The Last Blade 2: Heart of the Samurai

"Hey, false advertising; there's more than one blade in this game!"

The Last Blade series. Some find it to be SNK’s finest series; an underrated, deep, engaging set of games that masterfully blends Japanese history and mythology with intense swordplay and a roster of unique characters. Others see it as a slow, boring, weapons fighter with no substantial innovations, and ultimately a game that sets the genre several steps backward. I can’t speak for the series on a whole, having only played the second installment, but I find myself seeing the good and bad of both opinions, and how simplicity in a game is difficult to appreciate and judge.

I purchased the original Japanese game, Gekka No Kenshi: Final Edition, and for awhile ignored Agetec’s domestic release for one very good reason: every SNK game published by another third party blows. I cringe when I think about those awful sounding, looking, and scaled down 16-bit incarnations of Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown (Takara and JVC the culprits). But things are different now, right? Before, SNK was only developing for the MVS and the Home Cart system, and it was understandable that no company could accurately port the games to the other systems but SNK themselves. And since SNK already ported LB2 to the Dreamcast, Agetec’s job would seem fairly simple, almost too easy: just use the already translated version SNK had for the MVS and the Home Cart. They did that, but only that; omitting some important features from the Final Edition like the Hanafuda card game and the memorial movies (Last Blade 1 ending and story cut-scenes), not omitting what arguably was the dumbest thing SNK ever did to the non-Asian Home Carts (removing blood), and putting together one of the worst manuals ever.

Graphics/Presentation: 6

Okay, even with all the things Agetec did wrong, SNK deserves the blame for the port. An otherwise beautiful visual experience is ruined by the typical 2D to DC problems, ugly sprites, more ugly sprites, etc. Yeah, all the frames are there, I believe, but who really wants to look at them? S-video, like with any game, makes it look a lot better, but in the case of DC 2D games, it’s like putting a Band-Aid on a severed limb. It’s really a shame since the character designs are excellent (Hey, Jet Li’s in the game!), and DC owners can only see them in their blurry, pixilated form. Granted, it’s not the worst (Jojo’s BA, MvC, and SFA3 finish win, place, and show), but come on, we’re at the end of the DC’s life, and this is what SNK has to show for it?

Another major problem, which pertains to the US release, is the removal of blood with sweat put in its place. Now, this is a SNK problem, one that has been giving aneurysms to US Neo Cart owners even since Samurai Shodown. It denied thousands of players who dropped good money, I mean good money, on SNK’s system to experience the games they loved exactly like they were in the arcade. Worse, every game down the line would feature the exact same type of censorship, and cost over $250 apiece. Now, removing blood from something like the King of Fighters, which features bare-fisted competitors, even though it’s still stupid, is somewhat believable. However, in games that feature characters wielding edged instruments of death, as LB2 does, sweat doesn’t cut it (no pun intended). I’d tell SNK to grow up, but there’s not much room to grow in that coffin of theirs. Agetec should've been behind the eight ball and made the appropriate changes. Besides, Agetec acts like it’s their creation in the first place (SNK’s name is no where to be found on the cover, just that ugly Agetec logo), so why not make the change? But just the blood; I don’t think anybody wants another Working Designs (one is enough, thank you).

SNK should receive some credit for not redoing the backgrounds in revolting 3D as they did in the two previous KOF games on the DC. Instead, backgrounds are kept in 2D, recreating 1864 Japan perfectly (hey, I wasn’t there, you weren’t there, so I’ll take their word for it). They opt for more serene stages with limited animation as opposed to other fighters that clutter the background with everything but the kitchen sink. Given the technical limitations of the Neo Geo hardware, this was a good move. You might call it laziness; I call it a refreshing change. Moreover, I like the opening sequences before each stage, similar to Garou: MOTW. Presentation is decent, but judging from the memorial movies in the import, LB2 feels like a straight-to-video sequel, with none of the cut-scenes of the first game. In fact, very little, outside of the battle before the final boss, and the boss battle itself, tell you what the hell you’re fighting for. For a game series built on a rich storyline, I’m surprised the game would be lacking in this department. That’s when I turned to Agetec’s manual. Certainly they would include something, some tiny paragraph about what was going on, maybe a paragraph under each character’s moves; you know, giving me a bio or something, helping me ease into 1864 Japan. Nope, nada; just that ugly black and white manual that those of us in the US get shoved, ruining whatever artwork that you’d find in the import. Hey, at least the game wasn’t packaged in construction paper, right?

Music/Sound: 6

If you didn’t like what you read about the backgrounds, then the music probably won’t be your cup of tea either, because there’s little to none. In keeping with the backgrounds, there are no in-your-face techno/rock tracks to be found in LB2, but mostly the sound of the wind blowing, fire burning, water falling, etc. The music that is there fits the period nicely. Sound effects are an entirely different matter; they’re awful. For example, when Akari yells, it sounds as if she’s doing so through a kazoo. Also, characters don’t speak their badly muted war cries until after a move hits. I’ve read people complaining about how Garou: MOTW has a similar problem, but LB2 is the worse of the two. It’s abundantly obvious, considering…

Gameplay/Control: 8

…how slow LB2 is. Personally, I can adjust to the speed, but I know a lot of people will be taken aback when they first pick this game up. Gameplay is very much a cross between Samurai Shodown and Square’s Bushido Blade with an emphasis towards the latter. Timely strong slashes, particularly coming off repels, are your best friend and make even the end boss look bad (just don’t try to jump at him). Generally, the constant hammering of your opponent with aggressive attacks will only leave you at a disadvantage as the computer is pretty efficient at blocking. You can get away it though, ending matches very quickly by abusing a particular move from one particular character (Setsuna’s Anonymity 3). Supers might not be the most impressive you’ve ever seen, but they’re very effective when they connect, just like the old Fatal Fury desperation moves (except they’re easier to perform). I don’t know about the US release, but I was able to do a fatality or two with a super in the import, i.e. I used Kaede’s “lightsaber” super to decapitate Mukuro. There is no real combo system to speak of, due to speed issues, but you can chain a few hits here and there in power mode, and it is possible to chain multiple attacks in speed mode, but it’s not something I find rewarding.

The game controls well, so long as you’re not using the standard DC controller, but that’s a given. I have a problem with the time it takes for some moves to be executed. Sometimes the delay is bad enough that your opponent can totally change the momentum of the fight. I’m not just referring to special moves either, some normal strong slashes just seem to be a bit off pace; they’ll wait for the character to be “ready” for another move before you can press the button again. With supers it’s worse, but it also makes sense for a game like this that they shouldn’t connect as easily. Maybe it’s just a combination of a slower game with delayed sound effects that makes it stick out.

Replay Value/Utility: 5

Score it slightly higher if you own the import. The Hanafuda card game and Memorial movies would’ve been a great addition to the US release. I was just as upset about its omission as I was about the board game, Nekketsu Nikki and the player create mode in Project Justice. But it’s actually worse here, because this is a game about all things Japan. If you’re Agetec, you can’t just get away with removing the Hanafuda mode because it’s different or foreign, because I think the whole game has that feel, and it’s a good feeling. In fact, most of the game is in Japanese despite the English in the endings and Innen battles. Moreover, having the endings from the first game would have given those who had never played the original game, i.e. me, a better understanding of the story and the series. As it stands, the game will save all the endings for the characters you win with, so you can view them at any time in the demo viewer. The game also recognizes both Japanese and American saves as the same thing, so you can have all your save information for the Japanese game, and view the endings in English by renting the Agetec game. However, I’d make a copy of the file on some other VMU. My data was actually written over by the US game after I saved; that’s how I made the discovery in the first place.

One final bonehead move by Agetec. They made one particular change which screws any chance you have of playing as the four hidden characters. They made the B button a back button on the character select screen, so you could go back to the title screen for whatever reason. See in the import, you’d place the cursor on a particular character and through a series of various button presses, you’d hear a voice, and then you’d choose the character, and you were all set. Well, B was one of those buttons. Ugh, it’s so terrible, especially when Agetec tells you the code in their instruction manual. It’s like they’re mocking you every time you come back the title screen. “You can’t play as ‘Kaede before awakening,’ nah, nah, - - - nah, nah, - nah.” They basically sapped any of the replay value they had listed on the back of the box with this addition (hasn’t anyone heard of soft reset?).

Overall: 5 (import score 7)

I love SNK, let me make that clear. I like to see great games from them, because they’re a great company. Had either version of this game been true to its MVS parent in graphics and sound, my bitch would really only be with Agetec, because the domestic release is a watered-down piece of trash. Gameplay is good: it’s a system that’s straightforward, and demands patience to some degree (well unless you’re Setsuna). It’ll grow on you, but it’s no where near as fun as some of SNK’s other games.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/04