Devil Kings

Devil Kings, known in Japan as Sengoku Basara (戦国BASARA), is a 2005 hack and slash game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2. It is the first installment in the Sengoku Basara franchise. The game's theme song for the Japanese version is "Crosswise" by T.M.Revolution. The western version featured a prologue, along with an original piece, due to license restrictions. The game was followed by several sequels and an anime series, all of them using the original title and setting of Sengoku Basara only.

Story

Sengoku Basara takes place during the Sengoku period, or Warring States period, of feudal Japan during which Japan was split into many minor states battling over power and land. The game features two historical warlords as the main protagonists: Date Masamune and Sanada Yukimura.

Devil Kings' main character is Devil King (Oda Nobunaga in Sengoku Basara).

Gameplay

Localization

While releasing Sengoku Basara, Capcom attempted to appeal to the western audience, by removing all Sengoku and Japanese references in favor of a generic fantasy story vaguely connected with Capcom's hit franchise Devil May Cry (a DMC-type font was even used for the cover title of Devil Kings).

An extract from IGN interview with the game's producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi:[8]

These alterations were regarded as unpopular, as the Devil Kings version was a critical and commercial failure, and no more Sengoku Basara games were brought to North America and Europe until the release of Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes in the fall of 2010.

Kobayashi: In Japan, Devil Kings is called Sengoku Basara, and it focuses on Japanese history but with a Capcom style, a Capcom flair to it. When we were making the game, we told ourselves, "What can we do to differentiate this to make this different from other hack and slash games?" And we decided the secret maybe lay in some other games Capcom has done. We said, "Let's give the characters a kind of Devil May Cry flair -- some really cool moves, like the kind of things you might see in Devil May Cry. Let's make the characters all vastly and distinctly different from one another, like in Street Fighter II." That's the Japanese version. Then, we said, "Okay, let's release it in North America and Europe -- what can we do to make it different again? What can we do to make it appeal to North American and European audiences?" After a few discussions, we decided not to have a game with samurais and ninjas in feudal Japan, but instead a game that was dark, slightly devilish, and had a fantasy setting to it, a game with a huge Devil May Cry feel to it. So then we said, "Okay, we'll make it dark." Call it Devil Kings. The main character will be a villain. We'll darken up the background, give more moves, more ability to power your character up, and things like that for the North American and European markets.

IGN: Plus it's not historically accurate?

Kobayashi: The Japanese version of the game is based on Japanese history. There are some fantasy elements that didn't actually happen, of course, but enough of it is there. With the North American and European versions, we've taken that element out entirely. Some of the backgrounds may retain that Japanese flair. Many of them don't and are brand new; many of the enemies are brand new; and it's no longer based around the idea of feudal Japan at all. That part of the game has now been changed to be darker.

title	Devil Kings
developer	Capcom
publisher	Capcom
director	Makoto Yamamoto
producer	Hiroyuki Kobayashi
designer	Mitsuru Endo
programmer	Yasuyuki Saito
artist	Makoto Tsuchibayashi (character) Hirokazu Yonezuka (background) Hideaki Tanaka (visual effects)
composer	Masayoshi Ishi Marika Suzuki
series	Sengoku Basara
released	PlayStation 2 JP: July 21, 2005 NA: October 11, 2005‡R1R‡ EU: February 3, 2006 AUS: February 16, 2006‡R2R‡ PlayStation Network JP: June 19, 2013
engine	CRIWARE
genre	Hack and slash
modes	Single-player
platforms	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Network

Story

Gameplay

Characters

Localization

Reception

Sequels

See also

External links

References