Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (PlayStation 2)

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love
Also known as: Sakura Taisen V: Saraba Itoshiki Hito Yo (JP) Developer: Sega Publishers: Sega (JP), NIS America (US) Platform: PlayStation 2 Released in JP: July 7, 2005 Released in US: March 30, 2010 Released in KR: February 16, 2006 This game has unused sounds. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences.

To do: See if anything on this page is in the Wii port. Figure out where the debug modes ADV MOVE and SLG are active. There's two video files that appear to be very slightly different. Is one unused?

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love is the fifth mainline game in the Sakura Wars series. This time, it takes place in the Big Apple, focusing on a new set of characters alongside a returning character from the 2001 movie. Unlike the previous games in the series, this game was the first to be released in North America, nearly five years after its original Japanese release. NIS America did the honors, releasing a nice special edition with dual audio; they also released a port for the Wii, with English-only voice acting, which was also released in Europe.

Unfortunately, poor sales of this game led to the mainline series being dormant for many years, with subsequent games consisting of a spin-off title for the DS, a PSP remake of the first two games and many mobile games. In 2019, a soft reboot titled Sakura Wars was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4.

Unused Voices

To do: Examine more voice files for unused IDs.

Both discs of the English version contain a large number of voice files still in Japanese. Most of these are related to the SRPG portion of the game, where two copies of each voice file are present. In the English voice disc, one copy is dubbed into English. In the Japanese voice disc, they are duplicates, but not identical files. This is true of both the original 2005 release and the English version.

Test Line Readings

Voice IDs 100400-100465 are all of the characters pronouncing the Japanese syllables a-i-u-e-o. They are present on both discs, but no English versions exist.

ID	Audio
100400
100401
100402
100403
100404
100405
100406
100407
100408
100409
100410
100411
100412
100413
100414
100415
100416
100417
100418
100419
100420
100421
100422
100423
100424
100425
100426
100427
100428
100429
100430
100431
100432
100433
100434
100435
100436
100437
100438
100439
100440
100441
100442
100443
100444
100445
100446
100447
100448
100449
100450
100451
100452
100453
100454
100455
100456
100457
100458
100459
100460
100461
100462
100463
100464
100465

(Source: The Opponent)

Debug Mode

Just like Sakura Taisen: Atsuki Chishio Ni, this game also has a debug mode, which can be enabled by pressing the following, on Controller 2, at any time in the main menu or in-game:

Press R3, then hold Select and press and hold the following:

+R1 (continue holding),

+L2 (continue holding),

+L1 (continue holding),

(release R1),

+R2 (continue holding),

(release R2),

+R2 (continue holding),

(release L2),

(release L1),

(release R2),

(release Select).

Then, press the following while not holding any button:

D-Pad Up,

D-Pad Right,

D-Pad Down,

Circle,

Square,

Triangle,

D-Pad Up,

D-Pad Right,

D-Pad Down,

Circle,

Square,

Triangle,

L3.

A sound will play to confirm the debug mode is enabled. For the Japanese version, replace the two Circle inputs with X.

In order to activate any option in the debug menu, you must use Controller 2 while pressing any of the buttons below.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Scenario Select

With debug mode on, you will come across this screen when entering a game mode. The menu items 1005, 1006, and 1007 are not present in the US version.

Mode Set Menu

Pressing Select will open this menu. Here, you can set the game into various sub-debug modes.

SYSTEM

This mode enables various system tasks and resource information. Press the following buttons below to enable various options:

• Pressing L2 + L1 will disable or enable Runtime Debug. This enables or disables background debug logging.
• Pressing Square or Triangle will enable debug information.
• Pressing L3 will open a resource window. On the very last page, you can press X to change graphic transparencies, Square or Triangle to increase / decrease the size of the graphic, or R2 / R1 to change the graphic displayed.

ADV

Press L2 + L1 here to open an exclusive menu to this mode. This allows you to display various debug information on-screen, print certain information in the background of the game engine (to a PlayStation 2 debugging unit, or an emulator). This also gives you the ability to edit the scenario you are currently in (the graphics displayed on-screen such as character art or background images).

There is also a menu that allows you to change the internal resolution. It isn't advised to change anything there.

Version Differences

The North American version is a two-disc set. Disc 1 has English audio, which changes many character names, and Disc 2 has Japanese audio, which refers to the characters by their original names.