Samurai Warriors

Samurai have become familiar to many outside of Japan especially through mediums such as film, anime and video games. A good example of this popularity can be seen through the Samurai Warriors game series. To many westerners, the games are nothing more than interesting and fictitious samurai dramas put to a hack-n-slash style combat system.

What is often not known by western audiences is that the Samurai Warriors games are actually based on historical events with a majority of the cast being historical figures in Japan. Some of the most notable of these characters are Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. These three men are known in Japan for unifying Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. History classes in Japan teach about these men just as Columbus is taught in American schools.

The Samurai Warriors games do not stay completely true to the events and figures, but they still help with learning names of people, places, important battles etc. Samurai Warriors is not exclusive in using historical characters and events in games, there is also a series of games going back to the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo named Nobunaga's Ambition.

To me, I would think it would be odd if I played a game similar to this only with American historical figures. Playing as Andrew Jackson and defending New Orleans, to me, just sounds odd. However, In Japan these games have a large following and they even see regular releases in the U.S. With the knowledge that not all of what is said in these games is a lie, it adds to the playing experience.