Samurai Shodown

Do you ever feel like video games these days are just looking at great things that happened in the 90s and then redoing them? I feel like this year, and I’m okay with feeling like that this year. Samurai Shodown is the latest revisit. A game that began in the 90s in the arcades and featured a unique cast of characters that were hellbent on being grotesque in execution, but eloquent in design. The latest version of the game, which came out today, still maintains all the charm of the fighting game, while bringing a fun type of animation to the forefront, plus three new characters to boot.

Let’s dig right into it.

Samurai Shodown’s gameplay design is spot on what it used to be. SNK didn’t stray away from what made the original arcade version fun, rather it took what was established at the ground level and just put more unique modes into it. Beyond the bells and whistles, the game still maintains its original identity established years ago. It’s amazing to see a game not trying to gum up what made it great, to begin with, which is a feat that most games ‘remastered’ or ‘brought back to life’ tend to have. To say the least, the game felt like it was that 90s arcade game, which for an oldie like me matches up with my muscle memory perfectly. The basic design of jumping, kicking, sword-ing, and pulling off special moves is still intact. Tangling swords together and having to press a button rapidly to gain an advantage is still there. Nothing has strayed from that at the ground level. If you’re going into this game hoping for a rebirth of the same great gameplay design, then you’re going to get exactly that with Samurai Shodown. I think I love this the most about the game — it wasn’t broke, so they didn’t fix it.

What they did bring to the table, outside of three new characters, was a massive amount of modes. Online and offline modes prevail in this game, which gives options to everyone out there. For me personally, I’m an offline story guy. I was raised on Street Fighter II, so completing character stories was vital for me with fighting games. I didn’t need the thrill of competition, like most gamers these days. I never go looking for a fight with other gamers — outside of Destiny 2, it’s just not my thing.

For offline peeps like me, here’s what you have to look forward to:

Story Mode: I played the hell out of Jubei in this mode (the eye-patch grizzled guy). His story gave the origins of his character and took him to different parts of Japan, which featured story progression. For each victory, I was rewarded with the cutscene to the next fight. Each character has this type of structure in story mode, and it continues the tradition of every fighting game to spring from the 90s. It’s a long mode that is semi-difficult, but nonetheless entertaining. I will say that the final boss in story mode is creepy as hell (won’t spoil it) and is not easy to take down. Overall, the story mode is what you should expect from a story mode. It’s not a throwaway mode, nor does it look like SNK made weak effort — it’s simply a story-driven way to play.

Dojo: I didn’t know what to expect here, but I found some fun. The Dojo mode is broken into two different pieces – Ironman and Ghost Match. The Ironman piece is made for dedicated gamers out there. It’s a 100 enemy match that is led by ghost CPUs. Yep, no real players involved, outside of yourself. If you have the time and the gumption, then you’ll love this mode. It’s a time commitment, no doubt, but it could be a good challenge for someone who enjoys that insanity. If you complete this mode, you’re a God in my eyes. 100 enemies is not an easy feat, especially with increasing difficulty as you progress.

The second piece to the Dojo puzzle is the Ghost Match. You can choose a multitude of enemies to fight. For this review period, I chose 10 enemies to defeat. This meant I had to defeat 10 enemies in a row without losing. There is no continues in this mode, you simply end on the number you end on. For example, if you end up losing at 7 enemies, then the mode ends on 7. If you happen to be badass like me, and complete 10 enemies, then you’re awesome and epic. Scores are kept, things are recorded in this mode, and you can increase the challenge by upping the enemy body count expectation. It’s a great compliment to the insanity of 100 enemies in Ironman.

Battle Versus: The Battle Versus is comprised of different pieces — Gauntlet, Survival, and Time Trial. While I don’t have to tell you much about Time Trial, the Survival mode and Gauntlet are so much fun.

Gauntlet puts you up against every character in the game. If you lose a match, then the Gauntlet ends. If you somehow get through all the enemies, then you’re certainly going to be ‘happy’. The Gauntlet is not remotely easy to play and the game knows when to turn things on as you progress. Is it fun? If you like a bit of self-torture, then yes. I found the mode somewhat fascinating because it provided a slowly arcing challenge. Would it be my go-to when playing this game? Not immediately, but I understand its charm.

Survival is like Gauntlet with the exception of repeating enemies. You’re essentially fighting until you lose, which is fine. If you’re going to put effort into this mode, then you should put effort into the Ironman first, only because it might mean more. Survival does slowly raise the difficulty bar as you continue in the game, so you can look forward to that as you progress. Somewhere around 15-20 enemies, you will find the difficulty really ramped up. Yay, right? It’s still a fun mode, though, again, I would probably try Ironman if I was going to make a massive commitment to fighting enemies.

Beyond the offline modes above, which are great options for gameplay choices, you have online matches. There are regular and ranked matches, and a few other scattered options to choose from in the online mode. Like I said before, I’m not really an online competitive sorta gamer. I’m more offline and methodical, straight from 90s fighting game school. Still, I can understand why people will love this and the addition of leaderboards will certainly make the mode more engaging. People love competition to motivate them to get better.

Other modes to see are a database and gallery. If you’re a hardcore Samurai Shodown, then you’ll enjoy these options.

There really isn’t a lot going on with Samurai Shodown outside of the above modes and three new characters. It was a pleasant surprise to see the old characters crisp and back in action. Everything about the game screamed ‘this is just like the original game’. It looked and felt like Samurai Shodown from ye old yonder years, so I respect the hell out of SNK for maintaining that nostalgia in an updated title.

If I had to knock this game for anything, though, I would say the lack of updated background animation was first and foremost. The backgrounds were a bit bland at times, though there were really gorgeous stages to visually enjoy (such as Genjuro’s field of flower stage). Ultimately, they were upgrades from their original states, but some just didn’t translate well at all. One, in particular, made me laugh a bit was Nakoruru’s stage, which featured an awkward looking bear and a dear that was either legless or stuck in the mud. I honestly couldn’t figure it out. Anyway, for every Nakoruru stage, there was a gorgeous stage like Genjuro’s. It was balanced, but definitely a weakness for the title. Not a deal breaker, though.

Overall, Samurai Shodown is a fun release that brings back memories of a simpler time in the fighting genre where focus laid squarely on technique and gamer ease-of-use. The inclusion of a variety of modes helps to beef up the fighting content and offer up good challenges for those seeking them. All of this makes the experience more engaging and entertaining.