Samurai Spirits Sen (7th Samurai Shodown) Images + Video

[KingJ2002]

a week old... but didnt see this info posted.

The artwork on the moves list is definitely Senri Kita. She also did the artworks for Nintendo's recent Fire Emblem titles as well, so I guess she moved out of Capcom. There's no in-depth reports yet but here's some info from Japanese forums. Kind of surprizing that there were reportedly around 50 people at the test, considering Tokyo's being hit with a throughout the whole day. Returning characters - Haohmaru, Genjuro, Ukyo, Nakoruru, Hanzo, Galford, Kyoshiro, Wanfu, Kazuki, Sougetsu, Charlotte. New characters (Spelling may be incorrect) Gallows (looks like a Viking) Kim (ancestor of Kaphwan? must be, determening from his move names) J (Afro Samurai) Angelica (Short haired ethnic-looking female.) Varta (Armored knight.) Black Hawk (Looks like a native American, fights with two Axes) Habei? (Old man, name is probably incorrect) Chiyo (Youngster with a wooden sword.) Suzuhime (looks like a Japanese princess) Controls A- Side slash B- Vertical slash C- Kick R- Extra moves (throw, deflect attacks, etc) A+B Feirce- Side slash B+C Feirce- Vertical slash

Info from Prof @ MMCafe

For those who do not know about the new sam sho:

- It is in 3D
- Uses Chain Combos
- Seems to be taking a shot at soul calibur
- doesnt look like there's any projectiles in the game
- Running On Taito's X2 Arcade Board
- Better visuals than KOF MI: 2A

Videos (Taken From Location Test):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJfbaknCw50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJmmI4RtRiU

Images (Move List / Artwork):

http://www.mmcafe.com/cgi-bin/imageb...275&page=&no=0

[Grecco]

3D? :( Color me disapointed.

[godofcookery]

samurai sports would have ruled.

[dkeane]

So is this coming to the consoles?

[Dina]

Looks a bit like the 3D Mortal Kombats. Sadly.

[Saitou]

Could this be the true sequel to Soul Calibur 2?

Stay tuned, true believers!

[Hcoregamer00]

As long as Nakoruru is in it then everything is right in the world.

[SatelliteOfLove]

Samurai Shodown 64-3? I dunno...after Tenka, I'm wondering why the switch now.

J (Afro Samurai)

Haha. Yes!

[Borys]

Way. To. Fucking. Ruin. An. Awesome. Franchise.

(is Hattori Hanzo in?)

Oh well, here's hoping LB3 stays 2D.

[Xiaoki]

Didnt watch all of both videos.

Graphics seem ...serviceable.

Gameplay is I dont know. Would need to see some people play that arent 5 year old button mashers.

Some of the character designs are alright, and some are stupid. Is this the first Viking in a fighting game since Mace: The Dark Age?

[Barry Lightning]

3d sam sho makes babies cry

[dfyb]

looks like they made it 3D for the sake of being 3D. bland, boring, bleh. it's a good thing tenka is so awesome -- don't really care if they all suck afterward.

[Insaniac]

I'll stick to the original Shodown

[twinturbo2]

Is that Iroha chick in there? And is there blood?

[Gryphter]

I haven't played Samurai Showdown since 3, but I don't see Yagyu Jubei in that list... you know, the only one who was actually a samurai? wtf

[Riskbreaker23]

why couldnt they just make this a well drawn 2d game :(

it looks like a poorly made SC knock off. with SC4 being released this year, im pretty sure this is going to be overlooked.

[nightside]

Way. To. Fucking. Ruin. An. Awesome. Franchise. (is Hattori Hanzo in?) Oh well, here's hoping LB3 stays 2D.

Will we ever see LB3?

[haunts]

whatever, the game looks tight I think. Looks like its pretty fast paced too..

[BitchTits]

The last game was pretty much a farewell 2D game wasn't it? It had every single character and mode imaginable.

I think this will play a lot like KOF:MI, and I'm pretty optimistic as I think it will suit SS better than KOF.

Some of the characters sound a big goofy, like the Afro Samurai. I would've liked to have seen Kusaregedo in 3D

[FauX]

2d > 3d in fighting games

not interested

[sprocket]

DID the last game ever come to consoles? it was also 3d.

[Parallax]

Oh well, here's hoping LB3 stays 2D.

you almost got my hopes up, then i realized that last blade 3 is never coming

[sprocket]

Samurai Shodown 64 was what I was thinking of.

[TreIII]

Sheesh, tough crowd...

Any way, in spite of all of your "NO WAI!" level remarks, I thought you guys should know this (and you could find out for yourself if you read the entire threads at mm's and cyberfanatix): the game that you all are decrying already? It actually has done quite well at its first LokeTest two weeks ago. Hell, furthermore, it's probably the SNK game that has garnered the most positive remarks for the company in YEARS. I'm talking about something that hasn't occured since like back in the days BEFORE the bankruptcy, people.

It may be only 70% complete, and it still has a number of kinks and concerns that could stand to be addressed, but by and large, the people who actually got to play the game? They LIKE it. More than Tenka and 0 Special.

And just because it decides to borrow a few things from SC, doesn't mean it's SC-SNK groove either, just as much as KOF:MI ain't SFEX. In the end, it's still its own beast. And it obviously has to, considering that the game can't hope to compete with SCIV in the arena of eye candy, to say the least. It'll probably end up being a VERY pretty PS2-level game (think VF4 and SCIII), but it will have to rely on its own style to be able to compete in this market.

[HyperZone<3]

Color me surprised.
I'm almost impressed. I can't see the graphics too well, but it looks good, the character art is great, the animation doesn't suck (although the guy playing the game clearly does). Hell, this could turn out to be SNK's first great 3D game.
I'm intrigued, and I can't wait to try it for myself.

[Finaika]

Some people even said the graphics rival that of Virtua Fighter 5 O_O

[zsidane]

DID the last game ever come to consoles? it was also 3d.

No. The last wasn't in 3D, and yes it was released on PS2 (98% sure)

[zsidane]

Color me surprised. Hell, this could turn out to be SNK's first great 3D game.

Garou Densetsu Wild Ambition was great!

[sprocket]

No. The last wasn't in 3D, and yes it was released on PS2 (98% sure)

So when did Samurai Shodown 64 come out?

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I am willing to give the game a chance. It looks pretty good from the vids so I'll wait for some reviews from fellow gamers who aren't prejudiced.

[TreIII]

So when did Samurai Shodown 64 come out?

It never did. It, like it's sequel was always on the Hyper Neo Geo 64 (SNK's first attempt at 3D arcade hardware). Those are the games where Shiki and Ashura (you'll get to see 'em both in Neo Geo Battle Colosseum) first debuted.

There was a craptacular game on the PSX that also went by the name of "Warrior's Rage" (shares the name of the second arcade game), but it tanked. Don't waste your time looking for it.

[karasu]

Fighting games need to be 3d. That 2d jump as high as the screen shit is too old to be relevant now. Even if we're only talking about relevancy as it pertains to fighting games. These companies, like SNK, have been working in the same ol mode for far too long. Mybe one of these 2D turned 3D games will actually push the genre forward.

[TreIII]

Fighting games need to be 3d. That 2d jump as high as the screen shit is too old to be relevant now. Even if we're only talking about relevancy as it pertains to fighting games. These companies, like SNK, have been working in the same ol mode for far too long. Mybe one of these 2D turned 3D games will actually push the genre forward.

I don't see it that way for the most part, but in SS's case, I'll make an exception.

After Tenka especially, there really wasn't much that they could hope to do in order to enhance the game without utterly breaking it. Thus, going 3d (again) was probably the best choice for a new direction in the series. They'll be able to do more in 3d than they could have ever done in 2d, and thus, is more the reason why I'm looking forward to how this is going to pan out. I'm a die-hard fan of 2D SS and 2D fighters in general, but I think it was time for SS to make a shift.

If nothing else, maybe they'll FINALLY be able to truly craft a good kendo-simulator now. The main failing of SS for the last few years is that it can often boil down to turtling and poking, even at high level play.

EDIT:

Here's another loke test impression blog. Gives more insight.

As for the controls, it’s a 4 button game A: horizontal slash B: vertical slash C: kick R: grab & special maneuvers A+B: strong horizontal slash B+C: strong vertical slash A+B+C: Unblockable charged slash Forward x 2: step in Forward x 2 (hold): dash Back x 2: back step hold up: jump hold down: crouch neutral up: side step up neutral down: side step down Back R: deflect (upper) Back down R: deflect (lower) There is the usual POW meter that builds up over damage. No characters had a fire ball type move and the moves that used to take the whole screen are now short ranged. Overall, the gameplay is pretty simple. From what I played, the 3D Samurai Spirits game was fun! I heard there was an 3D Samurai Spirits long time ago on the Neogeo 64 system, and there was another 3D Samurai Spirits on the Japanese playstation. I personally never played it but from the public reaction, those games never went anywhere. But probably because the graphics are finally catching up to the need of the game, the gameplay felt solid and flashy. I even think Samurai Spirits was meant for 3D as the game was never meant for combos but for quick and powerful actions. The character I chose was Nakoruru, my favorite anime/game character of all time. After choosing your character, you get to read the character’s story and her’s was the typical, something wrong in nature, must find out why and protect it. But looking at Haohmaru and other characters, the story takes place several years after the old Samurai Spirts as there are new generation characters that Haohmaru personally trained. If I have any complaints about the game, Nakoruru’s 3D face looked funny, so I wrote that on the survey, lol. The unblockable A+B+C move inflicts A LOT of damage, but it takes a long time to charge up. The release date hasn’t been announced for this game, and the sign said the game progress is 70% done. Finally, some comments on how a Japanse location test looks like. There were 2 separate lines on this location test: 1 for a VS match, and 1 for a single play. Of course the VS match was moving faster, but I went for the single play line which had 15 people at most one time. I waited about an hour until I could finally play. The demo game was set to 6 stages, and players got to play up to the 6th stage as long as they didn’t die. There were an attendant on each line who passed out their survey to the people who finished their games. What amazes me is that there are expert players who kick ass in the game even though this should be the first time at it. I personally got 2 perfects in a row in the 4th stage, but miserable got owned on the 5th stage =P I was watching some people play as I got close to my turn, but the most interesting have to be the pair of fan girls. They each chose Kazama Sougetsu and Kazama Kazuki, but they were excited from reading the story of the characters already: “Wow look! Hazuki (younger sister of the two) got a line!” Then whenever the characters did a special move, they would cry out to each other. And when she faced Sougetsu’s 2P character, she screamed, “What kind of Sephiroth is that?!” ^_^ I keep hearing that the Arcade video game industry is dying but I think it’s one of the most exciting market right now…

- http://www.akiba-ch.com/?p=303

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Just give me the characters I love and a good gameplay system. I don't have to have the same old combat system from yesteryear just becuase the characters were invented in that era.

[Bebpo]

Looks like KoF:MI engine.

[Dali]

samurai sports would have ruled.

Yeah letdown total.

[A Black Falcon]

As long as Nakoruru is in it then everything is right in the world.

What are they going to do, make it another prequel? They never will continue the plot of the series, will they... not that that's all bad, given how stupid the plot got. I mean, Nakoruru's the most popular character in the series, but they made her go to sleep (end of SS2) and then died and turned into a nature spirit protecting Kamui Kotan (end of SS64: Warrior's Rage, the second, which was the second (3d) Hyper Neo-Geo 64 SS game)... SS: Warrior's Rage (PSX, and despite the similar name not a port of SS64: Warrior's Rage) moved forward in time 20 years or so and only had Haohmaru and one other character (a ninja) from the rest of the series returning as a playable character; all the others were new characters. In that game Nakoruru's a spirit and Rimururu ... um, was defeated and put in a stasis crystal or something for 15-20 years so she hadn't aged and you rescue her in the end or something like that... so she wasn't playable in that game, and the already weird plot of the series got even worse...

SS3 and 4 were set between the first two games; 5 is a prequel to the whole series; and SS: Tenka ... isn't that a "fantasy game that didn't happen" or something, with how it has every character in the series in it? Or is it set around the same time as 3 and 4... I haven't actually played it.

So um... what are they doing with the story now, such as it is?

Oh yeah, and Rimururu should be in this game. She was awesome in SS4, which was my favorite game in the series...

[Mar_]

3D? Do not want.

[Raging Spaniard]

I call 3D hate crime.

I mean fuck, I get bitching about graphics and all ... but wait, none of us have taken a good look at it yet, AT ALL and some already damning the game because it has more polygons than sprites. That is fucking ridiculous

I stopped giving a shit about Samurai Showdown after the second one, because after that it was all the same crap, I will be more than happy to try this one out, mostly because its something NEW

[ThatCrazyGuy]

I hope this game is good. We need more fighting games, hehe. Can't wait to play.

[Mar_]

I call 3D hate crime. I mean fuck, I get bitching about graphics and all ... but wait, none of us have taken a good look at it yet, AT ALL and some already damning the game because it has more polygons than sprites. That is fucking ridiculous I stopped giving a shit about Samurai Showdown after the second one, because after that it was all the same crap, I will be more than happy to try this one out, mostly because its something NEW

Like platformers, I dislike any fighting game that is 3D. The third dimension ruins what is the very core of both genres as far as I'm concerned.

[TreIII]

Like platformers, I dislike any fighting game that is 3D. The third dimension ruins what is the very core of both genres as far as I'm concerned.

If it doesn't add anything to the overall experience, then maybe it would be right to think as such. But let's face it, Samurai Spirits is in such a place that it really can't hope to expand UNLESS it went 3D. Not to mention that the blogger that I quoted has a very good point...at its core, SS was very much a game that's supposed to be about positioning...a thing that hurt it when your options were limited by an X&Y axis.

Plus, if nothing else, K2 is at the helm of this game. You may know them for Tenchu, but old-heads would perhaps remember them best as Team Galapagos, the guys that were responsible for the SS series in the first place. If there was ANY ONE that I think would be worthy of bringing the series into 3D (for real this time!), I think they would have the best grasp on it.

[icecream]

What are they going to do, make it another prequel? They never will continue the plot of the series, will they... not that that's all bad, given how stupid the plot got. I mean, Nakoruru's the most popular character in the series, but they made her go to sleep (end of SS2) and then died and turned into a nature spirit protecting Kamui Kotan (end of SS64: Warrior's Rage, the second, which was the second (3d) Hyper Neo-Geo 64 SS game)... SS: Warrior's Rage (PSX, and despite the similar name not a port of SS64: Warrior's Rage) moved forward in time 20 years or so and only had Haohmaru and one other character (a ninja) from the rest of the series returning as a playable character; all the others were new characters. In that game Nakoruru's a spirit and Rimururu ... um, was defeated and put in a stasis crystal or something for 15-20 years so she hadn't aged and you rescue her in the end or something like that... so she wasn't playable in that game, and the already weird plot of the series got even worse... SS3 and 4 were set between the first two games; 5 is a prequel to the whole series; and SS: Tenka ... isn't that a "fantasy game that didn't happen" or something, with how it has every character in the series in it? Or is it set around the same time as 3 and 4... I haven't actually played it.

Just play her ADV and be done with it.

[D2M15]

Plus, if nothing else, K2 is at the helm of this game.

Cool. There were a few boss fights in Tenchu 3 and Kurenai that absolutely felt like they would rather be doing SamSho, so I don't doubt they're still up to it. I'm a little worried that the stylisation isn't jumping out at me from the Youtube vids (which are admittedly out-of-focus and the size of a postage stamp, but you could always spot an SS game from the other side of the arcade) - but I'm interested.

No Basara is unforgivable, though.

[A Black Falcon]

Just play her ADV and be done with it.

If it was available in English I'd consider it, but it's not...

As for the game, it could do fine as a 3d fighting game... 3d fighting games virtually never have the challenge level and depth of 2d ones (like how Soul Calibur is so, so much easier than Samurai Shodown or Last Blade), but it could well be fun anyway.

[ShinAmano]

Wow 3D...lame...lets hope it is good...

[KingJ2002]

the video looks boring since there's not much being done. but i hope this game turns out good... i agree with tre... if you played tenka or even SS5 special... you know the series hit a wall... tenka is the perfect way to bow out of the 2D space and offer something new in 3D. with the original team behind it now... maybe we can see the series take off again like in the 90's.

i definitely got my eyes on this one.

[TreIII]

As for the game, it could do fine as a 3d fighting game... 3d fighting games virtually never have the challenge level and depth of 2d ones (like how Soul Calibur is so, so much easier than Samurai Shodown or Last Blade), but it could well be fun anyway.

The Virtua Fighter series would like to meet you out back. Especially when it comes to your "challenge level" and "depth" remarks...

Any way, while SS Sen itself was easy enough to get into as far as basics were concerned, pretty much everything else required a high degree of perception, timing, and practice to get to work correctly. In that light, it already does a lot to dredge up a lot of what makes SS what made what it is.

K2 seems to also be bringing back their seeming fetish for making overly complex motions for certain moves. For instance, one move for Haohmaru is listed as "Forward, (Neutral), Down, Down-Forward".

Also, there seems to be further evidence that leads to the possibility that Projectiles and Pets may still be in the game. A number of people in Japanese blogs reported seeing Hanzo do his "diagonal shuriken throw", while Mamahama (Nakoruru's pet Falcon) is seen in a victory pose for said girl, indicating that the model is in the game.

So, I'm sure that between now and whatever amount of time it takes for them to reach completion from the 70% milestone we see hear, we may end up seeing even more to make this product stand out amongst its peers.

[A Black Falcon]

The Virtua Fighter series would like to meet you out back. Especially when it comes to your "challenge level" and "depth" remarks...

The Virtua Fighter series is pretty much the only exception to that statement, yeah. Given that it applies to pretty much everything else it's a fairly safe statement to make, though... for some reason adding a third dimension almost always negatively affects the strategic depth of a fighting game.

Any way, while SS Sen itself was easy enough to get into as far as basics were concerned, pretty much everything else required a high degree of perception, timing, and practice to get to work correctly. In that light, it already does a lot to dredge up a lot of what makes SS what made what it is. K2 seems to also be bringing back their seeming fetish for making overly complex motions for certain moves. For instance, one move for Haohmaru is listed as "Forward, (Neutral), Down, Down-Forward".

I'd say the past SS games were fairly average overall in move difficulty... not as hard as Last Blade or something, but easier than some...

Also, there seems to be further evidence that leads to the possibility that Projectiles and Pets may still be in the game. A number of people in Japanese blogs reported seeing Hanzo do his "diagonal shuriken throw", while Mamahama (Nakoruru's pet Falcon) is seen in a victory pose for said girl, indicating that the model is in the game. So, I'm sure that between now and whatever amount of time it takes for them to reach completion from the 70% milestone we see hear, we may end up seeing even more to make this product stand out amongst its peers.

But not Mamahama ingame? No hanging on the hawk, etc, and no wolf? Too bad...

[thetrin]

Wtf, they took out my favorite character!



Guess I'm sticking to Tenka.

EDIT: Considering the MASSIVE roster of Tenka, this is really disappointing. They got rid of bunches of great characters. This roster is even smaller than the SS Zero Special roster. Wtf.