Samurai Shodown

Review

by Scott Alan Marriott

Those looking for an exact translation of the arcade game will have to settle for a favorable one; Samurai Shodown lacks the in-game scaling of the arcade and Neo-Geo versions, but makes up for it with extremely detailed characters and the most beautifully animated backgrounds yet seen in a Super Nintendo fighting game. Gameplay involves choosing one of twelve warriors and fighting one after another until you face the final boss Tokisada Amakusa.

All of the fighters have edged weapons and some even have animals that can attack along with them (Nokoruru is accompanied by an eagle and Galford has a dog). As in most fighting games, there are the basic attacks represented by light, medium and hard slashes or kicks plus special attacks. These moves involve moving the control pad, usually in a semi-circular motion, in tandem with one or two button presses.

The twist is that most of the special attacks involve your character's sword, so you are at a real disadvantage should you lose it. That's right, you can lose your weapon! This can happen while fighting the opponent up close; if you rapidly tap the Slash button while your swords are locked, you can flip the enemy's weapon away. You can still attack while you are weaponless, but it's important to retrieve it as soon as possible. On the flip side, whenever you knock the opponent's sword away you should prevent him or her from retrieving it.

Characters who receive damage will fill up with rage, represented by a meter at the bottom of the screen, which differs for each fighter. Once it is filled, your character's face will change color and unleash more powerful attacks. Another interesting feature is that there are power-ups dropped by a running courier during some of the matches: meat which restores your life meter; money which increases your score; or bombs that will cause damage to anyone near them. This adds a bit of excitement to the matches.

Other than the standard one-player and versus modes, Samurai Shodown for the Super Nintendo features a Count Down mode, where you must defeat as many characters as you can within a time limit. There is no life bar in this mode and your score is determined by the amount of characters you defeat minus any damage you take. The challenge will end if you manage to defeat all of the characters within the time frame or if the clock completely runs out. The game also features bonus stages that will test your skill against straw dummies that appear from the top and bottom of the screen.

All in all, Samurai Shodown is a worthy game for fighting fanatics who long for some weapons-based combat as well as some blood to go along with their action. The game loses points for not having the zoomed-in characters, but those who have never experienced the arcade version might not find it a problem at all. Considering the arcade game was several hundred megabits in size, this 32-Meg conversion is pretty impressive.