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[aku:jiki]

This topic might suck, so sorry. I'm just curious, though. Everytime I see Nobunaga in a game (which is pretty much just in Onimusha and Koei games, personally), he looks like this:

Yet in the only contemporary (?) painting of him I can find, he looks like this:

I'm guessing this might have something to do with some classic japanese movie (Kurosawa, maybe? I wouldn't know.) cementing a particular look for Nobunaga that everyone uses now?

And to make this history thread gaming related: Why did Inafune decide that you play as someone who as far as I know was made up for the game, when Mitsuhide Akechi (Nobunaga's real killer) shows up in Onimusha 3? Why is the star of Onimusha Samanosuke as opposed to Mitsuhide, when much of the other stuff is so historically correct?

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

I'd also like to ask, something which Samurai Warriors made me wonder, is the whole Nobunaga made a pact with dark forces thing a bit of a historical myth, sort of like King Arthur and Merlin etc. or is it an invention of Inafune's that Samurai Warriors just borrowed?

 

[explodet]

I would always pronounce it "No-bung-ga" when I was a kid. (when playing Nobunaga's Ambition)

 

[aku:jiki]

I'd also like to ask, something which Samurai Warriors made me wonder, is the whole Nobunaga made a pact with dark forces thing a bit of a historical myth, sort of like King Arthur and Merlin etc. or is it an invention of Inafune's that Samurai Warriors just borrowed?

Good question. I haven't played any Koei game enough to have seen it in there, otherwise I would've asked the same.

 

[Gek54]

I would always pronounce it "No-bung-ga" when I was a kid. (when playing Nobunaga's Ambition)

So did I. What is it, 'No-boo-na-ga'?

 

[tenchir]

I'd also like to ask, something which Samurai Warriors made me wonder, is the whole Nobunaga made a pact with dark forces thing a bit of a historical myth, sort of like King Arthur and Merlin etc. or is it an invention of Inafune's that Samurai Warriors just borrowed?

I believe part of the reason why people thought Nobunaga made a pact with demons or was demonic himself was because he was a christian. During those times, christians are persecuted.

 

[Defensor]

So did I. What is it, 'No-boo-na-ga'?

Yup, that's how they pronounce it in the Onimusha games.

 

[aku:jiki]

Yup, that's how they pronounce it in the Onimusha games.

Speaking of pronounciation in Onimusha.. I'm anal enough to have noticed and found it humorous that for the first part of Onimusha 3 (US version of course), they pronounce it "jenma", but they switch to the correct "genma" (hard G) proncounciation after a short while and never look back. That's kind of odd.

 

[Pachinko]

I think they should make a game with hideyoshi in it, no one seems to know who he is but he's got an interesting history.

 

[Miburou]

I believe part of the reason why people thought Nobunaga made a pact with demons or was demonic himself was because he was a christian. During those times, christians are persecuted.

I thought he just tolerated Christianity to weaken the buddhist's power in the court. By the way, aren't Samanosuke and Mitsuhide related in Onimusha 3 (haven't played it yet)? And I think a Samanosuke existed in Nobunaga's time, too.

 

[belgurdo]

I think they should make a game with hideyoshi in it, no one seems to know who he is but he's got an interesting history.

Samurai Warriors XL

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

Hideyoshi was in Onimusha 1.

Spoiler

And the end movie of Onimusha3 seems to indicate that the series will continue with him being the big baddie.

And Samanosuke is Mitsuhude's nephew apparantly. That's going by Onimusha don't know if that's historically accurate.

 

[tenchir]

I thought he just tolerated Christianity to weaken the buddhist's power in the court. By the way, aren't Samanosuke and Mitsuhide related in Onimusha 3 (haven't played it yet)? And I think a Samanosuke existed in Nobunaga's time, too.

Nope, he converted to Christianity. Samanosuke is Mitsuhide's son in the game I think.

http://www.artelino.com/articles/oda_nobunaga.asp
http://www2.kanawa.com/japan/figure7.html

Edit: Nephew? I'm wrong then.

 

[aku:jiki]

I think they should make a game with hideyoshi in it, no one seems to know who he is but he's got an interesting history.

This is a tricky to answer since I can tell that you didn't beat Onimusha 3, but uh... Hope for an Onimusha 4.

By the way, aren't Samanosuke and Mitsuhide related in Onimusha 3 (haven't played it yet)?

They're both Akechis, but a relation is neither implied nor stated.

Edit: Where is it said Samanosuke is Mitsuhide's nephew? Must've missed it then...

And I think a Samanosuke existed in Nobunaga's time, too.

He's not a "famous samurai" according to this page, and while a google search for Nobunaga gives you manye more first hits for history over games, even a "-onimusha" won't yield anything but game hits for Samanosuke.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

The nephew thing is in the game manual.

 

[aku:jiki]

Oh, who reads that stuff?

That raises another question, though. Was that put there by the localization staff, since I believe it's never mentioned in the actual game(s)?

 

[Miburou]

I only played Onimusha 3 for 10 minutes, but I thought Sama called someone father in the game? I might be off, though.

I just did a google on "samanosuke akechi" and got a page that say that he's Mitsuhide's nephew.

http://horse.shrine.net/samurai/samanosuke_e.html

I'm kinda embarassed that I don't have my facts straight, seeing as how I only recently finished reading a 500 page book about Japanese history.

 

[aku:jiki]

I just did a google on "samanosuke akechi" and got a page that say that he's Mitsuhide's nephew.

Man, I must suck at google. I gave up after like the fourth page of straight Onimusha hits even after I minused it out.

But good find! That only poses a variation on the original question, though. Why mix it around and not just have you play Mitsuhide?

Edit: I just realized why that might be. Historically, Mitsuhide defeating Nobunaga was treason, right? He served under Nobunaga, didn't he? That wouldn't work very well with the rest of the Onimusha storyline... But at the same time, they could've easily just made it so Mitsuhide defected because of Nobunaga's deal with the Genma. (Which, I guess, might not work with Onimusha 1 since some snake called Fortinbras is the main bad guy there... Could've been fixed too, though.)

 

[Miburou]

It might just be purely because of marketing reasons. A younger samurai than Mitsuhide would be more marketable, especially since they wanted to base him off that Japanese/Taiwanese actor.

 

[aku:jiki]

It might just be purely because of marketing reasons. A younger samurai than Mitsuhide would be more marketable, especially since they wanted to base him off that Japanese/Taiwanese actor.

I think you might be right, sure.

But at the same time, if they're going to ignore real historic facts, why not just make Mitsuhide young -- like in Samurai Warriors?

 

[Shouta]

Mitsuhide Akechi worked under Nobunaga during the Sengoku era in Japan IIRC.

Anyhoo, most of the games like Onimusha and Samurai Warriors have some historical base (i.e. characters and sometimes events) although a lot of the inbetween is made-up.