Searching For the Samurai Who Smells of Sunflowers? Look No Further Than “Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked”

by Louis Bedigian

 

“It's been described as a lost episode. It takes place during their journey on the way to Nagasaki.”

 

There once was a legend that told the story of a young woman in search of the samurai who smells of sunflowers. She traveled the world, joining forces with two unlikely heroes in search of her favorite scent.

 

She’ll eventually accomplish her mission, or so the legend says. But it left out one very important detail. Along the way she met an old guy named Salmonscale. He was a fish salesman in the city, and an aspiring samurai. He met the young woman when she stopped suddenly in front of his stand (apparently other smells get her attention too). She told Salmonscale her story, giving him an idea.

 

“Come to my hut tomorrow, it’s by the water,” he said. “I have something I want to show you.”

 

She accepted, bringing an unusual feeling to the old man – elation.

 

That night Salmonscale prepared for his date with destiny by sharpening his sword; a rustic, beat up prop he bought off a former playwright. He shined his shoes, combed his hair, the works. No piece could go unpolished, especially his samurai uniform.

 

With anticipation on his brain and glee in his heart, Salmonscale threw his uniform into a bucket of soapy water. After spinning the clothes and beating them with a stick, he reached for his secret ingredient. He kept it on the top shelf where it would go unnoticed (and untouched) since the day it was purchased. Though it wasn’t expensive, he felt it should be saved for something special.

 

The next day Salmonscale rose from his bed with a grin that could rival the Wal-Mart smiley face. He got dressed, sheathed his sword and waited patiently for his guests to arrive.

 

As the young woman walked through the door, she knew instantly that fate had brought her there.

 

“What’s that smell!? It smells like—“

 

“Sunflowers?” Salmonscale interrupted, eager for her to say those words.

 

“Yes! That’s exactly what it smells like!” She ran around the room, hugging her two bodyguards, Mugen and Jin.

 

“This is incredible!” she said. “Can it really be true? Are you really the samurai who smells of sunflowers?”

 

Little did they know that Salmonscale had washed his uniform with Tide: Ultra Sunflower XL, the premiere brand of sunflower laundry detergent.

 

Had it not been for his mistake (he left the box sitting on the floor. Mugen and Jin discovered it and dealt with the problem accordingly), the young woman might have ended her journey there. 

 

 

 

As you may already know, that woman’s name was Fuu. Her and her bodyguards (and unlikely heroes), Mugen and Jin, make up the trio of Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked, a butt-kicking, sword-swiping, button-tapping action game that draws inspiration from classic hack-n-slash games like Onimusha and Dynasty Warriors.

 

Yoshinobu “Nobi” Matsuo, Associate Localization Producer for the game, said that unlike other hack-n-slash titles, where you hit a bunch of buttons in succession and not much else, Samurai Champloo is more involved. “You chain a lot of button inputs to create these really long combos,” he says. “The types of combos you can do depend on the type of music that you have. Basically you switch music, background music, which are like LPs that you collect along the way. They add to your repertoire of combos that you can [perform].”

 

LPs, or background music tracks, contain combo chains. Also known as combo trees, these combo chains reveal the moves available at all times. This is important because of how frequent the music can be changed, and changing the music changes the combo style, formation, and the sequence needed to execute that move.

 

The easiest way to describe it is to think of the Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance fighting style changes. When you change styles you get a new list of attack sequences (combos) to perform. You could randomly tap buttons to figure out the sequences, or pause the game and access the combo menu. Now for Mortal Kombat this is fine – I wouldn’t want it any other way. But for a single-player action game like Samurai Champloo, having a visible combo chain at all times was the best way to go.

 

“Some are chained really long, so they’re good against bosses,” Nobi informed us. “Others tend to break early, so [they’re better] for minions. Everyone’s got their certain style of play, and I’m pretty sure you can find an LP/music background that fits with the combo chain you’re looking for.”

 

 

 

 

Who’s The Boss?

 

“Each of the bosses are really unique,” said Nobi, briefly describing Samurai Champloo’s most challenging enemies. “Each of them have different abilities and different attacks. Some of them affect the terrain, making it more difficult.”

 

One of the bosses he referred to throws bombs at Mugen and Jin. These bombs have a very short fuse – when they go off, they do damage to everything within range, including the environment. It only takes a few blasts to take out a good samurai, and if you manage to evade the attack, the stage slowly becomes more difficult with man-sized holes created by the explosion. The holes are easy to fall into, and while they aren’t that difficult to get out of, you can bet your favorite LP that more bombs will be coming your way. Should one bounce into the hole while you’re still in it or while you’re trying to escape, you can kiss that healthy life meter of yours goodbye.

 

Sidetracked Timeline

 

Nobi: “It’s been described as a lost episode. It takes place during their journey on the way to Nagasaki, the destination where they think the samurai who smells of sunflowers is located. On their way there they get sidetracked and sent all the way up north to Ezo, which is current day Hokkaido. They get stranded out there and have to find a way back down. In [the meantime] they can’t stay out of trouble, they get mixed up with the local authorities, and the mafia.

 

“If you don’t really know anything about Samurai Champloo, [the game] gives you a really good rundown in the intro of what happens up to that point, what they’re trying to do, and how they end up in the middle of nowhere.” 

 

 

 

Mini-Champloo

 

Nobi: “A lot of people ask, ‘What happens to Fuu?’ She’s the third main character in the show. She doesn’t actually fight or anything [but she does get into a lot of trouble]. In non-combat locations, such as towns, you can participate in mini-games. There’s an eating contest, a sumo contest… This is basically what you do to collect extra money for the souvenir and record shops.”

 

It’s A Secret To Everyone

 

Nobi: “We have a third character in the game. Normally it’s just Mugen and Jin. [There is also] a native character to Ezo, and his name is Worso. His style is different – Mugen has the breakdancing style, Jin is a traditional swordsman. Worso is a combination. He has a lot of kicks and punches and everything, but also he’s a dual wielder. He wields daggers in each hand. The story behind him, he pretty much gets Mugen and Jin involved in the local troubles. He has those two solve his problems going on with his life. Worso is native to Ezo, so he’s pretty much the head chief of the native people of Ezo. They’re slowly getting pushed out by foreigners moving in that are slowly moving in. He’s just trying to fight to keep the land, and he gets the help of Mugen and Jin.”

 

Powerful, You Are

 

Nobi: “In addition to different weapons you can use, each of the characters have special moves. You don’t get ‘em from the beginning, and it does depend on the storyline. You’ll learn them. You’ll get taught by a master along the way, and then you can do these special abilities.

 

“It’s pretty much like a super move. You hit a combination of buttons and it’ll do a powerful attack.” 

 

 

 

Answer Machine

 

In addition to the information provided, Nobi also took some time to answer our questions regarding Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked.

 

How many bosses are there? One per level?

 

Nobi: Generally there is one boss per chapter. There are about a dozen major bosses.

 

About the special moves – you lose health for performing them?

 

Nobi: Yes.

 

What are these special attacks? You enter a sequence and it deals a more powerful blast, or…?

 

Nobi: It’s a really big, powerful attack. It’s a last-ditch attack for when everything else is failing. With Mugen I don’t think there is an area effect, it’s just a really powerful attack that [will] dish out a lot of damage.

 

The hidden character, Worso. I assume his combo tree is different from the combo trees of the other two characters?

 

Nobi: He’s more closely related with Mugen. The one who’s the most different is Jin. The reason being, Jin uses what is called Yojutsu, where he basically sheathes his sword and it changes his stance. The types of combos he can dish out are totally different. Whether you want to do combos based on when he has it drawn or based on when he has it sheathed, there are two sets of combo types he can use. It’s a very different experience. 

 

 

 

Are you saying that Worso’s appearance and attack style is the same, or is it his button sequences that resemble Mugen?

 

Nobi: The button sequences are more similar. His style, look and everything, are quite different.

 

Can you tell us more about Worso’s style? What’s cool about him?

 

Nobi: Worso is the balanced character. Mugen has a lot of attacks that don’t do that much damage, but there are a lot of consecutive attacks. [He can perform one hit after another.] Jin is on the opposite end of the spectrum. He doesn’t attack as frequently, but they’re heavy-hitting attacks. Worso is in the middle of that. He has some heavy-hitting and some light-hitting. His weapons are different. Mugen uses the Chinese sword, Jin uses the samurai sword, and Worso dual-wields daggers.

 

Were you involved in the game’s recording session?

 

Nobi: I wasn’t directly involved with that because of the fact that the director, the writer, the translator, everyone who does the show did the game so I was pretty confident in what they could do. In terms of that is pretty much hands-off for me. I was checking the script for any inconsistencies in regards to the game, but everything else left to the studio that handled the animation.

 

Thanks to everyone at Bandai Games and Kohnke Communications for having a wonderful conference call.