Samurai Shodown

"This is a true fighting game that no Street Fighter fan should miss"

I have never seen a better fighting game than this, with the exception of Street Fighter 2. Samurai Shodown is a good arcade game and is faithfully recreated on the gameboy.

Gameplay(8)-the game consists of 12 samurai fighters, Gen-An with his distorted face but cool claws. Galford with his faithful pup and sword. Haohmaru the main character in the game who as a kid is arrogant but a mighty awesome samurai. Ukyo a girl with a staff, Charlotte a women in armour, TamTam a barbaric girl. Earthquake a fat guy who when he falls makes the earth shake. Nakoruru with her pet bird. Wan-Fu a Chinese with a big sword! Jubei a leader of a clan who wants to show of it's power. Hanzo father of a kidnapped son who wants revenge. Kyoshiro who's father wishes him to show off the beautifull fighting style Kabuki. And then of course your classic villain all in miniature. Therefore choosing your fighter you follow them through the story with cut scenes, which are quite nice for 1993. During the battles bombs and food fall down from the sky, making the game even more entertaining. Then there are also the three secret characters which you will unlock later. Storyline is also good.

Graphics(9)-very nice with detail that will make your eyes water, and I already previously mentioned the quality of the cut scenes which look great. Better yet are the cool animations after winning a battle, whether it's Haohmaru swinging his sword in the air and then catching it in his scabbard or Jubei laughing.

Sound(7)-the sound is good when it comes to sword clashing, the music is abundant but not very catchy. Overall a good amount of sound effects and music draw you in but fail to amaze

Control(10)-easy a and b combo for everyone and cool special moves, such as Galfords dog combo were he releases his pup to ravage your opponent and Haohmaru's tornado attack. Standard jump and defend with a nice array of special moves
make the controls ace.

Replay(7)-once you beaten it with your favorite characters and viewed the cut scenes there isn't much there except for the link mode.Still fun to just pick up and play though.

Overall(8)-a good solid fighting game which the gameboy lacks. Pretty graphics, cool characters, good story, and average sound effects make this a fighting game not to miss but maybe a little hard to find nowadays.

-Step aside and let the true samurai shodown begin!

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