Sakura Wars

Sakura Wars
Sakura Wars	2000
Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die	2001
Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning?	2003
Sakura Wars 4: Fall in Love, Maidens	2005

Warnings

SafeDisc DRM may not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected releases).

StarForce DRM may not work on modern versions of Windows (see Availability for affected releases).

This game is not playable in English (see Localizations for supported languages).

Sakura Wars^{[Note 1]} is a singleplayer cinematic camera and isometric adventure, strategy and visual novel game in the Sakura Wars series.

It was first released in Japan on September 27, 1996 for the Sega Saturn in Japan. A PC port was released on April 26, 1999 in Japan, while a Chinese and Taiwanese version^{[Note 2]} was released on August 18, 2001. An updated port for Windows XP compatibility was released on February 20, 2003 in Japan. The only western release of Sakura Wars was made available in Russian^{[Note 3]} on January 11, 2006. A PC Premium Edition, which includes the first four games of the Sakura Wars series with updated higher resolution FMVs and sprites compared to the original releases, was released on September 21, 2006, while the DVD stand-alone version of Sakura Wars, which the Premium Edition used, was sold separately on January 25, 2007.

The Japanese DVD version of the game is not playable due to SafeDisc DRM no longer working unless with patching which might cause the system to be exposed to known security vulnerabilities, while the Russian version of the game is not playable due to StarForce DRM being incompatible with modern versions of Windows, specifically Windows 8 and above.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc 4.60 DRM^{[Note 4]} disc check (DVD Edition) StarForce 4.50.006.012 DRM^{[Note 5]} disc check (Russian release)

SafeDisc DRM may not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected releases).

StarForce DRM for this game may not work on modern versions of Windows (see above for affected releases).

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
No microtransactions	No microtransactions are available in this game.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SAVE\key.dat^{[Note 6]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SAVE\INDEX.DAT^{[Note 6]}

Video

General options menu

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		No resolution options. Runs at 640x480.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS		In-game hub sections and non-FMV Sequences are capped at 60 FPS. Cursor updates at a lower rate.^[6]
120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Ray tracing (RT)
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Input

Keyboard input options menu

Controller input options menu

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity		Known as Cursor Speed (カーソル速度/游標速度)
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music is always set to on, only Sound can be turned on/off.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio		Game contains multiple non-royalty free musics.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Japanese
Russian

Issues unresolved

First Edition runs without correct texture color on Windows 8 and above

The game loads properly, but unable to display any pictures aside cutscenes, even with compatibility set.

Poor framepacing on newer CPUs and operating systems

In-game performance is very inconsistent and can rapidly fluctuate.^[7]

Other information

API

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

No middleware information; you can edit this page to add it.

System requirements

First Edition

Windows^[1]^[8]
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95, 98
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 166 MHz	Pentium II 266 MHz
System memory (RAM)	32 MB	128 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	200 MB	1.4 GB
Video card (GPU)	640 x 480 16-bit resolution DirectX 7 compatible
Other	4x CD-ROM drive

XP Compatible Pack Plus Edition

Windows^[9]
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Pentium II 300 MHz	Pentium III 450 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB	128 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	1.4 GB
Video card (GPU)	640 x 480 16-bit resolution 8 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectSound compatible
Other	4x CD-ROM drive

Premium Edition and DVD Edition

Windows^[10]
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Pentium II 300 MHz	Pentium III 450 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB	128 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	1.4 GB
Video card (GPU)	640 x 480 16-bit resolution 8 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectSound compatible
Other	4x DVD-ROM drive

Notes

↑ Known as Sakura Taisen (Japanese: サクラ大戦) in Asia
↑ Released as Ying Hua Da Zhan (Simplified Chinese: 樱花大战, Traditional Chinese: 櫻花大戰)
↑ Released as Voyny Sakury (Войны Сакуры)
↑ This version of SafeDisc DRM may not work on Windows 10/11^[2], including on Windows Vista/7/8/8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed, if the game relies on the SafeDisc SECDRV.SYS driver.^[3]
↑ Version 4.50.6.12 of StarForce DRM requires a manual driver update on Windows 8.1, Windows 10, or Windows 11 to function properly.^[4]^[5] The driver can be updated using SFUPDATE.
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 サクラ大戦 - last accessed on 2023-03-19
↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
↑ Verified by User:PCGW Staff on 2025-06-04
Some games protected with SafeDisc v4.60 may not depend on the SECDRV.sys kernel-level driver that Microsoft blocked in 2015, and would therefor continue to function as intended.
↑ Windows 8.1 support - StarForce Support
↑ Windows 10 support - StarForce Support
↑ Verified by User:KingKrouch on 2020-07-26
Tested with Premium Edition using Rivatuner and by using mouse controls, and controller.
↑ Verified by User:KingKrouch on 2020-07-26
Tested using FPS overlay with frametime graph.
↑ 櫻花大戰官方網站 - last accessed on 2023-03-19
↑ サクラ大戦 - last accessed on 2023-03-19
↑ サクラ大戦 PREMIUM EDITION - last accessed on 2023-03-19

[Note-2] Known as Sakura Taisen (Japanese: サクラ大戦) in Asia

[Note1-3] Released as Ying Hua Da Zhan (Simplified Chinese: 樱花大战, Traditional Chinese: 櫻花大戰)

[Note2-4] Released as Voyny Sakury (Войны Сакуры)

[7] This version of SafeDisc DRM may not work on Windows 10/11^[2], including on Windows Vista/7/8/8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed, if the game relies on the SafeDisc SECDRV.SYS driver.^[3]

[10] Version 4.50.6.12 of StarForce DRM requires a manual driver update on Windows 8.1, Windows 10, or Windows 11 to function properly.^[4]^[5] The driver can be updated using SFUPDATE.

[gamedir-11] 6.0 ^6.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[sw1st-1] 1.0 ^1.1 サクラ大戦 - last accessed on 2023-03-19

[5] Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16

[6] Verified by User:PCGW Staff on 2025-06-04
Some games protected with SafeDisc v4.60 may not depend on the SECDRV.sys kernel-level driver that Microsoft blocked in 2015, and would therefor continue to function as intended.

[StarForce_Windows_8.1-8] Windows 8.1 support - StarForce Support

[StarForce_Windows_10-9] Windows 10 support - StarForce Support

[12] Verified by User:KingKrouch on 2020-07-26
Tested with Premium Edition using Rivatuner and by using mouse controls, and controller.

[13] Verified by User:KingKrouch on 2020-07-26
Tested using FPS overlay with frametime graph.

[14] 櫻花大戰官方網站 - last accessed on 2023-03-19

[15] サクラ大戦 - last accessed on 2023-03-19

[16] サクラ大戦 PREMIUM EDITION - last accessed on 2023-03-19

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[Note 4]

[Note 5]

[Note 6]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Developers

	Overworks
	Red Entertainment
	Sega
	Jupiter
	Neverland
	Sammy Corporation
Windows	M2
Publishers
Japan	Sega
Simplified Chinese	Tian Ren Hu Dong
Traditional Chinese	Dysin Interactive
Russian	Akella
Release dates
Windows	April 26, 1999^[1]
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Turn-based
Perspectives	Cinematic camera, Isometric
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Adventure, Strategy, Visual novel
Art styles	Anime
Themes	Fantasy, Japan, Romance, Steampunk
Series	Sakura Wars