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Review: Samurai Shodown! 2 [Neo*Geo Pocket Color] |
Ah yes, portable fighters. You gotta love ‘em. It fills my mind with joy when I see all my favorite arcade fighters shrunken down to matchbox size, and not just because I‘m used to playing with smaller-then-usual equipment :S
The Neogeo Pocket proved that fighting games could actually be fun handheld systems, and Samurai Shodown! 2 is yet another example of this.
First of all, this game is NOT a portable version of the highly praised Samurai Shodown 2 for Arcade or Neogeo home system. The original Samurai Shodown! (Don‘t ask me about the ‘!‘, I have no idea) for the black and white neogeo pocket was based on SS4 for Neogeo arcade and home system. SS!2 for NGPC is based on Samurai Shodown 64 for the horribly failed Hyper Neogeo 64 arcade system. So how can a 3D game be ported to a severely limited 2D system? Thankfully, it can‘t. SS!2 for Neogeo pocket is basically a completely new game with familiar characters and storyline. The people who have played SS64 were probably relieved to hear this, as SS64 is possibly one of the shittest games ever created by SNK.
The story takes place in feudal Japan and seems pretty straightforward; Yuga, a man in a dress who puts Amakusa to shame in terms of gheyness, wants to rule the world. Pick a weapon-wielding maniac and stop him (?). What makes the story interesting is the inclusion of Asra (Asuras?) and Shiki, two characters who somehow form the key to Yuga‘s plan for world domination. Asra is Yuga‘s servant, sent out to find the rebellious Shiki who carries a child that would somehow give Yuga ultimate power. Awesome. Can we hit stuff with sharp objects now?
Sure, lets move on to the most important part of a game, the graphics.
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*smack!*
Ouch, sorry Neil.
Anyway, the graphics aren‘t too hot. People who have never played a Neogeo pocket game before will note that the character sprites are small and only have three colors. Yes, this is the curse of the NGPC‘s hardware limitations. Some characters really suffer from this (Galford and Charlotte in particular) while others look quite cool in their 3-color incarnation (Hanzo and Kazuki for instance). Everyone still looks recognizable so I guess it‘s not much of a problem. NGPC fanatics (all three of them) are used to this by now anyway.
The backgrounds are a bit dull. Perhaps I was hoping for some nicely animated backgrounds with animals, bamboo forests, battlefields, ancient Japanese cities and what not. In stead I got some generic streets, grass fields, temples and a burning something level with non-animated flames. There is no animation in any background actually. The colors in the BG‘s disappoint as well; No lively, vivid tones to accompany the action, instead there‘s an abundance on gray and brown tones, making the game seem dusty.
The menu is equally uninspired and the character artwork is ok at best. Now don‘t get me wrong, nothing is really ugly, but it seems to miss the quality of games like Match of the Millennium or Last Blade. Then again, perhaps that‘s a bit of an unfair comparison since those two games are the best fighters on any handheld.
The music….hm. Despite the NGPC‘s few audio channels, the music is pretty enjoyable. Most characters have traditional Japanese wind-bamboo (whatever) tunes, while others have a more modern sound in their tunes. A lot of old favorites, like Nakoruru and Rimururu’s themes are included as well. The music works well with the pace and atmosphere of the game and never distracts or annoys. You won‘t be putting your sound level up either; it‘s not that special. The sound effects are of the usual ‘bleepy‘ NGPC quality and as usual, there are no voices in the game.
The gameplay is different from almost every fighter I have ever played. I haven‘t really put much time in the Arcade versions of the Samurai Shodown games, so I can‘t really compare this pocket game with it‘s big brother(s). There is a standard chaining combo system, there are juggles, off the grounds, beam weapons, and a super meter (or rage meter as it is called here), yet this game is nothing like a Capcom VS. game. Or perhaps only the RIDICULOUS infinites are (I‘ll explain that part later).
The game seems slow; from time to time I even got the impression I was fighting in a turn based game: Opponent attacks> block>I attack>opponent dodges> Pikachu uses thunder shock>opponent uses phoenix down etc.
This form of fighting takes some getting used to; suddenly you have to plan your attacks and wait for an opening in your opponent‘s defense. Once you get the hang of it, it‘s incredibly rewarding. There‘s nothing more satisfying then tricking your opponent into an attack, dodging him and punishing him with a 4 hit Samurai Combo.
Yes, this game features something called the Samurai Combination System (S.C.S.), a dial-A type of attack; The combo opener is always back+B, followed by either B,B,B for a juggle, B,A,A for a high damage combo or A,A,A for a combo that fills half your rage meter.
This is where the only big flaw in the game lies; the S.C.S. is too easy. The combo opener is fast, and thanks to the two action buttons on the NGPC you‘ll always complete one of the three versions, even if you‘re just mashing buttons (banging the machine lololol *ahem* ). When you actually know what you are doing, you‘re far more dangerous. With your opponent in the corner, you can just repeat the different S.C.S‘s again and again. The computer opponent, normally pretty clever even on normal difficulty level, becomes a practice dummy for L33T combos and infinite nastiness. An example of an infinite? S.C.S BBB version, down + weak A, S.C.S. BBB version, down + weak A, Etc.
This one works for almost every character, although for some characters it‘s easier to time then for others. Thankfully very few people will actually play this game against other human beings (cause we‘re all internet losers with no friends who masturbate to cartoon porn), otherwise this would have seriously affected the playability of the game.
As mentioned earlier, your character has a rage meter instead of a normal super meter. The more you get hit, the more it will fill. Once your meter is full you can use a super move (or Hidden Method of Mayhem as the instruction manual says), activated by pressing back, forward, down, A. What makes this system unique is the inclusion of something called the Rage Explosion. If you‘re in need of something that can seriously hurt your opponent but you don‘t have a full rage meter, press A+B and your character will so an invincible push-away move, the rage explosion. This attack does no damage to your opponent, although it still looks awesome, in a Dragonball Z-ish way. The real damage comes from what happens after the rage explosion; your rage meter (the part you have filled up) will start to deplete, and once it‘s empty you won‘t be able to use it in the same battle again. During the depletion time you can do unlimited super moves or, by pressing A+B again, something called the Flash Attack. This is an incredibly strong attack where your character comes dashing through your opponent. If he doesn‘t block, he‘ll slowly fall to the ground, painfully holding his chest.
Strategic use of the Rage Explosion, combined with the Flash Attack can be essential for winning a match.
The characters in the game are lovely, even with their three colors. They animate a bit choppy, but this is a first generation NGPC game and they still move better then some sprites in Gameboy Advance games (*cough! MK advance! Cough! *).
When you pick a character, you can either choose a Slash or Bust version of him/her. Most characters have minimal differences in the two modes, but some characters change so drastically that they‘re almost completely new characters when they choose between Slash and Bust. Haohmaru only changes some of his moves and combos in Bust mode while Galford and Nakoruru change or remove their pets, changing most of their special moves in the progress. The two persons with the most drastic change are Kazuki and Hanzo. Kazuki, normally a swordfighter, removes his sword, changes sprites and fights with his bare hands. Really, this guy has some of the coolest looking moves in the game; A Dragonball Z type combo where he tackles the opponent, uppercuts him into the air, jumps after him and slams him into the ground for example, or his super move where you can choose what to do; Hit the opponent with three burning punches, walk casually to him and set him on fire, wait for him to attack and explode in a sea of flames as he tries to hit you, or jump in the air and pummel headfirst into your opponent like a burning arrow. Fun!
Kazuki, no matter how awesome he is, has to take second place when it comes to l33tness. Hanzo beats everyone. Slash Hanzo is a pretty average ninja-type character; teleports, fireworks and shurikens, the usual stuff. Bust Hanzo is completely different; this guy is a grappler, but not just the normal wrestler type, oh no. His specialty is breaking every goddamn bone in your body! His moves include breaking your leg, shinbone, spine, ribcage, arm, neck and to top it all, your fucking skull. A nice X-ray picture accompanies these awesome acts of horrible mutilation so that you know exactly how messed up your opponent is. I love it.
The total character count is 14 plus boss, but with the different versions of each character, you actually have about 20 different characters at your disposal.
A special mention goes out to Yuga, the final boss of this game; the guy has beam weapons, normals that can reach you even if you‘re a full screen distance away and a super that fills up 90% of the screen. Yes o_0
With such a large diversity in characters, a training mode would have been nice. The lack of it is a typical Samurai Shodown flaw, as I don‘t recall any SS game ever having one. Beside the story mode, this game only features a survival mode, plus a graphic card system to add to the replay value. When you meet certain conditions, you get cards that allow you to use new moves or power up your existing ones. A nice extra, but it won‘t keep you interested for more then a week.
This is not a game you‘ll be playing for the rest of your life; It‘s one of those games you pick up every once in a while, play for about an hour or so and then forget until you come across it again while searching for your AAA games. It‘s not revolutionary like Match of the Millennium, nor is it as well put together as Last Blade or KOF R-2. The gameplay is different but rewarding, the characters are fresh and entertaining and it‘s interesting enough for most rainy Sunday afternoons, but it never feels like a prime quality product. Still, if you like a more strategic fighter with bloodthirsty samurai slicing each other up, this is your game. Now if you‘ll excuse me, there‘s a certain man-in-dress waiting to get his bones snapped :D
