two years to complete. As the first two Onimusha games were designed with the original PlayStation in mind, they were given 2D backgrounds. In contrast, Onimusha 3 started development after the PlayStation 2 was released, the team managed to develop 3D backgrounds thanks to a new engine. Although the team faced the challenge of making the 3D backgrounds as interesting as the prerendered backgrounds, working some of the time on the PlayStation 2 gave the team confidence in designing the game. The Japanese version of the game was made less challenging than the American and European versions based on the wide audience Capcom was appealing to in Japan. For the Japanese launch of Onimusha 3, peripheral manufacturer Hori released a special Onimusha-themed memory card and the "Soul Controller", a 38-inch-long DualShock controller shaped like a tachi sword. Swinging the device around causes the player character within the game to do the same. Onimusha 3 was collected alongside its two predecessors and a strategy guide in Japan as part of a box set released by Capcom on December 22, 2004. Sourcenext ported Onimusha 3 to PC for a Japanese release on December 8, 2005. The PC version was subsequently published by Ubisoft for distribution on European retailers on February 24 and North American retailers on March 16 in 2006. It was also published by Capcom on Valve's Steam software on August 22, 2007. The game was also released with its two predecessors into the Onimusha Essentials compilation for North America in 2008. Pachislot A pachislot machine based on Onimusha 3 was distributed to parlors in Japan in January 2005. This machine was adapted into a PlayStation 2 video game titled Jissen Pachi-Slot Hisshouhou! Onimusha 3, released on July 14 the same year. It was published by Sega. Reception Onimusha 3: Demon Siege debuted at number one on the Japanese sales charts according to Famitsu. The game managed to sell 431,000 units in its first week. The game went on to sell 569,275 units in Japan by the end of the year, making it the eleventh best-selling game in the region for 2004. Sales info from NPD Group and Chart Track show that Onimusha 3: Demon Siege was the 10th best-selling game in both the United States and the United Kingdom during the week of its release. The sales in North America regions were found "somewhat disappointing" with Capcom's Jun Takeuchi finding