Devil Kings, known in Japan as Sengoku Basara (戦国BASARA), is a 2005 video game for the PlayStation 2, developed and published by Capcom. 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

It is a hack and slash, action game similar in concept to Devil May Cry, Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. Some significant gameplay changes were made to the Western versions of the game. Four of the characters were made non-playable and various skills were removed or added. The difficulty levels were shifted to make the game more difficult (with the Japanese Normal becoming Easy and Japanese Hard becoming Normal, and Easy rewards 30% less EXP and no 3rd+ weapons while Normal keeps the Japanese Normal reward). The fighting system was also modified, adding an element called "Priming" (one of the characters special attack was made the priming attack, and used that attack to "Prime" enemies making them more susceptible to damage and allowing for higher combo chains).

Characters

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: 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.

Reception

The westernized version (Devil Kings) received "mixed or average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. The Japanese version was met with "generally favorable" reviews from fans, critics, and consumers. Fans of the franchise seem to have given the Japanese version positive reviews and the westernized version negative reviews with one stating, "While Sengoku Basara was considered a cult classic among fans and gamers, Devil Kings was considered a terrible localization of a good game that should've been left unchanged for its western releases." The game received an 8/8/7/8 for a total of 31/40 from weekly Japanese video game magazine, Famitsu. The game was later re-released under the PlayStation 2 the Best label (which means it is a best-seller in Japan). The game sold a total of 88,711 units during its first week on sale in Japan and was the top-selling game of the week. The game has sold a total of 232,589 units in Japan.

Sequels

The first two sequels, Sengoku Basara 2 and Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes, were released in Japan for the PS2 in 2006–2007, followed by two spin-off games. The next main game in the series, Sengoku Basara 3, was announced for the PlayStation 3 and Wii and released on July 29, 2010, in Japan. It was released in North America and Europe as Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes in October 2010.