[Hands-on] Shin Koihime Musou: Otome Taisen PC trial version

This's a trial version of Shin Koihime Musou: Otome Taisen Sangokushi Engi. It comes with 1 character, 2 "strategists," and 1 stage.

The full game has 10 playable characters, 6 "strategists," and 10 stages. (See screenshots and stages here)

Info
- Trial version of Shin Koihime Musou fighting game released

System requirements
- Japanese version of Windows XP or Vista or 7 or 8
- Core 2 Duo E6600 or above
- 2GB RAM or above
- 512 MB VRAM or above
- 4.2 GB HDD space
- 800x600 resolution
- DirectX 9.0c

The installation
You don't actually need Japanese version of Windows, just change locale to Japanese so your PC can read everything. Unzip the file you download then click setup.exe. You only click N (Next) or F (Finish) during the installation. The desktop shortcut will pop up, click it to start the game.

Game Modes

• Arcade Mode (disable)
• VS Mode
• Training Mode (disable)
• Game Option (disable)
• System Config
• Game Controller Setting
• Ranking Data (disable)

What we really wanted to know is whether this game has online play or not. Under VS Mode, it doesn't say anything about online, but there's Ranking Data option so we think there's online play in some form. Offline versus is guaranteed for now.

In VS Mode, you can choose to play against CPU or watch CPU fight CPU. Either ways, you can only choose one character (Aisha) and two strategists (Shuri and Hinari). There're 8 difficulties for the CPU to choose from. You can change round count and time limit here.

In System Config, you can switch between Fullscreen/Windows. You can change resolution (max only 1280x720) or brightness. You can turn on/off bilinear filtering and stage effects. You can choose which player use which controller or keyboard.

Controller Setting
You can do button mapping here.
A = Light Attack
B = Medium Attack
C = Strong Attack
D = Special (for Throw or Tech Throw or assist)
A+B = For EX version of special moves
B+C = For Musou Hiougi move
Taunt = Taunt
Start = Pause/Resume the game

You can use D-Pad and analog stick at the same time so no problem there.

Gameplay
This game is close to Street Fighter IV. It's about footsie and "Hougeki." Hougeki works similar to SF4's Focus Attack. It doesn't absorb an attack like Focus Attack but it makes opponent "Crumble" on counter-hit (connect when opponent is in attacking animation). Each character in the game has 4 moves that have Hougeki property. These moves work just like normal moves so they're pretty safe when not overused.

3B = Overhead
6B = Launcher
3C = Sweep
6C = Long strike

When opponent is in Crumble state, you can do whatever you want until he hits the ground. The combo you do during this period is called Musou Rengeki.

Ultimate moves
Each character has 2 ultimate moves which share the same commands in all characters.

1. Musou Ougi (2363214+C) requires 3 bars.
2. Musou Hiougi (236+BC) requires all 4 bars, and can be performed only when opponent is in Crumble state or as a part of Musou Rengeki.

Strategist
You choose Strategist during character select. But some strategists are available only to certain characters (just like in the story). For example, Keifa only goes with Karin group.

A strategist can provide you an assist (236+D) at a cost of 1 bar.