Samurai Shodown

"Portable samurai fun for a while"

Samurai Shodown is a remarkable 2D fighting franchise and it's SNK most loved series which debut during the arcade era. Due to popularity at the time, Samurai Shodown would had to be available to every mass of gamers all around from those 16-Bit gamers at home to those arcade players at the mall and with this Game Gear game alongside the Game Boy version, it would also available to the portable crowd as well. So this game is the second portable Samurai Shodown, does it had any hype over those that comes before it, read to find out...

Graphic:

Since this game is a portable title, it would really be unfair to compare it to any emulation or console versions of the same game since they are much more powerful and had bigger, better features. Instead I'll compare it to the more similar Game Boy version. So how does the graphics look in this game, much more familiar I supposed. Since there are now color display, it looks really close to the console version but with a few details cut off. The Game Gear graphics really show a ton of colorful display and it's because of this that give it better look than the monochrome Game Boy version. All the backgrounds are so full of colorful wonders for a portable. Despite the great looking backgrounds, the same could not be said about the character's sprites. Compare to the Game Boy's super deformed anime sprites, Game Gear sprites look so pixelated in comparison. Rarely you won't find much in details with the Game Gear sprites say a few details on the heads and shoulders but that's it. Some of the winning animations also had being cut. Also if you like the arcade intros from the console version or Game Boy, you would deeply miss it here because this game doesn't feature that. Anyways, the Game Gear did good with the backgrounds graphics, it just doesn't quite had the unique sprites the Game Boy version had and that's a disappointment there.

Music/Sound:

Like I said in the Game Boy SS review, I really think Game Gear's sound system is much better than Game Boy but when I play this game, it really proved me wrong. The game's musical tunes in tis game sound just so lame. Sometime you could barely even notice which theme is playing. Of course unlike the Game Boy port, the Game Gear version borrow a few tracks from the console versions but in here it turn out worst. Why Takara or SNK didn't bother to reproduced new remix tracks for this game is one question I need answer to when the Game Boy version had ton of exclusive sound tracks and yet it is on a weaker system. I had to say the music here isn't that good, some of the classic theme like Galford and Nakoruru got totally ruin in this translation. It's makes even the most die-hard SS fan want to turn off that annoying sound system for this game. As for the sound effects, they are all the same, just a few cling and bling, nothing special. The Game Boy version is acceptable because it's on a weaker portable but this is the Game Gear, it is much more powerful to handle more sound effects than this.

Control:

With two buttons, it simple to use. Button 1 is for slashing and punching and button 2 is for kicking. Both are for strong slash and the d-pad is for movements, that's all there is to it. Simple to use and difficult to master, same as Game Boy version so no problem here.

Gameplay:

This is the main meat of the Game Gear version, the gameplay plays true to the arcade and console version. All the special moves, POW meters and items are all here for your advantages and you could really use them to. The game is also play much faster than the Game Boy port which is a good and the A.I. cause nothing of threat. The only thing that does disappoint is that with the good gameplay comes the lack of replayability. Also exceptional are arcade feature like the zooming and scaling; however, blood effects and finishers could've made the game better.

Replayability

This is what makes this port a disappointment. You can't link play with other players here like you would the Game Boy version, you only had nine default characters unlike twelve in the Game Boy port and you only had one unlockable character whereas the Game Boy had three. The single player mode also lack the bonus stages and a few of the cutscenes which the Game Boy and console versions had. No bios were shown which is okay but could of been interesting and there are no special features to unlock nor are there any more reasons to play after playing through it once or after mastering all the characters. Also without a training mode, you could had a hard time mastering this game but at least it's in color and is simple to play.

Is worth getting:

That depends on which portable console you had. If you own a Game Gear I don't see why not but if you own that and a Game Boy, I prefer the Game Boy version of SS, if you only had the Game Boy, then take a pass on this game. Not that this is a terrible game, it just doesn't feature anything ground breaking and that's saying something especially for a game that was released on a more powerful hardware than the Game Boy. Anyways if you are an SS fan or collector, this game could serve as a good collector's edition for your collection's need.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/20/08

Game Release: Samurai Shodown (US, 1994)