SNK truly hit gold in the early 90's when they designed SAMURAI SHODOWN! In the olden days of arcades, Street Fighter II ruled the dark alleys. Everywhere you went a Street Fighter cabinet was just around the corner. Always tempting you with its loud digitized sound effects and cut scene of some guy cold clocking some other dude then scrolling up a huge skyscraper to focus on a giant Street fighter logo. I dare you now a days not to put in quarters immediately when seeing a SF cabinet in the wild. Go on! I double dog dare you!
All was well for Capcom for a while but soon enough like in many rivalries SNK struck back. First it was Art of fighting and now SAMURAI SHODOWN. This game had everything. All executed with SNK's signature precision. Backgrounds where bright and full of motion, characters were interesting, animation was fluid, and collision detection was near perfect! But the thing that toppled the kingdom of Capcom was two things. When you scored a heavy hit you felt it though the arcade buttons. Each hit created a flash of excitement and an early form of slow motion to accentuate each blow. Then of course, something that surprised each fighter when they landed the final slash was the fatalities. Now a day when we think of fatalities we think of a time at the end of a match after a fighter has beat his opponent a short time is allowed to give the player time to do a complicated maneuver of joystick direction and button combinations. Not in SS! All you needed to pull of a fatality at the end was just hit your opponent in the right way, either with light, medium, or strong attack. Blood would shoot out like geysers or the defeated would be cut in half and fall to the ground. Many a time I stood in front of my TV slack jawed when I pulled off a death blow. SNK GENIUS!
This game was nothing we had ever seen. A different time period (feudal Japan), Weapons (Spears, Daggers, claws, and Swords), and music that didn't draw its inspiration from 80's / 90's rock but Japanese culture. It was a masterpiece and it did its best to shake the ground that Capcom lay upon. As of today there are six 2D Samurai Shodown games all of which were just released on a anthology disc commemorating over twenty years of Samurai Shodown excitement! Certain games were ported over the years to home consoles. All of which met with positive reviews. Today we are treated to ALL 2D Samurai Shodown games contained on one disc. It is a great achievement and a wonderful product. The price for all these wonderful titles is going for no more than $15.99! Probably the greatest deal I have ever seen.
Now your most likely saying to yourself "Why should I pay the cash when I can get it for MAME?"
1. You have a hard copy of the game. Disc, Manual, and box
2. You have all 6 games on one disc that you can play in the comfort of you living room instead of sitting in front of a computer monitor with a PC controller.
3. You can customize the color of your favorite SS character!
4. Extra's such as Art gallery and Endings
5. We here in the U.S.A. can finally play Samurai Shodown 6. The newest and most in depth title in the series.
Is it worth the $15.99???? Well, I would think so. Its a piece of gaming history bundled up and packaged for your gaming enjoyment. All of which are Arcade perfect ports with extra options for each game together for the first time.
Take my advice. You won't be disappointed!
All was well for Capcom for a while but soon enough like in many rivalries SNK struck back. First it was Art of fighting and now SAMURAI SHODOWN. This game had everything. All executed with SNK's signature precision. Backgrounds where bright and full of motion, characters were interesting, animation was fluid, and collision detection was near perfect! But the thing that toppled the kingdom of Capcom was two things. When you scored a heavy hit you felt it though the arcade buttons. Each hit created a flash of excitement and an early form of slow motion to accentuate each blow. Then of course, something that surprised each fighter when they landed the final slash was the fatalities. Now a day when we think of fatalities we think of a time at the end of a match after a fighter has beat his opponent a short time is allowed to give the player time to do a complicated maneuver of joystick direction and button combinations. Not in SS! All you needed to pull of a fatality at the end was just hit your opponent in the right way, either with light, medium, or strong attack. Blood would shoot out like geysers or the defeated would be cut in half and fall to the ground. Many a time I stood in front of my TV slack jawed when I pulled off a death blow. SNK GENIUS!
This game was nothing we had ever seen. A different time period (feudal Japan), Weapons (Spears, Daggers, claws, and Swords), and music that didn't draw its inspiration from 80's / 90's rock but Japanese culture. It was a masterpiece and it did its best to shake the ground that Capcom lay upon. As of today there are six 2D Samurai Shodown games all of which were just released on a anthology disc commemorating over twenty years of Samurai Shodown excitement! Certain games were ported over the years to home consoles. All of which met with positive reviews. Today we are treated to ALL 2D Samurai Shodown games contained on one disc. It is a great achievement and a wonderful product. The price for all these wonderful titles is going for no more than $15.99! Probably the greatest deal I have ever seen.
Now your most likely saying to yourself "Why should I pay the cash when I can get it for MAME?"
1. You have a hard copy of the game. Disc, Manual, and box
2. You have all 6 games on one disc that you can play in the comfort of you living room instead of sitting in front of a computer monitor with a PC controller.
3. You can customize the color of your favorite SS character!
4. Extra's such as Art gallery and Endings
5. We here in the U.S.A. can finally play Samurai Shodown 6. The newest and most in depth title in the series.
Is it worth the $15.99???? Well, I would think so. Its a piece of gaming history bundled up and packaged for your gaming enjoyment. All of which are Arcade perfect ports with extra options for each game together for the first time.
Take my advice. You won't be disappointed!
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