Samurai Shodown Turns 30

1993 was a huge year when it came to video games, especially in the home console market, the arcade scene was still alive and kicking. SNK was going head-on with Capcom in terms of who was going to be the king of the fighting games genre in the arcade world. Capcom just released Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting in the holiday season in 1992, and SNK released Fatal Fury Special but also another fighting and that game was Samurai Shodown.

Samurai Shodown was developed and published by SNK in July 1993. Unlike most fighting games at the time, they were hand-to-hand combat and set in a modern setting, Samurai Shodown took place in feudal-era Japan and is 100% weapon-based combat. SNK took their time to set this apart from what Capcom and other companies were doing at the time and it paid off.

The game was fast-paced yet required a whole new mindset and strategy to be good at this fighting game. Samurai Shodown has and still to this day feels like a samurai duel to the death, one mistake could end your game. In short, Samurai Shodown was a thinking person game and you can say it was on the same level as chess.

The detail in this game was one of the best, from the setting, the mood it set, even the referee and delivery man in that era was wonderfully done. The music matches the setting as well and many consider it to be one of SNK’s best to date.

If you have time this week or weekend go and give this game some time and you’ll end up enjoying it or rage quit it.