One Piece: Pirate Warriors is a One Piece related video game released in Japan on March 1, 2012, in Europe on September 21, 2012, and in South America on September 28, 2012 for the Sony PlayStation 3 with Namco Bandai and Tecmo Koei teaming up to create it and Omega Force, a subsidiary of Tecmo Koei, developing it. The game takes place from the East Blue Saga until the Return to Sabaody Arc.
The title is made with the hopes of creating the "ultimate game", as developers claim that it personifies the "comrades" and Warriors themes in a grand adventure. This game is in honor of One Piece's 15th anniversary, starting back in 1997.
While there was no announcement for the game's release outside of Japan, the name "One Piece: Pirate Warriors" had been copyrighted in America and Europe on 2/1/2012.[citation needed] Namco Bandai confirmed that the game would heading overseas via their conference they had on 4/11/2012. The game was released on September 25, 2012.[1] The game was released on a disc in Europe but was released digital in North America.[2] This is the first One Piece game to be released in North America without an English dub. It featured Japanese audio with English subtitles.[3]
The sequel, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2, was developed by Namco Bandai within a year after the first game's release, and came out in Japan on March 20, 2013. The EU and NA versions later came out on August 30 and September 3 of the same year.
Playable characters can be used at any point in the game, support characters assist the player through a stage, enemies are bosses and cameo characters are featured exclusively in an opening movie or any other non-gameplay situation.
Some of the strongest common enemies, who act as mini-bosses, resemble some of the characters from the series, despite deploying completely different abilities:
In the Orange Town arc, Pinky was replaced with a regular giant seagull, who was holding Luffy instead.
Merchandise
Aside from One Piece: Kaizoku Musou (MRSP: 8190 yen), there was a One Piece: Kaizoku Musou Treasure Box and a One Piece: Kaizoku Musou Gold Edition Bundle released. The Treasure Box contains the game itself, a guide book, a music CD with the game’s soundtrack, and collectible pins. There is also a serial code to download nine custom themes featuring individual members of the Straw Hats. The MRSP is 12390 yen.[citation needed]
The Gold Edition bundle contains a golden 320 GB PS3 with Luffy and the Kaizoku Musou logo on it as well as a golden DualShock3 controller. The MRSP is 38,170 yen.[citation needed]
For the initial release of the game, 7-11 has sponsored a limited color figure release of Luffy from Super Styling Ambitious Might.
