Miyamoto teams up with Koei!

If you're not familiar with Koei's popular franchise you shouldn't be too surprised - The only game released on a Nintendo platform, Samurai Warriors: Katana, was a spin-off which was not that well received.

All is forgiven with Koei's latest announcement however - The newest game in the series, Samurai Warriors 3, will be exclusive to the Wii, and on top of that, will feature a Nintendo-related bonus mode!

The mode will be based on Nazo no Murasamejou (Mysterious Murasame Castle), a Famicom Disk System game which was never released outside Japan. Originally one of the first Nintendo games created for the system, in it, you play as samurai apprentice Takamaru as he travels through Japan, defeating all the evil monsters that have appeared.

The game is a bit like the original The Legend of Zelda in that you first travel through an outside area before entering a castle/dungeon, although in Murasamejou there is no real puzzle-solving aspect at any time - It's almost all combat. Nazo no Murasamejou is currently available on the Japanese Virtual Console, but it's not available elsewhere - However, the game is not really that text-heavy, so there is hope it could one day be released as an import.

In case you're not aware, the games in the Warriors series put you in control of a single character, as you run around a massive battlefield killing seemingly endless hordes of enemies all by yourself. We have to wonder what the Nazo no Murasamejou mode will be like - Will it simply let you play as Takamaru, or will it perhaps be a 3D remake of the original game? Only time will tell!

Thankfully, we can pretty much assume the game will be released worldwide - Almost all other games in the series were, so why should this one be an exception? Hopefully the Murasamejou mode will be kept intact!

[source gamesetwatch.com]