Isn’t It Weird that Dynasty Warriors 9 is Called Dynasty Warriors 8 in Japan (They’re Always One Number Behind)?

Warriors-heads probably already know this, but the upcoming Dynasty Warriors 9 is actually called Dynasty Warriors 8 in Japan. All through the life of the series, the western versions have always been numbered one ahead of the Japanese releases. It’s honestly a bit weird this discrepancy has never once been addressed of changed.

 

The reason for this difference lies all the way back in the series’ roots, with the PS1’s Dynasty Warriors and its follow-up Dynasty Warriors 2 for PS2. The musou 1 v 100 gameplay we all know and love from the series wasn’t present in the original game, which released on the first PlayStation. It was more of a traditional fighter.

 

Isn't It Weird that Dynasty Warriors 9 is Called Dynasty Warriors 8 in Japan (They're Always One Number Behind)? 1
Dynasty Warriors (PS1)

 

It’s the next game in the series that introduced what we all now know as Warriors-style gameplay. Perhaps because it changed the genre so dramatically, or that it was bringing the game from PS1 to PS2, they decided to call this one Shin Dynasty Warriors (真三國無双) — the kanji for “shin” here being for “true”.

 

With the exception of The Real Housewives, it’s not a naming convention you see too often in western products. And also, Shin Dynasty Warriors is an extremely different game to the first one. So, in the west, they decided to do what was probably the sensible thing, and just call it Dynasty Warriors 2.

 

Isn't It Weird that Dynasty Warriors 9 is Called Dynasty Warriors 8 in Japan (They're Always One Number Behind)? 2
Dynasty Warriors 2 (PS2)

 

When it came time to make a new entry in the series in Japan, they continued on with the 1 v 100 style mechanics we all know and love. So, they just called that one Dynasty Warriors 2.

 

Unfortunately, this was already taken in the west. So, that ended up being called Dynasty Warriors 3 over here. And so the discrepancy has continued on to this day, which is why Dynasty Warriors 9 is also actually Dynasty Warriors 8.

 

Isn't It Weird that Dynasty Warriors 9 is Called Dynasty Warriors 8 in Japan (They're Always One Number Behind)? 3

 

It’s hardly the first Japanese series to have strange numbering in the west. Final Fantasy might be the most famous for this, with Final Fantasy IV being released in the west as Final Fantasy II, and Final Fantasy VI being released as Final Fantasy III. But by the time Final Fantasy VII rolled around they called it water under the bridge and unified releases.

 

Which brings me to my point. Isn’t it weird that they’ve not changed the numbering system for either Japan or the west yet for Dynasty Warriors? Isn’t it weird that Dynasty Warriors 9 is called Dynasty Warriors 8 in Japan?

Spread the love!

Related post

This will close in 0 seconds