Two arcade games in a row! Can you believe it? People are sadly mistaken if they think Soul Caliber is a great sword fighting game. Samurai Showdown II (Samurai Spirits in Japan) completely destroys the Soul Caliber franchise.
Samurai Showdown II was and still is ahead of the curve. From my criteria in determining which games were great SS II was the total package. It had a great concept, bold, colorful graphics a solid story with a beginning, middle and end. SS II had incredible game mechanics it pushed the genre to new levels and featured the one thing that makes an average to good fighter into a great fighter, it had balance.
Balance is the one thing that has been missing in almost all of the 3D fighters and many of the recent 2D fighters from Capcom. Balance is what makes a player learn strategy, technique and timing in a fighting game. Without balance any person that picks up the game can mash the buttons and win 50% of the matches. Without balance there is a big discrepancy between top tier characters and the rest of the fighters. Balance has been missing for a long time in the fighting genre. This is why even with updated graphics games like Soul Caliber 3, Virtua Fighter 5 and Tekken 5 are only somewhat popular with core gamers and very popular with casual gamers.
For those that do not know the basic premise of the game. SS II is an homage to the legendary swordsmen from Japan and the world. This includes savage warriors from the jungles of Central and South America, Germanic knights, French duelists and secretive ninja clans.
Each of the characters had their own set of special moves, strengths and weaknesses. Large lumbering characters like Wan Fu and Seiger were traditional heavy hitters that could take and deal lots of damage while smaller faster characters like Cham Cham and Nakoruru had to keep opponents at bay. Some of the characters were an odd blend of both. The massive ninja Earthquake had moves that beguiled his size. Players that learned strategy could often catch opponents off guard with Earthquake or the freakish Genan.
Samurai Showdown II introduced the concept of swordplay to modern arcade players. It was not solely a sword fighting engine as players could lose their weapon and still be able to fight. Players quickly learned that they could survive longer with a weapon than without one.
The characters in the game did not rely solely on swords. Some like (my favorite) Wan Fu used a broken column, Cham Cham used a boomerang, the demonic Mizuki used a magic wand and even the ref Kuroko used flags as weapons. Each of these characters was well designed and utilized within the game.
Samurai Showdown II was a step ahead previous fighters because it incorporated many new elements. For a while there was no rival in terms of design, graphics, scope and balance. It was not a coincidence that SS became more popular what the aging Street Fighter II upgrades. Many of the people that worked on the first few SS games were ex-employees of Capcom. They were the people directly responsible for the success of the original Street Fighter II. After being told to release upgrade after upgrade for SF II many employees simply walked away from Capcom to rival SNK... the rest as they say is history.
Samurai Showdown II came hot on the heels of the original release, rather than just adding some polish to the previous engine, they added a new layer of complexity to the control, sprites, moves and animation but to the art, story and design of the series as well. Characters could dodge attacks and taunt opponents, the first time these two components worked successfully in any rapid pace fighting game. Players had to employ different strategies when facing different computer AI opponents and not solely human opponents.
One of the unheralded genius in the art department was Eiji Shiroi (one of my Top-5 artists). Her paintbrush designs helped set the mood for the game. Leave the character designs aside for a moment and just appreciate the levels that the art team at SNK designed. Wheat and tall grass blew in the wind, a single path disappeared in the distance. A solitary temple perched on a hill. Each level was less a stage in a videogame than it was a living-breathing painting. I dare say a visual haiku. The levels had as much personality as any of the main characters or was it vice versa?
There is still much that needs to be said for the 2D fighter but it can summed it up in a few words.
A better sword fighting game has yet to be created.
I hope you have a good weekend. I'll see you at the E3.
Of course I remember this game I was soooo disappointed that it was originally going to stay on the NEO-GEO, but now It on PC, 360, and in Samurai Shodown Collection (xb1) I recall it being at the community college and being played quite a bit.
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