(upbeat music)
- [Mitchell] While it may not be a household name
like "Street Fighter" or "Mortal Kombat,"
"Samurai Shodown" is a storied fighting game series
with a legacy to uphold.
Enter the 2019 version, which is simply titled
"Samurai Shodown" and does a great job
of bringing its unique brand of methodical,
footsies-based, 2D duels into this modern era of fighters.
(dramatic music)
(character grunting)
(speaks in foreign language)
(character shouts)
"Samurai Shodown" strips away the lengthy combos,
juggles, block strings, frame traps,
and other high-level fighting game techniques,
leaving a game that is laser focused
on careful positioning, reading your opponent,
and brutally punishing their mistakes.
(speaks in foreign language)
(character shouts)
This level of simplicity definitely has its appeal,
and "Samurai Shodown" strikes a good balance
between approachability and deeper mechanics
that helps separate those who just mashed
and those who take the time to learn its main nuances,
like the best times to deflect, when to spot dodge,
when to trigger rage explosions, and of course,
when to close your eyes, cross you fingers,
and use a Darli Dagger punch to pull victory
out of thin air.
- [Announcer] Darli Dagger.
(speaks in foreign language)
- [Mitchell] There's a great and easily understandable logic
behind each of "Samurai Shodown"'s four buttons.
Light attacks and kicks are quick and can interrupt
slower attacks, medium attacks generally have long reach
and can serve as great pokes in the neutral,
and heavy attacks are huge, slow swings
that deal appropriately massive damage
but also come with a significant risk.
Getting a heavy attack blocked generally means
you're open to eating a huge punish.
(speaks in foreign language) (character shouts)
(swords whooshing)
(characters shouting)
But what's wonderful about "Samurai Shodown" is the fact
that mind games are prevalent at just about every juncture.
As an example, my heavy jutst got blocked,
which is typically very bad.
(character shouts)
But if I predict that the opponent is gonna retaliate
with their own medium or heavy, I can use a deflect
to cancel out of the block stun animation, knock the sword
out of their hands, and score a counter for myself.
But if they predict I'm gonna do that,
instead of using a heavy strike,
they can instead utilize a move that can't be deflected,
like their one-time-use super special move,
and deal about 80% of my life as damage.
(fire roaring) (speaks in foreign language)
(character laughs)
Hard read, huge reward, and that's one of the things
that makes "Samurai Shodown" so much fun.
You get massively rewarded for good reads
and massively punished for big mistakes.
And while that's true in other fighters too,
it's on another level here.
It leads to an extraordinarily tense style of fighting
that is unlike just about anything else in the genre.
(dramatic music)
There are a few elements on top
of the four-button simplicity that add some extra depth.
Returning from previous "Samurai Shodown"s
is the Rage Gauge,
which increases as you take damage
or land well-timed just guards.
Maxing it out increases the strength of your attacks
for a short while and also gives you access
to your weapon breaking super move,
which not only does huge damage
but also disarms your opponent.
(speaks in foreign language) (punches thudding)
Alone, the Rage Gauge is a great comeback mechanic,
but what makes it extra special is the ability
to use a rage explosion at any time
to instantly gain full rage and the ability to use
a devastating Lightning Blade attack.
(dramatic music) (character shouts)
The trade-off is that once you trigger a rage explosion,
you lose your Rage Gauge for the remainder of the match,
which puts it in a good spot
as a big risk-verse-reward trump card.
My only issue with the whole system
is that I wish the Rage Gauge had some sort of timer
or something to let you know when it's about to run out.
(characters shouting) (swords whooshing)
(dramatic music)
"Samurai Shodown"'s cast of 16 wildly different characters
is one of the best things it has going for it.
Each one is brimming with personality,
from the returning screen-filling Texas Ninja Earthquake
to the brand-new clumsy Chinese warrior Wu-Ruixiang
who summons a dragon on accident for her super move.
(energy warbling) (Wu-Ruixiang gasps)
(dragon roars) (Wu-Ruixiang yelps)
(flames roaring)
(shouting)
And fumbles around looking for her glasses
whenever she's disarmed.
(speaks in foreign language) She's adorable.
There's a ton of interesting little details
to each character, as well.
The seven-sword-wielding Yoshitora
has a ridiculously overpowered special move
that you can only use if he manages to land all six
of his other special moves in a round.
(speaks in foreign language)
(character screams)
Nakoruru can fly with her bird,
and then there's the aforementioned Darli Dagger,
who can heal 60 to 70% of damage
with an unarmed armored punch.
You can learn a little bit about each of these characters
through a traditional, by which I mean outdated,
story/arcade mode that gives each character an intro,
a conversation between themselves and a rival character,
and an ending, and that's it.
That may have been fine in 2005, but the bar has been raised
for fighting games' story mode since then,
not only by big budget games like Mortal Kombat
and Injustice but also by Guilty Gear Xrd,
BlazBlue, and SOULCALIBUR VI, just to name a few.
The worst part of it all, though,
is the 30 seconds of a boring black loading screen
that happens between each match, which is simply too long
for a fighting game.
(dramatic music)
(characters shouting)
Along with Story mode, "Samurai Shodown"'s set of modes
is pretty standard.
Most notable is a Dojo mode that allows you to play
against AI ghosts of other players, which are created
based on their play style, or at least that's the idea,
but the reality is not very impressive.
I don't know how many fights you need
to really train your ghost to behave like a real person,
but every ghost I've played essentially plays
the exact same way.
They just do this.
(character shouting)
I did get to test the netcode while playing against a buddy
in Casual play, and the results were remarkably smooth.
However, the real test will be at launch,
when you're able to match against all sorts of connections,
so I'll keep an eye out.
(dynamic music)
For as much as "Samurai Shodown" manages
to successfully modernize the classic fighting series
and recapture the tension of its high-stakes duels,
in many other ways, it remains woefully in the past.
The archaic Story mode and long load times are a bummer,
but in the areas where it matters the most,
"Samurai Shodown" shines as a fundamentals-driven fighter
that can appeal to player of all skill levels
with its easy-to-grasp combat, wonderful cast of characters,
and deep mechanics.
For more "Samurai Shodown," check out all
of our game play clips, and for everything else,
keep it here on IGN.
(dramatic rock music)