Samurai Shodown II

Samurai Shodown II
Neo Geo AES cover art for Samurai Shodown II, featuring art by Shinkiro.
Developer(s)	SNK
Publisher(s)	SNK
Designer(s)	Galapagos Team
Platform(s)	Arcade, Neo-Geo CD, PlayStation, Windows, PlayStation Network, Wii (Virtual Console), Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Release date(s)	Neo Geo October 28, 1994 PlayStation Network JP May 30, 2007 Virtual Console EU August 8, 2008 NA August 25, 2008 Xbox Live Arcade September 10, 2008
Genre(s)	2D Weapon Based Versus fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	Neo Geo (202 Mbit cartridge)
Display	Raster, 304 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 4096 colors

Samurai Shodown II (真 SAMURAI SPIRITS 覇王丸地獄変, Shin Samurai Spirits Haōmaru Jigokuhen^?, lit. "True Samurai Spirits - Haohmaru's Portrait of Hell"), is the second game in SNK's popular Samurai Shodown series of versus fighting games. This game has been released on the Wii's Virtual Console in Europe on August 8, 2008 and in North America on August 25, 2008 at a cost of 900 Wii Points.^[1] It also been released on Xbox 360 for Xbox Live Arcade on September 10, 2008.

Gameplay

Nicotine vs. Haohmaru.

Following up on the extremely enthusiastic fan reception of the first SS game, SNK rebuilt the sequel from the ground up, including almost all of its predecessor's cast, adding several new characters, and refining the overall gameplay with more responsive control, more moves (particularly the use of the POW meter as a finishing-move meter), and a substantial number of Easter eggs.

The cast of characters was expanded to include the following new additions:

• Genjuro Kibagami, who was to become Haohmaru's greatest rival.
• Cham Cham, a young, catlike girl who was the younger sister of Tam Tam (who was excluded from the game).
• Neinhalt Sieger, a knight from Prussia, who fights with a giant, gun-containing gauntlet.
• Nicotine Caffeine, an old, diminutive monk, and master of Haohmaru and Genjuro.
• Kuroko, the hidden boss of the game, is playable for the first time. Kuroko's movelist is interesting as he uses moves that are used by some of the characters in the game as well as characters from other SNK fighters such as Ryo Sakazaki. His super move in the game is a comical version of Ryo's Ryuko Ranbu.
• Rashojin Mizuki, the first female final boss in the series and the only boss to have assistance from an animal.

The overall gameplay was expanded to include several movement options, such as being able to roll forward and backward, ducking to avoid high attacks, or doing small hops to avoid low strikes. This game was also the first game to incorporate an offensive blocking technique or "parry", via a command issued at the last second, a player would be able to deflect the incoming attack and leave their adversary open to attack by a split second. Such a technique was later also used in Namco's Weaponlord and later popularized by Capcom's Street Fighter III. There are also cameo appearances from other SNK characters, a hidden boss who would occasionally come out to challenge players, and several other treats for fans to uncover.

Reception

Samurai Shodown II was even better-received than the original^[2] and is commonly regarded as one of SNK's finest games ever produced. It also made GameSpot's list of The Greatest Games of All Time^[3] and EGM's List of Top Ten Cult Classics.^[4] At Game Rankings, it holds the overall rating at 92.50%.^[5]

In spite of (or perhaps because of) its considerable popularity, the game went for several years without being released on any other system.^[6] When it did happen, it was a port of the Neo-Geo CD version for Windows-based PCs.^[7] This version did actually get a release in the United States, and can still be found in some game stores. The only other port was for the Sony PlayStation, in the form of the Samurai Spirits Kenkaku Shinan Pack (サムライスピリッツ剣客指南パック), which combined the first two games into one package, and was only released in Japan. However, at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show on September 21, 2007, an Xbox Live Arcade port and a PlayStation 2/Wii anthology containing every Samurai Shodown game were announced.^[8]

The game is renowned for having some of the most hilarious bits of Engrish in the history of video games, even considering SNK's history of questionable translation. Chad Okada (the Game Lord) has stated that efforts to localize the text were stunted as the time and money needed to fix it would have been more expensive than releasing the title in its original state.^[9]

Nobuhiro Watsuki, creator of anime series such as Rurouni Kenshin and Buso Renkin, has stated he is a fan.

References

1. ^ "One WiiWare Game and Two Virtual Console Games Added to Wii Shop Channel". Nintendo of America. 2008-08-25. http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/TRMLGNn1idOEIX4p62FML5LivmFUEDAa. Retrieved 2008-08-25. 
2. ^ "Samurai Shodown II Site at GameSpot". GameSpot - A Video Game Review Site. http://www.gamespot.com/neo/action/samuraishodown2/index.html. Retrieved December 21, 2007. "The second game in SNK's Samurai Shodown line is widely regarded as the best of the series." 
3. ^ "The Greatest Games of All Time". GameSpot - A Video Game Review Site. http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/p-31.html. Retrieved December 21, 2007. 
4. ^ EGM Staff. "Top 10 Cult Classics from 1UP.com". 1UP.com - A Video Game Review Site. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3141616. Retrieved December 21, 2007. 
5. ^ "Samurai Shodown II Reviews". Game Rankings - A Video Game Review Site. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/519956.asp?q=Samurai%20Shodown. Retrieved December 19, 2007. 
6. ^ Lachel, Cyril. "Defunct Games - Top Ten Games That Brought Us to Capcom vs. SNK 2". Defunct Games - A Retro Video Game Site. http://www.defunctgames.com/topten/topten020.php4. Retrieved December 21, 2007. "Though this is the highlight of the series, it's odd that the game was never given justice on a home console (outside of the Neo Geo, of course)." 
7. ^ "真サムライスピリッツ 覇王丸地獄変：SNKプレイモア ゲーム情報総合サイト　NEOGEO WORLD" (in Japanese). SNK Playmore Official Homepage. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071013121306/http://game.snkplaymore.co.jp/consumer/title/shin_samurai.php. Retrieved February 6, 2008. 
8. ^ "Tokyo Game Show 2007: Samurai Shodown 2 to XBLA, Wii new from 1UP.com". 1UP.com - A Video Game Review Site. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3163122. Retrieved September 21, 2007. 
9. ^ Provo, Frank. "The History of SNK~Banking on NeoGeo". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/features/6089278/p-10.html. Retrieved June 2, 2008. 

External links

• Review of Samurai Shodown 2 at Neo-Geo.com
• Samurai Showdown Forever fan site