Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword

Game: Samurai Shodown
System: Neo Geo
Release Date: August 11, 1993
Developed by: SNK
Published by: SNK

Before the appearance of the great weapons-based fighters, The Last Blade and Soul Calibur, there was Samurai Shodown. Released in 1993, Samurai Shodown might not have been the very first weapons-based fighting game (several unremarkable titles were released in the years before 1993) but it was certainly the most important and the most popular.

Samurai Shodown takes place during the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan and therefore has a certain Japanese flavor. Many of the playable characters have Japanese origins, but there are other characters from the United States, China and France. As expected from a weapons-based fighter, all the characters wield a blade in battle, which can be used in a number of basic offensive moves and several special moves unique to each combatant. Two of the more dynamic characters are Nakoruru, an Ainu miko (female shaman), and Galford, an American sailor turned ninja. Both Nakoruru and Galford have animal companions who fight alongside them in battle.


One of the most interesting features of Samurai Shodown is its "rage gauge," which gradually fills up after a fighter absorbs several attacks and can then be used by the abused fighter to strike back with intense ferocity. It's the opposite of the super combo gauge in Street Fighter Alpha, which builds up upon successful hits of the opponent.

Another feature which inspires ambivalence is the Edo Express Delivery Man, who arrives during battles to lob items at the combatants, specifically bombs, meat and money. Bombs, you guessed it, explode and damage nearby fighters; meat heals damaged fighters; and money awards points to the character who picks it up.

Taken as a package, Samurai Shodown is a very good and influential fighting game with a healthy amount of playable characters (10), exemplary graphics and sound, and an understandable combat system. It doesn't quite measure up to the Capcom fighters of the early 1990s, but in a genre with so many duds, Samurai Shodown distinguishes itself.

Score: 87/100