Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - Capcom unveiled at a press conference held in Tokyo the third and final chapter of their Onimusha series. Capcom also announced the release of a fighting game, named Onimusha Buraiden, based on the Onimusha universe.

Onimusha 3 (you can find the official website here), scheduled for a 2004 release in Japan, will mark the return of Akechi Samanosuke as the main hero. Anyhow, the game will apparently take place in two different time periods and places: in Japan, year 1580 D.C., and (hold tight!) in Paris, year 2004 D.C. And that's not all. The player will take the role of two different characters during the game: Akechi Samanosuke, modelled over the Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro, and a member of the French Army, Jacques Bram, who (once again, hold tight!) has the face of the popular French actor Jean Reno (Léon, Ronin, Wasabi).

Keiji Inafune, producer of the Onimusha series, revealed few details about the gameplay. Onimusha 3 will say goodbye to the pre-rendered scenarios of previous games and will feature 3D environments rendered in real time. From the footage shown at the conference, it was possible to see that Akechi will still have his mighty swords, while Jacques Bram will apparently use guns and more modern weapons. Following the tradition of the series, Onimusha 3 will feature amazing CG movies; the game should feature a rich CG introduction of about five minutes.

Onimusha Buraiden, the other game announced at the conference, will hit the store shelves in Japan on November 2003. It will basically be a fighting game featuring the characters and the world of Onimusha games. Up to four players will be able to fight choosing their favorite Onimusha character. Also many of the villains of the series will be playable in the game. Nothing more was unveiled about the game mechanics.

More details and trailers shown at the conference can be found at Capcom's Onimusha Official site.