Samurai Shodown

Graphics are dead-on perfect, right down to the spurting blood; the music is clear and direct from the arcade, although the speech is inexplicably fuzzy. Disc loading time is minimal, five seconds max, and the control is nice and tight (though a joystick would complete that arcade feel). Just one more game that makes the 3DO worth it.

While SS has its work cut out for it against the likes of Street Fighter II, the fabulous fighters is in may ways clearly superior to the original SF II. With pet attackers, heart stopping graphics and wild weapons galore, this is one Samurai that fights with honor!

Wat betreft dit niet te evenaren vechtspel heb ik maar één puntje van kritiek: waar is het in het rondspuitende bloed bloed gebleven? Dat is de enige reden dat dit spel van mij geen tien krijgt. Kijk maar eens in de arcade als je wilt zien wat echt bloedvergieten is. Voor de rest is Samurai Showdown een getrouwe kopie van de arcade-versie. Je vraagt je af hoe ze al die aktie in zon'n kleine cartridge hebben kunnen krijgen.

Samurai Showdown is a game that could never be lost in a crowd. Considering the crowd of fighting games flooding the market in the early and mid-90's, that says something. It's a rare game that encompasses everything right about the genre and expands the category further. With very few things wrong with this game (if anything), what we have here is simply one of the most well thought out, shockingly perfect fighting games of all time.

The colors and rich and vivid, and the Street Fighter-style graphics look fantastic. There are 12 very interesting characters to choose from, and they all brandish swords or other sharp weapons. The game plays much like Street Fighter 2, with three kicks, three punches and an assortment of special moves. One unique feature is how the screen scales out when the fighters are spread apart, although this gimmick really doesn't add much to the gameplay. The gorgeous backgrounds are Asian-inspired, and none of the voice dialogue has been translated, which is probably for the best. I had a great time playing this game. There's some slow-down, but the action and animation is first-rate. Unfortunately, the six-button controller is not supported, and you need to hold a shoulder button to activate your kicks, which works fine. Samurai Shodown made me wish ALL 3DO games were in 2D!

Techniquement irréprochable, sauf au niveau des sons qui merdent vraiment énormément. A croire que le programmeur chiait des singes volants au moment où il a digitalisé les sons à partir du jeu original. Un achat indispensable, donc, pour les fans de la baston qui ne sont pas trop regardants sur la qualité sonore, ou qui sont carrément sourds.

Shodown doesn't show well for arcade purists. If you don't use the standard 3DO controller, playing is bearable thanks to the redeeming qualities of the cool graphics. But if you're a true fan of the Neo Geo masterpiece, you may want to go to the arcade to get your fix.

Shodown has just enough of the spirit and power of the arcade to satisfy frenzied fighters searching for the only true weapons game available. However, this version has enough missing elements to prompt hardcore fans with deep pockets to take a serious look at the Sega CD and 3DO versions.

It will only take one time to be hooked. There isn't a better portable 8-bit fighter to be found anywhere. The only other way to play Samurai Shodown in accurate portable form is to fork out the money for a Nomad and the Genesis version. This is easily one of the single greatest Game Gear games ever made.

I once again find myself reviewing another clone game, only this time the situation is much more dire. Samurai Showdown (referred to hereafter as SS), is a 2D versus fighter from the early nineties, and therefore will probably never escape comparisons to the eternal king of fighters that is Street Fighter II. Go look around at other reviews, and you'll see a slew of such things as “almost as good as SFII,” “a clone that shows its inspiration a thing or two,”“this game is a pretty darn good Street Fighter clone,” and so on. So is SS a clone? Certainly. Are comparisons to Street Fighter legitimate? Of course. Despite that, is it worthy of being judged as a game instead of being balanced against its inspiration?

Crystal Dynamics's first fighting game, Samurai Shodown, is a brilliant realization. Aside the NEO-GEO version from SNK Corp, makers of the arcade game, there is no other version that can be compared to what exists now on the 3DO. The developers achieved an near-arcade quality game with large characters, colorful backgrounds identical to the arcade (seashore, desert, waterfall, etc..), the same Japanese music and a good game play.

It's the best fighter, perhaps even the best game on the short lived Neo Geo Pocket. However, in a world where we all have Neo Geo Pocket Color's, this is more like Blue Grass than the Blues!

And that’s what it all comes back to with Samurai Shodown. You should own this game in some format – there’s no doubt about that. It’s a classic fighting design that’s just as venerable as the original Street Fighter 2, and it hasn’t lost any of its fun factor in the past 15 years. The question is just one of personal preference for you, then. If you’re not much of an old-school Neo Geo fan, then you could justifiably get away with only owning this and maybe the original Metal Slug in VC form, and not bothering with any of the physical disc compilations. But if you do have fond memories of that arcade age when SNK’s multi cabinets rotated between Samurai Shodown and several other MVS hits, you’d probably be better off saving your Wii Points and not downloading this one – investing instead in the fuller variety offered by SNK Arcade Classics: Volume 1. The choice is yours. Pick your side in the format fight. IGN Ratings for Samurai Shodown [Virtual Conso

It's not quite in the same leagues as MKII or SSFII, but it's still a great game. If you're tired of hand-to-hand combat, by all means take the chance to pick up a sword and start hacking away.

This cult arcade hit for Neo Geo has finally hit the home systems with version for SNES, Genesis and soon, Sega CD. It's not without it's problems, but without a doubt, the 3DO version is the best of them.

All in all, Samurai Shodown is a worthy game for fighting fanatics who long for some weapons-based combat as well as some blood to go along with their action. The game loses points for not having the zoomed-in characters, but those who have never experienced the arcade version might not find it a problem at all. Considering the arcade game was several hundred megabits in size, this 32-Meg conversion is pretty impressive.

Samurai Shodown still rises above any shortcomings with a cast of fun characters, excellent play control, fast action, colorful settings, funny dialogue, and a great final boss fight. It's all rolled into an exercise in which knowing how to block and counter your opponent, and learning how best to exploit their moments of weakness, is much more important than memorizing any special move.

There's no doubt that this is a good version of Samurai Shodown. It's definitely worth buying as long as you've already got Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

If you still play the Game Boy regularly, then Samurai Shodown is a must-have title. To save on space, the characters are rendered in a super-deformed Japanese style that looks great. Not a lot of detail, but enough to understand what's going on. All of the characters are here, including Earthquake (missing from the Genesis) and three new secret characters that you can play as: Amakusa, the Courier and the Judge.

If you're a fan of fighting games and are miffed about the lack of them on the Sega CD platform, Samurai Shodown should be the cure for what ails you. It has great characters, challenge, blood, solid gameplay and hulking creatures swinging swords. Definitely a recipe for an evening of fun.

A very faithful home version of the arcade fighter, the only drawback being the voices for some of the characters aren't exactly right (like with Galford). The scaling effect is well done, with easy execution of the moves.

For those of you wanting bigger fighters than those in the Super NES version, look no further. The scaling is out, but the graphics are very close to the Neo version, with the omission of the fighter Earthquake. There is some slow-down and the voices are poor, but the moves are very easy to execute. An earnest translation.

This is probably the best-playing version of the Neo Geo classic. The game was reproduced with all the moves and almost all of the animations and tricky little items in the backgrounds. The characters are very large, but it almost seems that the screen was cropped somehow in doing so. Still, all your attacks, strategy and combos should work like a charm. The character sounds are a bit weak, but the soundtrack is done well. It's a good version of a great game.

A very earnest home version of the arcade smash that stays pretty faithful to the original material. Obviously, some will be disappointed because the scaling isn't in this version and the characters could be a little bigger. But for an adaptation of a Neo Geo title, this one does a very good job. The Timed Fight Mode is a good option.

A very good portable version of the Neo Geo arcade smash! Almost everything is here - the fighters, the moves and the look. This one seemed a lot more fun to play on the Super Game Boy than on the small screen, but nonetheless, fans of the game who are "on the go" will not be disappointed with this one.

Of all the Neo Geo games that have come out for the Genesis, Samurai Shodown is the only one I'd consider buying. It's a lot of fun and I'd probably get into less trouble knifing people on-screen instead of in the streets.

So if you can't afford a Neo Geo and can't wait for the 3DO version of Samurai Shodown to come out, I'd either stick with playing in the arcades or buying the SNES version and start hacking away. Akira Kurosawa would be proud.

On-the-go fight fans who have 20-20 vision may enjoy this cutesy Romper Room edition of everyone's favorite weapon fighter. However, it's hard to justify spending money on this game when you could save up for the Genesis version instead.

Shodown SNES has its good points, but nothing can make up for the control and graphics problem. Not to mention the censored blood, fatalities and text. Don't walk into the Shodown showdown with this Shodown.

There are better fighting games out there. You just have wave you sword a bit to find them.

The closest thing to a saving grace that I could find with the game was the fact that I was determined to overcome its poor control scheme and forge onward, to moderate success. But when I went back to play the REAL game -- since it flowed so much smoother and could be controlled properly -- I found that I had improved! It's like giving yourself a handicap, and when you master playing with the handicap, you're that much better when you play without it. Samurai Shodown is an outstanding game that I recommend playing ... just not on the 3DO.

What happened here? We have a more powerful console, the magical CD format, and this pales in comparison to the standard AES/MVS cart?? It plays accurately, but there is no excuse (or logical explanation) for everything else wrong with this port.

After playing the 3DO version of this game, there's really no going back. On the Genesis, Samurai Shodown just looks like another run-of-the-mill Street Fighter wannabe. It's a 2D fighter with Asian-inspired fighters that carry sharp weapons. Some of the characters are pretty cool, but the graphics are nothing special, and the sound is just lousy. The scratchy voice samples are hard to take, and the minimal background music won't exactly have you singing in the shower. The gameplay isn't much better - the action feels very slow and lethargic. Worst of all, the Genesis isn't capable of executing the snazzy 3D scaling that's the trademark of the game (not to mention its one original feature). At least the six-button controller is supported. But only diehard fighting fans will want to try this one.

The graphics are improved slightly over the Genesis version, but are still light years behind the superior 3DO version. As you would expect from a CD game, the music and sound effects are pretty decent, but the action is sluggish, which greatly diminishes the fun. But the biggest letdown is the fact that the game's trademark scaling was NOT implemented in this version. What happened? I thought the Sega CD was capable of that! Instead of scaling, we just get long load times. This fighter didn't do much for me.