History VideoGame / SamuraiWarriors

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: In ''4'', since the story mode is now faction-specific rather than character-specific, they give more focus to the development of the clan while CharacterDevelopment only occasionally appears. Except for the Sanada story. Notably, it's the ''only'' story mode that gives more focus to the relationship between the Sanada brothers and a few other characters like Ina, Keiji, Kanetsugu, and Mitsunari. The development of the Sanada clan in the story is only vaguely referenced in the narrative.

* ''Samurai Warriors'' / ''Sengoku Musou'' (UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, 2004)

* ''Samurai Warriors: State of War'' / ''Geki Sengoku Musou'' (UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable, 2005)
* ''Samurai Warriors 2'' / ''Sengoku Musou 2'' ([=PS2=], UsefulNotes/Xbox360, 2006)

* ''Samurai Warriors Katana'' / ''Sengoku Musou Katana'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoWii, 2008)
* ''Samurai Warriors 3'' / ''Sengoku Musou 3'' (Wii, 2009 [JPN], 2010 [US/EU]; UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, 2011 [JPN], combining the contents of this and ''3: Xtreme Legends'')

* ''Samurai Warriors Chronicles'' / ''Sengoku Musou Chronicle'' (UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, 2011)

* ''Samurai Warriors 4'' / ''Sengoku Musou 4'' ([=PS3=], UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, 2014)

* ''Samurai Warriors 5'' ([=PS4=], UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, PC, 2021)

* AdaptationalJerkass: In ''SW3'' and ''SW4'', Motonari Mori, and later Takakage Kobayakawa, despite their sucessful strategies, were calm and mild-mannered. However, in ''SW5'', they kept the intelligent family angle, but every member of the clan, sans Terumoto, is an stuck-up arrogant jerkass.

** Magoichi Saika's special move starting in 2 is to aim in a single direction and rapid fire his musket as long as the special attack button is held down, with a firing rate that most modern semi-automatic rifles would have trouble matching.

* BribingYourWayToVictory: The DLC weapons in ''4'' are more powerful than the ultimate weapons and while those are difficult and often confusing to obtain all you have to do for the DLC ones is navigate a menu. The mounts, while not quite as strong as Matsukaze, also have better stats than the majority available otherwise.

* BulletTime: Samurai Warriors 4's Rage Mode causes the movement of the regular "cannon fodder" soldiers around you to slow to such a crawl that it looks like you've stopped time. The named generals, however, are able to run around and attack as normal.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Starting from ''2'', scenarios about Nobunaga's conflict against the Ikkō-Ikki sect in Ise Nagashima is removed altogether to tone down Nobunaga's former EvilOverlord looks. As a result, Kennyō Honganji is never mentioned or even be featured as an NPC again in future SW games. Not only that, the battle of Kizugawa, which was set during the Ikko-Ikki conflict, has its focus shifted from them, to be more of a "Oda versus Mori and the Saika, with some peasants", starting with the third game.

** And a very unusual case of the game forcing you into one: at the end of Yukimura's story mode, he decides the final battle a lost cause, the game invalidates the defeat conditions and declares everyone but you expendable, a path straight to the enemy camp (but swimming in enemy soldiers) opens up, and in [=SW3=] your items are disabled. Why push you down the road of a totally reckless charge? Because historically, ''he actually did that''.

--> '''Nagamasa Azai''': ''"This is it. This will be my final attack!"''

* NeverASelfMadeWoman: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as it's (mostly) based on historical events in 1500s Japan. Compared to ''Dynasty Warriors'' however, ''SW'' is more progressive regarding its treatment of women; even if they appear because of their connections to men, they still have individual goals to follow on and aren't overly clingy to their spouses. Then again, no matter the place, the values of the 16th century are very different from the 3rd century.

* OldSaveBonus: If you start playing ''Samurai Warriors 2'' on the UsefulNotes/Playstation2 and have save data from the first game, it'll let you choose to start with Hanzō and Kenshin Uesugi unlocked. The same goes for Tadakatsu Honda with save data from Xtreme Legends.

* RegionalBonus: In the Japanese release of [=SW3=], there was a set of three {{DLC}}s that each cost 100 Wii Points, giving the player a portion of the Historical Mode, which acted as a story for custom characters. The international releases had the entire Historical Mode available out of the box.

* {{Sarashi}}: [=SW3=] provides this in the form of the female Create a Warrior model who can have half a kimono top and a sarashi.

* SuperSpecialMove: The Ultimate Musou, a stronger variant of the traditional [[Videogame/DynastyWarriors Musou attack]], is used when the character has their spirit gauge in use and activates a Musou, similar to the Rage Musou, though the Ultimate Musou is one big attack, rather than a long chain of attacks.

* VirtualPaperDoll: Most games in the series allow the player to make their own custom Edit Characters. The options for them are rather restricted until [=SW4=], which uses a similar character creation system to ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 7 Empires'', allowing players great control over the appearance of their characters and choice of whichever weapon they want (except for Kotaro's gauntlets).

* PandaingToTheAudience: The most expensive mount in ''Spirit of Sanada'' is a Panda.

* OffModel: A custom warrior using a moveset with a unique mounting animation can result in very obvious clipping into a horse's back if the models are of different size.

** Zigzagged with ''5'', which is a retelling of ''1''. While ''4'' took itself seriously, it still had some levity with how they portrayed their characters. In ''5'', Shingen and Kenshin's rivalry is less amicable, Magoichi is no longer the 'champion of the commonfolk' and a flirt, Yoshimoto is more consistent in his competence (instead of being a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass) and became [[TookALevelInJerkass more callous]] and yet also [[TookALevelInBadass more powerful]], and the Mōri are far more arrogant than previous incarnations. The Siege of Mount Hiei, the battle that made Nobunaga infamous due to him burning down the Buddhist temples there, is also portrayed for the first time in the series. At the same time, ''5'' also brings back the hypothetical scenarios, and has its own moments of reprieve.

* TookALevelInJerkass: In ''SW3'' and ''SW4'', Motonari Mori, and later Takakage Kobayakawa, despite their sucessful strategies, were calm and mild-mannered. However, in ''SW5'', they kept the intelligent family angle, but every member of the clan, sans Terumoto, is an stuck-up arrogant jerkass.

* GuysSmashGirlsShoot: Happens a couple of times in the series. Tadakatsu Honda is a mighty warriors weilding a big spear, while his daughter Ina uses a bow to fight. In the updated designs of Samurai Warriors 5, young Nobunaga uses a sword, while his wife Lady No uses a bow, when in previous installments she fought with a claw.

See also ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' - which is what many say these games would be like on drugs, and ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest'' which uses the character designs from ''Samurai Warriors 3.'' See also ''VideoGame/NobunagasAmbition'', which uses character designs from the series often. See also ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'' by [[Creator/KoeiTecmo the same creator]] and taking place in the same time period, but with demons and [[SoulslikeRPG the player character being more vulnerable to death.]]

See also ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' - which is what many say these games would be like on drugs, and ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest'' which uses the character designs from ''Samurai Warriors 3.'' See also ''VideoGame/NobunagasAmbition'', which uses character designs from the series often.

Some of the playable battles:

and many, many more

Some scenarios are AlternateHistory tales, such as Nobunaga surviving Honnoji and uniting Japan, or Hideyoshi faking his death in 1598 and appearing at Sekigahara (both examples are their respective hidden "Dream Stage" battle). In other cases, some of the "Dream Stages" are just for fun, like Tadakatsu taking on all worthy warriors in a champion's tournament or Nohime and Oichi's beauty contest battle (made even funnier if played with the ''[=SW2=]: Xtreme Legends'' expansion).

See also ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' - which is what many say these games would be like on drugs, and ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest'' which uses the character designs from ''Samurai Warriors 3.'' See also ''VideoGame/NobunagasAmbition'', which uses the character designs from the series often and its gameplay is the basis for ''Pokémon Conquest''.

''Samurai Warriors'' started as a spinoff of Creator/{{Koei|Tecmo}}'s ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' HackAndSlash series, porting the gameplay elements to a new setting: the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod of Japanese history.[[note]]Hence its Japanese name "[[PunnyName Sengoku Musou]]," compared to ''Dynasty Warriors'' being "Shin Sangoku Musou."[[/note]] Its success has lead to it becoming its own series, with a total of 5 main installments, all with their own offshoots and expansions. The playable scenarios span fifty years of Japanese history, and playable characters include [[UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga Nobunaga Oda]], [[UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu Ieyasu Tokugawa]], [[UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi Hideyoshi Toyotomi]], [[UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura Yukimura Sanada]], [[UsefulNotes/IshidaMitsunari Mitsunari Ishida]], [[UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi Musashi Miyamoto]], [[UsefulNotes/HattoriHanzo Hanzo Hattori]], [[UsefulNotes/FuumaKotaro Kotaro Fuma]], and many more. It should be worth noting that each version loosely sticks to a certain time frame and focuses on specific moments: case in point, the first game is all over Nobunaga while the second game's primary focus are the events leading to Sekigahara, while the third appears to try to cover just about everything in-between with a loose increased focus in the Pre-Nobunaga Warlords[[note]]Kenshin Uesugi, Shingen Takeda, with the introduction of daimyos Motonari Mori and Ujiyasu Hojo[[/note]]. The Fourth Game abandons the personal story modes and alternate histories, with a hard focus on Drama and making sure each major clan has it's own [[ADayInTheLimelight story mode]]. The ''Chronicles'' games covers a whole lot, while the Spirit of Sanada Spin-off focuses on the Sanada Clan, from their early days as a Takeda Vassal, to Yukimura Sanada's famed Last Stand in Osaka Castle. The fifth game is a reboot, focusing fully on Nobunaga, but unlike the first game, the focuses on the plot is laser-focused, lacking famous-yet-then-irrelevant characters like Yukimura Sanada and Masamune Date.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samuraiwarriors.jpg]]
''[[caption-width-right:350:Enjoy the ultimate battle for supremacy in the [[UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod Warring States Era!]]]]''

''Samurai Warriors'' started as a spinoff of Creator/{{Koei|Tecmo}}'s ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' HackAndSlash series, porting the gameplay elements to a new setting: the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod of Japanese history.[[note]]Hence its Japanese name "[[PunnyName Sengoku Musou]]," compared to ''Dynasty Warriors'' being "Shin Sangoku Musou."[[/note]] Its success has lead to it becoming its own series, with a total of 5 main installments, all with their own offshoots and expansions. The playable scenarios span fifty years of Japanese history, and playable characters include [[UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga Nobunaga Oda]], [[UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu Ieyasu Tokugawa]], [[UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi Hideyoshi Toyotomi]], [[UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura Yukimura Sanada]], [[UsefulNotes/IshidaMitsunari Mitsunari Ishida]], [[UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi Musashi Miyamoto]], [[UsefulNotes/HattoriHanzo Hanzo Hattori]], [[UsefulNotes/FuumaKotaro Kotaro Fuma]], and many more. It should be worth noting that each version loosely sticks to a certain time frame and focuses on specific moments: case in point, the first game is all over Nobunaga while the second game's primary focus is the events leading to Sekigahara, while the third appears to try to cover just about everything in-between with a loose increased focus in the Pre-Nobunaga Warlords[[note]]Kenshin Uesugi, Shingen Takeda, with the introduction of daimyos Motonari Mori and Ujiyasu Hojo[[/note]]. The Fourth Game abandons the personal story modes and alternate histories, with a hard focus on Drama and making sure each major clan has its own [[ADayInTheLimelight story mode]]. The ''Chronicles'' games cover a whole lot, while the Spirit of Sanada Spin-off focuses on the Sanada Clan, from their early days as a Takeda Vassal to Yukimura Sanada's famed Last Stand in Osaka Castle. The fifth game is a reboot, focusing fully on Nobunaga, but unlike the first game, the focuses on plot are laser-focused, lacking famous-yet-then-irrelevant characters like Yukimura Sanada and Masamune Date.

[[caption-width-right:350:Enjoy the ultimate battle for supremacy in the [[UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod Warring States Era!]]]]

''Samurai Warriors'' started as a spinoff of Creator/{{Koei|Tecmo}}'s ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' HackAndSlash series, porting the gameplay elements to a new setting: the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod of Japanese history.[[note]]Hence its Japanese name "[[PunnyName Sengoku Musou]]," compared to ''Dynasty Warriors'' being "Shin Sangoku Musou."[[/note]] Its success has lead to it becoming its own series, with a total of 5 main installments, all with their own offshoots and expansions. The playable scenarios span fifty years of Japanese history, and playable characters include [[UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga Nobunaga Oda]], [[UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu Ieyasu Tokugawa]], [[UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi Hideyoshi Toyotomi]], [[UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura Yukimura Sanada]], [[UsefulNotes/IshidaMitsunari Mitsunari Ishida]], [[UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi Musashi Miyamoto]], [[UsefulNotes/HattoriHanzo Hanzo Hattori]], [[UsefulNotes/FuumaKotaro Kotaro Fuma]], and many more. It should be worth noting that each version loosely sticks to a certain time frame and focuses on specific moments: case in point, the first game is all over Nobunaga while the second game's primary focus are the events leading to Sekigahara, while the third appears to try to cover just about everything in-between with a loose increased focus in the Pre-Nobunaga Warlords[[note]]Kenshin Uesugi, Shingen Takeda, with the introduction of daimyos Motonari Mori and Ujiyasu Hojo[[/note]]. The Fourth Game abandons the personal story modes and alternate histories, with a hard focus on Drama and making sure each major clan has it's own [[ADayInTheLimelight story mode]]. The ''Chronicles'' games covers a whole lot, while the Spirit of Sanada Spin-off focuses on the Sanada Clan, from their early days as a Takeda Vassal, to Yukimura Sanada's famed Last Stand in Osaka Castle. The fifth game is a reboot, focusing fully on Nobunaga, but unlike the first game, the focuses on the plot is laser-focused, lacking famous-yet-then-irrelevant characters like Yukimura Sanada and Masamune Date.

It has an anime adaptation produced by TYO Animations which is adapted from ''Samurai Warriors 4-II'' and only focuses on Hideyoshi's later stages of conquest (the 2nd siege of Odawara) until the Siege of Osaka. It was part of the Winter2015Anime lineup. Creator/{{Funimation}} has licensed the series for North American distribution.

''Samurai Warriors'' started as a spinoff of Creator/{{Koei|Tecmo}}'s ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' HackAndSlash series, porting the gameplay elements to a new setting: the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod of Japanese history.[[note]]Hence its Japanese name "[[PunnyName Sengoku Musou]]," compared to ''Dynasty Warriors'' being "Shin Sangoku Musou."[[/note]] Its success has lead to it becoming its own series, with a total of 5 main installments, all with their own offshoots and expansions. The playable scenarios span fifty years of Japanese history, and playable characters include [[UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga Nobunaga Oda]], [[UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu Ieyasu Tokugawa]], [[UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi Hideyoshi Toyotomi]], [[UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura Yukimura Sanada]], [[UsefulNotes/IshidaMitsunari Mitsunari Ishida]], [[UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi Musashi Miyamoto]], [[UsefulNotes/HattoriHanzo Hanzo Hattori]], [[UsefulNotes/FuumaKotaro Kotaro Fuma]], and many more. It should be worth noting that each version loosely sticks to a certain time frame and focuses on specific moments: case in point, the first game is all over Nobunaga while the second game's primary focus are the events leading to Sekigahara, while the third appears to try to cover just about everything in-between with a loose increased focus in the Pre-Nobunaga Warlords[[note]]Kenshin Uesugi, Shingen Takeda, with the introduction of daimyos Motonari Mori and Ujiyasu Hojo[[/note]]. The Fourth Game abandons the personal story modes and alternate histories, with a a hard focus on Drama and making sure each major clan has it's own [[ADayInTheLimelight story mode]]. The ''Chronicles'' games covers a whole lot, while the Spirit of Sanada Spin-off focuses on the Sanada Clan, from their early days as a Takeda Vassal, to Yukimura Sanada's famed Last Stand in Osaka Castle. The fifth game is a reboot, focusing fully on Nobunaga, but unlike the first game, the focuses on the plot is laser-focused, lacking famous-yet-then-irrelevant characters like Yukimura Sanada and Masamune Date.

* WeaponOfChoice: As with Dynasty Warriors, each character has his own specific weapons, with Katana, Spears and Naginata reserved for [=NPC=]s. While the characters from the former have undergone some changes across the games (with the latest ones even enabling you to give the characters any weapon you wish), characters from Samurai Warriors have always stuck to their weapons, with the exceptions of Date Masamune (from dual wooden swords to sword and guns) and Oichi (from kendama to bladed rings). In Samurai Warriors 5, the character's weapons are no longer unique and they can pick among 15 different weapons, though each character will have exclusive comboes and Musou Arts when using his favourite "standard" weapon.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Western neophyte players in particular might just be surprised at how much of what's presented in these games is based closely on ''historical fact''. For example, the "star-crossed lovers" arc for Ōichi and Nagamasa Azai? Yep, that one's out of Japanese history, as is [[spoiler:her death at Shizugatake, albeit the game has her fighting alongside Katsuie Shibata, who was her husband after Nagamasa, instead of committing ''seppuku'' with him]].

* SwordAndGun: After ''1'', [[UsefulNotes/DateMasamune Masamune Date]] uses a pair of flintlock pistols in conjunction with a cutlass. In addition, the male player character in the ''Chronicles'' games uses a large katana in conjunction with a rifle. This moveset was carried over into ''4'' as one of the default weapons for custom characters.

** In ''Spirit of Sanada'', '[[UpToEleven plenty]]' of generics under the Sanada, Takeda, and Toyotomi have unique designs. There are also some unique characters outside these three clans.

* ColorCodedElements: Mostly played straight: Fire is red/orange, Thunder is yellow, Ice is blue, Dark/Demon are black, Wind is green and Earth is golden/brown.

* DemotedToExtra: Ranmaru Mori suffered by this hard as the games went on. In the Oda-focused first game, he had a story mode, and plenty of screen time on other character's story modes. In the second and third games, Ranmaru lacked a story mode at all, being "just" an unlockable character, while in the fourth game, he was playable in the story mode, but his screen time overall was very small. It's clear that after the first game happened, the writers had no idea what to do with the poor kid in the following sequels, and with the reboot in ''5'', they did away with him altogether.

* DoubleJump: The ninja characters have this ability. Since ''SW'' is hardly a platforming-oriented series, its main use is to allow the player access to certain "ninja paths" that are too high up for most characters, which can significantly aid mobility in a few missions.

* ElementalPowers: The game has elements which are randomly applied to weapons (with the ultimate weapon always having the same element). In order of introduction, the game had: Fire (Guren, lit. Crimson Lotus, inflicts extra damage over time), Ice (Touga/Freezing Fang, freezes an enemy solid for a while), Thunder (Senko/Lightflash, stuns and wounds nearby enemies), Dark (Kyuusei/Absorbption, drain a little life from victims), Demon (Shura/Carnage, instakill mooks and deals grievous damage to officers, later changed in percent damage), Wind (Shippu/Gale, deals chip damage through defense) and finally Earth (Kongo/Adamant, stuns and deals extra damage).

* KatanasAreJustBetter: Surprisingly, few characters actually use a katana, but those who do wield them to great effect.