With the third Oneechanbara game for the Xbox 360, the series not only steps into HD, but also tries to leave the budget gaming ghetto in lieu of a full priced release... at least in Japan. (It was released at retail for $40 when it came to the USA, cheaper than the usual $60, but still not exactly "budget" range.) This proves a little overambitious, because while it definitely looks better than the PS2 games, it's still far from fancy. The high res, widescreen visuals are nice, but the levels are still boxy, and the textures are still bland. The only other discernable visual improvement are the extra blood effects, which now splatter directly on the screen and ooze off slowly.

It's not without its technical issues either. It tries to run at 60 FPS like its predecessors, but that usually cuts in half when fighting more than a couple of enemies - which is most of the time - and there are various other instances of slowdown and screen tearing. The load times are pretty long too, but there's a fun little minigame where you guide a tiny, cutesy sprite of Aya chopping through hordes of zombies, which actually give a tiny bit of experience. There are now a few computer animated cutscenes which go way overboard on the fan service - the game begins with Aya showering, then running out naked to view a news report, all while parts of the scenery conveniently cover her naughtiest bits, Austin Powers-style. But even those are poorly implemented and suffer from screen tearing despite being full motion video!

The other improvements are fairly minor. The map functionality has improved again, now showing locked and unlocked doors. Each character also has an alternate moveset - Aya can wield two swords at once, for example. There are a few poorly implemented motorcycle stages. The main quest is also slightly longer than normal, offering twenty stages instead of just six. Aya and Saki are still playable characters, with Annna (or Anna, take your pick) making her debut. She's a cop in a miniskirt who wields not one, but three weapons - dual pistols, a submachine gun and a shotgun - which allows for a little more offensive variation. Instead of getting blood on her sword, each weapon has a limited clip which needs to be reloaded after being emptied.

There are three additional playable characters - Reiko, Himiko, and Misery, the main bosses of the game. But as part of the grand scam of the HD generation, they're all paid downloadable content. The game offers all playable characters, along with the bonus costumes for a "deal" of 1900 points - nearly $20! It's not that bad considering that the previous rereleased editions tried to sell you a barely upgraded version for approximately the same price, but it's still skeezy. Blame Namco's The Idolmaster and its excessive DLC for setting an unfortunate precedent in the Japanese Xbox Live Marketplace. At least the costume obtions are more elaborate than usual, with a special dress-up mode to combine the various pieces of clothing.

This version was published in early 2007 in Japan, but wasn't localized until late 2008, when it was renamed Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad and released alongside the Wii version. These are the only two thus far to be released in North America.

As one might expect, the big draw of the Wii version of Oneechanbara are the waggle controls. Each sword strike is executed with a Wiimote thrust or slash, which actually fits pretty well with the rather brainless action. Technically you're supposed to time each slash in order to deal more powerful blows, but you can shake it haphazardly and it usually works pretty well. The graphics are definitely better than the PlayStation 2 versions, and roughly equivalent to the Xbox 360 game running in standard definition, but without any of the technical issues. There aren't any full motion video clips, replaced with the plain scrolling text and narration from the earlier games. There are four playable characters total - Aya, Saki, Misery and Reiko, each with their own story mode with eight chapters each. In order to keep with the plot, there is no character switching in story mode, although you can enable it when you're replaying stages in Free Play, allowing you to pick whomever you choose. The dressup mode of the Xbox 360 version is also gone, but at least there isn't any cheap DLC copouts. The suspend save function is gone, replaced with shrines throughout each stage, where you can save your game.

Like the 360 version, the Wii version was released in Japan at full price, but included a soundtrack CD. In North America, it got at a slightly cheaper $30 price tag, but without the CD.