Sakura Wars 4: Fall in Love, Maidens is a video game co-developed by Red Company and Overworks for the Dreamcast. The fourth entry in the Sakura Wars series and the last for Sega home consoles, it was published by Sega in 2002. Defined as a “dramatic adventure” game, Sakura Wars 4 combines overlapping tactical role-playing, dating sim and visual novel gameplay elements.
Set directly following the events of Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning?, main protagonist Ichiro Ogami returns to Tokyo and reunites with the Imperial Assault Force, a troop of magically-imbued women who defend Tokyo from supernatural threats while also working as a theater company. The two main plot threads focus on Ogami acting as the producer for the group’s adaptation of Les MisÊrables, alongside the escape of a hostile ghost that requires the combined efforts of the Imperial Assault Force and Sakura Wars 3’s Paris Assault Force to defeat.
Sakura Wars 4 was intended to take place in New York, continuing Ogami’s overseas adventures. When the Dreamcast was discontinued by Sega, the development team instead decided to create a celebratory game to conclude Ogami’s narrative. The game took just ten months to make, ending up much shorter than previous Sakura Wars games. While reusing gameplay assets from Sakura Wars 3, the graphics were improved using new software tools. The game has been praised by critics, and is one of Japan’s best-selling Dreamcast titles. The game’s initial concepts would be used in the next entry, Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love.
