Onimusha: Warlords — A Buying Guide to the PS2 Original

Onimusha: Warlords put Capcom's samurai-action series on the map in 2001, and it's still the easiest entry point into the series for collectors outside Japan. Here's what you need to know to find and buy the original PlayStation 2 release.

• Game: Onimusha: Warlords (鬼武者) — PlayStation 2, 2001
• Publisher: Capcom
• Product code: SLPM65010
• Also available: a 2018 remaster on PS4 and Nintendo Switch (Japan-only listing in our data, no confirmed English packaging)

What is Onimusha: Warlords, and why does it matter?

Onimusha: Warlords is the first entry in Capcom's Onimusha series, and it set the shape everything after it followed: a Sengoku-era setting, a samurai protagonist, and demons to cut through. Mechanically it grew out of the house style Capcom had been refining through the late 1990s — fixed camera angles over pre-rendered backgrounds, deliberate room-to-room movement — but pointed at sword combat rather than survival horror. It arrived on the PlayStation 2 in the same stretch when Capcom was pushing that template toward faster, more action-driven games, the direction that also produced Devil May Cry. The two are frequently discussed together for that reason, though they are separate projects.

For a collector, the practical argument for starting here is simpler than the historical one. It's the first game, so nothing is spoiled and no prior entry is assumed. It was a mainstream PS2 release rather than a limited or late-generation one, which means copies are genuinely common on the Japanese secondhand market instead of being a hunt. And it's one of the entries with the widest name recognition outside Japan, so listings are easy to identify even if you don't read Japanese — the Western title is well established, and the Japanese title is a short, distinctive three-character word. If you want a single disc that explains what the series is, this is the one to buy first.

What is the product code for the original PS2 release?

The product code for the original Japanese PlayStation 2 release is SLPM65010. Japanese PS2 discs carry an SLPM- or SLPS-prefixed code printed on the spine and disc face, and that code is the most reliable thing to search on: it identifies one specific release, where a title alone can pull in sequels, budget reissues and unrelated merchandise. This one works as a search key both inside Kataban and on Suruga-ya, which is not true of every product code.

Who inspired the original Onimusha heroes?

Before motion capture and photorealistic 3D scanning were industry standard, Capcom borrowed the faces of real Japanese screen legends for its two PS2-era leads.

Samanosuke Akechi, hero of the original Onimusha, was modeled on Takeshi Kaneshiro — a Taiwanese-Japanese actor who was one of Asia's biggest stars by 2001, known internationally for Wong Kar-wai films like Chungking Express. Kaneshiro's face was 3D-scanned to build the in-game model, he voiced the character himself, and he's credited as a guest creator on the game.

Onimusha 2's hero, Jubei Yagyu, took a very different approach: he was modeled on Yusaku Matsuda, an actor who had already been dead for over a decade when the game shipped in 2002 — the first time the series used a deceased public figure as a character model. Matsuda broke through in the 1970s crime drama Taiyo ni Hoeru! and later became one of Japan's most respected dramatic actors, still described in Japanese media today as one of a kind. His final role was opposite Michael Douglas in Ridley Scott's Black Rain (1989); he was secretly battling terminal cancer throughout the shoot and died months before the film reached theaters. When Onimusha 2 used his likeness — reportedly finished with input from his widow, actress Miyuki Matsuda — it read to Japanese players as a genuine tribute, not just a character design choice. (Product code for Onimusha 2: SLPM65100 / SLPM65101.)

What's the new game, and how does it connect to the originals?

Onimusha: Way of the Sword — the first mainline entry in 20 years — launches September 4, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam/Epic), and Nintendo Switch 2. All four platforms now share the same date: Capcom originally had the Switch 2 version slated for September 25, then moved it up to match the rest.

Its hero, Miyamoto Musashi, keeps the series' tradition of borrowing real faces alive: he's modeled on Toshiro Mifune, who played Musashi himself in Hiroshi Inagaki's 1950s Samurai Trilogy. Capcom spent about two years securing permission from Mifune's family, who reviewed the recreation throughout development — echoing how Onimusha 2 handled Matsuda's likeness two decades earlier.

Mifune's reputation for swordplay goes well beyond the internationally famous Kurosawa titles like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. Two harder-to-find Kihachi Okamoto films from the same era make the case for a rawer, more brutal style of chanbara: Samurai Assassin (侍, 1965), where a blizzard-set duel strips away the balletic polish of earlier swordplay for something far more desperate, and The Sword of Doom (大菩薩峠, 1966), where Mifune's supporting role as swordmaster Toranosuke Shimada anchors a film built around nihilistic, unresolved violence. Both are about as far as it gets from the choreographed lightsaber duels Western audiences associate with cinematic sword-fighting — this is combat shot as exhaustion and consequence, not spectacle.

Where can you buy Onimusha: Warlords today?

The most reliable route is searching by product code on Suruga-ya; Buyee and eBay work best by title search instead. This is an ordinary used PS2 game, not a rarity, and copies circulate steadily on the Japanese secondhand market. Two things are worth checking before you commit. First, completeness: PS2 games shipped in a jewel case with a manual and a spine card, and cheaper listings are often disc-and-case only, so a disc-only copy and a complete one can sit at very different prices for the same game. Second, which pressing you are looking at — alongside the 2001 original there are two later budget reissues of the same game (MEGA HITS! in 2001 and the ベスト版 in 2005), and a title search will show all three. Searching the product code avoids that ambiguity, because it resolves to the original release only.

Note that a 2018 remaster exists on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. In our data it appears only as a Japanese release, and we have not confirmed English packaging for it, so if you specifically want the 2001 original, check the platform on the listing rather than assuming.

Spotting it on the shelf at Bookoff

If you're browsing in person — say, at a Bookoff in Tokyo — you won't see SLPM65010 printed anywhere on the shelf tag. Japanese used-game shops label stock with the release month, a condition grade (here: C), and a tax-included price (税込) — not a product code. What you're looking for is the black case with the 鬼武者 logo in black over an orange flame background, the flame burning out to white behind the strokes, with a red accent stroke and the CAPCOM mark at the bottom right. If the exact copy isn't in stock, staff can sometimes order it from another branch, though that conversation requires Japanese. At Bookoff specifically, expect a used price in the ¥700–800 range (tax included) for a copy in playable condition.

The links below are pre-filled searches. Suruga-ya is searched by product code, which returns this exact release; Buyee and eBay are searched by title, since neither indexes the PS2 product code reliably.

Onimusha: Warlords · PlayStation 2 · 2001 · Capcom · product code SLPM65010

Where to buy: Suruga-ya.jp (by product code) · Buyee · eBay
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