With over one million copies sold worldwide, Capcom's Onimusha: Warlords is currently the PlayStation 2's most popular game. Particularly given Capcom's fondness for sequels, a follow-up was a no-brainer. The team behind the first game is hard at work at sequel, due out a mere year after the first game.

Jyuubei

   Onimusha 2 is set in the summer of 1573, ten years after the conclusion of the first game. The villain, Oda Nobunaga, and his demon legions will return; however, the game will star a new hero: legendary samurai Yagyuu Jyuubei. A number of other important characters will assist Jyuubei: Oyuu, a beautiful but mysterious 20-year-old swordswoman who dresses in Western clothing; 33-year-old Magoichi, an expert with both a sword and gun as well as a learned scientist; and 36-year-old military commander Hideyoshi Kinishita.

   Onimusha 2 boasts a number of technological enhancements. More extensive motion capturing will be used to animate the FMV sequences, giving the animation a more realistic look. The pre-rendered backdrops used during actual gameplay will be given much more animation, allowing for weather effects such as rainstorms. (It's not yet known if such weather changes will be purely cosmetic or if they will actually affect combat.)

This little samurai went to town...

   Details on the actual gameplay are still sparse. From the Onimusha 2 trailer seen at the end of the first game, it appears that Jyuubei will be able to absorb enemy souls into gauntlet, as Onimusha 1 hero Samanosuke did. It's also been confirmed that the game will feature a wider range of locales. Rather than be constrained to the environs of one castle, Jyuubei will explore a number of different fully-realized towns.

   Though Onimusha 2 is only 30% complete, Capcom has already staked out a specific release date in Japan: March 7th, 2002. The North American release date has not been fixed yet, but fans can hope for the same quick turn-around that Onimusha 1 saw.