SAMURAI SHODOWN (Crystal Dynamics/SNK, 1993, 1994)

For many, Samurai Shodown for the 3DO was the best way for gamers to play the popular hack n' slash arcade fighter at home. Just like the awesome arcade version you get a choice of 12 skilled fighters (and yes, everybody is here unlike in some other versions), each character not only had their own unique look and style to them but they also had a unique weapon as well. Samurai Shodown became popular back in it day for it's impressive graphics, awesome music, and the different game play than most one on one fighting games out there. The game was easily one of more impressive games for the then troubled 32-bit CD-Rom system.

Samurai Shodown takes place in the 17th century during the feudal Japan era, you get to select from of one of 12 fighters on a quest to fight one on one battles all over the world to become the best. The weapon based combat was innovative when compared to others of it's kind because the fighters can fight with or without their weapons. Some characters like Haohmaru, Wan Fu, and Charlotte can only do their special moves with their respective sword too so it's a good idea to pick up your weapon incase you get disarmed. Thankfully SNK didn't change too much from the Japanese Samurai Spirits game because many of the samurai's keep their long original names, I would have hated if the game was Americanize and Haohmaru was renamed Rick or something.

You also have watch the guage at the bottom of the screen, if you get a full POW meter than your warrior becomes blood shot and their strikes become more powerful which can turn the tides of battles. There is also a guy that runs in the backgrounds from time to time to throw gold, food, or bombs at the players and some stages like Wan Fu's level, the guy mostly throws bombs at the field each stage offers something different.
gameplay: 9/10

Like I said before each character is unique and has there own set of features, here is all the selectable fighters in the game:
The first fighter in the line up is Haohmaru, a cocky 25 year old samurai with long spikey hair and he carries his trusty samurai sword where ever he goes. Haohmaru only has two special moves but he still as a lot of power especially in his combos. A solid first choice for beginners and experts a like.

Ukyo Tachibana is Haohmaru arch rival and he wishes to win the heart of a young Japanese girl who loves Haohmaru. Ukyo uses a long samurai sword and his attacks are quite different than most samurai's. His fear of being cut in the face means that he has his back turned to his opponent most of the time.

Tam Tam is a giant 8ft Masked warrior from the African island of Green Hell. Tam Tam looks like no fighter I ever seen in game before, his stance is weird and his moves are easy to tell but he has 4 different special moves with great range. Tam Tam is searching for a Parenke Stone stolen from his village, if it isn't returns to his homeland than the stone may destroy the world. Tam Tam was also the only character not to make it to Samurai Shodown II which kind of disappointed me but at least he's here in this game.

Kyoshiro Senryo is a Kubuki actor who holds a bladed bo to give him better reach that most. Kyoshiro has four great defensive special moves but he lacks speed.

Wan Fu is a Chinese Warlord looking for warriors to defend his homeland. He's a bulky 250 pounder with a giant sword plus he is the only character who could throw his weapon in a awesome air attack but he losses the sword in the process which weakens his defense.

Genan Shiranui is a weird looking little green creature that has a nasty claw grove for his weapon. He can also use his special moves after he's been disarmed too which can help in his fighting strategy.

EarthQuake is one of my favorite characters! This guy is a absolutely HUGE 10ft 700 pound American Ninja from Texas who leads a gang of ruthless thieves. If that wasn't bad enough for his opponents, his weapon is a scary chain and sickel. He's easily the most powerful character in the game and his weapon reach is excellent, sure he's slow but EarthQuake is so strong and big that he easily makes up for poor speed and you can't throw him either. "Yes, he's a 10 foot fat bastard!"

Jubei Yagyu is a one eye Imperial guard skilled in the way of Bushido and unlike the others, he uses two samurai swords at once. He's great on defense with some very fast rapid attacks. He still loses both swords if he's disarmed though.

Nakoruru is a young 17 year old girl that's a mission to save the planet after she notices the unrest of the environment. Nakoruru is the smallest fighter in the game and even her sword is fairly short as well but she has a huge list of moves at her disposal and even has a eagle named Mamahaha by her side that can remove her from dangerous situations or just attack.

Galford, like EarthQuake, is a American ninja but he's only 5'11ft 180 pounds. One of the quickest fighters with tons of tricky moves like teleports and projectiles to throw players off their game. Galford even has a husky named Poppy by his side to use on his enemies.

Hanzo Hattori is the Japanese alter ego of Galford but he has no dog and he wishes to hind his face. Just because Galford and Hanzo look similar doesn't mean that they both have all the same moves. Hanzo has lots of defense and powerful strikes including a bouncing flame and some counter attacks. Hanzo fights to save his son from a mysterious illness.

Finally there is Charlotte, a women from France who's fighting in the revolution. She only has two special moves that are easy to learn but are fairly limited but she's still fairly powerful especially on the ground.

The graphics and music are right on and if you're familiar with the Neo Geo game then you should be right at home here. Although this is a traditional 2D fighting game like must most Neo Geo games but this game includes 3Dscaling so not only can you can see all the action from far away but the camera also zooms in when the fighters get close just like in other games like Super Smash Bros Melee. I also found that the animation was way better than the choppy movements of the questionable Samurai Shodown 3 for the Playstation which many consider the disapointment of the series (come on, who likes that stupid kid with the umbrella anyways).
graphics: 8/10

I really enjoyed the sound tracks in this game. Each stage has its own background music fitting for its area like Galford has a cool rock/samurai mix or the bouncy Kubuki music of Kyoshiro's level. Each stage sounds great it belongs on a CD. If you're Japanese then you should be right at home here because most of the fighters and even the announcer speak Japanese which is a nice change of pace compared to the average beat em up.
sound: 9/10

Samurai Shodown for 3DO is a good translation but it does have it's problems like the action is a bit slower game than the arcade game plus because this is on CD there is a annoying 10 second load times before each opening bout that does hurt the game a bit. Also some of the Amakusa (the evil end boss) cut scenes are missing so you do miss some of the story here.

This version though does have some exclusive bonus features like the ability to save three different files to the system so you can turn off the 3DO power and resume your old game for later and you gotta love that, eh? The system also saves your High Scores too which really increases the replay value. It should also be noted that Samurai Shodown on 3DO is uncensored, all the blood is here right down to the spray of red stuff coming from a beaten opponent to the Mortal Kombat like cutting the loser in half after a random strong strike and not even the Neo Geo home cartridge version has that. If you don't wanna see the Blood and Violence in the game then you can easily shut it off in the options menu plus you can turn off the weapons and the time limit too.

Bottomline
This is definitely the best version of the SNK classic here and it puts the 16-bit versions to shame! What more could you want? Samurai Shodown surpasses all the other 3DO fighters like Way of the Warrior (good but low budget looking), Shadow (pure gaming garbage), Primal Rage (solid but limited action with only 7 dinosaurs), Rise of the Robots (even worse than the Super Nintendo game with unresponsive controls), and even Super Street Fighter II Turbo (a great translation but I still liked the swordplay in SS better). You get 12 different samurai's and other warriors with vicious weapons and furious arcade action plus it also comes with great graphics and awesome music. Overall Samurai Shodown is sure rare gem for the even rarer 3DO owner still out there.

Overall Samurai Shodown rating: 85/100
For 1 or 2 players

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StarSoldier 2002
(Ryan Genno)

Recommended: Yes