Samurai Shodown Guide

 

A head-to-head versus fighting game that hails from '90s arcades, Samurai Shodown II is the sequel to the game that shifted the focus of the fighting genre by equipping all of its characters. With weapons. Big, bladed, vicious swords, claws and spears that made it stand out from the crowd of all those other bare-fisted, fireball-throwing fighters being cranked out by so many of the other companies of the age. First, its new challengers. Four fresh fighters have arrived to face off against the original cast in this sequel. There's Genjuro Kibagami, a samurai warrior who serves as a new rival to established protagonist Haohmaru. There's Nicotine Caffeine, an eccentric old man who served as master to Haohmaru and Genjuro and taught them the art of fighting.

There's Neinhalt Seiger, a European strongman armed with an arm, it's an oversized, iron gauntlet shaped like a fist. And there's Cham Cham, the kid sister of the first game's Tam Tam (who, in this game, has been magically turned into a monkey). the game was very detailed and featured zoom ins and outs of the action depending on the position of the opponents during the fight. Animation and character detail was top notch and the game play was fast and violent. Characters wielded weapons unlike other fighting games of the time. The action was more in tune with Kurosawa samurai films in that strikes were swift and dramatic. The music was also based on traditional Japanese period films and fit nicely with the general feel of the game. With an array of varied characters and a style all to its own, Samurai Shodown II found an audience that still swears by the game to this day.

Samurai Shodown II is a direct translation, and as such, is a simple affair, pick a character and play through the handful of CPU characters, or you can play against a friend via Bluetooth. the game was very detailed and featured zoom ins and outs of the action depending on the position of the opponents during the fight. Animation and character detail was top notch and the game play was fast and violent. Characters wielded weapons unlike other fighting games of the time. The action was more in tune with Kurosawa samurai films in that strikes were swift and dramatic. The music was also based on traditional Japanese period films and fit nicely with the general feel of the game. With an array of varied characters and a style all to its own, Samurai Shodown II found an audience that still swears by the game to this day. As a game that has remained untouched for the last two decades, the price tag is a bit of a shock, and that's where the bad stuff begins.These kinds of games are demanding and require a lot of patience and studying of sometimes extremely complex joystick and button combinations. The moves can be incredibly tough to pull off, in fact, even the most basic "special" moves take a bit of skill to be able to master and that's when you have a decent physical controller. This game was built to be played with an arcade stick and it's the only way to truly become a hardcore fighting game master. The button layout works beautifully for this NeoGeo classic and the feel of the stick will truly replicate the arcade experience in full. Still, fronting the extra money for a different controller or an arcade stick will be a turn off for most so this game may not find the audience it deserves.

Samurai Shodown II came not too long after with added characters and more refined game play. Graphically, the game was very detailed and featured zoom ins and outs of the action depending on the position of the opponents during the fight. Animation and character detail was top notch and the game play was fast and violent. Characters wielded weapons unlike other fighting games of the time. The action was more in tune with Kurosawa samurai films in that strikes were swift and dramatic. The music was also based on traditional Japanese period films and fit nicely with the general feel of the game. With an array of varied characters and a style all to its own, Samurai Shodown II found an audience that still swears by the game to this day. If you fancy yourself a hardcore fighting enthusiast, then this game is a no-brainer. Everything you know and love about the classic is all here just as you remember it. If you are new to fighting games, this is going to be hit of miss.  It's played a little more like chess, where each of your moves have to be timed well and done with purpose. Luck can play a factor in winning, but skill and anticipation is key to being consistently victorious. It's a difficult game to master, and it's fighting dynamics don't fit with today's button mashers like Soul Calibur. What's better is the game can be played online with opponents just like the arcades in the 1990's. What you have here is a perfect port of a fighting game classic that is bound to captivate anyone that frequented the arcade scene and of fighting game fans. The graphics, frame rate, and the voices are all as you'd remember from the original. For any 2D fighting fan, this game is a must own and a must play.

There's a chance that Hikyaku (the random item-throwing delivery guy) might appear to toss them a new blade, just as he sometimes throws bombs and health-recovery items into the fight. But there's just as good a chance that they'll have to deal with being unarmed for the rest of the match... which might give them a chance to use their bare hands to parry your persisting attacks, which is another new feature. All of these gameplay refinements and new selectable characters come together to make Samurai Shodown an excellent sequel, and there's really little negative to say about the game. If you wanted to, you could bemoan the title's significant level of difficulty -- playing through a single-player campaign against the computer AI can be brutal. But even that aspect is balanced out by the inclusion of an adjustable challenge meter in the options menu, where you can ratchet down the intensity all the way to Beginner on a nine-level scale if you like.

Characters wielded weapons unlike other fighting games of the time. The action was more in tune with Kurosawa samurai films in that strikes were swift and dramatic. The music was also based on traditional Japanese period films and fit nicely with the general feel of the game. With an array of varied characters and a style all to its own, Samurai Shodown II found an audience that still swears by the game to this day. If you fancy yourself a hardcore fighting enthusiast, then this game is a no-brainer. Everything you know and love about the classic is all here just as you remember it. If you are new to fighting games, this is going to be hit of miss.  It's played a little more like chess, where each of your moves have to be timed well and done with purpose. Luck can play a factor in winning, but skill and anticipation is key to being consistently victorious. There are fifteen playable characters out of the box, each with their own back story and fighting location. The characters all range in fighting styles from samurai and ninja through to knights and that weird goblin creature, Gen-An. You certainly won't be left wanting for variety but you will be left wanting for a decent controller.