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''Samurai Shodown'' (known as ''Samurai Spirits'' in Japan) is a 2019
fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...
developed by KOF Studio and published by
SNK is a Japanese video gaming and interactive entertainment company. It was founded in 1978 as by Eikichi Kawasaki and began by developing arcade games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system on which the company established many franchises ...
for
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,
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
,
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
, Stadia,
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, Android and
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via Netflix Games, and
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as an entry in the ''
Samurai Shodown ''Samurai Shodown'', known in Japan as is a fighting game series by SNK. The series began in 1993 and is known for being one of the earliest in the genre with a primary focus on weapon-based combat. Plot The stories in the series take place i ...
'' series, as well as a reboot to the series. An arcade version was released by
Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...
.


Gameplay

Samurai Shodown is a 2D fighting game with 3D graphics that uses many elements from past games in the series. It shares similarities with ''
The King of Fighters XIV is a 2016 fighting game developed by KOF Studio and published by SNK. It is the fourteenth main installment in the ''The King of Fighters'' series. It is the first game in the series to be rendered entirely in 3D, although gameplay is restri ...
'' and '' SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy''. The controls consists of four buttons: weak, medium, strong blows with weapons and kick. By pressing special combinations, the character can carry out captures, counterattacks, interceptions and evasions. The Rage Gauge is back in the game. It replenishes after each damage taken by the character. A fully filled scale gives access to new abilities. After gaining a full scale, the player can activate the rage mode, which increases the character's strength for a while and opens up the opportunity to inflict a disarming blow to the opponent. During the activation of the fury mode, an explosion occurs, pushing the enemy away and opening him up for attack. After the end of the rage mode, the player is deprived of the opportunity to use the scale until the end of the match. Each character has a Super Special Move, which deals very powerful damage when hitting an opponent. However, it can only be attempted once during the entire match. The game uses a trainable artificial intelligence. The player can create his/her own so-called ghost. The AI will observe the player's actions and then try to copy them. In a battle with the player's own ghost, weaknesses in tactics, movement patterns and offensive and defensive habits can be observed, useful for the player's gameplay improvement. The bloody finishing moves that were absent in the previous titles of the series returned to this game.


Plot

''Samurai Shodown'' takes place in the time period between '' Samurai Shodown V'' and the original ''
Samurai Shodown ''Samurai Shodown'', known in Japan as is a fighting game series by SNK. The series began in 1993 and is known for being one of the earliest in the genre with a primary focus on weapon-based combat. Plot The stories in the series take place i ...
'', and has been commonly cited as a reboot of the series. The game takes place in 1787, during the
Tenmei is a Japanese era name (年号, ''nengō'', literally "years name") for the years between the An'ei Era and before the Kansei Era, from April 1781 through January 1789. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1781 : The new era name of Ten ...
Era of Japanese history. During that period, the entire country is beset by a terrible and looming evil. Fire, ruin and famine ran rampant throughout Japan. Meanwhile, as these events unfold, a sinister cloud envelops the air with a foreboding sense of dread. Shizuka Gozen, the deceased spirit of a young woman who is possessed and trapped in
Yomi is the Japanese language, Japanese word for the underworld, land of the dead (World of Darkness). According to Shinto mythology as related in ''Kojiki'', this is where the dead go in the afterlife. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is ...
, (labeled Eternity in the game itself) threatens to destroy Japan. Warriors from all across Japan and beyond the ocean, driven by their own needs and desires, converge to investigate these evil forces and vanquish them.


Characters

''Samurai Shodown'' features a base roster of 16 playable characters, with extra ones available as paid and free downloadable content. Newcomers are listed in bold, guest characters are listed in ''italics''. All third-party guest characters are unavailable on the Netflix version of the game. Notes *: Free post-launch downloadable character


Development

''Samurai Shodown'' was unveiled at the SNK Investor Relations 2018 IPO conference, being developed by SNK Corporation. The game was published by Athlon Games in Global version. Although a reboot, it is the twelfth main game in the ''
Samurai Shodown ''Samurai Shodown'', known in Japan as is a fighting game series by SNK. The series began in 1993 and is known for being one of the earliest in the genre with a primary focus on weapon-based combat. Plot The stories in the series take place i ...
'' series, it is the first mainline entry since 2008's '' Samurai Shodown Sen''. The development team consists of members who worked on ''
The King of Fighters XIV is a 2016 fighting game developed by KOF Studio and published by SNK. It is the fourteenth main installment in the ''The King of Fighters'' series. It is the first game in the series to be rendered entirely in 3D, although gameplay is restri ...
'' and '' SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy''. Nobuyuki Kuroki is the director and one of the artists, while Yasuyuki Oda serves as producer. Kuroki has been previously involved with the series through the '' Samurai Shodown 64'' titles. The characters of the game were designed by Yumi Saji. The internal staff at SNK who worked on the game consisted of 50 to 60 employees, as well as outsourcing some art assets, to form a total of an estimated 200 employees who worked on the game. Some of the reasons for making a new title were the recent focus on the
esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...
community and the many fan requests. The team considered using a realistic art style for the graphics but decided against it because too many fighting games were using it already. Oda has expressed interest in adding guest characters from other franchises. This was realized with guest characters from
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(which would later acquiring Athlon's parent company Leyou),
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...
, and
Arc System Works , commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''Guilty Gear ...
-produced games. Due to outdated graphics involving the releases of ''The King of Fighters XIV'' and ''SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy'', SNK chairman Zhihui GE had stated that the future SNK fighting games will use
Unreal Engine 4 Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is the fourth version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. UE4 began development in 2003 and was released in March 2014, with the first game using UE4 being released in April 2014. UE4 introduced support for Physically ...
in order to give a better graphical presentation. ''Samurai Shodown'' became the first SNK game to use Unreal Engine 4. First announced for
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
in September 2018, the game was later revealed to be a multiplatform title. It was released for the PlayStation 4 and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
worldwide in June 2019 with versions for the
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
,
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
and Stadia releasing at a later date. The enhanced version for
Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...
was revealed during Tokyo Game Show 2020 for a Q4 2020 launch. It released on March 16, 2021, and was published by
Deep Silver Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion. History Deep Silver was announced in November 2002, with their first release to be '' Anarchy Online: The Notum Wars''. According to Craig McNichol, who ran Koch Medi ...
(part of
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's
Koch Media Plaion GmbH (formerly Koch Media) is an Austrian media company headquartered in Höfen, Tyrol, with an additional office in Planegg, Germany. It was founded in 1994 by Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz. The company operates video game publishi ...
). The version supports a higher
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of 120fps. With help from Code Mystics,
rollback netcode Netcode is a blanket term most commonly used by gamers relating to networking in online games, often referring to synchronization issues between clients and servers. Players often blame "bad netcode" when they experience lag or reverse state tra ...
will be implemented in a late summer 2023 update for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles via GGPO similar to the one ''
The King of Fighters XV is a 2022 fighting game developed by KOF Studio and published by SNK in Japan and Koch Media internationally for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It is the fifteenth main installment in the ''The King of Fighters'' seri ...
'' uses. The netcode update was finalized on Steam on December 14, 2023 with consoles on May 22, 2024.


Reception

''Samurai Shodown'' has received generally favorable reviews, the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch versions earning a
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score of 81, 78, 76, and 75 respectively.
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gave the game 3.5 out of 5 stars, and commented that ''Samurai Shodown'' "is a fighting game that’s incredibly solid in its core gameplay and looks swell enough, but it sadly feels like it’s lacking because there’s little else to do." ''
The Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
'' called the game a solid revamp for the series, and noted that SNK upgraded the visuals and was as challenging as ever. In their review of the game,
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
called the game a great reboot that captured what made the original fun and unique, while also drawing attention to the fact that the single-player experience was somewhat lacking.
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
praised the game's fighting mechanics, and noted that there was an extraordinarily tense style of fighting that is unlike just about anything else in the genre in the current fighting game climate. The PlayStation 4 version was the fourth bestselling game in Japan during its first week of release, selling 16,662 copies. On July 4, SNK reported that first-week shipments plus digital sales totaled 40,606 units. The game was nominated for "Best Fighting Game" at
The Game Awards 2019 The Game Awards 2019 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2019. The event was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los ...
, and for " Fighting Game of the Year" at the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, and won the award for "Game, Franchise Fighting" at the NAVGTR Awards.


References


External links

* * (Arcade version) {{Authority control 2.5D fighting games 2019 video games Crossover fighting games Deep Silver games Fiction set in 1787 Multiplayer and single-player video games NESiCAxLive games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Samurai Shodown video games SNK games Stadia games Unreal Engine 4 games Video game reboots Video games about samurai Video games developed in Japan Video games set in feudal Japan Video games set in France Video games set in North America Video games set in the 18th century Windows games Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games