No, that’s not a spelling mistake on my part.  The game is called ‘Samurai Shodown’, and the missing ‘w’ is simply a matter of poor translation, as far as I can tell.  The game was called ‘Samurai Spirits’ in Japan, and was released for just about everything in 1993, excluding the NES or SNES.  Sega got the lion’s share of Shodown games, from the Game Gear to the Sega CD and everything in between. 

That’s gotta sting. 

The version I’m most familiar with is the Sega Mega Drive version.  A standard fighter game, in which two combatants pull off a variety of different attacks until one of them finds all of their health depleted.  At the time, I owned both Street Fighter II Turbo on the SNES and Samurai Shodown, and in all honesty I preferred Samurai Shodown.  Both games received widespread critical acclaim, but often or not people are quicker to remember Street Fighter II than they are any other classic fighter.

The game’s story is, as with most fighters, largely unimportant.  You pick a character, and then defeat all of the other characters in a random order, culminating in a boss battle with a very colourful gentleman.  When you win, your character will do whatever it is they wanted to do, be it carve up some flowers for his loved one, commit seppuku, or just generally not make a lot of sense.  After all, the game’s translation leaves a fair amount to be desired.

I don’t even know what’s happening here.

The combat is quite a bit different to most fighting games, and this is perhaps why I enjoy it more than others.  Rather than having to know button combinations for various special moves, often the best way to fight is through the use of quick, decisive strikes against the opponent.  To this end, you are capable of light, medium and heavy attacks using your body or your weapon.  Kicks for instance are effective for tripping and disarming an opponent, and sword slashes do exactly what they say on the tin.  Slash.

Since weapons are involved, the game does feature ‘kills’.  Sometimes, rather than the opponent simply being ko’d, they may be severed in half, showering you with gold coins upon their death, or a jet of blood may spray from their neck before they crumple to the ground.  While nowhere near as copious as Mortal Kombat for instance, the game doesn’t pride itself on its kills, and in my opinion makes for a much more polished fighting game.

Pick one! Kill the rest!

The characters are all colourful and interesting, varying from silent and stoic samurai to scuttling, green monsters.  Neither of the female characters are very sexualised either, which is quite interesting to see in a genre so often quick to put a woman in a bikini and call her a martial artist.  A minor observation perhaps, but interesting nonetheless.  Each character has his or her own special moves and fighting style, so it’s simply a matter of finding which one fits you best.

Or, if you’re not very good at fighting games, like me, picking the ninja and spamming fireballs.