Onimusha: Way of the Sword Was Inspired By Super Mario Odyssey

Not the reference point you'd expect from a samurai-versus-demons swordplay game.

By Ahmed Shayan 2 hours ago

Capcom — Onimusha: Way of the Sword was inspired by a Nintendo Platformer.

Story Highlights

Director Satoru Nihei says Super Mario Odyssey directly shaped how Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s combat feels to control.
Producer Akihito Kadowaki pointed to Gundam Versus as his own biggest influence, specifically on the game’s character designs.
Development began in 2020, meaning the team built the game through most of the pandemic.

Swedish outlet FZ sat down with Onimusha: Way of the Sword director Satoru Nihei and producer Akihito Kadowaki at Gamescom 2026 and asked a simple question: what’s one game whose action genuinely inspired their work on Onimusha? Nihei’s answer wasn’t what you’d expect from a sword-versus-demons samurai game.

Director Of Latest Onimusha On What Inspired The Game

Nihei’s answer wasn’t what you would expect as the inspiration for a sword-fighting game set in a demon-infested version of Edo-era Kyoto, especially when that game is the complete opposite of Onimusha in tone, genre, and systems. Here’s what Nihei said in the answer to the question:

Super Mario Odyssey. It’s an action game that is basically very easy to get into, but at the same time contains lots of more dynamic and challenging parts, something that Nintendo is very good at. To give an example, when you perform an action in Odyssey, there is usually a counter-reaction to that action. The specific feeling this brings to the control in Odyssey is definitely something that inspired me when I was thinking about how we should get the same tactile feeling with our control in Onimusha.”

Kadowaki Found His Inspiration In Gundam

Bandai Namco — Onimusha: Way of the Sword producer is a big fan of Gundam Versus.

Kadowaki needed a moment before landing on his own answer: Gundam, and Gundam Versus specifically. “I’ve spent an enormous amount of money and time on it,” he said. “Something I think has influenced me from that in my work on Onimusha is probably the character design. The Gundam universe usually has very charismatic and deep characters that drive the story forward, and I wanted to bring that into our work on Onimusha too.”

A Six-Year Project Born Mid-Pandemic

Nihei also revealed development began in 2020, right as COVID lockdowns hit, meaning the team spent over six and a half years building the game, much of it adjusting to remote work. He joked that some team members kept their cameras off so consistently that colleagues could work together for long stretches without ever actually seeing who they were talking to.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword launched September 4 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC.

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