Sakura Taisen - (Sega Saturn/Dreamcast/PC/Mobile/PS2/PSP) (1996)
As mentioned in the introduction, the first Sakura Taisen game launched for Sega Saturn in September of 1996,
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and sold out on all shelves the morning it went on sale. The limited edition (a Sakura Wars tradition well before such oversized boxes were a very common sight on Japanese game store shelves) included a standard Saturn mouse and a mousepad with one of two different designs.
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The game opens with Second Lieutenant Ichirou Ogami arriving in Tokyo for his assignment as the leader of a secret combat squadron, the Flower Troupe of the Imperial Floral Assault Group. He meets his contact, Sakura Shinguji, at Ueno Park and is taken to the headquarters of the Teikoku Kagekidan or Teigeki. The first chapter comprises Ogami meeting the members of the hanagumi or Flower Troupe, trying to figure out why the heck he has been ordered to this place and demoted to the lowly ticket-taker of a musical theater. There are several puns involving homophones like butai, which can mean either "combat unit" or "stage", and kagekidan, which can mean "floral assault troupe" or "musical theater troupe". Finally he discovers that the Flower Troupe is a secret combat squad after all, and he needs to lead it against the occult threat of the Black Nest Society and their demonic summonings.
Characters
 Captain of the Flower Troupe by day and lowly ticket-taker by night. He is more present than the typical gal-game protagonist, and many RPG protagonists: he has a personality of his own, and speaks just as many lines as an ordinary character. His personality tends to be straightforward and by-the-book. Surprises bewilder him, especially at the beginning of the game, he is fairly clueless. As the game (and the series) goes on, he develops a strong personal sense of duty to protect and care for his teammates. | |
 Named for the cherry blossom, and a stylized design of that flower adorns the top of the hakama she wears. She is the face of the entire series and the top girl of the game. A newcomer to the Flower Troupe, she comes from Sendai and is the daughter of an important fighter in the previous demon conflict, the Kouma War. She embodies the typical innocent, pure-hearted, generous, Yamato Nadeshiko or Japanese feminine ideal, albeit with a somewhat mischievous and playful side. Her crush on Ogami starts early and is obvious to everyone but Ohgami himself. She pilots a pink Koubu with a katana. Calls herself atashi, a casual, girlish personal pronoun. | |
 Named for the iris flower, to which her bright yellow hair is probably a reference. Brought to the Flower Troupe from France because of her uncontrollable spiritual power. Iris appears as an ordinary, upbeat young girl, but below the surface she is barely restraining her psychic abilities. She is dearly attached to her teddy bear Jean-Paul. She loves getting attention from Ogami, and casually mentions wanting to marry him when she grows up... She pilots a yellow Koubu, using amplified raw psychic energy. Childishly, she always calls herself "Iris". | |
 Her name is Japanese for a type of violet, whose color matches her kimono. Daughter of the filthy-rich, elite Kanzaki Industries family who make the Koubu. A classic ojousama or high-class young lady, character type. Early on she expects to be treated like royalty by everyone around her. Of course, she eventually softens and comes to love her teammates. She has an ongoing rivalry with the coarse Kanna. She pilots a purple Koubu with a naginata. Calls herself watakushi, the hyper-formal personal pronoun. | |
 Her last name is from a type of citrus flower. Having fought in the Russian revolution, Maria was chosen as the original leader of the Flower Troupe. Her demeanor is cool and detached to begin with, and having to give up her position to Ogami makes her even more cold toward him. She is an intimidating, serious type who is deeply respected by the rest of the troupe. She pilots a black Koubu with guns. Calls herself watashi, the polite personal pronoun. | |
 Her name comes from the Canna lily. Kanna is a martial arts expert from Okinawa with a serious case ofjoie de vivre or joy of living. She fits the country-girl archetype by not caring much for the refined manners of urban life and by eschewing hierarchy to befriend everyone equally. She has a insatiable appetite and a hunger for a good fair fight. Her attitude is at odds with Sumire's, which causes them to get into comical disagreements. She pilots a red Koubu and uses just her fisticuffs. Calls herself atai, an extremely informal personal pronoun. | |
 Her given name means "crimson orchid", and her family name means "plum". She comes from China, but her dialect and personality are characteristic of the Kansai region of Japan: optimistic, easygoing, and uninhibited. Her passion is for engineering and inventing. Her inventions tend to be somewhat comical, impractical, and prone to exploding, but her repair and maintenance of the Koubu units is invaluable. She pilots a green Koubu with missile launchers. Calls herself uchi, the stereotypical feminine personal pronoun from Kansai. | |
 Hero of the Russo-Japanese War and Kouma War, Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army, former head of the secret anti-demon squad, commanding officer of the Imperial Floral Assault Troupe, Manager of the Imperial Revue, and devoted alcoholic. His family name means "rice field", appropriate to his love of saké, and his given name is homophonous with the word for "chug". | |
 Lieutenant in the Imperial Army; Yoneda's deputy commander. She fought alongside Yoneda in the anti-demon squad. Now her role is mostly in support of the Flower Troupe, and she fulfills the "unattainable older woman" archetype. Her family name means "wisteria branch", and her given name is a type of iris flower. | |
| Kasumi Fujii Yuri Sakakibara  Tsubaki Takamura These three comprise the Kazegumi, or the Wind Troupe. Ordinarily, Kasumi and Yuri work in the theater's operations office, and Tsubaki works in the gift shop (where the key items are "bromides", collectible glamor shots of the heroines). In combat situations, they provide transport and emergency backup, via vehicles such as the Shougeimaru battle-blimp. Their names mean baby's-breath, lily, and camellia, respectively. |
The first game establishes many of the hallmarks of the series, including the build-up to a false ending, after which the stakes are raised and the game goes on. At this point, the Koubu are upgraded to much more powerful models - in ST1, the Jinbu or "divine warrior". Massive, preposterous vehicles and mechanical contraptions are another recurring theme. The first game includes the Gouraigou (a Koubu-deploying bullet train that inexplicably spirals around the interior of its tunnel), and the Shougeimaru (a huge battle blimp).
Sakura Taisen is often described as an RPG, even by NISA, the localizers of STV. This is probably because of its tactical combat system, hit point gauges, and so on. But there are no experience points, levels, exploration, or equipment to be seen; every play-through of a Sakura Taisen game contains the same battles, with the characters following the same advancement. The only differences are dependent on the chapter-to-chapter motivation levels, based on the player's answers to LIPS interactions. The official genre listed on the game boxes, incidentally, is "Dramatic Adventure".
Character-themed minigames are another staple of the series that start here; if you discover the correct scene while wandering the environs of the theater, you may have a chance to test your reflexes helping Maria cook borscht, accept Kouran's challenge to a game of Hanafuda, or clean the theater for Sakura in a fast-scrolling obstacle run.
Dreamcast Edition
Atsuki Chishio ni/In Hot Blood
In 2003, after the cancellation of the Dreamcast, a heavily revamped version of ST1 was released for PlayStation 2, with a new subtitle in keeping with the poetic style of the sequels: Atsuki Chishio ni or "In Hot Blood". The remake combines the original story with fresh UI, full-frame graphics, computer-assisted anime sequences, and other modernizations familiar from ST3 and ST4 on Dreamcast. Plus it added new scenes with characters from later games, updated the battle system to ARMS, and offered a new ending.
Backgrounds and character busts fill the whole frame during the adventure part, rather than occupying a tiny window. The character portraits in the dialogue box are rejuvenated with more expression and with animated backgrounds to convey emotion. Ogami's portrait even changes depending on the currently selected dialogue option during LIPS decisions. The theater is now a full-on 3D map, which you can run around freely like in ST3 and ST4, and it includes indications of where events are available, removing the guesswork from deciding where to go next. A big addition to the Long Day mode was a remake of Koi Koi Taisen (the hanafuda tournament minigame), subtitled Koi Koi Taisen: Atsuki Shoubu ni, replacing "Blood" with "Challenge". It includes several scenarios, each complete with its own little storyline and opportunities to affect the fortunes of other characters by responding to LIPS decisions. The limited edition of ST:ACN included a pocket watch with a display stand, and preorders came with a huge, pink, heart-shaped alarm clock. The most exciting bonus item, though, is the DVD titled Project S,which details the entire history of the series through interviews with the creators.
The PS2 remake was an initial attempt to introduce the series to people outside of the core Sega fanbase, and even to international fans. There were plans early on to localize Atsuki Chishio ni and the subsequent PS2 titles, in what was called the Sakura Taisen World Project, which would supposedly bring Sakura Taisen bursting onto the international stage. Presumably, if ACN had been very successful, which as you can see it wasn't, Sakura Taisen 2–4 remakes and localizations would have followed, thus bringing the entire series to the PS2 and to the world. But nothing came of this grand scheme, at least until NISA eventually released an English edition of STV in 2010. But that is a story for another time.
PC Edition
Not much changes with the newest version the PC version. Even higher fidelity graphics is the major selling point but that's it. I know very little of this version
If You Want to Buy These Games:
Well it's hard to recommend this game and heck even any of the games that are only in Japan. I've actually never played any of the versions of Sakura Taisen 1 and all of this knowledge is coming off the internet. But from the two games I have, Sakura Taisen 3 and Sakura Wars: So Long My Love, I can easily recommend this game to anyone. Heck it's rated #13 on Famitsu's top RPG's of all time! The PC version is the way you should go. It's the better version of the original but i'm not sure if it is a port of ST1: Atsuki Chishio ni. You'll need to jump through some hoops to play any of the versions on American consoles so i'll but in some devices and links that will help ya.
Here are links to where you can order either of the four versions off Amazon:
ST1: Sega Saturn - http://www.amazon.com/Sakura-Import-Sega-Saturn-Taisen/dp/B001R2HY7W/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1364173938&sr=8-12&keywords=sakura+taisen
ST 1: Dreamcast - http://www.amazon.com/Sakura-Taisen-Japan-Import-Sega-Dreamcast/dp/B00006LJSY/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1364173997&sr=8-8&keywords=sakura+taisen+dreamcast
ST1: Atsuki Chishio ni: http://www.amazon.com/Sakura-Atsuki-Chishio-Japanese-Playstation-2/dp/B003OP503K/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1364174054&sr=1-1&keywords=sakura+taisen+Atsuki+Chishio+ni
ST1: PC: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-49-en-70-1oq6.html. It's currently sold out for who knows how long so try the other ones.
Some devices and links that could help you:
Importer for Sega Saturn: http://www.amazon.com/Action-Replay-Plus-sega-saturn/dp/B000HFAWLU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364175365&sr=8-1&keywords=action+replay+4+in+1
DC-IE (This is the one I use for Dreamcast. I swear it's black magic): http://www.amazon.com/SEGA-Dreamcast-DCIE-Import-Enabler/dp/B0036UHVX0/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364175104&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=dreamcast+importer
Swap Magic for PS2: http://www.amazon.com/Swap-Magic-V3-6-2-Disc-Switch-Version/dp/B001EQ9KBE/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1364175196&sr=1-2&keywords=swap+magic
How to play Japanese Games on PC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5x7Ff5MBbo,
Social Plugs:
Sakura Taisen 3 Let's Play: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzL9-cVKzkcXNdMRs-tGbZjRS_ksYsN8h&feature=mh_lolz
Gaming Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/KataGnS?feature=mhee
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