sometimes known as the 'Hawk of Oumi' but those birds look more like sparrows than hawks. This is a complete guess, but could they be a trio of hototogisu (Japanese lesser cuckoos) representing the extremely close connections that Nagamasa and his family ended up having with the three famous 'hototogisu' unifiers, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu? I was happy to see that I wasn't the only person thinking along these lines on Twitter and forums. The birds seem to be carrying Nagamasa's usual white lilies too.

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Thankfully this is the last Hagi-Toko show of the year so the livestream schedule is going to be slightly less madcap for a few weeks - the next episodes will be on 20th and 23rd January 2014 with no word yet about which games they'll be covering. Surely they'll both mention Sengoku Basara 4 given the timing.

In the meantime we have Weekly Famitsu coming out on Thursday (or earlier, if it leaks) with a website update and a Capcom Channel Sengoku Basara 4 livestream following later the same day. That stream will be a major one with the content available on both YouTube and Nico Nico Live simultaneously. I don't have the YouTube link yet, but you'll be able to access it through the Capcom Channel website when it's time to go live. There will be presentations at the weekend during the Jump Festa event too, so the news will keep pouring in almost daily.

For those who missed the stream, people have uploaded half an hour of today's Hagi-Toko show onto Nico Nico Douga in two parts and Lacters suggested that I add a link to MasterOfBasara's YouTube channel which is collecting footage of the gameplay demonstrations all in one place. I know there are some people who can't sign up for a free Nico Nico Douga account so perhaps it will be a handy resource!

News roundup: Shinagawa demo event reveals a lot of new Sengoku Basara 4 information

Today was the day of the Sengoku Basara 4 x Play.Community premium trial session ~Shinagawa Daigassen~. This was a special event held for 120 fans and the press in the SSJ Building in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The fans who were able to attend were selected from those who applied through Sony's Play.Community blog.

As well as receiving goodies like an exclusive clear file, IC card sticker and Sengoku Basara 4 bag, the attendees had access to a lengthy demo of the full version of the game and given a presentation by producer Kobayashi 'KobaP' Hiroyuki and director Yamamoto 'YamamotoD' Makoto. Please note that even though the demo was of the full game they used fresh save files, so the players were limited to the starting characters and stages; there won't be much brand new information from attendees other than their gameplay impressions.

There was also a Shinagawa War battle between the fans after they were split into two teams and asked to pick three players to represent each side. They had to pick any character they wanted and kill enemies on the two Sekigahara stages for five minutes; whichever player got the highest number of kills was considered the winner of each round. In the end the Ishida army was triumphant.

Round 1: Masamune (Date army) versus Sakon (Ishida army). The Ishida army won.
Round 2: Katsuie (Date army) versus Sakon (Ishida army). The Date army won.
Round 3: Naotora (Date army) versus Katsuie (Ishida army). The Ishida army won.

The Gamer article reported that they were responsible for the Date's loss as the final player was Mr Hosoyamada, one of their representatives. He usually played as Magoichi, but wanting to show off one of the new characters this time he picked Naotora and lost by just five kills (933 vs 938). Dengeki Online's kjb was playing Katsuie in round 2 so the media were getting very involved. Participants were able to win mugs signed by the Sengoku Basara 4 staff.

I've written this report based on the early press coverage by Dengeki, Gamer and Famitsu. Checking all of the links is recommended as they each have a different selection of amazing photographs.

Gameplay demonstration: Yamanaka Shikanosuke

It was Shikanosuke's turn to be highlighted in an official demonstration today, and from the screenshots it looks as though his element is light (edit: I originally mistakenly said that it was ice). They used a level 50 Shikanosuke so people could see his move set in its full glory. Keiji was selected as his battle comrade.

The level they picked was the Satsuma: Inner Castle stage we've seen a number of times. It seems to have a few gimmicks including a cannon (which I'm not looking at properly so I don't ruin the game for myself!). It was reported that the game can differ in between plays from the very first round this time.

New CD release: Sengoku Basara 4 EP

As suspected, the Count ZERO/Runners high ~Sengoku Basara 4 EP~ CD release was highlighted during the presentation. It will be released on 12th February 2014. There will be two versions of the EP: a CD-only release (ESCL 4158 costing ¥1,165) and a CD+DVD (ESCL 4156-7 costing ¥1,714). The first press of the CD-only edition will include two stickers featuring the performers, while the DVD will contain a Sengoku Basara 4 video and some other goodies.

T.M.Revolution and SCANDAL had prepared video messages which were shown to the guests at the event. The CD's website is now online.

The original soundtrack was also mentioned again with a note that it would include more than 60 tracks. I've already talked about the soundtrack a few times since it's been up for preorder for a while, but to recap it's going to be a two-disc set costing ¥3,360 and the release date is 29th January 2014.

New tie-in: Oedo Onsen Monogatari will host a Sengoku Basara 4 collaboration event

This isn't the first time that the Oedo Onsen Monogatari spa theme park in Odaiba has run a tie-in with the series. Between 18th January and 11th February 2014, fans can visit the spa to see a variety of exclusive Sengoku Basara 4 merchandise and displays.

The exclusive merchandise is all spa-themed and it includes traditional bathing buckets (Masamune and Masamune designs), mittens (Masamune, Yukimura and Mitsunari designs), a reversible spa pouch/bag and short-sleeved happi coats (Masamune, Yukimura and Mitsunari designs). There's also a Sasuke-themed poncho and cap, a Yukimura hairband and a ¥500 stamp rally for visitors to try. Sengoku Basara 4 food and stickers have been promised to make a visit even more perfect.

Sengoku Basara 4 will be available on PSN (in Japan)

From 9th January until 19th January 2014, fans can preorder a download edition of Sengoku Basara 4 from the Playstation Store for a price of ¥6,990. If you happen to have that much PSN credit on your Japanese account, this is a great way to get the jump on other importers and be able to play straight away the moment it's released on 23rd January 2014! Naturally the downloadable version won't come with all of the extras included in the physical editions and you'll have to buy the DLC separately when it's available.

Merchandise samples were on display

Most of the samples shown in the press reports were for items we've already seen, but there were displays of the fully painted Mame Sengoku Basara trading figures, Ichiban Kuji figures and a few completely new items such as event-exclusive Ishida army mineral water and a Sengoku Basara 4 'Dezaegg' PS3 skin set which you can use to decorate a PS3 and controller. The skin will be released on 23rd January 2014.

Two new videos were shown at the event

Lastly, the event attendees were treated to two brand new videos today. As well as the game's full opening movie, there was a brand new promotional video (PV4) with cutscenes from Sengoku Basara 4 (including some moments from individual ending videos, apparently). I'm hoping we'll at least get to see the second video in a website update this week.

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Other notes from Twitter and forums...

• The creators said that all of the previously-dead characters, or those who didn't appear last time - like Itsuki - are alive somewhere (this doesn't necessarily mean they're going to crop up in the game).
• At the start of Shikanosuke's stage, he tries to imitate Amago Haruhisa from Sengoku Basara 3 by coming out of the sand and speaking his signature line.
• Oyassan isn't a battle comrade so he can't be controlled in that way.
• They joked that Oyassan was the main character and Shikanosuke was optional.
• Yoshihiro mentioned that he thought he had seen Shikanosuke's master somewhere.
• Yet again, the creators wouldn't say which of the Sengoku Basara voice actors provided Oyassan's deer noises.
• @yuit_cherry, @goomanimiya and @mononoke_cat posted pictures of some of the goodies the attendees got their hands on.

The subtitling team of PSandNintendFreak and Nine Demons Yoshitaka have made today even better by releasing the Yoshiteru/Maria trailer with English subtitles today, too:

News roundup: Today's Hagi-Toko Ustream broadcast included a Gotou Matabee demonstration

Today's Hagi-Toko #67 show on Ustream features Sengoku Basara 4

Capcom's lighthearted Hagi-Toko show included some Sengoku Basara 4 content today, so I rushed to Ustream to check it out. I don't have a premium Ustream account so the quality was horrible and ads kept interrupting my stream, however I still found it a very rewarding watch.

After the usual introduction where Geist Crusher was promoted, Sengoku Basara 4 director YamamotoD arrived and the show went straight into a gameplay demonstration with a level 51 Gotou Matabee. His battle comrade was Kanbee, of course.

Matabee's element is now officially confirmed as lighting, I'd say. The characters on the Sengoku Creation selection screen are - in order from left to right - Motonari, Motochika, Kanbee, Matabee, Yoshitsugu, Hanbee, Hideyoshi and Tadakatsu.

There are four difficulties to choose from in this version of the game. You can see that it's blurry but the options are Normal, Hard, Extreme or Basara from top to bottom.

Matabee chats with one of his ronin soldiers on the march screen. The hosts were trying to imitate his weird chuckle.

The first stage they considered was a Yoshiteru level. The name was far too small and blurry to read, but it looked as though it was a less dramatic variant of the Eiroku Palace stage. They then switched to a rearranged version of Kai: Tsutsujigasaki Yakata called Kai Takeda Grudge Time. It was set up as an 'intrusion' battle between the Takeda and Ii forces with Yukimura and Naotora having a confrontation in the middle. The player faces Sasuke, then Naotora, and finally continues through the stage to reach Yukimura in the room full of fire (as seen in a lot of TGS 2013 demos).

This shot was taken just before they started, showing Matabee furiously consulting his Matabee Enmachou mark book.

When it came to the gameplay, they did quite well, I saw Matabee rank up to second highest level just by playing normally (I might have missed them getting higher during the ads). We got to see his normal Basara skill, and also his Giga Basara.

Kanbee's seems to be a splash of water (or tea?), presumably a direct reference to his 'Josui' name which also serves as his two-character Basara-e title. Matabee's dinosaur artwork is much easier to understand. His Basara-e title is 'Roaring Dragon' - which happens to be pronounced a little like 'dinosaur' in Japanese.

There was then some brief discussion. Yamamoto mentioned that he would be working on the game over Christmas but he's getting Christmas Day off. It was also confirmed that there will eventually be other DLC available besides costumes. Many Japanese fans are hoping that this means both characters and stages. The other noteworthy remark was that regional warlords are taking a break this time - that means that we're unlikely to see Yoritsuna, Hirotsuna, Harumasa or Yoshishige in the game. There's been speculation that Amago Haruhisa is still a possibility since he features so heavily in Shikanosuke's story.

The rest of the Hagi-Toko show covered other Capcom games such as Cross x Beats and Monster Hunter 4. The next live broadcasts are just a few days away.

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Update: Blogger @masa1567 observed that there was another option on the Sengoku Creation Mode screen before the difficulty selection. From top to bottom, these options let you decide to play from the start, continue your game or choose your route. This last one implies that you can freely change between the normal, anime or drama routes.

I was able to watch the stream again and take a picture since it was uploaded to Nico Nico Douga in two parts. These videos could be taken down at any time.

Information about the Sengoku Basara 4 EP music CD will be announced on Monday?

I saw an alert on Twitter on Friday morning advising that Capcom had posted information dated next Monday about a 'split' single CD for the game's theme songs titled Count ZERO | Runners high ~Sengoku Basara 4 EP~. By the time I clicked the link to Capcom's information site, however, the post was gone. This wouldn't be the first time that someone has accidentally posted an article earlier than planned and swiftly removed it, and it would make a lot of sense for them to announce the CD around now anyway, especially since it's rumoured to be coming out on 12th February 2014 with two versions to collect. I'm going to assume that we'll have the full release information on Monday morning.

A special merchandise shop will be set up in Sapporo for a limited time

Will you be in Sapporo between 21st December 2013 and 3rd January 2014? I'm guessing that most readers of this blog won't, but those who live nearby have an opportunity to pick up some Sengoku Basara 4 merchandise from a special pop-up shop on the seventh floor of Daimaru. Other Capcom games will be represented as well. The stock looks very similar to that of the official Capcom shop in Odaiba.

The design of Ami Ami's store-exclusive cleaning cloth is revealed

We found out a few days ago that customers who order Sengoku Basara 4 through one of Ami Ami's new listings will receive a bonus cleaning cloth to go with the game, and the design for that cloth has now been unveiled. Given how intensely popular he's become it's not surprising that Shima Sakon has been selected! I think that the design looks lovely, and unlike the DLC bonus items it's unlikely that it will be available elsewhere later on. Still, I can't afford to preorder the game yet again...

Note I forgot to mention following the official website update this week

This remark is completely out of place, however I just remembered that a few major game news sites have been speculating that the new picture of Kenshin and Matabee having some kind of confrontation is because Kenshin is one of the names listed in Matabee's mark book. If so, we probably know all three of the people who are his main targets: Masamune, Ieyasu and Kenshin. I'm surprised that Kojuurou isn't there too (unless he's bundled in with Masamune).

It's interesting seeing Kenshin having ties with at least two of the new characters. This bodes well for him returning as a proper storyline character one day...

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And finally, my translation guide has officially become too large for a single blog post (there's a lot of formatting for the tables which makes it impossible to save updates any more). So I've split it into two parts. For now, the first covers the menus and tables while the second is a compilation of the characters, formations and information links. I've added translations for the in-battle pause menu and controller settings page in the 'Navigation' section since we got a glimpse of both on Thursday; fascinatingly there seems to be a 'Fugitive Bingo Book' which you access by pressing Triangle when the game is paused. Though I'm still not quite sure where this fugitive collection system is going, it sounds potentially interesting after the tedious Sengoku Basara 3 fugitive hunting madness.

News roundup: Notes on the first fortnightly Nico Nico live Sengoku Basara 4 broadcast

After being teased all day by reading tantalising reports from the people who managed to watch it live, I've now got home and had a chance to view the first Nico Nico Live broadcast for myself.

Unfortunately I can't help with a link to a recording of the full show as I don't know of any and have few connections who could help, but one person has been determinedly uploading the Takeda stage segment even though it was taken down earlier. This link may not last long.

Edit: Shirokitsune has since found a recording of the Ootomo Xavi Land outbreak scene.

I'll try to compensate for the lack of video recordings with a few low resolution pictures.

Disclaimer: I just got home from my workplace's annual Christmas party, so I'm exhausted. Even though there's a high risk of typos and strange grammar, I couldn't resist watching the show before bed.

I thought the show was planned to run for an hour, but the recording is actually more than an hour and a half in length! There were 36,584 viewers reported in the live stream's stats; a very respectful number for the first episode in the series. The two presenters did an excellent job even though both of them were unfamiliar with Sengoku Basara 4. Kanada Satoshi was convincingly interested in the historical subject matter while his co-host Nakada Kurumi had played the first two games in the series.

KobaP appeared briefly in a video message at the start of the show to greet the audience and show off the bizarre Sengoku Basara 4 golden skull tea bowl that Maruoka Kazumichi had created especially as a prize for viewers to try to win.

It was confirmed to be hollow so the winner can probably try to live out all of their fantasies of being Oda Nobunaga and drinking tea (or sake) from it in an intimidating way.

It was then time to introduce the first staff guest, series director Yamamoto Makoto. After a great deal of chat about the skull, the topic moved on to introducing the game series with a batch of familiar trailers. Both hosts seemed to get most excited whenever Shikanosuke appeared in the videos.

Seiyuu guest Seki Tomokazu (Ishida Mitsunari) soon joined the others in a fetching powder pink 'UMA' hoodie. He performed a few lines in character, effortlessly switching between his usual affable manner of speaking and Mitsunari's harsh dialogue in an instant.

It was then time for the live gameplay demonstrations. YamamotoD proudly loaded up the final version of the game, which seems to have the same gameplay modes listed on the menu screen as seen in the recent Sengoku Creation mode video. The characters on the selection screen were also the same: Ieyasu, Mitsunari, Sakon, Masamune, Katsuie, Naotora, Yukimura, Keiji and Hideyoshi. It looks as though these will be the starting characters and the rest will require unlocking.

After picking Mitsunari with Gyoubu as his battle comrade, there were some snippets of what other characters in the story were up to as well as short dialogues between Mitsunari's allies. The glimpses of the character interactions were one of the most interesting parts of the entire show for many viewers: Mitsunari hates Ieyasu for 'betraying' the Toyotomi this time, Sakon follows along and curses Ieyasu too, and Gyoubu tries to calm the two of them. Hanbee has a great deal of influence over Mitsunari, of course. And then, there's a shot of Ootomo Xavi Land...

An enthralled Sunday Mouri dances and chants with Sourin as the two of them are bathed in a beautiful light. It's fan service at its best. Both Sunday and Sourin will be bosses on the 'outbreak' version of this stage.

Another scene showed the Maeda family together at their festival. The jarring cuts between Mitsunari's frantic dashing and the ridiculous scenes showing the other characters launching their 'outbreak' stages kept causing the guests to burst out laughing. Even though it wasn't in the list of options in Sengoku Creation mode at the time, YamamotoD fiddled mysteriously off camera to get Mitsunari to appear on Ieyasu's Mikawa: Komaki-Nagakute level instead in order to have the two rivals clash properly. The stage had a really cool setup where you beat Ieyasu at the outset and Tadakatsu comes to rescue him - then overloads and crashes out of the sky. You have to stop the soldiers supporting Tadakatsu with the huge crates they wheel through the stage by capturing cannons and destroying them. None of these details are new to people who have been keenly following the news, but seeing them all play out in sequence suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Sadly, YamamotoD failed to survive for long enough to see much more than that and they had to try the stage a second time. The two guests then left the area and 'YamaD' appeared elsewhere with two people I don't know (a newbie seiyuu and a familiar-looking outgoing guy who kept proudly talking about Brazil). They played in Free Battle mode and tried out some challenges. By the way, the swirl icon we keep seeing for Sakon and Katsuie's elements must represent wind since Ieyasu was clearly shown on the character select screen with a completely different sun-like icon to represent his light element.

The first stage was Kaga Border: Shizugatake with the enemy boss being all three Maeda clan members. The stage includes a race against time to take the bases before Toshiie and Matsu get to them; it made me think of a blend of all of the earlier Maeda stage designs at once. The players didn't do very well.

Keiji showed more character depth in the handful of lines in the demo than in the majority of his story arcs in Sengoku Basara 3. Since the team played as Katsuie with Nobunaga as his battle comrade, it provided an opportunity to reveal Nobunaga's Basara-e artwork and two-character Giga Basara title: Six Demons.

The skull looks creepy with all of that ink dripping from it...

Next, YamaD's team tried a run-through of the familiar Kai: Tsutsujigasaki Yakata stage from the TGS 2013 demo, this time with the difficulty set properly since it's the full version of the game (the early demo was deliberately tuned to be easy for beginners to play). They chose Sakon and showed the scene we've seen in a few screenshots where he stands on Yukimura's spears and swipes his six coins. The staffers read out which characters the live viewers on Nico Nico Douga were calling out for as the gameplay continued. The players did a much better job of achieving their goals the second time around.

There was a prize draw to win a signed Sengoku Basara 4 poster next, which required viewers to comment on the video with a special keyword: Yamamoto. The video comments were full of people screaming his name for several minutes. YamamotoD then returned to the seating area with Kanada and Nakada to run through the latest news about the game's release, and that was the end of the show.

--

The second episode in this series of live broadcasts will be broadcast in two weeks on Thursday 26th December 2013, again at 22:00 Japan time with Kobayashi 'KobaP' Hiroyuki and seiyuu Okiayu Ryoutarou (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) as the guests. Before then the series is getting more live coverage via the Hagi-Toko show on Saturday and Monday, and there's a a closed demonstration event this weekend. I'll have to update my translation guide on Saturday as there are a lot of details that have now been confirmed, like the in-game pause menu screen and a number of stage bosses.

--

There were also a few minor news stories today which I don't have the energy to report on properly:

Six lucky fans can win their very own free pair of Sengoku Basara 4 boxer shorts. You need to join My Capcom (instructions are in a previous post somewhere on this blog) and fill in a simple form. You do need a Japanese address for them to ship the pants to, so it might not be worthwhile for most people. Still, free Sasuke underwear is always worth mentioning! The pants will be available separately for purchase at the end of the year, as announced at Tokyo Game Show 2013.

Mobile game Sengoku Basara Card Heroes Matsuri hasn't been forgotten with all of the hype around the newer console title. A special in-game 'Demon King of the Fifth Heaven: Infinite Hell' event starts this week with the reward being a 'Demon King of the Fifth Heaven' Oichi card. The traditional Xavi-themed Christmas event will also be taking place in the game starting from 13th December.

Idol performer Furukawa Mirin of DEMPAGUMI.inc will be participating in the live Sengoku Basara 4 play demonstration in next week's special news broadcast as a guest. This broadcast will take place on 19th December 2014 on both Nico Nico Douga and YouTube; please keep an eye on my previous post and/or the calendar at the top of this site to find the latest direct links to the live shows.

We now have the final cover artwork for this month's Sengoku Basara Comic Anthology 'Setouchi Chronicle' manga:

Lastly, a live viewing has been announced for the evening performance of the Sengoku Basara 4 Basara Matsuri 2014 ~Shinshun No Utage~ event on 19th January 2014. It's been very oversubscribed; the tickets all sold out as soon as they were available, leaving many fans quite bitter about being unable to attend. Hopefully this opportunity to get together with friends and watch the show in real time from the comfort of a local TOHO cinema will help ease their frustration. Furthermore, seiyuu Seki Tomokazu (Ishida Mitsunari) has been added to the official list of guests.

News roundup: Live broadcasts begin tomorrow - and the final four Sengoku Basara 4 characters have been leaked!

The first fortnightly Capcom Game Special: Sengoku Basara 4 live broadcast is tonight

This is a reminder so that nobody misses this show due to forgetting when it will be broadcast or overlooking the tiny mention I gave it in the footnote of last week's magazine reveal post. I won't be around when it airs so I'll be relying on everyone else for reports until I can get home and watch it for myself!

The show in question is an hour-long Sengoku Basara 4 special broadcast hosted by comedian Kanada Satoshi of Hannya, and DJ/model Nakada Kurumi. The first episode - which airs today - will also include appearances from series director Yamamoto Makoto and seiyuu Seki Tomokazu (Ishida Mitsunari). As a reward for watching, one lucky(?) viewer will have a chance to win a replica golden skull tea bowl created by artisan Maruoka Kazumichi especially for Sengoku Basara 4. We can expect plenty of hints about the game as well as glimpses of all of the latest reveals and goodies.

I think this will be the first time I see Kanada Satoshi appearing in something where he might resist cross-dressing! Unless we're in for a surprise Kasuga cosplay...

As I'm discussing broadcasts, a few more have now been announced as well. Here's a quick summary of the current schedule with links to the page on Nico Nico Douga where known.

Thursday 12th December (22:00): Capcom Game Special: Sengoku Basara 4 episode 1
Saturday 14th December (21:00): Hagi-Toko Sengoku Basara 4/Monster Hunter 4 coverage
Monday 16th December (20:00): Hagi-Toko featuring Sengoku Basara 4
Thursday 19th December (20:00): Capcom Channel Intelligence Agency Special: Sengoku Basara 4
Thursday 26th December (22:00): Capcom Game Special: Sengoku Basara 4 episode 2
Thursday 9th January (22:00): Capcom Game Special: Sengoku Basara 4 episode 3
Thursday 23rd January (22:00): Capcom Game Special: Sengoku Basara 4 episode 4
Thursday 6th February (22:00): Capcom Game Special: Sengoku Basara 4 final episode

While the Nico Nico broadcasts are very likely to be recorded and uploaded later on by one of the viewers, it's not guaranteed; I'd recommend trying to view them live if your time zone gives you the opportunity! It's free to make a basic Nico Nico account and you can switch the language to English. If you decide to pay the subscription charge, you also gain priority for bandwidth along with the ability to reserve shows that haven't aired yet to watch them at a later time.

In the middle of all of these broadcasts, there's still the live Sony Play.Community Sengoku Basara 4 gameplay demonstration event taking place this weekend for the handful of lucky Japanese fans who managed to win tickets in a draw. A few prominent bloggers are going to be attending, so I'll try to round up any new information that appears as soon as they get home and post their reports.

Asian version of the Sengoku Basara 4 game sleeve leaks online, reveals full playable cast

Fan momotsu (who I believe has appeared here a few times!) surprised everyone on the Koei Warriors forum this week by providing a link to the Asian box art for Sengoku Basara 4. This is a very significant find since it confirms Sourin, Muneshige, Hisahide and Kotarou will be the last four playable characters in the game.

The box art also advises that two-player content will be offline-only. The 4,000KB hard disk space requirement is for saving; installing the game will take 1,500MB. It's likely that the contents of the game disc will be identical to the Japanese edition since there's no translated version being distributed, therefore we can safely assume everything specified on the box art is probably the same in both regions.

Ujimasa fans are still going to have to keep waiting another week for final confirmation of his fate. My money is on him appearing as an NPC even if we technically have 40 characters revealed now.

Relatedly, KobaP has been talking about the Taiwanese press event he flew over to attend this week too. Chinese news sites are definitely the place to be at the moment for those who can read the language. Unfortunately, I can't read it properly, so here are some pictures instead of a detailed translated report. Naotora's Giga Basara artwork is finally revealed in decent quality and that Basara-e store-exclusive calendar looks amazing.

A new Shima Sakon/Ii Naotora gameplay video appears

It's the same TGS 2013 demo build of the game we've seen plenty of times, but this Chinese play-through stood out because the video quality is good and I felt really close to the action when I was watching. There are also new (to me) glimpses of the in-game menus but I'll wait for a source from the final version of the game before adding screenshots to my translation guide.

Sakon, Naotora and Takeda army fans owe it to themselves to take a look at the demo gameplay in the meantime. I had missed things like the Takeda stage being 'fuurinkazan' themed its its layout before now, or Masamune and Mitsunari being sub-bosses on the Kitanoshou Castle stage, and a lot of small details about the ranks and items make more sense now than they did during the early demo videos. The small scrolls Sakon picks up seem to give credit towards your next battle rank, while the item boxes give materials for weapon enhancement and experience for your Inrou.


Sony hosts a survey to determine the most popular playable Sengoku Basara 4 character

During the wait for Capcom to announce the next major character ranking, Sony's Playstation blog held a small survey to try to see which characters the fans were most excited about for the new game. The poll was in Japanese but anyone with a PSN account could participate, so long as they didn't mind the slow loading times of Sony's website and went through the trouble of configuring their account.

The results were rather strange, though please bear in mind that there were only 478 votes in total on the morning the survey was scheduled to close. Perhaps this only actually represents the demographic of fans who use Sony's blog as a source of information... or perhaps it foreshadows a surprise outcome in the next official poll.

1. Tokugawa Ieyasu (89 votes)
2. Mouri Motonari (83 votes)
3. Sanada Yukimura (53 votes)
4. Date Masamune (43 votes)
5. Ishida Mitsunari (41 votes)
6. Ootani Yoshitsugu (26 votes)
7. Kuroda Kanbee (20 votes)
8. Takenaka Hanbee (16 votes)
9. Sarutobi Sasuke (14 votes)
10. Katakura Kojuurou (10 votes)

Edit: I updated the list when the voting ended on Friday morning.

Online retailer Ami Ami reveals a special bonus item for their Sengoku Basara 4 customers

As well as being one of the few English-speaking online retailers which has confirmed the first press Date Masamune DLC outfit will be included with their shipments of Sengoku Basara 4, Japanese hobby shop Ami Ami has added new listings for the game which include a special store-exclusive 'cleaner cloth' as a bonus item.

If you already have a preorder with Ami Ami, I'd recommend contacting them to see whether you'll receive the bonus item too. It's a separate listing so they might not send it unless you ask. Here are all of the links: standard edition, standard edition with bonus item, special edition, special edition with bonus item.

Bushou Matsuri 2013 DVD delayed

The Butai Sengoku Basara Bushou Matsuri 2013 DVD containing footage from the summer's event has been delayed yet again, this time until 26th December 2013. It's quite disappointing since it contained some Sengoku Basara 4 comments from the seiyuu and now I won't be able to watch it until I already have the game. Something must have gone wrong during production for it to have slipped back a whole month like this.

Official Sengoku Basara 4 website updates

Fans of the last batch of characters - Motonari, Yoshihiro, Yoshiaki, Kenshin and Kasuga - can now check the character page for their voice samples and profiles. There are also updates to the system page with the information from last Thursday's Weekly Famitsu. The most interesting new shots for me were probably the pictures of Matabee confronting Kenshin and Shikanosuke pointing at Motonari in a very accusing manner. The bottom row of snapshots from the opening CG movie is new too, and also worth a look.

My next post will be after the live broadcast has aired. I can't wait!

News roundup: Gossip from the Tokyo Sengoku Basara 4 preorder event

Today the last of the five consecutive Sengoku Basara 4 in-store preorder events was held in Setagaya, Tokyo at a Tsutaya store. KobaP presented a brand new Sengoku Basara 4 video, met the fans and answered questions in two separate 'talk show' presentations.

Since I'm not there in person, I've rounded up a few rumours from people who did manage to attend via scavenging from Twitter, blogs, 2ch and the like. Here we go.

• This week's new video is about battles. A lot of stages were shown.
• Masamune's Aoba Castle stage has an 'Oushuu Cup' event (presumably a race).
• Katsuie was shown racing against Masamune with his 'nagi-copter' (i.e. spinning his naginata like a Doraemon-style take-copter).
• Shikanosuke's Investigation: Shikanosuke stage was shown too.
• Kanbee's stage has a mining cart you can ride. And there's a ball roulette of some kind..?
• There's an onsen stage where the girls get together (Note: I think this could be the one we've seen in a few pictures before, and in Ieyasu's DLC video). Someone confirmed the name was Kaga Onsen: Otome No Tsudoi (Kaga Hot Springs: Gathering Of Maidens).
• On the Maeda family's festival stage, Sakon was heard asking where the gambling parlor was.
• Tsuruhime's stage has a huge bell which can produce money when it sounds.
• Soldiers formed a barrier on Nagamasa's stage but it was broken immediately.
• YamamotoD mentioned making a theme park stage this time (Note: we've seen this in a few shots).
• Someone said that the mechanic of cutting through the sliding doors on Yoshiteru's stage was nice. Weekly Famitsu once said that this mechanic was part of Honnouji, if I recall correctly, so this might be mixed up (either that or both stages use it).
• Motochika, Motonari and Keiji were shown on the march screen.
• KobaP seems to have said that Motonari has his sights set on Aniki's Hyakki Fugaku fortress.
• There's some kind of team-up between Masamune and Yukimura for Osaka Castle; the messages are jumbled but people are saying it feels as though they confront Hideyoshi and Hanbee.
• There's a huge cannon on your side for Osaka Castle again.
• And Hanbee's 'one night castles' can spring up again too.
• There was other content too which the 2ch poster thought they had missed. Someone else said that there was so much information they doubt anyone will be able to remember it all to make a report.
• For some reason half of Twitter is going on about Amago again. I'm going to assume that this is actually a Shikanosuke stage using Amago's name and troops as this is what all of the information points to... Amago's legions of fans are scary.
• Amago's soldiers 'surf' the desert on wooden planks on Shikanosuke's stage.
• Many people have mentioned an appearance by the 'Amago Juuyuushi' (Amago Ten Braves). Historically, Shikanosuke is described as being part of this group.
• Yoshiaki's copies are better than Yoshimoto's were.
• You can view pictures of the venue from @ritsuka8282 and @suimemo to see the scale of the event (it's small).
• There's also a close-up picture of the facial expression designs for Shima Sakon. The other new characters will have these designs too in the special book that comes with the Hyakka Ryouran Tamatebako edition of the game.

Once again, Tsutaya is a store chain which is offering the Shima Sakon DLC costume with preorders - so that's why a lot of Sakon fans turned up there and he's being shown most prominently.

Even though these events are over, the news isn't going to stop flowing. The video should appear on Capcom's channel during the week (probably tomorrow), then there's a Nico Nico broadcast on Thursday, a private demonstration event for selected fans next Sunday and Jump Festa the week after. Furthermore, there's only a week and a half left until the next likely character announcements in Weekly Famitsu. I recommend checking the calendar link at the top to keep track of everything!

--

We now have the video and reports from Famitsu, Gamer and Dengeki!


Rather than continuing to scavenge observations from elsewhere, here are my own now that I can see it.

• The Amago Juuyuushi were in the formation part of the video, and they are also the people who surf in the desert.
• There are a few new formations.
• You race against Masamune and Kojuurou at Aoba Castle, like in Masamune's Sengoku Basara 3 stage.
• The one-night castle which pops up on the Osaka: Toyotomi Hajou stage is huge.
• Nagamasa is shown on Maria's Tango: Sengenji stage.
• There are now three different Kaga stages, lending some credibility to the claim that the Maeda family will have a decent role this time. Kaga Border: Shizugatake has Matsu and her animals.
• Similarly Shingen has three stages even though he's an NPC, now that he's been confirmed to appear in the Takeda Kawanajima stage (not that there was any doubt he would!).
• There's a clash between Yukimura and Naotora ("Tiger vs Tiger!") which is called the Kai Takeda Grudge Time. Not sure whether this is a proper stage or a drama stage with a special name - it's probably a one-on-one battle from Naotora's story?
• The Kanbee roulette looked a lot like pinball to me...
• And the sliding doors are Honnouji, not Yoshiteru's stage. The reporter mixed them both up.
• I'm putting them on my list as Eastern Sun/Western Shadow as it's better English when they're being described separately, but it's worth noting that the two Battle of Sekigahara stages are named as Eastern Yang/Western Yin.
• KobaP mentioned that he thinks that Yoshiteru is the strongest boss so far, and they're pretty pleased with how he turned out.
• He mentioned that there were four characters left, which is correct according to the numbers revealed to date.
• He also told the Famitsu reporter that most of the attendees at the events were rather shy.
• The reporter observed that the number of women present was overwhelming. KobaP was amused and said he knows that there are men playing the games even if it's the women who want to turn up and share the new information. Apparently the Tokyo events tend to have slightly better male representation than the others.
• KobaP said most of the people asking him questions during the signings wanted to know whether particular characters were playable or not (Motonari was singled out as an example), and they also wanted story information.
• The team aren't planning more demo events next year, but they'd like to do release events.
• KobaP mentioned the angry tweets he received after the last NPCs were revealed (specifically citing a Kasuga fan who was furious he couldn't play as her) and said that the decision about which new characters, PCs and NPCs to include was a hard one.

My translation guide has been updated with the new information.

Update 22:00: Added Dengeki Online and Gamer report links, and a couple of minor details to the end of my bullet points.

Weekly Famitsu article reveals full Sengoku Basara 4 character profiles for Yoshiaki, Yoshihiro, Kenshin and Kasuga

I now have formal confirmation of the five new character announcements as well as all of the rest of the new information from this week's magazine. Here we go, starting with the character profiles.

Mouri Motonari 毛利元就
Character image phrase: 詭計智将 Kikei Chishou ('Wily Strategist')
Seiyuu: Nakahara Shigeru
Weapon: Rintou ('ringblade')
Playable: Yes
Description: The supreme commander of the Mouri forces with his headquarters at Aki: Itsukushima. Motonari is also a detached schemer who employs ruthless tactics in order to guide his army to victory. On the surface he's working as one of Ashikaga's subordinates and mobilising his forces to unify the country, for the sake of making Aki the centre of the land of Hinomoto.

"The land of Hinomoto will become Aki; pave the way and become a pawn!"

Caption: Beginning with Meijite "Sha" where he calls archers to provide covering fire, Motonari's speciality is having many unique abilities which require placement.

(Note: I tried to save time by translating his profile from Sengoku Basara Magazine vol. 3 last night for this article. Except it turned out that it was a little different, so uh... here it is as a bonus!)

A ruthless tactician, Motonari perfects his selfish plans for one purpose: victory. With absolute confidence in his own schemes, he even views the lives of his subordinates as though they're his pawns. Motonari is distrustful of others and believes in his own abilities. He appears to be working for Ashikaga so that Aki Province can become the centre of the land of Hinomoto.

"Your paltry level of resourcefulness is no match for mine. My name is Mouri Motonari: a child of the sun!"

Shimazu Yoshihiro 島津義弘
Character image phrase: 一刀必殺 Ittou Hissatsu ('One Stroke, Certain Death')
Seiyuu: Ogata Kenichi
Weapon: Large sword
Playable: Yes
Description: The supreme commander of the Shimazu forces, Yoshihiro wields his huge sword as a master of the 'single deadly strike' Jigenryuu style. In this turbulent age full of battles between strong enemies, he spends every waking hour in combat to perfect his Jigenryuu. Many soldiers fear the way he relentlessly cuts down his opponents, and he's come to be known by the nickname 'Oni' ('Demon') Shimazu.

"Things like being respected as 'Oni Shimazu'...they're wasted on me now. I'm nothing more than a demon...a lone demon, without a name!"

Caption: Cancel with a unique ability when you have an opportunity!

Mogami Yoshiaki 最上義光
Character image phrase: 勿怪跳躍 Mokke Chouyaku ('Unexpected Leap')
Seiyuu: Shiratori Tetsu
Weapon: Shikitou (parade sword)
Playable: Yes
Description: As the commander who leads the Mogami forces of Dewa, Yoshiaki is an overly self-conscious person and a self-proclaimed 'splendid gentleman'. He's been considering going with the flow in order to survive the turbulent times... but he still hasn't said whether that means siding with Ashikaga Yoshiteru or Oda Nobunaga.

"Appreciate it well! A most splendid gentleman is before you!"

Caption: Yoshiaki can use a variety of skills, such as stopping enemies from moving unpredictably or stabbing at them with his parade sword.

Caption: A 'two-shot' picture of the Demon King and the Splendid Gentleman together!?

Uesugi Kenshin 上杉謙信
Character image phrase: 神速聖将 Shinsoku Seishou ('Godlike Speed, Blessed Commander')
Seiyuu: Paku Romi
Weapon: Katana (Iai techniques)
Playable: No
Description: The supreme commander of the Uesugi army of Echigo, and a genius in combat feared as the 'God of War'. However, Kenshin shows no interest in seizing the country. Instead he postpones the confrontation with his rival Takeda Shingen and takes the position that Ashikaga Yoshiteru should rule the land of Hinomoto.

"I wield a sword guided by the heavens...come along and receive it."

Kasuga かすが
Character image phrase: 月下為君 Gekka Ikun ('Assisting Her Master In The Moonlight')
Seiyuu: Kuwatani Natsuko
Weapon: Kunai
Playable: No
Description: Kasuga appears as an enemy commander in this game; a 'kunoichi' who dedicates herself to serving her beloved Uesugi Kenshin. Her skill as a ninja is considerable yet she also loses sight of her surroundings when she becomes emotional. With Uesugi Kenshin not aiming to take control of the country, Kasuga is feeling frustrated about being aligned with Ashikaga Yoshiteru.

"That person's gaze makes me even more...intensely passionate..."

--

It seems that the link between these characters is that they have some kind of direct interest in Yoshiteru's activities (according to the magazine). So, what else was in the Weekly Famitsu article?

The game is now in 10th position in the magazine's ranking of upcoming games. Pictures from the Sengoku Basara 4 opening movie took up a quarter of the space, with individual shots of Masamune, Shikanosuke, Mitsunari, Maria, Sakon and Yoshiteru. Yukimura is shown clashing with Naotora and Nagamasa cradles Oichi in his arms. It looks as though it's going to be another great opening.

A brief summary of the play books confirms that Naoe Kanetsugu will have some role in the game, since the microscopic text in the picture I am looking at has an option to pick his dialogue boasting about his invincibility as an audio play book. It looks as though the other one is the 'flattery rod' item which has appeared in the series before, and there's a promise that there will be a mixture of old and new options for you to set. You can equip up to three different dialogue books at a time to affect the way that soldiers speak to you mid-game.

We also have confirmations of four new stages. The Mouri army's stronghold, Aki: Itsukushima, is back as usual. The giant mirror mechanic is back as well, though it looks more complicated as the enemy soldiers can change the direction of the mirror to scorch outsiders with light. Yoshihiro's base is confirmed to be Satsuma: Uchijou ('Inner Castle'), a castle hidden deep in the woods with a gimmick where the enemy can be lured into a big crowd. Yoshiaki has a different camp this time in Ushuu: Mogamigawa, where a large number of 'mustachioed gentlemen' can burst onto the scene to make it hard to find the real guy (hey, this sounds familiar...). The stage also contains a large statue of the man himself. Last but not least is Kawanakajima: Uesugi Battle Lines, a version of Kawanakajima bathed in fog where the Uesugi troops will encircle the player. The magazine teases Kenshin as the boss of that stage (of course) but doesn't technically confirm those details.

The description confirms that there will be more than 40 stages in Sengoku Basara 4. I have 31 named stages on my list so far so I'm looking forward to seeing more. The magazine also notes that the stage bosses will change according to the route you pick as you progress through the game - I have a feeling that this means I'm going to have to redo my list at some point to add all of the variant types of each stage so that the different bosses can be seen...

--

With last week's Sengoku Basara Magazine confirming that there would be 32 playable characters out of a total roster of 40 warriors, we should be expecting another four playable characters before the end of this month. Unfortunately, there are actually five characters still unaccounted for from the Sengoku Basara 3 Utage cast: Sourin, Muneshige, Kotarou, Hisahide and Ujimasa. Two of those have already been shown in official footage, one has been hinted at and the other two are still unknown, yet unlikely to be missing entirely.

I can't help but feel it's unlikely that of the six non-playable 'unfinished' characters, it would be Ujimasa that Capcom would spend the time completing first. If he's involved it's almost guaranteed he'll be unplayable, which effectively proves that the rest will be playable. The only question that remains, in my mind, is whether they'll announce all five next fortnight and have Ujimasa take Mitsuhide's place as a non-playable character (since Mitsuhide and Tenkai shouldn't really be taking up separate slots in the list in the first place). Or will they drag the confusion on into January and only reveal four of the five next time..?

--

I've updated my translation guide as well to include the new stages and other details.

The official Sengoku Basara 4 website should update overnight to add the five newcomers to the character roster, and then in the morning we should see some high resolution pictures courtesy of the gaming press.

After that, I'm planning to enjoy a few relatively peaceful days until Sunday, when the Tokyo in-store event will take place and flood Twitter with more rumours!

Update 05/12/2013: The official website has now updated and confirmed that we'll get the character pages for the five newcomers next week. Even more interestingly, there's going to be a series of five fortnightly Nico Nico broadcasts beginning at 22:00 (Japan time) on 12th December which will highlight the game with live demos and guest appearances. The show will be presented by comedian Kanada Satoshi of Hannya, and he'll be assisted by DJ/model Nakada Kurumi. One lucky viewer will have a chance to win a replica golden skull tea bowl created by artisan Maruoka Kazumichi especially for Sengoku Basara 4.

The first broadcast (12th December 2013 22:00-23:00) will have appearances from series director Yamamoto Makoto and seiyuu Seki Tomokazu (Ishida Mitsunari). The second broadcast (26th December 2013 22:00-23:00) will feature Kobayashi 'KobaP' Hiroyuki and seiyuu Okiayu Ryoutarou (Toyotomi Hideyoshi). Guests for the subsequent episodes have yet to be announced, but the broadcasts will take place at the same time on 9th January 2014, 23rd January 2014 and 6th February 2014.

If you are a Nico Nico premium user you can visit the broadcast page now and book a timeshift to ensure you don't miss the first episode. Regular users can watch too!

Update 05/12/2013: News websites like Gamer are now posting more images. I'll update the translation guide post this evening.

Magazine review: Sengoku Basara Magazine issue 3

No matter how quickly the postal services work and how much information Japanese fans shared online, waiting for my copy of Sengoku Basara Magazine vol.3 was hard. Released on 27th November 2013 priced at ¥2,400, the magazine is still available through Amazon Japan, Yesasia, CD Japan and Manga Oh at the time I'm writing this post. The two earlier issues are now quite rare (and expensive) so fans who didn't preorder are advised to pick up their copy as soon as possible.

Tokugawa Ieyasu is the cover star this time, featuring on the Mame Sengoku Basara rubber strap freebie and also in a special profile and interview within the magazine. Yet Sengoku Basara 4 fans are perhaps more interested in the magazine's surprise announcement that Mouri Motonari will be appearing in the upcoming game. I've already summarised a large portion of the other gossip from the magazine in an earlier post.

Ieyasu has to share his cover issue with another distraction too since the bonus disc is a talk CD starring Hoshi Souichirou (Sanada Yukimura) and Koyasu Takehito (Sarutobi Sasuke). The pair of them are in fine form and their chatter was full of energy; it made me want the new game even more so I can hear their new frantic mid-battle conversations!

The very first page of Sengoku Basara Magazine vol. 3 includes the picture of Motonari and Sourin in a vast round-up of the latest Sengoku Basara 4 developments. There's a very clear statement next to a picture of the roster (with Mitsuhide and Tenkai shown separately) which confirms that there will be 40 characters in the new game with 32 among them being playable characters. A huge article highlights each character introduced since the previous issue (including Motonari) and incorporates snippets of background information from series director Yamamoto Makoto and producer Kobayashi Hiroyuki.

News roundup: An early Famitsu leak reveals three more playable characters for Sengoku Basara 4 - and two more NPCs

Thursday's Weekly Famitsu magazine information leaks early

According to BlackKite over at the Koei Warriors forum, one of the regular sources of information leaks has revealed some news from this Thursday's issue of Weekly Famitsu magazine. The magazine allegedly includes confirmation that Motonari (of course), Yoshihiro and Yoshiaki will be participating in Sengoku Basara 4 while Kenshin and Kasuga will be non-playable enemy commanders. That's disappointing, but I'm glad they've finally announced it at last. There will be more than forty stages in the game, and there's some information about the audio 'play books' you can set to pick background music and dialogue.

I'll translate the full article on Wednesday night when I have a way to get hold of it, as usual.

Sengoku Basara 4 was featured on Monday's episode of Hagi-Toko

Capcom's Hagi-Toko online gaming show broadcast a new episode on Monday which included a considerable amount of Sengoku Basara 4 footage. It seems that the main goal was to introduce the series to newcomers and the team chose to run through Ii Naotora's stage with Shibata Katsuie (the same combination we saw in some TGS footage before). It was just the usual TGS 2013 demo we've seen dozens of times, but the Nico Nico picture quality was quite good so I could finally appreciate Katsuie's iridescent armour reflecting the light as he moved.

Because the commentary was being done by experienced gamers, I found it quite interesting (and funny). They also made Katsuie seem very quick and effective rather than stiff, which is how he seemed in some of the amateur demonstrations from TGS. I'm looking forward to playing as him much more than I was before.

We also got to see the scale of the Hyakka Ryouran Tamatebako special edition, since the staff did a full unboxing live on camera, discussing every single item in loving detail.

I'm not sure I'd seen the other sample page from the books before. We'll get 'clean' versions of the Basara-e ink artwork for each character as well as some more design sketches.

Full prize lineup revealed for January's Ichiban Kuji lottery

I'd been wondering when we'd get more details about January's Sengoku Basara Ichiban Kuji convenience store lottery, and today my curiosity has been satisfied. We've already been shown the top five prizes:

A rank prize: Date Masamune 'Kyun-Chara' figure
B rank prize: Sanada Yukimura 'Kyun-Chara' figure
C rank prize: Maeda Keiji 'Kyun-Chara' figure
D rank prize: Tokugawa Ieyasu 'Kyun-Chara' figure
E rank prize: Ishida Mitsunari 'Kyun-Chara' figure

And now the rest has been confirmed:

F rank prize: Hooded blanket

G rank prize: Japanese-style drawstring bag (four different designs)

H rank prize: A4 clear file with A6 stickers (four different designs)

I rank prize: Sets of two pins (four different sets)

J rank prize: Design strap (five different designs)

Pictures of three special prizes will be revealed at a later date:

S rank prize: Sengoku Basara 4 multi-cloth
Last One prize: Date Masamune 'Kyun-Chara' figure (drawn swords version)
Double Chance campaign prize: Azure-Crimson 'Kyun-Chara' special colour figures

I wonder what the mystery design on the final clear file will look like? I'm going to take a guess that it will be Matsunaga Hisahide...

New Sengoku Basara 4 postcard set announced

The tenth official Sengoku Basara postcard collection will be released on 21st December 2013 costing ¥525. It's almost as though it was put together by Shingen.