"Slice and dice the unworthy. Finesse required."

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INTRODUCTION
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”Fair and square...
Battle one...
En Garde!” - Kuroko

Samurai Shodown III is an example of gaming excellence. This third installment in the Samurai Shodown (SS) series provides a 2D weapon based fighting game at its best. It combines flawless gameplay value with awesome visual and audio concepts. However, this game is a mid 1995 release and was never very popular. So, in case you are new to the gaming world and have never played it, you might imagine that it is nothing more than another expendable fighting game of those times. Could not be farther from the truth, though. SS III is a timeless classic.

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STORY
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”Foolish warrior...
Drunk with power,
you failed to see
the tragic end.
The true enemy lies within.” - Zankuro Minazuki

It's the Feudal Japan. An ancient, wicked demon has awakened. The dreaded demon is Zankuro Minazuki, and his skills as a swordsman are only matched by his thirst of blood. In order to appease his rage, Zankuro destroys everything in his way with his mighty blade, becoming a destroyer of villages and scourge of peasants. These evil deeds, however, stop in one village, where he is unable to slaughter an infant. Whether is by fear or compassion not even the demon knows for sure, since the the kid has both an evil heart and an ability as a warrior that could surpass any other. Amazed by this discovery, Zankuro withdraws and waits to challenge the kid until he has grown into a man, and his skills have fully developed.

Years later... Twelve samurais and swordsmen begin their own quests. All seek one goal, the head of the dreaded Zankuro Minazuki. Some of them cannot leave such an evil creature alive and seek for his dead, while others want to kill him only to get his power. Among these warriors is the aforementioned mysterious youth, Shizumaru Hisame, who has trained enough to face the demon and is now willing to learn the truth about his own nature by challenging the demon and discovering why the creature had spared him.

Your task is to take control of one of these 12 brave souls and face all who challenge you during your search for Zankuro. As you can figure, Hisame is the main character of Samurai Shodown III, at least story wise. But Haohmaru, the hairy, sake-drinking samurai who had been the main character in the previous games, is here as well. Furthermore, he and all the other warriors have their unique reasons to face this challenge, and every storyline fits the main plot very well. Basara, for an example, is an executioner killed by Zankuro. His hatred for the demon is so great, however, that he rose from the dead just to take the demon along with him to hell. All the other side stories are just as good. Great job, SNK.

Story: 10/10

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GAMEPLAY
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”Sorry about that gash!” - Shizumaru Hisame

Samurai Shodown is a 2D fighting game, but unlike those countless Street Fighter rip-offs, SS III is a unique, exciting gaming experience in terms of gameplay. First, it has weapons. And being able to slice your enemy with a sword makes a huge difference. Second: it provides many gameplay subtleties to improve the experience, bursting new game options to enhance the diversity that this series has always been known for.

Twelve characters are available this time and, yes, this is less than the number of warriors featured in SS II. One might wonder: why SNK reduced this number? Actually, it is due to the fact that SNK tried to give SS III a more serious, mature look. This is shown by the story and by the removal of the fighters who had less verisimilitude. So, bid your farewell to the fat giant Earthquake, the savage chick Cham-Cham and others. Only the more realistic characters of the previous games remained: Haohmaru, Nakoruru, Galford, Kyoshiro, Ukyo, Genjuro and Hanzo. Joining them are the newcomers Shizumaru, Gaira, Basara, Rimururu and the old boss Amakusa.

In SS III all fighters have either a ‘chivalry' (slash) or ‘treachery' (bust) alignment. Slash is the classic style that every character had since SS I and selecting this will allow you to retain your favorite character's original abilities. In case you want something new, you can try the Bust style, which features more aggressive and enhanced fighting abilities. For an example: Nakoruru fights with an eagle in Slash mode, but in Bust mode she has a wolf as an ally. Some of the movements and techniques work better in one of the styles, and some moves do not even exist in both of them. This means that playing with a character in the Slash mode is a completely different thing than controlling him in the Bust mode. Arguably, it doubles the numbers of fighters at your disposal, what brings us to a total of 24 characters. That is a respectable number of characters to master, and it launches the replay value to the roof.

After selecting your character it is now possible to choose one of the three difficulty levels available: novice, intermediate and advanced. By selecting the novice level, SS III gives you automatic defense. Intermediate features the traditional gameplay of the series and advanced offers an extreme experience, with no defense and power gauge always at maximum.

Also, there is something that really improved the gameplay in SS III: air defense! Being able to block in mid-air brings a lot of thought into the duels and makes the combat in the air a lot more strategic. There are many other subtleties scattered through the game, like dodging, guard crushing and pre-fight maneuvering. In general, although SS III does have some problems, like the complicated commands for some movements, it is clearly the best game of the series in terms of gameplay.

Gameplay: 10/10; Replay: 10/10; Controls: 7.5/10

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AUDIO & VIDEO
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”Now is the time, to show
the world my fabulous act!”
Dance music reverberates
through the Edo village. – Kyoshiro Senryo

Have you ever imagined how would be travelling through the ancient Japan? Samurai Shodown III provides a tour through exotic locales, such as a kabuki theater, a dense bamboo forest, a remote meadow and a smoldering lava field. Every scenery is a delight to behold, for they are detailed and very well drawn. Obviously, every background comes along with music that fits it very well. The tunes are intense when the battle is close to an end, while during the beginning; the ambient sound has moments of silence only broken by the sound of clanging blades.

Both the graphics and sounds are way better than they were in SS II. First, the visual is darker and has a more serious approach. All the characters remain drawn in a refined anime style but, this time, they are also large and very well detailed. Just to give you an idea, Gaira, the tallest fighter, is almost the size of the screen when he is close to his adversary. But do not think that the animation has been worsened because the characters are bigger; on the contrary, it has been improved as well. The fighters move and swing their blades with an animation very smooth. In general, the audio and video department of SS III shows where its 282 mega were used. SS III can even give more recent games a run for their money in those departments. Granted, there could be more variation to the music, but it is nothing that ruins the experience.

Graphics: 10/10; Sound: 8/10

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CONCLUSION
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”Duelling is my Raison D'etre!” - Haohmaru

Samurai Shodown III is one of the best SNK efforts ever. Every aspect of this game is close to perfection. If you consider yourself a 2D fighting games connoisseur, you absolutely have to play it, in case you have not done it already. Unfortunately, this arcade game is fairly old, and it is not likely that you will find it around your neighborhood. Luckily, you can either play the Saturn and Playstation versions (bad conversions both, cursed by unbearable load times) or the Neo Geo/Neo Geo CD versions (perfect ports but really hard to find). Considering, of course, that you are lucky enough to have a Neo Geo/Neo Geo CD. Too bad SNK went bankrupt, my friends, since it is not every developer that can create little gems like SS III.

Best Features: impressive atmosphere; excellent visuals and gameplay
Worst Features: somewhat different than the previous titles, and that may not please everyone

Overall: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/27/02, Updated 06/13/04