Samurai Shodown (Samurai
Spirits)
I
want to say Samurai Shodown was SNK's most popular series. People who've
never touched Fatal Fury or KOF have at least heard of it, probably
played it, may or may not have been pleased with it.
The
story, as far as I can decipher from the back of the OAV and scattered
summaries online, involves the evil sorcerer Amakusa trying to seize
control of Japan by glowing and wearing too much makeup. To combat him,
several legendary samurai/ninja/other armed people set out to defeat
him. Oh yeah, and some of them came back from the dead, and there's
a little green hunchback with the same surname as Mai from Fatal Fury,
which stirs up all kinds of unpleasant thoughts. Among the heroes: an
adaption of the Japanese folk hero Ukyo, presented here as a blue-haired
bishounen type with tuberculosis; Nakoruru, who is some sort of spiritual
guardian of nature; Hanzo, another pseudohistorial figure and possibly
the main trigger of the wave of ninja that flood every fighting game;
and Haohmaru, and impossibly buff, hard-drinking samurai who seems to
be a combination of any number of legendary samurai. Haohmaru is supposed
to be the hero, and is sort of presented as a sort of randy, sword-slinging
Terry Bogard. It's revealed, sort of, in badly-rewritten cutscenes,
that Amakusa is actually in the employ of "The Dark Guy,"
which leaves the ending wide open for a sequel.
There
are more, of course, who may or may not fit into a broader, epic storyline
the SS series is supposed to be telling. I never really explored the
background story behind Samurai Shodown much. I guess that kind of cuts
into the informative value of this article, versus the King of Fighters
universe that I have an almost unhealthy knowledge of. But as unique
and stylish as the character designs may be, I simply can't get behind
half the cast. And get around the historical and cultural evidence behind
the existence of Galford, the "San Francisco Ninja."
The
original Samurai Shodown brought a lot of innovation to the arcade...
table. It was the first fairly succesful fighting game to incorporate
weapon fighting, and was probably the first fighter SNK produced with
an on-screen bar used for performing supers. It also introduced us to
a puzzling, stylized mispelling. Why no first 'w' in Showdown? Did they
just not double check the needless American name change? Is omitting
the 'w' a similar device for generating false uniqueness as turning
's' into 'z?' Regardless, SS1 runs on an engine not dissimilar to KOF
'94. Which isn't horribly shocking, as it was released in 1993.
The
graphics are nice. There are a lot of little touches in the background,
especially Charlotte Colde's stage. Although why you get sidetracked
to France on a journey to save Japan is beyond me. (There are other
suitably out of place stages in Arizona and San Francisco.)
There's
not much else to say about the first game in terms of innovations in
play beyond that. What really sets Samurai Shodown apart from other
games is the sheer quirkiness on parade, ranging from classic 'SNK-glish'
to the fact that a character whose meter is fully charged turns red.
But all in all, it's a solid game, and loads more fun than the inital
installments of Fatal Fury or Art of Fighting.
Some
other little goofy things to mention before moving along: Haohmaru fights
Mai Shiranui in cameo in one of the endings (somehow), all of the blood
is recolored white in the US/console release as usual (which has the
unfortunate effect of making it look like wounds are spewing copious
amounts of uh... fluid,) and the OAV strangely enough, has recolored
blood. Go figure.
Samurai Shodown II
Regarded
by many as the best of the series, I must respectfully disagree. It
does however have some characters who achieved pockets of popularity,
only to never resurface again, presumably because some people in high
places hate us. Let's see, there was an old man with the Ranma-like
moniker of Caffeine Nicotine; Cham-cham, the annoying little sister
of the also rather annoying Tam-Tam from the first game, and Sieger,
a German warlord-type with a primitive cyborg arm and a predictably
loose grip on the reigns of language. "GIVE YOU MY KNOCK FOR JUSTICE!"
Oh yeah, and Haohmaru picks up a buff yet still femme rival type guy
named Genjuro. He throws giant hanafuda cards with cherry blossoms on
them. Oh, fear!
Amakusa
comes back. Yeah. And he seems to be up to his old tricks, but is actually
only a pawn in a grander plot to levitate various things and spin them
around in ceremonial fashion.
Samurai Shodown III
This
is probably my pick as my favorite Samurai Shodown. The combat system
has been retooled, more geared towards swordfighting than the previous
games which were pretty much street fighting with weapons. Each sword
strike knocks off huge chunks of health, so the focus of the
game becomes more geared toward avoiding damage than combo-ing people
into oblivion. All the characters were redrawn as well. This was probably
done to go with the 'alignment' system put in place. Each character
is given two versions of themselves, each with different moves- the
'good' version being dubbed 'slash' and the evil one 'bust.' (Apparently
in the euro version, Slash& Bust became Chivalry & Treachery.
Nice. WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS?) In some cases, the change is pretty
subtle, in others, very obvious (Evil Nakoruru has a nasty looking wolf
at her side instead of her hawk, Mamahaha, Evil Galford fights without
Poppy.) There are also three grades available to offer yet another layer
of customization, with beginner offering 5 autoguards (for the whole
game!) and the Expert grade disabling blocking entirely in favor of
a permanently full super meter. Or something like that.
Since
this is the third installment, there's some sort of unspoken obligation
on the part of the programmers to make a couple new characters who are
way too young to be fighting like this. In this case, Nakoruru's kid
sister Rimururu who fights with a dagger and the Ice Crystal from Final
Fantasy, and Shizumaru Hisame, an umbrella-wielding little boy fighting
for revenge against yadda yadda. Oh yeah, there's also an insane guy
named Basara with a wildly impractical weapon, because the little green
guy with the Edward Scissorhands glove hadn't shown up and by Jove,
every fighting game needs at least one character whose mental health
is in question. The hulking Gaira, disciple of Nicotine, rounds out
the cast.
Amakusa
comes back again. Yayyyyy. It's probably worth pointing out this and
Metal Slug are the only SNK series where the villain has a Dr. Wily-like
level of persistence, though Rugal Bernstein comes damn close.
Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's
Revenge
If
I really need to elucidate the big plot twist behind this one, then
you must not speak subtitle. In that case: Amakusa comes back one more
time, and has more nasty levitating rituals up his sleeve. Not to mention
yet more insufferably cheap ranged attacks. However, a (maybe the) Dark
Guy Zankuro shows up and cuts him in half, putting an end to his reign
of terror and challenging you to an astoundingly cheap swordfight.
SS4
features brighter, more cartoony artwork than the last, and the whole
honorable combat thing is pushed in to the hilt, so to speak. Yes, now
you can commit ritual suicide with Honorable Death moves. (Although
Shizumaru's 'honrable death' move is to run the heck away.) You might
be wondering if there's some reason you'd do such a thing which is to
start the next round with a full super meter. There are also attacks
to hit the enemy on the ground, and the addition of a genuine combo
system is nice. The basic combo slash is executed by pushing B+C together
for an instant 3-4-hit deal, which you can lead into or follow up with
other moves. Slash and Bust characters are back, and there's a sort
of attempt to show more rivalry between characters: In the beginning,
as they prepare to enter the wasteland and challenge Amakusa, another
fighter shows up and talks to them. Beat the game within the time limit
you're assigned (which varies with how many match points the machine
is set for, among other things) and you'll face the rival character
after the final boss to get the 'good' ending. Although, to be honest,
the only character I've finished the game with have been Rimururu and
Kazuki.
Speaking
of whom, the two geuinely new fighters in this game are Kazuki and Sougetsu,
who fit nicely into the 'fire guy' and 'water guy' stereotypes, and
happen to both be brothers and memebers of the same assassin guilg.
Except, hot-tempered Kazuki wants to quit, and cool Sougetsu thinks
he should respect family tradition, honor the guild, so on. Tam-Tam
comes back as well; at least he's given his amatuer singing career.
Chika-boom. Babalooooh.
If
I haven't alluded to the fact before, now's the time to point out that
Samurai Shodown has got to be the SNK game with the worst dialogue.
On the one hand, they make a conscious effort to make the dialogue seem
traditional, on the other, characters are prone to bust out some of
the most hysterical jabber ever. "Prepare to die, you
crazy funster!" intones Amakusa in the first game. It definitely
adds to the comic value of the game, but detracts the hell out of the
plot when the mumbling turns to topics such as Amakusa's superior(s)
and tries to tell legends such as:
"Long, long ago, there
once was a man who try to make his skill ultimate. Because of his bloody
life, it's no accident that he became involved in the troubles."
Of
course, I probably shouldn't complain too much about it. It's not like
this is an RPG.
Samurai Spirits: The RPG
...is,
on the other hand. Unfortunately, it's apparently Japan-only, and as
such, I'm not going into it.
Samurai Shodown 64
Slightly
more successful than Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, this game introduced
some new gameplay options, and the character of Shiki. But, since I
never played any N64 fighting games, actually, I'm not going into this
one either. Or the sequel.