The original Samurai Shodown was an instant smash hit in the arcades and on many home consoles. SNK now continues this weapon clash series by giving it more of what the fans wanted…more fun!
Overview
After the first episode (game release-wise), an evil demon entity, named Mizuki, has stepped forward to become the new dangerous foe that nobody could ever imagine. The combatants now have a new task at hand and that is to defeat this evil spirit. So wipe the dust and blood off your shiny, sharp weapons because you still got some more hacking and slashing to do!!! Amakusa makes a non-playable return as well, but what are his main focuses?
Graphics 9/10
Just about all the stages from the first one have been totally redesigned to further enhance their details. The warriors' sprites have been cleaned up to be smoother and not look rough around the edges. The surroundings are a lot more colorful and the fighters got some touch-ups of their own. I mean, look at Wan-Fu. He went from flab to muscle and got a cool new weapon to boot! The art in this game is excellent and there not that many signs of problems and glitches. Seriously, the entire structure of the how the game looks is a glorious sight to behold.
Gameplay/Controls 8/10
First up, the POW meter now contains a set of arrows & buttons combinations in order to do your super move, when filled up. Smacking someone with your super move ends with your opponent’s weapon breaking apart and making them panic until the referee throws a new to onto the field. A cool, sweet feature is that each fighter has a secret move which, while is hard and complex to trigger, can turn out very useful when done correctly. Love taunting? Well, other then the usual provokes in standard fighting games, there is a super taunt that will have your fighter become a super-deform version of them and stand there defenseless for a long time. If the opponent couldn’t hit you out of it, it was said to be more embarrassing then getting normally taunt at, the ultimate insult, if you will. The running man is still there dropping off all sorts of goodies and baddies from the background. I would also like to say is the artificial intelligence in the game can be very unpredictable and they prove to be a great test of wits.
As for controls, the arcade configuration is the same as always and stays exactly like it was in its prequel. You got your normal weak & medium forms of slashes and kicks, with the hard hit version being done by pressing both of the same. Let’s hope your right hand won’t start to hurt, knowing it going to take a long time to finish the game. The running, back dash, rolling, and crawling are still welcomed nicely. The small bother is that the game was having the tendency to not register the super moves’ commands right when you try to do it, most of the time. One cool introduction they input was if you were to finish your opponent a certain way in your second victory, he/she would be slice in half and spew out a theme item that relates to them for bonus points. Some idea to show this would be Cham Cham letting out bananas (her favorite food), Galford dropping doggy bones (for his pet, Poppy), and Sieger spilling empty bullet casings (for his Gauntlet weapon).
Sound/Music 8/10
The voice-acting, brings the fighters to life, giving them more personality traits. The sound effects are clearer to listen to and amusing to hear. The music in this game is a step above the first one, but it’s just basically remixes of the soundtrack from the first one, with the exception of a few new tunes. In all honestly, neglecting the character select interface and the winner’s screen, the music in number two is not that memorable.
Replay Value 9/10
With the exclusion of Tam Tam, everybody has remained intact with four new warriors to try out. The people who made it from the first one have some new moves on them, too. Like Charlotte, who now gets a projectile to flick out, Earthquakes can teleport just like Galford & Hanzo, and Ukyo gets a slash dash attack. It’s unbelievable to see that these 15 fighters can provide entertainment without being boring, hours after you play it. You are guaranteed to find a fighter that fits your taste of style.
Something you don’t see nowadays is the fact you have to beat everybody in order to reach the last boss. As with Samurai Shodown 1 and in with the second, you have to take on all of the warriors one-by-one and it won’t be an easy path, so it will be very time-consuming.
Overall 9/10
I don’t know what SNK did to put such a powerful title in the arcades of the early 90s, but they should have kept going with it. Samurai Shodown 2 can only be described in two words: instant classic. If you see it in an arcade somewhere, play it for old time sake to remind yourself why this game got such the high praises it deserves.
- by Mr. Boombada
