Although these days most gamers would associate SNK with the King of Fighters or Fatal Fury series, there’s still a sizeable following for the third major string in its fighting game bow, Samurai Shodown.
Focusing more on weapons-based combat and less on having all the W’s in its title, the Samurai Shodown series is much loved for its 18th century Japanese setting, its generally more powerful attacks and its occasional over-the-top death blows often resulting in geysers of blood or opponents being sliced in two.
In recent years Nintendo systems have been no stranger to re-releases of the Samurai Shodown games. Wii owners were treated to the Samurai Shodown Anthology back in 2009, while fans of the ACA Neo Geo series on the Switch eShop will know that Samurai Shodown I-V and V Special are all available to purchase individually. If you’re a devotee of the series, then, there’s a chance you already own the games in some shape or form.
It’s time for the retro compilation experts at Digital Eclipse to have a crack at it, though, and the result is Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection, which comprises the seven Shodown games released on the Neo Geo MVS arcade system. That’s Samurai Shodown I, II, III, IV, V, the upgraded Samurai Shodown V Special and – for the first time ever – Samurai Shodown V Perfect.
For those not familiar with it, Samurai Shodown V Perfect was originally developed back in 2004 right after work finished on Samurai Shodown V Special. The studio behind it, Yuki Enterprise, got as far as putting a single test arcade game in a single location in Japan before SNK found out about it and cancelled it (because it wanted to focus on the upcoming Samurai Shodown VI). This collection marks the first ever time Special has been available to play, and now that SNK acknowledges it, it’s officially the last ever Neo Geo game.
Each of the games appeals in its own way. Which is best comes down to personal taste: some believe the more serious tone of Samurai Shodown III gives it a unique feel the others don’t have, whereas others believe II and IV are masterpieces of the genre and have rarely been bettered to this day. Whatever you believe to be the case, temper your expectations for the mythical Samurai Shodown V Perfect: while it’s incredible that we’re even able to play it, it isn’t massively different from SSV Special.
The characters in SSV Perfect have new endings (which were designed to tie in with Samurai Shodown VI) and there’s a new cutscene halfway through where the game explains to the player that the final bosses have to be defeated with Overkill moves (something that wasn’t explicitly explained in SSV Special). Other than that, though, this is more or less Special with a few extra bits and pieces: an incredible inclusion from a historical and preservationist point of view, but slightly underwhelming if you were hoping for a drastically new update.
Since this is a Digital Eclipse release, the presentation and emulation are virtually flawless. You’ve got your usual selection of zoom options (original resolution, zoomed to fit the screen’s height and zoomed to widescreen), filters (no filter, TV filter, arcade filter) and an impressive selection of 47 different background images to choose from. Game options are surprisingly limited: other than switching between the US and Japanese versions of the game, most of them only let you choose the difficulty level and remap your buttons.
Digital Eclipse collections are also known for their brilliant Museum modes though, and this one absolutely knocks it out of the park. There are over 2000 images here, including official artwork, character illustrations and even behind-the-scenes sketches showing how many of the game’s moves were originally designed. There are a lot of Japanese notes written on these sketches, and while it would have understandably required a lot of extra work it’s a shame there’s no captions translating them, so we could see what the designers were thinking at the time.
The Museum mode also includes a Music section where you can listen to the complete soundtracks for the games included (which comes to more than 200 tracks), and – perhaps most impressive of all – more than two hours of video giving you interviews with the developers and even some footage of legendary pro Samurai Shodown tournament fights. The only disappointment is that none of these videos can be made fullscreen: you have to watch them in a smaller window, which is a bit rubbish when you’re watching two hours of video on your TV.
So far so good, then: seven great beat ‘em ups (well, five and a couple of updated versions) and a superb Museum mode that anyone with an interest in game history will spend countless hours sifting through. This isn’t a compilation without issues, though, not least of all being the fact that the online multiplayer – which is allegedly available on all seven games – is completely dead on arrival. We tried for ages to find a single match on any of the games and couldn’t find one. Unless you’ve got a pal who also has the game, you should just assume this one is local multiplayer only, because it might as well be.
It would also have been nice to have had some sort of training or tutorial mode to help introduce the game to newcomers. While this compilation will obviously be most of interest to fans of this series, general fighting game fans may also be interested in seeing what the fuss was about and some of the later games’ more complex mechanics are left for you to either figure out yourself or head off to Google and try to get a guide online.
For us, though, the most disappointing aspect of this compilation is in the title: Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection. By limiting things to just the Neo Geo entries in the series, it’s missing out a number of other interesting Samurai Shodown games which would have made for a more interesting compilation all round. Obviously we aren’t expecting anything like last year’s Samurai Shodown reboot (which arrived on Switch earlier this year), but there were two Samurai Shodown games on the Neo Geo Pocket which would have been fun little additions.
There was a sixth Samurai Shodown game, but because it was released on a different arcade board (Atomiswave) instead of the Neo Geo MVS, it didn’t quality for this compilation. SNK also released two polygonal games – Samurai Shodown 64 and Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage – for its Hyper Neo Geo 64 arcade board (not the N64, despite the titles), as well as a third on the PlayStation. We’d have loved to have seen these on here. Even something like the Mega Drive or SNES versions of the first game would have been great to have on here, to show how they compared to the arcade originals.
This is just us being entitled, though: what’s here is perfectly fine and fans of these games or fighting games in general will have plenty to fight their way through and a whole host of characters to master. There’s no shaking the fact, however, that despite the presence of the long-lost Samurai Shodown V Perfect, we could have had even more in here had the ‘Neo Geo-only’ boundaries not been laid down. After all, the Samurai Shodown Anthology on the Wii launched a full 11 years ago and it had the sixth game in it, which doesn’t feature here.
Conclusion
The Samurai Shodown games are among the best in the fighting genre: the seven games on offer here are perfect examples of this, and the exceptional Museum mode will keep you busy for hours. Its online may be a non-starter and it may have offered even more titles if it had lifted its self-imposed Neo Geo-only restrictions, but that doesn't take away from what's an otherwise strong collection of brilliant fighting games.
Comments 46
Seeing as the online component is so bad, seeming across all platforms from what I’m reading, why give the game an 8? The single player experience is rather shallow, so what’s the justification? Just curious as to your reasoning, I am absolutely not here to start a flame war!
Waiting for my copy from LRG.
I love the care Digital Eclipse put into their releases. I'm getting this on the strength of their past ones alone. I loved the SNK anniversary collection.
It’s disappointing to hear about the online mode. Think I’m better off just playing the games I already have on Switch(ACA) and the Neo Geo Mini
@TG16_IS_BAE FLAME WAR!
Well, the games are great on their own or with local matches. I think it's a bit difficult to give it too many negative points if there aren't many playing online at the moment. It's only been out a week, & to be fair, there are so many great games on all systems that have just launched that may be leaving this in the shadows somewhat.
Not a huge fighting fan but the few times I played an SS game I liked it a lot. I might bite if the price is right.
@sikthvash
Well, I agree at least that Samurai Shodown 2 still holds it's own, MAYBE the first game but the rest aren't as appealing to me. Thing is, when I read other reviews, both by users and in the media, they are reporting that the multiplayer isn't lacking in players, it's that it just doesn't function.
@TG16_IS_BAE Oh well, if it's broken, then that's a different story. It's also very pricey, so maybe I'll look at this again during a sale (oh it was free on Epic games on PC). Maybe they'll fix the online part. Do you know if there will be crossplay?
EDIT - just seen that cross play only exists on PC between Epic & Steam
Does it contain all Pikmin DLC though?
@sikthvash That was easy lmao
It's time for the Nintendo Life drinking game!
If the guy responds to a comment and tells them "I've been doing this for (insert fluctuating time frame here, eg. 14 years, 11 years etc.) take a shot.
If he lists off the amount of games he's reviewed finish your drink.
If he says "with the greatest of respect" to someone, take two shots and chase it with your main drink.
If he replies to someone else that he's "used to it and it doesn't bother him" down your whole drink and chase it with a shot.
And finally, if he responds to someone sarcastically and puts a heart at the end to try and convince everyone he's cool and collected and not infuriated within an inch of his life, down all drinks in the surrounding area, even if they aren't yours, and then go play some video games!
I love Nintendo Life! ❤
@TG16_IS_BAE I actually think this was a great review for the score matching the text. He states how great the games are, and with the online being the only thing seemingly lacking, an 8 seems solid to me. You know?
@TG16_IS_BAE It's still a collection of awesome video game history with a museum mode that elevates it beyond just the games. If online is that important to you, yeah, stay away. But if you can appreciate the collection for what it is, the score seems fine even if I find this collection lacking in the game content. Why do a NeoGeo Collection only when the PSP and PS2 got a collection that included VI? At this point, any new collection should have added the NeoGeo64 titles or the NeoGeoCD RPG as well at the very least.
@scully1888
Misspelled the Wii Title up towards the beginning of the article. And what does "twhere" mean?
I find it funny that Ghost of Tsushima and this came out relatively close to each other
@nintendope64 Well those insults all sound nice and personal. I appreciate you paying so much attention to my words ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
@silverthornne Indeed! For those that want that, more power to them. I’ll stick with 1+2, those make me happy enough.
@nintendope64 I guess it comes down to basic functionality, ‘cause a game with broken multiplayer in 2020, where people actually think it’s important, doesn’t sound like an 8. Single player only? Sure, the 8 seems justified, but this feels like it’s rewarding the developer for releasing broken multiplayer.
@scully1888 Touché 🤣👏
@TG16_IS_BAE No problem at all with you asking for clarification since you were so respectful about it, so don't worry! Basically, if the games had never offered online in the first place it would still have been an 8 because there are seven brilliant fighting games in here, among the best in the genre.
It's important to note that the online isn't actually broken as far as I'm aware: I simply couldn't find a match at all. That isn't necessarily the fault of the game, it could just be that hardly anyone is interested in playing it online.
I do see other people reporting that the online is broken, but I literally couldn't find a match to see if that's the case, and I'm not comfortable with stating something I haven't tried for myself, so I have to assume it works until I see that isn't the case.
Since I'm not punishing it for having broken online, then, it would be harsh to punish it for simply including a mode that nobody cares about, so instead I've pointed out that nobody's using it and that you might as well assume it isn't a viable option.
To clarify, then, I'm not saying the online isn't broken (because I literally couldn't test it). It's just a ghost town. Hope that clears it up a bit!
@scully1888 I didn't mean for it to come across as nasty by the way. I was just pointing out the patterns of your comment sections. You probably know it better than anyone
@TG16_IS_BAE If the single player leaves you wanting more, crank up the CPU difficulty to level 8. That old-school SNK AI is quite a handful.
@nintendope64 Mmm-hmm. I think people can decide for themselves. It would be unprofessional for me to discuss it further on here, so find me on Twitter if you want to continue the discussion.
@scully1888 That’s very fair, and I appreciate your thoughtful reviews, and this response! Keep up the good work, man!
@masterLEON Oh, I’m familiar with that nonsense! Soooo punishing, all my arcades had it cranked to 8 so they got a lot of quarters out of me!
@nintendope64 Dude, what crawled up your shorts?
Problem that I got with this is how it doesn't really serve a purpose for me after having bought all of the ACA Neo Geo games. The only thing I would be getting is SSV Perfect and I have always considered SSV a rather weak entry in the series anyways, the first two are pretty much the only ones I still play often. You pretty much gotta be a SS super fan or someone who missed out on the ACA releases.
If the comments rip a reviewer like the British tabloid music press take a drink!
@TG16_IS_BAE just poking fun. The comment sections under this author's reviews or features are like they're copied and pasted. It's not really his fault
@nintendope64 Okay, thanks for clarifying. I really love this site because most of the discussion is fairly reasonable, unlike other more mainstream sites so I get a tad touchy when people are inconsiderate. Humor is great, though. We need more of that, right now! lol
Thank you for the review. I have already dowloaded SS II and the new SS reboot game, so will have to make a decision on whether it is worth downloading this collection.
I owned the Wii Anthology for a while which was actually quite enjoyable and intriguing gaming. I didn't play it much though as it was part of a colassal Wii library at the time.
@TG16_IS_BAE yeah like, I quite like Chris Scullion and I actually appreciate that he comes and discusses things in the comments and clarifies things that people ask. Despite using some of his lingo I didn't mean to insult him, it was more a jab at people being volatile over his opinion, which is all it is, and he has said it several times. In fact, I quite like the way he looks at his review process in that he doesn't outright tell people to buy this and that, but rather tries to connect games in a "if you liked that then you'll like this" kind of way. Those are the most useful reviews IMO
@nintendope64 That makes a lot of sense.
I feel like when games like these have terrible online experience, it should be docked a lot of points in reviews. People are always going on about how bad Smash Ultimate online is and yes, it isn't great but it is miles ahead of some other switch titles like SF 30th Anniversary Collection. The online experience was EXTREMELY bad!!
@Tasuki Should of just bought it from anywhere but.
Online play with SNK games had always sucks but I'm getting this for Samurai Shodown Perfect so that's still a treat to me. Like the reviewer said they could had include more Samurai Shodown games for this collection especially Samurai Shodown 64 1 & 2 from the Hyper NeoGeo Arcade 64 and/or the two NeoGeo Pocket Color games (which are essentially just SS64 1 & 2 in portable form), or even Samurai Shodown RPG which was released for the NeoGeo CD. I know those games are outside the main games but they are still essentially NeoGeo Samurai Shodown games. They still carry the NeoGeo branding and would had been great extra for fans who got this collection.
So far the only Samurai Shodown games that are not NeoGeo are the crappy ones like Warriors' Rage on PS1, Sen on Xbox 360, the Nakoruru graphic novel on Dreamcast, and SS6 on the Samurai Shodown Anthology.
Tutorial would've been great. I never played these in the before time, so I'm struggling to "get it"
It’s a great collection!
I already have the first two on the Wii!
So, I think maybe I buy when the price drops.
@YANDMAN I wanted a physical copy plus the little extras that came with it.
Is this still getting a retail release? I know LRG did a collector’s edition, and Japan and Asia already got releases, but I’ve been holding out for North American retail. If that’s not happening I’d like to know so I can grab the Asia release.
This was free on PC.
@scully1888 No need my man 👌
@Tasuki yeah you can buy all of the same from Japan right now.
I have my copy ordered in a normal store (as it should be, but sadly not always is), but man, this collection has taken its time to release. And more, because it's been pushed to september in its physical form.
I love Digital Eclipse collections, but as in Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, online doesn't work (not that I'm an online player, but I can see when something important to other people is missing and it's a bad thing) and some games could have made the cut (in that case, Street Fighter IV). It also happened with SNK 40th Anniversary Collection: despite its name, it was just pre-Neo Geo games, and although they came in arcade and console form when available, "console" was always the NES, but not other systems although there were some versions of those games outside the 8-bit Nintendo system. Mega Drive version of Street Smart, for instance.
But, despite their flaws, all them are great collections a retro lover like many of us will enjoy for sure.
I hope DE doesn't release a Metal Slug collection, though, because I've been buying some of them individually. I wish we knew this projectes before making purchase decisions. Now I have the first two SamSho games twice.
Wait a sec - is there no training mode in this compilation? Can someone confirm?
Definitely seems like a good collection especially since it's from Digital Eclipse. Online being sucky is a bummer, but I don't play online much so I don't mind too much.
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