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Review: Samurai Shodown 4 |
Wow. That’s all I have to say. Wow. As a longtime fan of the Samurai series, I guess you could say I’m sort of biased. However, after the miserable US Samurai 3 on PS, I wasn’t holding my breath on Samurai Shodown 4 for the Saturn. [breathes sigh of relief] Thank you, SNK.
For those of you who aren’t SNK fans, a brief note: Normally, I’m not an SNK fan either. I’m a huge fan of 2-D hand-drawn animation, but I always thought the gameplay in the 2000 SNK fighters was a little repetitious. However, I loved Samurai II, mainly for its atmosphere, and the challenging final boss, Mizuki. Regardless, Samurai 4 is a treat for the Samurai Shodown fan.
Graphics… what can I say… beautiful. This title requires a RAM cart, and you can buy Samurai 4 packaged with the “SNK” RAM Cart made by Sega. Deemed the SNK Ram cart because of SNK’s masterful use of it, Samurai Shodown 4 has near arcade perfect animation. Hair sways, outfits billow, and backgrounds come alive with the extra power boost to the Saturn. There is occasional slowdown in this title (especially associated with Zankuro). However, it’s nowhere near as bad as say, oh, I dunno… Marvel Super Heroes!
The sounds on this edition of Samurai are a mixed batch. The music is vintage Samurai: running water, traditional Japanese instrumentation, and a haunting chorus. All together incredible. The various slashes and what not are also NICE. However, as usual, the Saturn’s voice samples are muffled and sound like the Genesis Samurai 1. They’re not horrible, just standard fare for the Saturn.
SNK’s cast of characters is impressive at a total of 18. All the characters from SS3 make a repeat appearance, plus the addition of Yagyu Jubei, the eye-patched samurai from 1 + 2, Charlotte, the French femme fatale from 1 + 2, and Tam Tam, the masked maniac from 1. SNK also unleashes 2 new characters into the fray. Sogetsu and Kazuki Kazama are brothers in a ninja clan. Kazuki has left the clan to save their sister from the clutches of Amakusa. The clan, who doesn’t approve of Kazuki’s hiatus, sends Sogetsu as an assassin for his stray brother.
The gameplay in this Shodown is one of the most impressive for fighting games in recent years. For starters, this particular Shodown has two life bars per character per round, which essentially doubles the playing time. The usual Samurai POW meter returns. The Samurai Super moves also return, but they’re all done the same way: Back, Forward to Down, Weak + Medium Slash. Not only do we get the usuals, but a whole slew of brand spankin’ new manuevers. 1st, there is the combination slash, which ends up being an impressive looking form of “dial-a-combo”. 2nd, there is the No Contest move, which is pretty much a fatality that can only be done in certain situations. However, they’re much less hokey and unbelievable than the usual fatality-infested games. Some of them are down-right sweet. There’s also a suicide manuever. It may sound stupid, but it completely fills up your POW meter for the next round. The best new addition, however, is the new RAGE meter. Activated by hitting all three slash buttons at the same time, the RAGE meter gives you a specific amount of time (based on how high your life is plus how high your POW meter is) where you are powered up. While RAGEd, you can do as many supers as you want, you can perform the special RAGE slash, which takes off a sickening amount of damage. However, after the RAGE runs out, you lose your POW meter for the rest of the match.
[Exhales] Ah! Well, all in all, this Samurai is the best to ever grace a non-Neo system. If you have the ability… FIND IT! Don’t expect to see it in America, either. None of the other SNK Saturn stuff came over.
Bottom Line: After Samurai 3 on Playstation, anything would look good. This, however, is one of the best 2-D fighters out there, period.
- Dark Schneider
