In 2019, Samurai Shodown arrived for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and achieved moderate success: we’re talking about around 40,000 copies sold (between physical and digital formats) in Japan up to July 4 of the same year. So far, there are no reports of its worldwide reception, but it’s clear that this is a franchise that doesn’t rival in popularity games like Mortal Kombat 11: The Aftermath or Dragon Ball FighterZ (which sold 5 million copies).
Assimilating a game like Samurai Shodown for an audience outside its niche is complicated, especially when you consider its 100% Japanese atmosphere and classic yet complex style. However, the franchise’s passage via Nintendo Switch and Google Stadia speaks to SNK’s interest in offering the game to all types of audiences, including its recent launch on PC via the Epic Games Store.
This brings us back to a controversial tweet that revealed the intentions of a PC download platform to have the exclusive launch of this title on its platform; however, Nobuyuki Kuroki, director of Samurai Shodown, rejected the proposal with faith in the success of his latest episode. Almost a year after its launch, the legendary SNK franchise arrives on PC in a port virtually identical to its console version, with a few shortcomings we’ll discuss in this review.
To get fully into this review, I’d like to mention that I’ll be talking about the game in general, as well as comparing the PC port with the PlayStation 4 version I was able to try out before.
Samurai Shodown is one of SNK’s great titans, a saga that has had different installments since its launch in 1993, taking as its main focus the 5 titles released for Neo Geo and the dream game developed for the Atomiswave plate.
Game Story
The story of Samurai Shodown is based on historical events that took place in feudal Japan, particularly in 1787 during the Tenmei period. An era dominated by hunger, war, and all manner of catastrophic phenomena. As if that weren’t enough, a mysterious cloud of death is gradually spreading from Japan.

The chaos in the land of the rising sun is caused by the wandering spirit of a woman named Shizuka. Her power grows as a demonic being transforms her hatred and sadness into evil energy. The mission of Haohmaru and the rest of the characters is to stop Shizuka in order to save the world and other hidden interests.
Although this argument takes a narrative line from the original Samurai Shodown, temporarily set between Samurai Shodown V and the first title, which is a little confusing, as it feels like a reboot of the franchise, but Amakusa’s imminent arrival is hinted at.
Gameplay
As I said, the soul of Samurai Shodown is classic, and not just in the design aesthetic, as it applies to every aspect of this fighting game. The way we play, it feels like we’re in the past, because if you’ve mastered the basics of other titles in the genre or are familiar with Samurai Shodown you won’t have much trouble adapting.

The control scheme is simple, we’ll have 3 types of slashes and a kick; by combining these buttons, we’ll get actions such as dodging, grabbing the opponent, or disarming him. Knowing this in addition to the basic actions of all characters is essential to victory; on the move, you’ll know how to react to different situations.
In Samurai Shodown, it’s all about knowing when you can apply punishment or provoke a mistake. All these actions are known as neutral play, leaving aside the abuse of combos or endless pressure. In general, it’s a simple game but not a simplistic one, as it requires your full attention, and the cleaner the hit, the more damage you’ll do. This shows a lot and is typical of Samurai Shodown; if you land a good hit, the opponent will lose around 60% of his life bar.
Several times, you’ll have to take risks, for example, when deflecting an attack. If you do it well, the opponent will be open for a few seconds, and you can hit a super strike that will make him lose almost all his bar. If you fail, you’ll be at his mercy, and you’ll get a good sword in the face, so it’s important to recognize situations and think of all the possibilities in thousandths of a second.

Battles, while intense, are not entirely dynamic; some players may even get bored because everything happens at a slow pace, and although there are 3 types of special moves, they won’t be seen in every fight. The first is the disarming move; as the name suggests, if the enemy receives this attack, his weapon will fly through the air, and he will be vulnerable.
Although you can take it from the ground, being disarmed means you’ll lose your main form of attack, so you’ll be at a total disadvantage. Next up is the super move; this attack is fatal but very slow and has no priority as it does in other games. So, while it’s very obvious, the rival can react with any simple move and slow down its activation.

The super move animations are quite a spectacle, but this can only be done once in the entire fight. If you fail, there’s no going back, which is sad because it’s the most striking part of the game. Finally, there is the anger bar, which, when you receive damage, will fill up, and you will be able to make a disarming move as many times as necessary until the bar runs out or until you hit the opponent.
But, if you are at risk and have no more resources, you can sacrifice this bar to enter the anger explosion mode. This allows you to have a special attack that goes through projectiles, has priority, and does a lot of damage depending on how much health you have left.
The lower the health bar, the greater the damage. Activating the burst of anger makes everything extremely tense, no one wants to make a mistake; let’s just say that if you use it correctly, you can reverse the situation in a second. This action is essential, and as soon as it is activated, it won’t even make players want to move on; it’s a unique feeling that only Samurai Shodown can provoke.
Game Modes
Samurai Shodown maintains the essence that has set it apart over the years, by which I mean elements of the era full of Japanese tradition and folklore: from the theme in the duel-like battles to the death to the narrator’s style of introducing the characters before an encounter, in addition to telling us each character’s prologue and epilogue in the story mode. This classic atmosphere is remarkable and sets the franchise apart from any other fighting game.
Story Mode
In story mode, we’ll take our character through 8 confrontations and, after defeating our enemies, we’ll be able to know Shizuka’s true form. This mode is interesting because it tells us the reasons why each warrior seeks out the wandering spirit.

It should be noted that this is not a cinematic story, despite the presentation of an introduction and an epilogue through beautiful illustrations. Rather, it’s similar to a traditional arcade mode, with a few special animations featuring Shizuka before facing her.
Other Modes
The other modes are the usual: survival, time attack, versus, and gauntlet mode, where we face all the characters included in the game. In addition to this, we’ll find the dojo modality, where we can review basic moves and practice, allowing us to perfect our skills without haste.
Another interesting detail is the inclusion of ghosts, meaning you’ll be able to download a kind of artificial intelligence that simulates the attack patterns of other players, the idea is that you get used to different styles of play. You’ll notice that their behavior isn’t quite as realistic once you face them, but the idea is a good one, and could be developed in other titles.
Playing Online
Despite having these modes available, we know that the soul of fighting games is shoulder-to-shoulder confrontations, but if you find it difficult to play with a friend, you can always venture into online mode. This section is where you may see the most platform change, as there are several factors to consider.
The first is that it was recently released, so it’s normal that there are few players (spending more than 20 minutes without finding a rival). The worst is that when I was paired, I was usually an Asian player and we simply couldn’t link up.
That recently changed and I was able to play with someone from the USA, Korea, and Japan. Although the mismatch was obvious in some cases, I was able to end most of my fights favorably. I played about 10 matches but a few times, it linked me to the player and after a few minutes, the connection error sign appeared to me.
I imagine this also has to do with the fact that this is the first fighting game to reach Epic Games, a platform that has always been in the eye of the hurricane and doesn’t need to fully establish itself, as happens with Steam. To this, we must add that the title has been on platforms for almost a year, with PlayStation 4 being the most widely used tournament system in the world.
I’ve played online on Sony’s console and while I feel the servers are the most stable, there isn’t as much of an active community. A platform that has always been in the eye of the hurricane and doesn’t need to fully establish itself, as with Steam. To this, we must add that the title has been on platforms for almost a year, with PlayStation 4 being the most widely used tournament system in the world. I’ve been playing online on Sony’s console, and while I feel the servers are the most stable, there’s not as much of an active community.
Graphics
The character design is unchanged; it only switches to 3D, although it is still a 2-dimensional game. This isn’t the first time this has happened; we saw it in Samurai Shodown 64 and Samurai Shodown Sen. The difference is that this time Unreal Engine 4 was used, which allowed the models to look good, without standing out.

The truth is, although the cel shading aesthetic helps a lot, some models look rough, and you can see the lack of textures. You only have to look at Galford on the victory screen to make it more obvious. Despite this, this section is compensated by the movement of clothes, hair, and especially camera manipulation during special attacks.
Sometimes, blood covers the fighters’ skin, and the screen is transformed into papyrus or watercolor paint to give it a more artistic touch. The backgrounds vary, some resembling paintings or postcards extolling Japanese architecture and landscapes, while others range from iridescent to shadowy shades.
Characters
For fighters, the original cast takes 13 warriors from previous installments and 3 new ones in the basic cast of characters, plus Shizumaru Hisame, who was added for free in the console version and we’ve had him here since the beginning.

In total, we have 17 characters available plus 4 extras from the first season pass and 3 others that make up the second character package. Further on, SNK surprised us by including a character from For Honor; that’s the last warrior to join Samurai Shodown until now.
Sound
Finally, the music and sound section is something that shines as always, provoking the player to plunge into a duel to death where the atmosphere and sounds of Japanese instruments provoke all kinds of emotions. There are also some very rhythmic songs, like the theme you’ll hear in tutorial mode, which is already a Samurai Shodown classic.
Samurai Shodown Collection: A single-edged sword
The arrival of Samurai Shodown on PC is appreciated because it broadens the spectrum of players and gives users of this platform the opportunity to acquire a good fighting game. Although I did not have any performance issues, there are a few issues that I would like to highlight.
In the game, there are no options that allow you to evaluate the active or deactivated resources to improve overall performance. Options like enabling Vsync will have to be examined in a text file located in the installation folder. So, if you want to modify certain features, you will have to do a few extra steps.
As for the loading times, in themselves on consoles they are quite long, but on PC it increases for a few seconds. Sometimes, so much time lost between fights can discourage you from continuing, so consider if you are willing to tolerate it. Finally, the online system could be better: as I said, it’s good but it feels less stable than the console one, and the lack of players is quite noticeable.