Firstly, we all know that the definitive sword fighting game of all time is Samurai Shodown II — and that’s the only time I’m going to mention it here.

But fortunately for … everyone, LB2 is different enough to stand on its own and it has plenty of excellent features to recommend it.

Last Blade 2, sequel to Last Blade — both made little, if any impact on the arcade scene. I guess with so many weapon-based fighters spanning so many platforms … it must be hard to really distinguish yourself, especially in today’s 3D-loving world.

Although practically everyone in the game is armed It’s a different sort of combat to …. you know … *that* other series. No longer are there four-second recoils after heavy attacks or breaking weapons and things like that. No, LB2 is far more fast and furious … with features like (small) chain combos, super cancels (which require superhuman timing) and mid-air recoveries. At its best; it’s freaking insane. Not MvC2 insane — it’s still clear what’s going on, who is controlling who and who’s hitting who with what and where. No, its the sheer pace that this game can hit. You dash at the enemy, they dash at you … at the last second you jump over them, dash back and launch into a chain combo … into a special into a super. They land, roll away, then dash again, launching into a multi-hit attack before they even stop running. You block the first two hits, repel the third, then counter with your own attack. And so on and so on. There have been times where the action just doesn’t let up at all. It’s quite exhausting. But very fun.

I mentioned “Repels” — these are pretty much the LB version of SF3 parries, but activated with a button-press rather than a stick motion. They can be done in the air as well as the ground. And they’re a teeny bit lame. I won a whole fight by just repelling everything the other character did, then attacking while they were reeling with an A > B > 3-hit special move. Woo. OK, I was fighting the CPU, hardly the most varied and skilled of opponents. But still — this is the sort of thing my superiors would call “abusable”. ^_^

The CPU AI is a bit of a sticking point too actually. It’s good enough to anti-air jump-ins … and if you keep doing it, it’ll keep countering. I like AIs that do that, even if it does mean I lose, and look like a moron. Offensively … it seems to come and go randomly. You’ll win the first round, and then it’s like it remembers that it has an incredibly cheap, huge range, no risk throw and will do it six times in a row and kill you. And then it’ll forget again. The final boss is especially guilty of this. He instantly wiped me out with just two combos in the first round, then totally forgot to repel, block or attack in the second. The fruit.

I’d also like to add that this is the first fighting game since … well, Rugal in KOF’98 that has actually made me angry. The last boss *is* cheap (he is an SNK boss after all) but he is defeatable … but losing 20 times in a row to that damned bastard Amano with his crappy unblockable throw from hell …. arrggh. Some characters just get owned by others, that’s all there is too it. Oh, and I suck, that too…

A lot of the features in LB2 are remarkable similar to ones in other games. Take the choice of play mode. (*cough* ISMs) After picking your guy (or girl) you can choose either “speed” mode, “power” mode, or “EX” mode. I believe “EX” was hidden in the arcade/Neo versions, but here it’s selectable right from the start.

“Speed” charas have access to one super, chain combos, a universal overhead and the “combo special” (think: Geese Howard’s Deadly Rave, but with several paths.) “Power” characters have two supers, no chains, a chargeable “power” attack instead of the overhead, no “combo special” and KOF’96-style “red flashing energy” SDMs.

“EX” characters combine all of the above features, but the downside being you are very weak offensively, and take damage like an Irish girl scout.

Yes, you pick the mode suitable to your character or your play style and have lots of fun strategic-type tactics. Or, just do what I do and pick speed mode, because, let’s face it, chaining is fun.

What other rip-offs are there? I’ve mentioned chain combos, super cancels, air recoveries, rolls and repels … there are several shoto-like characters.

The character roster is fairly predictable. Lots of people in wide trousers with swords. Some small people with smaller weapons. A large, slow fighter … OK, I’m not being fair here. Some of the characters are different. The tiny old man who fights by hitting you with his fishing rod and throwing turtles at you. Bear in mind I said different, not necessarily “good”.

A special mention goes to Amano (who as the second-to-last CPU opponent is horribly, horribly cheap) — for being one of the gayest characters ever to grace a fighter.

There are plenty of handsome male fighters .. but one of the biggest problems with the game — the lack of hot chiX0rs. There are a fair number of female fighters, but they’re either 12 years old (whoever said “what’s wrong with that?” .. please get out now), or are wearing massively concealing costumes. Yuki fights with one leg exposed. That’s the ecchi content of the whole game. Thinking about it … LB2 is quite a ‘grown-up’ fighting game. There is some goofy humour, but the lack of huge-breasted schoolgirls and cartoonish superpowers … hmmm. Well, either that or the planners were gay. Take your pick.

Visually, it has to be said, the game is starting to show its age. The backgrounds, though nice-looking (I love the near-monochrome shoreline stage) – are fairly simplistic and static, and the resolution is low, (though no lower than any KOF game really). There also seem to be some sort of colour-limitations — there are several backgrounds and end game images where different shades of colour are achieved by … putting a grid of lighter/darker dots over an existing colour. I’m having trouble believing that palette problems exist in this age, but that’s sure what it seems like.

It’s the same with the characters. They look a little on the low resolution side and the animation is “mixed” in that weird way SNK have. Some stands and walks and crouches are very poor, but then there are also attacks and stances and poses that look excellent. For one: people crouching or posing while sheathing their sword will never stop being awesome (…. SLASH! …. *SNIKT*) — and there’s a lot of that. Which is good.

Other graphics, like the intro and cut scenes are … acceptable, in a quaint sort of way. I think I’ve established that you should not buy this for anyone who can only play games that run at 60fps or have 25,000,000 polygons in them. This is *hardcore* hardcore stuff.

Unusually for an SNK game — the music is average at best. No Samurai/feudal Japan stuff, no atmospheric BG sound effects … just some monotonous synthesised orchestra. Kaede’s stage is almost annoying at times … unbelievable for an SNK game. The effects (swords clashing etc.) are excellent, as is the voice acting. The dialogue between your chosen character and their sub-boss is actually spoken as well as written. That is exceedingly cool. Of course, it’s all in Japanese … but … erm … I appreciate the effort.

As for DC-only extras … it’s quietly impressive. Completing the game once unlocks a “Hanafuda” card game, which was totally impenetrable to me, so I gave up. You may have more patience and there is an FAQ on GameFAQs about it. But hell, I bought this game to stick sharp swords in things, not mess about with stupid cards.

There’s also an excellent art gallery, with 119 pictures in it (yes, it’s Friday night and I’m sitting here counting pictures in an art gallery … thank you) – all hi-res, the typical mix of luscious portrait art, funny little SD images and bizarre stuff that looks like .. well … nothing really. It’s definitely worth a look, even to a “Last Blade” ignoramus like me.

The final ‘extra’ is the “Demo Viewer”. At first glance, it looks like it’s the normal intros and cut scenes and endings … and it is, but delve in a bit further and there’s some neat stuff there. Like FMVs of all the cut scenes, intros, and endings of the original “Last Blade” game. True, the quality of the movies is fairly poor .. but it’s cool to see something like this and it’s a feature I’d like to see in other fighters. A sort of “Previously, on Streetfighter;” thing.

Of course, you don’t get all the movies straight away. You must unlock them. YAY LONGEVITY! And, as it’s an entertaining game, getting the extras is a pleasure, not a chore — the way it should be. Uh … except for the movies that have to be unlocked by winning the card game. Ugh.

As for the technical side of the port, the between-match loading is about 3 seconds, and the fact that no “N0W LAODING!!!1″ message comes up means it’s barely noticeable. The characters seem full size (or near enough damnit) and I can’t see any missing animation.

There are a couple of minor, petty gripes. The fact that there are no moves lists. The fact that you can’t quit the game without having to resort to the DC’s soft reset. The fact that if you’re using a 6-button pad or stick, the button config WON’T ALLOW YOU TO CHANGE THE STUPID “Z” and “C” allocations. The A, B, X, and Y buttons can be changed, but Z and C (taunt and one-button super respectively) are locked. These aren’t real problems, just things that made me growl a bit.

As I write this, it’s still unclear whether LB2 is SNK’s last Dreamcast game. Any further releases (say … KOF2000) have been both rumoured and counter-rumoured … and it’s all just conjecture at the moment.

You have to wonder … why did KOF: Evolution receive a total makeover, with all new menus, select screen, and raunchy 3D backgrounds but LB2 looks identical to it’s parent? It’s hard to say – are they being lazy? Or is it a conversion for the “purists” of the genre?

If the latter is true – it’s sort of fitting that what could well be SNK’s last Dreamcast game is so undeniably hardcore, with absolutely no “updating” or “enhancing” with polygons or fancy transparencies of any sort. No pandering to the “Playstation generation” … just good old fashioned solid gameplay and lots and lots of 2D art. I have some minor misgivings about how the conversion was handled, given previous SNK DC efforts … but basically this is just too good a game to beat down.
I mean, when you complete the game, you get an image of your character, with the text “May your future be filled with happiness” How can you resist something like that?

I wonder … what are the chances of a US/European release?

• Score: 85%
• Publisher/Developer: SNK