"Little Known Gem.. still one of my favorites"

Before 1st person shooters became the "bread and butter" of the gaming world, Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat were cleaning up in the arcades and selling like crazy for the consoles. Clones were everywhere, and far too often, the next little upgrade to the Street Fighter 2 series or the latest sequel to the Mortal Kombat was was heralded and overhyped as the "Greatest Game of All Time" or some such nonesense. Street Fighter 3 was recieved coldly in the arcades, and many people who committed themselves as Die Hard Fans of Mortak Kombat 2 aren't even aware that Mortal Kombat 4 exists. While the genre is anything but dead, for all intents and purposes, the golden age of the fighting game is over.

The Neo Geo was a system born in the Golden Age of Fighting that thrived almost exclusively on the genre. A majority of Neo Geo games are fighting games, although some of them are so similar in style and execution that you can barely tell them apart. When given the choice between Street Fighter 2 or most Neo Geo games, I'd quickly take Street Fighter 2. However, in the dusk of the Golden Age of Fighting, one game hit the Neo Geo, and in turn, the arcades, that earned my respect and forced from me many a quarter.

That game is Samurai Shodown IV.

When the first Samurai Shodown hit the arcades, I dismissed it as a Street Fighter clone disguised by a Samurai theme. When the second and third sequels came around, although I played them a bit, I never really got into them at the time, considering that I had other choices to consider. However, when IV came around, I actually took the time to sit down and play it. Now, I realize this is the fourth game of a series, so they've had a lot of time to trial and error this thing. I also realize Samurai Shodown was a pretty sweet game to begin with. But after long observation, I've decided that Samurai Shodown IV is one of the sweetest fighting games ever.

The game starts like any other.. pick your player after inserting a quarter or two. Then you get a short scene that demonstrates how terrible the translation of this game from Japanese to Americanese was. You'll meet your "rival" for the game, and you get a curious clock in the top left corner of the screen. Then, you're off to fight, after seeing where you'll fight on a little map screen. Then the battle begins.

At its core, Samurai Shodown IV doesn't do much in the way of revolutionizing the fighting genre, but it does combine a lot of the best ideas in fighting games today and yesterday. First of all, the core engine itself is very capable. The game supports combos, which I think is important for any fighting game to be taken seriously. The more you get whacked around or the more your blows get blocked, the more your rage meter in the corner of your screen grows. In Super Street Fighter II fashion, you can unload some nasty combos with the right joystick strokes. Or, you can turn on your "rage," which will increase your attack power for a time. The game supports all sorts of special moves -- projectiles, teleports, ground to air, air to ground.. if it was devised in one of the Street Fighters, it's here... and it probably has a more interesting flair on it. The game also gives every character a weapon.. not merely an extension of the character sprites, the weapons can be knocked out of your hands, or you could accidently lock your weapon with your opponents. You can easily pick up your weapon again.. if your opponent will let you to it. Or you can find hand to weapon. You can even taunt your opponent, causing you to drop your own weapon. Pretty cocky. The game even features finishing moves, a real surprise for a Neo Geo fighter. Another interesting feature is suicide, something few other fighters offer. You can tap in a code to have your character kill him or herself in battle. Why? Because in the next round, you'll have a full rage meter.. THAT'S why.

The basic fighting itself differs slightly from Street Fighter in that your primary offense is your weapon -- you don't have a variety of kicks and punches like Street Fighter. You have a light swing, a medium swing, and a strong swing, and then a really really really weak kick you can perform if need be. It's smart and it works well -- you can always counter a strong blow with a quicker, weaker one. The system works well.

The variety in Samurai Shodown is one of its best features. The game supports over 16 characters, each with unique moves and styles. But the variety doesn't end there, either. When you select your fighter, you get to designate him a style -- cross or slash. Both styles feature different moves, in a way doubling the amount of characters. But it doesn't even stop THERE! After choosing your style, you choose your skill level -- beginninger, advanced, or expert. This isn't your difficulty level, but an estimation of your own abilities. Choose the beginner level, and you'll find combos easier to pull off, although some of the more advanced features of the fighting system will be locked from you. Choose the expert mode, and you won't even be able to block.. but you'll move twice as fast as your opponent does.

Oh, and remember that "clock" I told you about? Yeah? Well, there's yet another interesting feature of the game. You have only so much time to beat the game.. or else, you won't get to really fight the last boss. And the last battles are a doozy too -- there are two bosses, and one last fight after that.. against your rival. Then you get to watch the badly translated ending for whatever character you pick.. but we won't get into that.

The graphics in Samurai Shodown IV are a grand affair -- the only thing I can think to compare it with would be some of Capcom's newer high energy fighters, to a lesser degree. Ridiculous things start happening when super powers start floating around, with some super moves littering the entire screen with animation and pixels. When the fight gets intense, the background will suddenly change into something a bit more psionic. And on top of that, each background has its own little introduction that is quite cool -- your opponent will jump down from a mountain cliff overhead, or the game will fade in from a dramatic lightning blast... all quite interesting, all to keep your attention.. and it succeeds, too. The characters are large and well detailed, animated as well as you can expect from the Neo Geo. The super moves are all entertaining, some involving outside props, like the ninja who cuts an apple as he swing at you, or the animals that are used by some of the other fighters. Samurai Shodown won't knock your socks off in graphics, but it will keep you interested and entertained.. and involved.

The music isn't easy to hear in the arcade, but I've heard enough to know its good... actually, very good, especially considering ther's no CD in this stupid thing. Songs are almost all Japaneses flavored, but the instruments involved range from Sitars to electric Guitars. The characters most all have something to shout in Japanese as they command their super moves, and even the hurried English words, like "FIGHT!", sound clear. Just one question.. why "VictoLy?"

What we have here is a fighter.. a fighter that stands on its own, even today. It's a lot better than a lot of the second rate fighters we see coming out for the N64 and PSX.. it's worth its quarters, and it was underappreciated in its time. If you see Samurai Shodown IV somewhere, don't pass up the opportunity to play it. It's a good time, and you WON'T regret it. (Well, not if you're a street fighting fan, at least.)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99