Quick Look: Samurai Shodown

Excited to see how this plays out!

Bummer that they're so lukewarm on this, because it looks fucking cool in regards to aesthetics and style.

CONCLUSION

According to the SNK Wiki, Galford was born in "Hero City, San Francisco, California"

https://snk.fandom.com/wiki/Galford

Great, now I get to decide whether to cancel that preorder.

Ken Bogard is actually a fairly well-known French FGC commentator/personality.

Having never played a SamSho game before, these were always billed as having fights that last 1-2 hits. These fights are still kind of quick I guess but the attacks aren't doing nearly as much damage as I was expecting.

Visually I'm super digging it. Looks great. I really don't know what Jeff's complaining about.

Nah, fuck it, I'm more invested in SamSho than these guys. I <3 Samurai Shodown 4, so their tastes are not mine. I'm going for it.

Hey, it's that dog.

@foggen: I haven't agreed with the guys' opinions on recent fighting games in years so them not feeling it is inconsequential to me besides some of the menu stuff maybe.

Are you sure you're not confusing this with Bushido Blade?

Oh man i remember this game

Samurai Shodan: "Look at you, hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone. Panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect immortal machine?"

Do I get to be the only one that just now noticed that this series is called "Samurai Shodown" and not "Samurai Showdown?" Fuck. This is "Virtua Fighter" all over again.

Kinda surprised to see Jeff and Ben so negative here. I've never played a SamSho game before, but this certainly looks like something that the fans would be into.

This will probably me my new favorite fighter - cannot wait!

@dasakamov: Yeah, I probably am.

@eojayand : and jeff GOTEM. still a threat

This definitely looks... slow, though I’d like to see a side-by-side with SamSho II or V Special for a better perspective on *how* slow. It’s still kind of a bummer though, because I was definitely excited to see the series come back, but it seems like SNK hasn’t quite nailed any of their franchise revivals yet.

"Feels like dogshit" Put that on the box!

SNK... probably should have taken that deal for Epic Exclusivity. Good luck on reaching 1m units sold on PC SNK lol...

HATORI HANZO's A REAL GUY!

This game's "Awww yeahhhh check out our gore....NO WAIT, GORE IS ICKY" aspect is suuuuuper weird. We want to show your characters get bloody -- no we don't, so the blood vanishes after a few seconds. We want to show you cut in half -- but there's no blood and now you look like a bisected plastic doll. I definitely don't think the game needs a "Mortal Kombat" level of gratuitous violence, but why even have a "gore" option when you're going to half-ass it?

Also, the fact that the Rage-move-thingie is *exactly the same animation for every single character in the game* is...not great.

Yeah dude same here. 4 is great, so I'm basically already coming at this from a different angle.

Really? Seems like vintage Jeff to me.

Same.

It just 100% seems like a taste thing, and not a lack of quality in any real way.

That Jubei is a Sonny Chiba Jubei

I hope some day they rank Samurai Shodown Sen, the mediocre 360/PS3 revival of Samurai Shodown.

This looks like it's running in slow motion like the first Virtua Fighter.

BTW the Ken Bogard guy is a famous French FGC commentator.

As someone who's really looking for something outside the "standard" fighting game ultra-focus on ludicrous combos, this sounded promising (haven't had that itch scratched since Divekick and Nidhogg 2). But $60 for a maaaaaaaaaaybe just ain't in the cards, especially as I'm still enjoying MK11 decently.

Also amazing how many folks are still banging the "Jeff Gerstmann: Too Cynical" drum. Ya'll watching the same videos I am?

If it makes any difference I believe for up till a week after launch you get the season pass free (four characters I believe).

@niko_of_death: That is definitely enticing. I know we're never getting another Bushido Blade, and For Honor has reached that "the only people who play are absolute murderers" level, so this is something I WANT to like.

This looks fanTAstic!

Never played one of these before, but I really like slower paced more methodical, neutral heavy fighting games and am pretty interested.

Is this like 2D Soul Calibur in terms of space control and weapon range? What are the closest comparisons to Samurai Showdown?

I really, really dig the character art but those backgrounds look real rough.

ITS M. BISION

Fighting game QLs should totally be crossover episodes with Ranking of Fighters.
Get some science done!

This just makes me wish someone would make a new Bushido Blade or Bushido Blade-like game

Does anyone ever disagree with Jeff? I mean I love Jeff but it seems like Ben likes this more than Jeff but is afraid to say it. I have notice this on the Bombcast too. People always seem to agree with Jeff even when they don't. The only two people that have the balls two disagree is Brad and Dan. The rest of the GB-staff usually say "yeah I know".

Just for the record, SS3 is pretty oddly the Neo Geo community's pick for favorite in the series, and there's a fan patched version for MVS/Home Cart that fixes some of the hit box issues, and I think tweaks some of the damage stuff, but sadly I can't tell the difference between it and my non-fixed cart.

My pick was always SS4 for best modern(at the time modern) and SS2 for classic. SS2 is a work of art. Everything about it is amazing, from presentation to overall game play, but 4 takes the best of that and really amps it up and gives the better button scheme. It also extended the life bars and fixed that matches can be over in seconds thing from SS3.

But, yeah... You're really in the minority, Jeff, if you hated everything post 2. Not saying 2 wasn't great, but most people loved SS3 or SS4 (and argue which one is better over and over) . Though, I think most will agree 5 was trash, and 5S was only slightly better, but since it holds the distinction of last official SNK game on the Neo, it's been inflated as slightly better than late n-g release dumpage. Though, again, I think there's some fun to be had in SS5S, even if is kind of a mess at times.

This game, though... Looks slow, clunky, and sadly really disappointing. I was hoping it would be worth picking up and was looking forward to the quick look, but now I just want to go play some SS4 instead.

Man, SNK games used to be the prettiest on the block... Between this, the latest KoF and that SNK Heroines game, I just don't know what to say. Not commenting at all on how they play, but they just don't look good. The animation is great for the most part, but boy those character models and especially the backgrounds and background characters just look really bad. The UI and menus look real slapped together, too. This looks like an early PS3 game.

@wobblysnake: The SNK of back then is long gone, like literally. Even SNK of SNK Playmore is long gone, and the Chinese company that holds the IPs now... I won't say they're not trying, but I don't think they're even close to capable of pulling off what the old SNK (even SNKP) was.

Sad, really, but I agree. I was one of the people who thought Heroines was going to be a pseudo sequel to Gals Fighter on the Neo Geo Pocket. I always thought that game didn't get the love it deserved, and was psyched we might actually get a new game in the series (and... Ms. X!) but then Heroines came out and it was horrific. I guess I should have known, the holding company that now owns SNK, Leyou Technologies Holdings, primarily specialized in chicken farming (for real) before wanting to get into gaming... So, for some chicken farmers, I guess this new SS isn't too bad.

hmmm, this one doesn't seem awful but still not really worthwhile. I think I'll stick to Samurai Shodown VI (the dream match game) on PS4 or Last Blade 2 for my sword-centric Japanese fighting games.

The gore aspect doesn't really surprise me, it's always been very minor and crude (tbf gore is usually handled either in a super over-the-top or uninspired way in...everything) in SS so the fact that it remains so doesn't surprise me. I mean it could be done with some more flair, but I'd never want a gorey Samurai Shodown game.

@pnutz83: plenty of heated arguments with Jeff during game of the year discussions, but yes Ben usually serves as Jeff’s lackey

@fdhabhar:

I know (that's why they rule) but there is almost never the flat out I don't agree with you when people speak to Jeff. It seems like they really respect his seniority. Remember when Jason and Dan use to get into it, that was heated.

Really like the west coast output. Jeff and Ben have a really great vibe!

I love the art style of this, shame Jeff and Ben are down on it because I think it actually looks great.

this actually looks kinda cool cus i don't usually like fighting games because they're too fast and the inputs are too hard to do reliably. finally a fighting game even a dumbass like me can enjoy :]