In this era of gaming, nostalgia sells. Nintendo does it all the time and SNK is following suit with the next installment of the Samurai Shodown franchise, which hasn’t been seen in about ten years. Samurai Shodown is all about taking down your opponent with combo attacks and special moves before they take you down. There is a gage on screen that charges during the battle that allows for special attacks that are very strong that could take you out with one string of attacks so you have to be on guard at all times.
You also have the ability to attack with weapons but if you have your weapon knocked out of your hand, you will have to pick it up. That could be the difference in winning and losing the match so don’t lose your weapon. There is an interesting mechanic called the Super Special Move as a one time use attack for each character during the match and think of it as a trump card in the battle. Graphically, the game looks great as it looks like a cross between modern and cell shaded to give it an old school vibe.
Samurai Shodown was built in the Unreal Engine so it should look great. One of the more interesting features in Samurai Shodown is the Dojo Mode where players can test their skills against the AI and the coolest feature is the AI will learn from your plays and create a “ghost” clone from those plays so you can practice against it. You can play against that ghost or train against top ghosts in battles and learn strategies from the top players. You’ll also be able to battle online against tough opponents!
During the demos, I felt like Earthquake, a bigger, slower fighter with a larger weapon was the way to go for me because I was able to execute quick combo attacks with him. Another reason why Earthquake was the way to go was because he took up a large portion of the battlefield and with his large weapon, I was able to use long range attacks and hit my opponent from pretty much anywhere on the battlefield. In fighting games like this, you need to fin your niche and make it work! Speaking of the characters, there will be 16 characters as well as DLC after launch.
Samurai Shodown coming back after ten years is a welcome sight as it keeps the fun of the classic games and adds new elements. The Dojo mode should be in every fighting game moving forward as it’s interesting to see and will be beneficial for all players. Fans of the classic Samurai Shodown will want to grab the rebooted Samurai Shodown!