"A solid little chibi yet serious 2-D fighter."

Hmmm... Samurai Showdown II for the NGPC is a somewhat unique case of a Fighting Game. Some Fighting games have been condemned on doing well in style but not so well in substance. This underrated little gem on the other hand is kind of like the opposite. It has incredibly fun gameplay, well-done controls, and it has a pretty darn decent amount of depth in it. Unfortunately the music is awfully average at best, and the graphics aren't terrible but its not hard to tell that they don't use the system's capabilities to its fullest. And while the winquotes aren't as awfully generic as Capcom Vs. SNK 2, their not all that much better. (While it may seem nice that their getting a lot better in their english, you might end up wishing that they didn't on this one.) So I have the good news & the bad news, the bad news is that it has its share of cons with the pros. However fortunately the good news is that its pros are stronger than the cons.

One of the stranger flaws in this game is that its Chibi-styled yet its mainly a straightforward serious game. While I'm not saying it should've been basically ''Samurai Showdown: The Pocket Fighter Edition'' but it probably would've made the game a bit more intresting if it had a bit more of the aforementioned Capcom underrated gem's spirit if you know what I mean. (The only thing that I have seen thats like that is from a Special Move done by Shiki. A young ninja girl whom resembles Psylocke from X-Men but with a lot shorter hair. She has a special grab attack where she briefly makes out with her opponent, and like all attacks like that its not gender-specific.) However the ABSOLUTE best thing about this game is the perfectly functional control and absolutely solid gameplay. Its gameplay may not be perfect when it comes to this genre, but its awfully close. This very good game is certainly not just a ordinary ''button masher'' but its more complex moves don't feel unnecessarily hard to pull off. Its not the deepest 2-D Fighter you'll ever find but you can be suprised on how deep it can be. Its a very easy game to get into as it is a very fine example of how great the gameplay in a Fighting game can be. And it maintains a very good balance of never being too easy yet its never too frustratingly hard. It can be fun for beginners and experts and you certainly don't have to be a fan of the series in order to be able to enjoy it at all

It has a very good variety of SS characters to choose from and just about none of them feel like ''carbon-copies'' to anyone else. Oh sure some characters may have similar weapons but the fighting style lets you know that the similarities for the most part end there. And despite the somewhat akward color scheme the characters still do look good and show their character design's style alright.

However at the end of the day its not hard to see that its just simply a 2-D Weapons-based Fighting Game without all that much difference to past titles. Overall while its style might use some polish, it has exceptionally good gameplay and is definitely a pretty good example why the NGPC was a very good handheld system.

+ Its gameplay is easy to get into with good Control.
+ It has a very good variety of unique characters to choose.
+ Its difficulty level is very nicely balanced.
+ Despite the simplistic control system of the console, its gameplay is not as shallow as you think.
+ You don't have to be a Samurai Showdown fan to play it.
- The fact that its a ''chibi-styled'' game yet its mainly a serious-minded one might be confusing to some people
- The color scheme on the characters are a bit strange
- The music is generally ''average-at-best''.
- While the winquotes don't have all that much engrish, their kinda bland and pretty forgettable.
- Its still for the most part a basic 2-D weapons-based fighter

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/04, Updated 02/10/04