This next bit of news is a godsend for anyone interested in seeing the Sakura Wars franchise from Sega thrives beyond 2019 and onwards.

According to recent Japanese sales charts from Famitsu (via Nintendo Life), Shin Sakura Wars (formerly Project Sakura Wars) did pretty well for the past few weeks since its early 12th December release in Japan. The PS4 exclusive title also outsold the franchise’s past lifetime sales in only 3 days; a decent 140,000 physical copies, to be precise.

This doesn’t count digital sales, but it’s definitely a promising sign that people are still clamouring for a new Sakura Wars game. I’ve played a few hours of the game, so here’s my mini-review:

• It’s nostalgic and features a lot of callbacks to the previous Sakura Wars games, which is great for fans.
• The “dating sim” bits and interactions with your brigade are well-done, but still fall back to standard anime tropes. Let’s hope the English localization can work their magic here to make it relatable to us.
• The mecha combat is repetitive, basic, and easy. It’s not horrible, but it is a tad worrying when you can’t even include a simple lock-on option for one-on-one situations.
• I can definitely understand why Sega didn’t’ want to make this game’s combat turn-based; because that genre isn’t going to gel with the mass market. Besides, it’s not like Sakura Wars’ previous battle system is anything to write home about.
• If you can read Chinese, you should buy a copy now. The version sold here in Malaysia and Singapore features both Japanese and traditional Chinese text.

It’s definitely going to be one of those niche titles when it’s out in English next year. As such, you may want to stand ready for pre-order opportunities because importers & distributors will be selling this in limited quantities. You’ve heard it here first, folks!

The top 10 Famitsu sales list for 9th-15th December is below, in case you like numbers:

01./01. [NSW] Pokémon Sword and Shield (Pokemon Co.) {2019.11.15} – 231.578 / 2.456.459
02./00. [PS4] New Sakura Wars (Sega) {2019.12.12} – 140.376 / NEW
03./03. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo) {2019.10.18} – 57.746 / 386.257
04./02. [NSW] Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Nintendo) {2019.10.31} – 48.449 / 367.746
05./05. [NSW] Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Sega) {2019.11.01} – 26.677 / 103.857
06./04. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} – 25.036 / 1.063.127
07./06. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} – 22.376 / 2.580.291
08./07. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} – 21.135 / 3.383.582
09./10. [NSW] Fishing Spirits: Nintendo Switch Version (Bandai Namco Games) {2019.07.25} – 20.932 / 264.845
10./09. [NSW] Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo) {2019.06.28} – 19.466 / 739.734