SNES

Samurai Shodown

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.