Samurai Shodown

"A quite good fighting game, influenced by manga/anime."

Samurai showdown for Arcade was a real smashing game. I love the manga/anime inspired characters, and I’m definitely a ninja/samurai fan. I love this, manga combinated with ninja/samurai style. And something even better, arcade playing is just better, because then you can show your friends that you are something special in tv-gaming...I also think that this type of games work better in 2D than in 3D (example Bushido Blade, that was an original game, but was it really that good?).

Notice!!! It was a while since I played Samurai Showdown (at least 2 years)

so maybe I remember it better than it is. But I’ll try to be as fair as I can.

>%Fun-factor:%
For me (manga fan) this is a fun game. It’s exiting, slicing your opponents with brutal attacks, winning in a defending position, or just play and win.The music that is traditional and good speed in, with fitting sounds (weopons hitting each other, etc.) increase the fun-factor score, and the graphic is also quite good. Maybe the control could have been better, but it’s not a weakness. Challenging a friend is fun, playing against the computer is quite fun. But as I said, dragging a friend over to the arcade hall, challenging him over there is fun. If you’re a fan of fighting/manga games, you’ll pay many coins for this game!!!

Score fun-factor: 7.8/10

=Graphics:=
The details are fine. Ok, it’s not as Dreamcast (or Playstation2) but being a game made long time ago (I don’t know when it was made) it’s okay. The characters are well animated, and the backgrounds are cool. The effects (when you do a special move, combat technique etc.) is quite okay
to be an old fighting game. Ok, it's not like Soul Calibur(Dreamcast) but it's all okay.

Score graphics: 7.8/10

|Music/Sound:|
The music was quite good, with good songs and quite well sound (it's hard to describe music and sound, you got to hear it to understand). Still, I know many other fighting games that have better music/sound than this one has. Samurai Showdown's strength is not in the music/sound.

Score music/sound: 7.3/10

''Challenge:''
As you all know, fighting games require quick fingers, technique, and maybe some luck to win. Personally, I don't play the game to beat it but beating a friend. Though, I've never beaten it all the way. I don't think it's so hard though, if you got the coins, you can make it.

Score challenge: #/10 (Don't know, since I didn't beat it).

%Control:%
The different characters have all different combos and techniques. Some are faster than others, some are weaker, some are stronger, etc. All have their weaknesses and abilities. The control in this game is based as nearly all other fighting games, you can jump, strike, etc. The control is medium, neither good nor bad.

Score control: 7.3/10

+Summary:+
If you still play some arcade games(even if the graphic is surpassed long time ago) this is a game to test. C'mon, all you can lose is $1! If you don't like it, fine, then forget about it. If you like it, you found a new great game. So, test it, you have nothing to lose. That's the big difference between arcade games and console games, you can test the games before you buy them. I think it's worth to test.

Overall score: 7.8/10

TOTAL SCORE(Score on a line between 1-10)7/10

OnE LiNe SyNoPsIs: A quite good fighting-game, influenced by Manga/anime.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/20/01, Updated 03/20/01