Sakura Wars Retrospective, Part 5 - Sakura Wars 3 (2001)

[@yuusatakehito7579]

peak of the franchise, even without the gameplay refinement of later entries. Every heroine suits almost everyone, except Coquelicot is a bit sketchy but she can be a little sister/daughter material. And once again the 'harem' bait works perfectly, with the chosen Paris girl questioning Ogami about whether he already has a lover or not and how they react to and/or accept the truth, which later bites Ogami in the ass.

[@smzh8890]

just want to drop another comment and say that the reasons I love your videos are not just because of the game content itself, but the mass amount of knowledge that you have towards the game series, and the related real world facts. It makes me extremely curious to learn about the history associated with the games, and that's the exact kind of long video i would wanna watch on youtube: entertaining, nostalgic, and educational. I am also low key here for the correct pronunciations of everything.

[@SeelkadoomandJokic00]

Can't wait for the translation of this so I can see all the Lobelia cutscenes subbed. She, to me is the most interesting of the bunch.

[@FlamingoSugar]

The MattoBii being French plot-twist! I should've seen it coming from how Iris' name was pronounced with the proper French pronunciation in the videos for 1 and 2! The signs were there all along!!!

[@Mitsuraga]

As I've said in response to a different comment on a different video, Mattobii is generally pretty good with his foreign-language pronunciations.

[@luigi80095]

I have been late to the party but i still wanted to thank you so much. Since i played Sakura Wars for Ps4 i genuinely felt like this franchise had so much love and care for it, and after I've watched all this 3 magical hours i can totally tell that Sakura Wars 3 was indeed a great game. I really hope one day i will be able to play the Translated version (Or even that they make a sequel to New Sakura Wars and make us see our beloved character again , please Erica come back home). To end it all, thank you for all your effort, this was a great experience and whenever a friend ask me about my Passion for Sakura wars, i will surely put your link and say "My friend, ready for the greatest Adventure, is your passion burning ?"

[@Mohammed1000real]

Ah yes, the peak of Sakura Wars!!

[@nr2676]

The Best game in series, 10/10 for me, and if not this game we would not have another amazing series - Valkyria Chronicles. I love all cast (Erica so funny, but Glycine is best girl), vilains (especially Corbeau) , unique setting (Paris), minigames (Erica minigame my favourite), artsyle, stories of each character (Hanabi chapter especially), everything. Combat is also good, bit too easy, but fun. And music, omg the ending song (Future - Vouage) is beautiful. Noriko Hidaka as Erica was amazing.

[@Gooeyflames77]

Why must I curse myself with falling in love with Lobelia through this video and then having to wait for a fan-translation to romance her... I will play sakura wars 1 and 5 in the meantime. Thanks for introducing me to this series, I absolutely love the concept of playable anime in videogames and this seems to be the perfect series for that!

[@masanomchannel9436]

why this guy only have 1k subscriber?! his video is perfect

[@CRedd9830]

My 4th favorite game of all time and the peak of the series for me.

[@CyborgZeta]

Good video. You even covered things I didn't know about, like how the VMU dating mini-game works, or the unlockables at the casino. I love Sakura Wars 3, it's one of my favorite games, period. When I gave the original 4 games a try back in December 2021-January 2022, it was the third game that motivated me to even try the original 4. Prior to that, I had only played the 2019 game, along with a bit of SW5 in the distant past. Great cast, best gameplay, and seeing Ogami on an adventure in France, one of my favorite countries, made for a fun experience. Erica was my favorite, as she's just a very sweet girl. This and Sakura Wars 4 are the two SW games I regularly replay.

[@yqisq6966]

The seamless blend between 2D animation and 3D CGI during the cut scenes was mind blowing back in the days.

[@nr2676]

When animation from 2001 game looks better than in PS4 game from 2019 and most of CGI in modern anime :)

[@Bloshi9400]

Been badly wanting to play this series since I saw that old JoJo MAD with the opening from 4. Learned a bit about this series and this game is the one I know the most about. Hopefully all of them get translated. 4 is the most interesting to me because of the premise and the opening is easily the best one. I LOVE the opening song for 4! Thanks for your passion for the series

[@eh9888]

I already know this channel is crazy good just because of the usage of the skies of arcadia ost

[@alcatrazvongola]

Thank you so much for covering Sakura Wars! I adore this series so much and look forward to you covering more of the games.

[@Sonicfalcon16]

Ironicly enough this game predicted modern issue, Anime vs furries.

[@RevHancock]

1:54:02 I feel like, in context, the player character would have no choice but to stay in Paris, simply because of the incompetence of the rest of the squadron

[@DannyJPCW]

Just wanna say, this series has been an unexpected delight. Thanks so much for your passion and dedication about the series, its def rubbed off and I have been inspired to dig in.

[@yqisq6966]

Sakura Wars 3 was definitely the height of the series.

[@cgyh68748]

idk ive never played it why is it

[@yqisq6966]

@@cgyh68748 Long history short: back in the days, games were exclusive to their home console. Sakura Wars 4 was developed for SEGA's Dreamcast, which flopped terribly. So they decided to make SW4 the last game of the series. Later reboots were okay but they never brought the series back to its former glory.

[@giddra69]

LET'S ACTUALLY GO BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER

[@petertilton7004]

I really can't wait for the rest of the reviews, especially the one with, Laura Bailey, Karen Strassman, Erin Fitzgerald, Kate Higgins, Melissa Fahn, and Weena McKanor as "The Hopping Woman".

[@fireislow7270]

your videos are insanely good, and are my favourite things to watch on youtube right now.

[@shinzankuro]

A thing that I love is how the entire thematic of Paris Kagekidan is almost totally filled with of "cat-like" elements at Le Chat Noires XD [Another reason for why I love drawing the pair of Erica Fontaine and Blaze The Cat in most of my crossover artworks]

[@gabrielortiz308]

Your art is so good!

[@omarshaikh5455]

I agree. Mihata no Moto ni was almost like the Smash Bros Melee opening. And that's why it sounds more memorable.

[@GuardCancel]

Despite the shock and awe of you being (half!) French, I think this needs to be said: The almighty KZbin algorithm brought the first video in this series to my attention and as I've been watching a lot of long form retrospective videos, I thought, "eh, why not" but alas, I am a prudish with my time and data entry, so like all content I'm leery on, I opened it in Incognito mode! And after about 2mins I immediately closed the tab... So that I could watch this on my main account ASAP! Well researched, highly informative, completely entertaining, and surprisingly funny; your Sakura Wars retrospective series was something I binged to completion with any free time I could focus on it (no playing in the background around here). I now walk away sad that I have to wait for your next video, but more importantly with a new and deeper appreciation for a series I had always loved tangentially but never had the chance to fully embrace. I've consumed just about every piece of content released in North America (TokyoPop's manga release, all the various TV series and OVAs, and still have my original PS2 version of 5) and while I consistently enjoyed what I saw, it is only now after seeing your videos that it truly all "clicks" for me. Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication, please keep it up; I'll be eagerly awaiting what you put out next, and in the meantime you've inspired me to give the reboot another chance and hunt down a functioning system to finish 5 on!

[@yqisq6966]

I'm so happy that this game is celebrated in 2023.

[@MagillanicaLouM]

It's time. This is the entry i know least about but love what I've seen of the cast in OVAs and Erica's general meme icon status for the series. Looking forward to that fan translation Also as a fan of Nintendo's ARMS, I appreciated the arms battle system explanation segment

[@Polk]

I haven't watched the video or played this game yet, but I'm thrilled to see this new part! Thanks for all of the hard work chronicling this information (even if the streaming didn't work out), and happy holidays!

[@GoboBobo]

Holy moly. It's here! Imma enjoy this

[@jarodk1294]

Finally! Long awaited video is out, thank you and I’ll start watching now!

[@twentytwotoone]

Incredible work! I always really enjoy these! Thank you for all the hard work that goes into 'em

[@sinsemo1995]

I cant believe I watched through all 5 video about games that I would properly not play, great videos man!

[@smzh8890]

finally here! about to watch this every day until holiday break is over

[@ividyon]

Another incredible video, and the game is my favorite so far.

[@FoxForce149]

Oh my god, I am so glad that you continue with this! Yesterday I started watching your first video again!

[@stefssj1291]

The joke you made about you being half French had me weak 😂 😂 You seem to be the chillest frenchman I've ever seen 😎

[@The4thSnake]

I've been waiting for this.

[@pongoindo]

Okay this is epic

[@triforceofdinner]

Just finished the video and Idk what it is with Dreamcast games but they always "feel right" to play them during winter break (December-January). Ironically thats usually when you upload your videos too lol. *sigh* See you guys next year! :D

[@BlueStarRob]

Fantastic Video as always Matt!

[@lolyoutoobe]

Amazing video, I can't wait for the next one.

[@Edanadiir]

Thank you for your hard work, i have been waiting for this!

[@yqisq6966]

3:06 nice choice of bgm xD

[@MEGAmangaman]

YOOOOOOOO! ITS BACK! This will definitely tide me over till the English fan translation.

[@MultiBoxingKid]

You have convinced me to try it the series, and since I don’t know how to emulate or know Japanese. I’m getting Sakura Wars 5 for the Wii. Thanks for this.

[@bobbyjr.9559]

Great video. couldn't watch it fully cause I wanna be completely blind going into the 3rd game 😅. waiting for the translations for 2 to 4. Hopefully, the translation is going well. I heard u were a part of the team. Thanks to your guy's hard work! I can't wait to play it hopefully soon 🙏🏾

[@donut1550]

Mell and Ci sounds like Merci when put together. Perfect ship name lol

[@smzh8890]

The ending score is very different from all the other series, as it added a lot of drums, and with beats sounding almost like the lion king. I always had a theory that the ending score reflect each game's place in the series: with SW1 being the "spring" of the series, with a soft and upbeat melody; SW2 being the "summer" of the series, with a melody that's a lot more upbeat and happy, sounding like a summer night hanabi viewing party; SW3, not knowing its fate, with a much more wandering, uncertainty in the melody, but a firm beat; SW4 (spoilers), being the conclusive ending of the mainline SW series at the time, had the most emotional, nostalgic, longing, yearning and melancholy melody, almost a goodbye letter to the fans.

[@TommoROM]

He returns!

[@noahdragoon1855]

i love Erica, I love her design and personality.

[@bowloflentils]

Just finished the video and it was fantastic! I really liked your discussion at the end, comparing SW3 to 2. I think you made a lot of great arguments but 3 will always hold a special place in my heart as my favorite in the series. I played through these games out of order with my brothers back in the day and we played 3 long before we got around to 2. So everything about the game felt fresh and new, even if it was a retread of 2 in some spots. But anyway, thanks for making such a fun summary of the game. It was really nice to relive my memories of playing SW3 as I hadn't played through the whole thing in years.

[@elgoog-the-third]

I am playing Sakura Wars 1 right now and man, am I looking forward to the fan translation of the other three parts on Sega consoles.

[@Thoralmir]

As Ozzy Osbourne would say: "It's about f#^kin' time!" :P

[@evanmak7837]

This game's opening animation is Richard Williams level of smooth. I actually had to slow down the can-can in the end on my first viewing; I thought the girls were cel-shaded 3D models (they are not).

[@MasterAlucardGV]

discovered this channel because Bowloflentils retweeted, commenting here but i'm gonna start from the first video!

[@jbbelenkokoro2673]

This was released two months ago? I can’t believe I missed it in my notifications.😢 I love your Sakura Wars Retrospective and I hope for your future success.❤❤🌸🌸🌸🌸

[@user-ManofStyle1]

Hell yeah!

[@thirdstrike000000]

HE'S BACK!

[@omarshaikh5455]

2:10:55 Barrel: SET UP!

[@MattoBii]

Oh my god I think you might be right, thank you 😭

[@gemini_starr]

I adore this whole series, I used to play them while following along with Kayama's text file translations 😅

[@elijahelizalde4308]

Oh.... thaaaats where Valkiria Chronicles gets it

[@MattoBii]

Yup! A lot of the former Overworks staff would go on to make Valkyria Chronicles, including the director, Takaharu Terada, who worked as a chief designer and director on several Sakura Wars games before then, including SW3. Incidentally, the Overworks connection is also why VC has Skies of Arcadia cameo characters!

[@elijahelizalde4308]

@MattoBii that's super dope, also the design similarities are completely apparent now

[@suiken3149]

The only thing I don't like in this game is Ogami being kept as the protagonist. Should have been given to a new character instead like how they did with S5.

[@gabrielortiz308]

Prince Calmar's Team reminds me of the Deadly Six from Sonic Lost World.

[@Mitsuraga]

I'm blown away that anybody else remembers Floigan Bros.

[@Lukz243]

Hey MattoBil, I've got some curiosity around the series after playing Project X Zone ( like "Is Sakura Taisen a robot combat game? Is it a date sim? What does theater have to do with all this? What is even this?) and your retrospectives answered some of my questions. Great work! Man, I do want to play the entire Sakura Wars mainline series just for the openings themselves. They're all earworm - especially this one

[@chanhjohnnguyen1867]

My thoughts watching this video Did Production IG also do the CGI for the cutscenes? It's absolutely top notch for 2001 standards. 50:05 Is it really violating child labor laws if the child is the one running the business 1:38:57 maybe they trusted kohran enough to fly a plane over to paris rather than go by boat. 1:48:35 it's interesting they still use the WW1 era FT17 tanks 1:54:35 Geez, imagine romancing orihime in the last game and now you're admitting your feelings to another girl while she's like a mile away. 2:02:56 How would that be a thing? Coquelicot and Hanabi aren't even European 2:16:41 That's not the worm, its his tongue. Japan really loves making their audience form gambling addictions judging from casino wars I legit thought the squid guy was a caterpillar this whole time. like the one from alice in wonderland. I don't know why, but jean's character design sticks out like a sore thumb. like an entirely different artist created this guy. It's cool to see this game use the VMU in extremely creative ways, something you just can't quite experience if you emulated it. This is like THE premier use case for that thing Are the DLC Stories voice acted by any chance? 2:39:53 So called free thinkers (me) when the morally black woman with glasses tell me to get out of bed. 2:41:39 Iirc, Kohran actually does invent air conditioning in the manga, but ends up causing everyone to freeze over. I think the most underrated aspect of the game is that to me ogami feels like more of a character in this game. He speaks a lot more in cutscenes and is more cartoonish vs the first two games I felt, which really helped propel him beyond just "player insert." Not to say the prior games were bad at that during his regular text dialogue, but I think it's really telling when in a game like Columns 2, he only has one voiced line of dialogue in the entire story. In regards to your feelings on the new cast as you mentioned at 2:49:48 , I think its because of the fact the game isn't really centered around the theater. You hardly spend time in it. The combat revue members don't live in the same house as the team in japan do so they don't really interact as much with each other. Erica has her own life off screen away from the combat revue and lives at the church while coquelicot still lives at the circus. In the end, it makes the character dynamic feel the same way I do comparing personas 4 and 5. In 4, everyone feels like friends with each other and hang out together offscreen whereas in 5 they're only friends with the player character. The paris team, while having their moments together, have just a co-worker feeling rather than a family dynamic that the japan team does. Still need to finish my playthrough bad. I stopped around the time hanabi gets introduced. Such a massive shame this is the peak when it comes to the series. games 4, 5, and 6, even though they have their brightspots, are just downgrades. Oh and for anyone who hasn't played this game yet, erica's gun uses the same sound effect as the warthog turret from halo.

[@yqisq6966]

Love the command system - the choice actually is strategic and matters. Unlike the previous 2 games, going with Fire can carry you through for most of the fights.

[@jacksoncooper8459]

Ahh...Subarashii! Pari Kagekidan!!!

[@Miraihi]

You know, all three games have been city-centric, and always had some kind of pro-civilisation message, but Sakura Taisen 3 is pretty much the peak of this theme, having essentially an eco-fascist as the main antagonist. It makes you think what unites all the fascists - they want the country to reclaim some vague "glory days of the past".

[@ividyon]

I wonder if Nadel is perhaps supposed to be a German name? It is German for "needle," although for a scorpion, the stinger would be "Stachel" instead.

[@yqisq6966]

The combat system was so innovative. It's an absolute shame SEGA didn't stick to this system in the New Sakura Wars.

[@ofaznadarxmkiii8476]

10:18 Well at least it's not an Obatarian.

[@WriterPlaysMTG]

Ngl I was really worried the arc de Triumphe was gonna turn into a giant robot a la macross

[@jacksoncooper8459]

By the by, you can run into the members of the Paris Combat Revue BEFORE you properly meet them in their chapter

[@MattoBii]

Yep! I got footage of a few examples of that happening, but I couldn't find a good place to stick those clips in.

[@chanhjohnnguyen1867]

It’s been 3000 years

[@yqisq6966]

snake from xcom lol that's so random didn't expect

[@MrZakuRetro]

what a great work, glad you came back. can i ask if you have some new in the gbc translation?

[@gpanthony]

BROOOO!!!! Thanks for these Sakura Wars retrospectives! This is my favorite series, so I'll for sure enjoy checking these out! Will you be doing them all the way up to.... (sad sigh)... Revolution?

[@MattoBii]

That's the plan as of right now, though I'm still debating whether to make it its own video or part of a greater video on all the SW mobile games that came out (and didn't come out) over the years.

[@EricM-112]

Its strange you dont directly play as Sakura

[@masanomchannel9436]

what the mysterious cg?

[@chanhjohnnguyen1867]

Does the ps2 version of this game add anything of note btw?

[@nr2676]

PS2 version of this game have all DLC's on disc.

[@themegaman7514]

FINALLYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@Miraihi]

Japanese players be like "Oh boy, French are surely a wacky bunch!". And the entire world be like "Keep quiet and we won't bring up the question which nation came up with the racoon dog ball magic".

[@XelchanTheBrave]

Just a question... I don"t want to watch the vid due to spoilers, but is it true that this game forces you to pick a Paris Revue waifu and cheat on the Tokyo Revue girl you chose? Also does it let you choose a girl from Tokyo even when you can't import a save file? What about Sakura Wars 4 without save import? Sorry for asking questions here but I want to go in prepared and not cheat on Kanna 😭 lol

[@MattoBii]

Yes, you are forced to pick a girl, but you have the option of telling them "I have a girl back home already," and they'll (kind of) agree to make this a brief fling. When 4 comes around, even if you import the save, you can choose to disregard your choice from 3, so the game pretends it never happened and you can avoid all the love triangle scenarios. I did that myself because I didn't want to cheat on Kohran, but when the time comes to make a video on it, I'll be covering the love triangle stuff too.

[@Viper-l666l]

Peak

[@DANIXBD]

I love you

[@InquisitorThomas]

**Sakura did not like that**

[@yqisq6966]

Nah I won't say the combat is easy on absolute terms. If you fail every friendship check and get no bonuses to your team's stats then the combat would be hard mode!

[@spongedomful]

Hanabi is waifu

[@SanjiTyloxion]

Le Gasp

[@Raximus3000]

Salut is a dude.

[@jagbarakor1303]

So Ogamis wife is Sakura and Erika mistress. Ogami you player.

[@nr2676]

or vice versa, depends on who Ogami (player) choice in SW4