Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi (戦国BASARA4 皇) is an action hack ‘n’ slash developed and published by Capcom. This is the fourth main-line instalment for the franchise and an expanded version of the base game that initially came out on PlayStation 3 in 2014. This updated version (with the added subtitle Sumeragi) was released on PlayStation 4 in 2015, just over a year after the console came out in Japan.
Background:
Sengoku Basara is quite simply Capcom’s response to Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors franchise. Both are essentially about controlling a character and making them hit dozens of enemies on the screen with a simple button press. It’s quite satisfying to watch, but they have their own identity to keep themselves apart.
Sengoku Basara focuses on a number of individuals who own parts of Japan trying to take over the whole continent and each character has their own crazy style to the mix, such as their character designs and special moves they use during combat. The franchise did eventually receive a couple anime adaptations from studio Production I.G that were localised by Funimation in the English territories.
That being said, Sengoku Basara has bizarrely not gotten the same treatment as other Capcom franchises have done. For instance the first game was butchered to tie itself with Devil May Cry as ‘Devil Kings‘, and only the original version of the third game (Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes) got a localised release on the PlayStation 3. Since then, the other instalments, not even the HD collection of the first two games, made it to the western market. In addition, there has yet to be a new sequel.
In Sumeragi, the content is expanded upon from Sengoku Basara 4. The character roster is now up to 40, which is 8 more than the original release. The characters now featured in Sumeragi are as follows:
- Ashikaga Yoshiteru
- Kasuga (returning character)
- Kyōgoku Maria
- Maeda Toshiie (returning character)
- Matsu (returning character)
- Sen no Rikyū
- Takeda Shingen (returning character)
- Uesugi Kenshin (returning character)
Other additional tweaks include being able to transfer save data from the original Sengoku Basara 4 game into Sumeragi, which will let you keep pretty much everything you unlocked like completed stories, character levels, weapons, play books, costumes, stages unlocked for free mode, fugitive bingo, and difficulty levels. The rest like consumable items will be converted into Tenka Medals.
Japanese musicians T.M.Revolution and Chiaki Ishikawa return to perform the opening and ending themes for Sumeragi. The songs are also different from the previous version, with the former performing the song “DOUBLE-DEAL” while the latter performs “Heavenly Blue”.
Much like the other Musou games, Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi is import friendly. You don’t necessarily need to have extensive knowledge of the Japanese language in order to enjoy the game overall, but you will want it if you wish to understand the dialogue during the story and combat (though one of the characters does make Engrish quotes here and there).
Disc Specs:
Distributor: Capcom
Released: 23rd July 2015
| Region | Japan |
| HDD Space | 30.33 GB (with Patch 1.02 applied) |
| Remote Play Support | Yes |
| Trophy Support | Yes |
| Local Players | 1-2 |
| Online Players | 0 |
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi has never been made available for the west in English but copies are available for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in both Japan and Asian territories in physical and digital form. You can order the game through the following retailers:
Play Asia (JP ver.): Best Price Edition
Solaris Japan (JP ver.): Original Release – Best Price Edition
As mentioned earlier, if you are still interested in Sengoku Basara, Capcom released a HD collection for the PlayStation 3 that includes Sengoku Basara, Sengoku Basara 2 and Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes digitally and physically. There’s also the original base version of Sengoku Basara 3 localised in the west as Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes for PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii.
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