Sakura Taisen was one of Sega’s most popular franchises on the Sega Saturn console. The first game was introduced to much fanfare in Japan, but it was never localized for Western audiences. I remember seeing previews in old video game magazines at the time and my curiosity was piqued. Unfortunately they never bothered translating the dang title. It left me hungry for years. We still haven’t had an official release, but I finally decided to give a fan translation a shot. It’s a shame it was never localized because Sakura Taisen could have been Sega’s answer to Final Fantasy.
Maybe that’s a bit dramatic. Let’s dial it back a bit. I can see why Sakura Taisen was never localized. It’s an RPG/dating simulation hybrid. That would have been a lot for American audiences to swallow back then. The story in Sakura Wars (which is the title by which it’s known to English speakers) throws you into the role of a Japanese navy ensign Ogami Ichiro in the year 1922. The game begins as he’s transferred to a new military force called the Imperial Combat Revue and is assigned the role of leader. He’s surprised to find that the group consists of group of women who act in the theater. Things aren’t always as they seem however…
It turns out that this troop is a secret military function. The girls (and now Ogami) work at the theater by day, but whenever a threat arises they board giant mech robots called Koubu. It is here that they do battle with evil forces (called the Hive of Darkness) that threaten to take over Japan. You get to know each and every member of your force (consisting of six different ladies) throughout the course of the story. The scenario is extremely unique in that it takes place in an alternate steampunk version of the real world. The story has a whole lot of charm within its anime trappings. There’s even a ‘next episode’ video that plays at the end of each chapter.
Sakura Taisen is divided into two different gameplay sections. In the first you interact with the characters, develop relationships, and advance the story. These moments take place mostly within the theater. Here you have limited control and basically point and click to guide the chibi avatar of Ogami to different rooms wherein he encounters the rest of the cast. Each chapter of the game has a different story vignette it’s themed after, and usually this focuses on a specific teammate. It’s pretty clear that Sega’s goal with Sakura Taisen was to make you feel like you’re watching an anime show.
There’s no traditional experience points or leveling system in Sakura Wars. Instead your characters are powered up by choices you make during dialogue sequences. This is where the dating sim elements come into question. The members of the Imperial Combat Troop will regularly await input during conversation, and it’s up to you to select a response. The response will either get a positive, negative, or neutral reaction. When multiple characters are speaking with Ogami you’ll find mixed results with each of them sometimes. This aspect of the game really hits home the interactivity you have within the story. It really feels like you get to know each member of the combat revue.
Battle sequences are really interesting. Sakura Taisen is a strategy RPG based on the classic grid system we’ve all grown to love over the years. The action is turn based wherein you must await each character’s turn at which point you can move them (movement is based on their stats) across the battlefield. You have several options such as attacking a foe (each of the seven characters has different range and attack), using a special move (which can only be performed when your special bar is full), defending, charging your special, recovering (this command can only be used twice per battle per squad member), etc. Damage is dealt with the typical numbers splashing out of the character.
The battle system is very basic by strategy RPG standards. Somehow it manages to stay interesting with fun scenarios and the integrations within the story. I was surprised at just how much I actually enjoyed the character vignettes and the way they mixed in with the battles. I didn’t miss having the option to change equipment or level up at all. That’s something I had serious doubts about going in. Sakura Taisen bucks trends and focuses on itself on the narrative in all aspects. The story and characters are charming and it just works. I felt an emotional connection to every battle and story revelation. The game is just way more immersive than it should be.
Battles evolve as you play and become more complicated. In the beginning your simple goal is just to defeat all of the enemies on-screen, or to destroy a boss. Later on you have some different scenarios that will keep you on your feet. For example, at one point in the game you must choose which characters you want to bring with you in battle. This is the only moment in the story in which this happens, and while there are no wrong answers their different abilities allow you to fine tune your party. You can also base it off of the character moods (which you can see at each save screen) and these are based on how you answer questions or respond to inquiries both inside and outside of battle.
The graphics in Sakura Taisen suffer a few issues. This is an early Sega Saturn game after all. The story progresses mostly through still screens showing characters and backgrounds along with dialogue. These are decent, but nothing special given the era. There are several anime sequences but none of these are full screen, and despite this they’re still grainy and not all that great. They’re downright unimpressive compared to full motion video on the Sony PlayStation. Battle scenes use the same digital graphic style as Donkey Kong Country. It looks aged, but it works well enough here.
I really enjoyed the soundtrack here. The music mostly uses classic Japanese styles during the story sequences, and it all fits really well. Battle themes are a lot better to be honest. There’s the high energy pop tracks that sound like they’re lifted right out of generic anime series. They work well and get you pumped when the story takes twists and turns in battle. The voice acting is in Japanese so it’s tough to judge, but the actors are to say the least… enthusiastic. The samples are at least very high quality and there’s a whole lot of voice acting here. I just wish we were given the option to skip it sometimes because the characters in Sakura Taisen can be very long winded.
Aside from its sequels there’s nothing out there quite like Sakura Taisen. I went in cynical expecting to hate the storyline and characters but it didn’t take long for them to win me over. The battle system at first seemed terribly limited but this judgement was also lifted very early on. Sakura Taisen is one of the most charming games from the 32-bit era, and what it lacks in options and freedom it makes up for in heart. Anyone who is a fan of Japanese style RPGs needs to give this one a try. It’s a real shame that no publishers were able to pick this one up at the time of release. Working Designs would have been a fantastic fit for this one.
