Overview
- Number of Players
- 2
- Genre
- Release Date
Neo Geo
- 28th Oct 1994
Wii (Wii Shop)
- 25th Aug 2008, 900 points
- 8th Aug 2008, 900 points
- 23rd Jul 2008, 900 points
Switch eShop
- 1st Feb 2018, $7.99
- 1st Feb 2018, £6.29
- Series
- Official Site
- nintendo.com
Reviews
Review Samurai Shodown II (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Sensational samurai
With its weapon-based combat and gameplay that often rewarded patience, Samurai Shodown was a different type of fighting game, but a very good one. SNK thought they could do better however, so went away and came up with Samurai Shodown II, a game similar to its predecessor but with some additions to the lineup and gameplay...
Review Samurai Shodown II (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
First released in 1994, this fighting game follows 15 samurai in their individual quests.
Let's face it, the majority of SNKs existence is based around their unrelenting quest to come up with a fighting game for their system that could stand toe-to-toe with Capcom's immensely popular Street Fighter II arcade game. Samurai Shodown has the unique...
Screenshots 8
Samurai Shodown II Guides
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Fighting Games
Final Round. Fight!
Updated with Rage of the Dragons NEO. Fight! It's ironic that one of the most violent video game genres is also one which has pulled millions of people together; ever since the early days of Fatal Fury and Street Fighter II, the humble 'fighting game' genre has created (and arguably ended) countless friendships. For anybody...
Samurai Shodown II News
News Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection Launches This July On Nintendo Switch
Includes a previously unreleased game
SNK and developer Digital Eclipse have finally locked in a release date for the Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection. It'll arrive on the Switch and PlayStation 4 on 28th July for $39.99 USD (or your regional equivalent). A physical release is expected to follow this in the summer, although Japan will get their...
News Get 50% Off The First Three Samurai Shodown Games On The Switch eShop
Slashed prices
If you love old school SNK fighters, there's a sale happening right now on the North American and European Switch eShop that you might want to check out. You can get the Arcade Archives versions of Samurai Shodown, Samurai Shodown II and Samurai Shodown III for 50% off the regular prices. Thanks to the price cut, each one is £3.14 /...
Nintendo Download 1st February (Europe)
The EU eShops have been updated, and we have all the deets
February has arrived and it's brought with it the very first Nintendo Download update of the month. And it's a huge haul too, with all sorts of new digital editions being uploaded across Nintendo's various eShops. As usual, your friends at Nintendo Life have gathered together every new game,...
Nintendo Download 1st February (North America)
Every new digital download on the Switch, 3DS and Wii U eShops
February is finally here - and what's that? It's arrived just in time for the very first Nintendo Download update of the month? What fortuitous timing! This week's big update includes a ton of new games for the Nintendo Switch-based eShop, as well as a slew of titles for the Wii U eShop...
News Samurai Shodown II Slashes Its Way To The Switch eShop Next Week
February with a slice of 1789 swordplay
Hamster is bringing SNK's 1994 title Samurai Shodown II to the Switch eShop. If the first game was revolutionary this first sequel somehow managed to surpass expectations thanks to gameplay refinements such as the very welcomed inclusion of rolling and ducking which enable you to safely dodge...
News USA VC Releases: Ys Book I & II and Samurai Shodown II
American VC gamers hoping for Super Mario RPG today due to its surprise release a few days ago in Europe might feel a little disappointed today as it is not out this week in the USA unfortunately. Worry not, this week is still a stellar update for the Wii Shop as one of our other favourite RPGs is up for grabs, and one of the best 2D brawlers too!
Y...
News EU VC Update - Samurai Shodown II
Samurai Shodown II was supposed to be released in the US last Monday, according to SNK. Sadly, this ended up not happening. Europeans, however, are now able to buy SNK's fighter masterpiece on Virtual Console. It is flanked by a cult Commodore 64 game and two Mega Drive games.
Obviously, Samurai Shodown II is the pick of the bunch. We got...
News Samurai Shodown II Coming To North American VC In August
Widely seen as one of the defining fighting games of all time, Samurai Shodown II was today confirmed by SNK Playmore as coming to the North American Virtual Console in August - the 4th, to be exact.
That's right - next Monday you could be crossing swords with the best of them! We’ve already seen the sublime Samurai Shodown on Nintendo’s retro...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - July 2008
As it's the last Friday of the month once again, Nintendo of Japan has revealed their Virtual Console plans for the next month. There are some notable games here, including (finally) Donkey Kong 3, the first Space Harrier, another Fire Emblem, and Shining Force II.
The full list is as follows: Famicom: Dig Dug (July 1st) Chack'n Pop Donkey Kong...
News ESRB Update: EarthBound Finally Coming To Virtual Console!
It's finally happening!
If you're familiar at all with the Mother series (Only the second game was released outside Japan, as EarthBound) you should know it's got an enormous cult following. In fact, EarthBound was the number one wanted VC game in the Nintendo Power poll just a few days ago! Fans have pleaded for Nintendo to release the other games...
About The Game
First released in 1994, this fighting game follows 15 samurai in their individual quests. The rage system, which was popular in the first game, has been further enhanced. Not only does attack power rise when the gauge is full, but the player can also use a special technique that can break the opponent's weapon and force the opponent to fight unarmed.
The game also allows for more movement techniques such as back-stepping, rushing forward and ducking, allowing for even more strategies. A fun and important detail of this game: One of the new characters, Cham Cham, was voiced by voice actress Reiko Chiba, an idol in the gaming community.
Comments 78
Man this looks sweet......
Good game, but terrible translation. Hilarious though!
This is a great game...I can't wait until it's on VC.
Oh hell (censored) YEAH!!!
This games awsome...I have so much fond memories of it.
Victoly! (sic)
As far as i heard this is actually supossed to be the best of the Samurai Shodown games.
Let's not forget:
Cham Cham: "Oooh! It was scarry!"
Cham Cham: "You really make me mad!"
Charlotte: "In France, there's no impolite person like you! It's reasonable I win!!"
Charlotte: "You imitate my distinguished family. I never forgive you."
Earthquake: "Gosh! I've made it mincemeat! He he he he he!"
Earthquake: "He he he he he, you'd better on a diet!"
Galford: "Hey! Do you like to challenge my American ninjutsu?"
Gen-an: "He he he, I drag your soul in the evil world."
Gen-an: "Who is the real king of the evil world, let's have it our!"
Genjuro: "I'll be never beaten by anyone who lives in confort, like you."
Genjuro: "KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!"
Haohmaru: "How weak you are! I will kill you as well as 'tofu' with my sword!"
Haohmaru: "I don't like this ominous feelings."
Haohmaru: "I slay my imitation with my sword together with Mt.Fuji!"
Kyoshiro: "Go through the beauty of real 'kabuki' by your death!"
Nakoruru: "Power, speed and beauty. I have defeated you in all way."
Nicotine: "What a nice person! You kindly give the palm to such a crock!"
Sieger: "Don't be hateful each other. Love is the best strength."
Sieger: "Give you my knock for justice!"
Ukyo: "..... To cut a same face..... ..... feel bad....."
Wan-Fu: "How foolish, stupid and silly you are! Get away, chicken!"
Wan-Fu: "Look at our great Chinese power!"
Fantastic game, the nonsense above makes it even better!
@ sephiroth79: It looks like they did a word for word translation of the dialog.
Not that I'm complaining but what happened to the first one?
yes they did and it's hilarious
I hope they release SS1 and 2 soon, they were both fantastic games.
i hope it comes. at least till samurai showdown anthology comes anyways i'm waiting for snk games for wii including king of fighters orochi saga, which has krauser.
I'm waiting for Last Blade, Last Blade 2, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and Pulstar. But Samurai Shodown II was the best of the series, at least in my opinion. The broken English was just a hilarious side bonus.
@sephiroth79
You forgot the best one of them all, the intro:
Long Long Ago, there were a man who tried to make his skills ultimate. Because of his bloody life, its no accident that he was involved in the troubles.
Ah, the troubles...standing on the criff at the beginning
BEST Samurai Shodown EVER!!
It's the pinnacle of the Samurai Shodown series. But I agree, the English translation was laughable at best. Funny stuff.
I dunno, it looks a little unbalanced from the video, also I could do without the blood, as it reminds me of Mortal Combat, and that game almost turned me off fighters forever! Still looks pretty damn good, though.
i have shodown 1.i need this one too!
While I haven't played the original, It was the first fighting game I've been interested in a while. The last one I played was Sonic the Fighters, and that was a little too complicated for me. I can only dread the thought of how incredibly complicated this is, but an interest is a start, not to mention it just looks that cool!
I can´t wait for this one. Really. Gimme pleease!
LOL ya this is great but...when is the vc gonna get THE LAST BLADE and SUPER SMASH BROS 64. we need these games and more n64 games like ssb and perfect dark if you guys know wat i mean
More Engrish please:)
Lets attack aggressively! Go Fight! A winner is you!
"I think SS4 is better than this, don't you people agree?"
Nope, this one's the best, hands down.
Get it more! Get it more!
Only twinkies have preferences. You Pansy Face.
Okay, now I have to get this, the sheer humorness(inventing words is fun!) is too much to resist!
yayyyy its coming to na on Monday. Let's keep goin and get super smash bros and last blade!
@DaDun
I'm with you there - I played Super Smash Bros. recently, and even with all the sequels it still was fun! Plus, I saw some vids of Last Blade and I gotta say, if a game can make a little old fisherman seem badarse, then I'm all for it!
I'm not making up anything, it's real dialogue from "Pulstar" and "Matrimelee"
http://neogeoforlife.com/viewpage.php?page_id=101
http://neogeoforlife.com/viewpage.php?page_id=215
Funny stuff
@sephiroth79
It took me a while to figure out what that was refering to! I hope those games come to the VC soon, they look awesome! There sure were a lot of great games on the Neo Geo huh? Now if we'd just get more of those( hopefully games of or near Samurai Shodown will be a trend of some sort), people would stop complaining whenever a new one gets released.
What exactly makes this so much better than the first one? It just looks like alot of the same. I'm sure there are more characters but is that the only thing that's better?
The Dynamic Fighting System makes a solid difference. The ability to duck and hop over attacks adds a lot of defensive capability to the mix that was missing from the first game. Great new characters and a nice visual upgrade round this wonderful package out. Most Neo Geo fans, myself included, think Samurai Shodown II is by far the best release in the entire series.
Cool! Sounds good. I bought the first one and liked it so maybe I'll give this a try.
will download tmz
Would anyone say that this is a hard game? Have not played a samurai showdown game before.
The A.I. in SNK fighting games is very challenging and in some cases, notoriously cheep so don't expect to blow through the game in a day. As with the first game I would recommend an arcade controller for SSII. I use my PS2 Street Fighter controller by way of an adapter. It plays like a dream!
I can't wait till this comes. I was thinking about getting the original, but after seeing some videos, I knew this was the game to get! However, there have been some people who got the game and said that the original was better, so maybe someday I'll look into that one. But for now, I just want #2!
So if this one's so much better, how come they both get a 5? It just seems odd to me.
Well, like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx38JqdB5uQ
Show me Hanzo kicking that much arse(or more), and I'll give. Until then, I'll just wait for this one to come out.
I'd prefer it if the opponent did something though, because I'll admit it's not as impressive once you realize that the opponent is just standing there most of the time. It is, however, a great way to show off the special attacks.
@Demon - Both SS1 and SS2 are excellent and worthy of 5 stars IMHO.
Having said that I do prefer SS2 myself, but I also prefer SMB3 to SMB1.
Im not really into fighting games but i think that I will give this a try sometime
morphballer: What kinda PS2-adapter are you using for the Wii? I would also like to use my SFII controller on this
@Demon: Both games are good games. SS2 is better than SS1, which already had 5 stars, so you have to give SS2 5 stars too. Seeing though they're rated out of 5, you can't just go 1 higher because it's better... this isn't Spinal Tap...
I'd also like to know about this PS2 adaptor, well, i'd prefer a saturn one, but i can't seen that happening
It's pretty good, but I've already bought SS1 and would rather have a Last Blade game. I don't play fighters often by myself, so I don't want too many.
Wow, I think it's time to expand my list of 20 VC games to purchase to a mega 21! It's only taken another 6 months, but Nintendo have finally broken my top 20 list.
For me I have sf new challengers and just want this game, last blade and super smash bros 64 for all the fighters i will ever need. my other two wishlist games r earthbound and perfect dark tho lol
I guess this is the adapter he uses:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-14-71-10y-49-en.html
I have just ordered one myself
Finally it's here!
Go Galford!
Yeah, Galford is still my favorite character to play as. And I've also discovered the charms of Cham Cham.
I wonder if this game will be on SNK Arcade Classics Vol 2.
I had big expectations, Samurai Shodown II is good, but I can´t see what the hype is all about. The gameplay feels strange. Perhaps I´ll get used to it, but the uneven tempo with slow characters, some quick specials and slowmotion on some hits... right now my timing is completely off!
Downloaded this yesterday. I have to say I'm liking it a lot.
its good, but i think ssd4 and last blade are a lot better
You think SS4 is good, then you gotta play SS6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAcCCC6OU38&feature=related
Well this game kicking the tar out of me, and I can only manage to beat the first opponent. Hopefully by time and practice I'll manage to be decent, other than that, a nice game indeed and was worth the wait.
who are you playing as?
Cham-Cham is a good character I think with some good moves.
try setting the game to an easier difficulty setting to allow you to practice for a while.
SS6 looks frickin awesome. wants it cheers Mickeymac
What console is SS6 on ?
SamSho II seems to play fairly different from the SFII template. I think that's where a lot of people's complaints come from. It doesn't seem to allow for combos and you need to be fairly reactive and hit big when you get an opening. If you try to button mash and be too aggressive, the AI is gonna pick you apart. I like it that way, makes you learn and understand the mechanics. As I get to know the game better, I can see where poor decisions and lack of patience are making me lose rounds.
Just a couple of complaints: seeing as you can load from your save anyways, they might as well have just let you have infinite credits. It just makes it more of a nuisance than it needs to be, and if you're playing for score, you're only gonna use one credit anyways. Also, it would be nice if they'd mapped the strong attacks to L1 and R1 on the Classic Controller, but I guess that wouldn't be accurate.
@AngelBlack187
Right now, it's on the PS2, however it's going to be on the Anthology on the PS2 and Wii. I don't know when the Anthology is being released though.
A Samsho anthology? Sweet! now I don't need to get this from the shop! I can save 900 wii points and 200-some blocks for Star Parodier.
Samurai Shodown VI was developed using Sammy's Atomiswave arcade board. This board is based off of Sega's Naomi board. Samurai Shodown VI was also released on the Playstation 2 console in Japan and included some extra playable characters as well. While I don't like it as much as SS2, it's easily my second favorite game of the series.
On a side note - I almost bought one of those Atomiswave PCBs for my Neo Geo cabinet, but it seemed a bit expensive for just that one game. I couldn't find another Atomiswave game that I'd want bad enough to spend that kind of money on it.
It really saddens me to see that SS2 did not make the the top 20. How is SS1 going to make the top 20, but not SS2?
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3163122
I was about to purchase when I read what follows:
"The Wii will receive a collection of all six of the main Samurai Shodown games similar to SNK's Metal Slug Anthology, which was released on Wii earlier this year. Again no official word on a U.S. release nor on what kind of Wii control capabilities might be implemented, but both seem likely."
I thought it may be of interest to some of you. Waiting will be hard because this review makes me want to play.
Currently my favourite game on vc. The art style is awesome compared to the sequels, and it almost feels like chess with it's attack/defend strategy. i used to look longingly at the arcade cabinet in my local arcade wishing i could afford a neo-geo, but now i can play it any time i like - cheers Ninty !!!
class game, but for some reason all the games ive played on the virtual console are running at 50hz ive noticed this because i got this game on mame and all the neo-geo games run at 60hz like in the arcades and the games run faster better in my opinion dont know why the games dont run at 60hz on the vc, still a good game though
Great game, but I would recommend getting it on xbox live if you have a 360. It might be a little more pricey, but looks better and has online play!
@The Fox
Yeah, I was just about to mention that! Personally I think it actually looks worse than the VC one, but that's just from looking at screenshots. I don't have a 360 yet, but if it is better I'll just save my money. Is there any noticable lag?
@Mickeymac
No single player lag, but there is a bit of lag online on some matches. It's not that bad from my experiences so far though.
The only real problem is that the standard 360 controllers d-pad isn't the best for pulling off some of the more complex motions. (like for the super moves)
The 360 version does not look better, matter of fact, if you don't turn off the terrible filter, it looks far worst. Also, since they didn't take the time to update the sprites in the game, it cannot look better than what it looks like on the VC since the VC is pretty much prefect.
Screw it, my brother doesn't want to play anyways. I might get the 360 one, since it has online, but I have no need for the VC version.
Samurai Showdown Anthology announce on Wii Fanboy:
http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/09/12/save-those-wii-points-samurai-shodown-anthology-releases-this-w/
Meanwhile, I am also getting it on Xbox Live Arcade for online play.
@sipherdee
Yep, 'nother game to add to my Christmas list, along with that King of Fighters collection.
Edit: Damn it, it's been delayed until February! So much for christmas, guess I gotta get it for my birthday now.
I love this game, I just bought it today.
Its kinda hard to get used to the Classic Controller, Im used to using PS2-esque controllers for fighting games but, it works.
I also appreciate the save feature. =3
I'm seriously considering getting a hori stick for this. Would be good for shmups, too. I'm hitting the wall for how good I can get with the Classic Controller.
Jubei owns.
For any games on the Neo Geo, instead of the Hori Arcade stick, I would highly suggest getting the Neo Geo arcade stick. The way the buttons are lineup on the Neo Geo stick matches the original Neo Geo layout. Doing moves with the Hori Arcade stick on most Neo Geo fighters are impossible due to the fact that the Neo Geo fighters required a bunch of 2 or 3 button presses at the same time (use Hanzo in SS1 and SS2, then you will understand).
@Corbie Dillard: Yes, the review nor the sidebar states what kind of control this game support. From the users I can predict it does support Classic Control. Does it support GameCube controls?
@WaddleWave
All Neo Geo games support the Classic and Gamecube controllers.
Yeah! Played this on the Xbox, and it is sweet! Can't get enough of it! Too bad there aren't a lot of people playin' it, but still, when I get into a game with someone, it is awesome!
I'll definitely be downloading this. It looks amazing.
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