Samurai Shodown RPG

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Samurai Shodown RPG
Developer(s) SNK/Asatsu/Fuji Television
Publisher(s) SNK
Release date(s) June 27, 1997
Genre(s) RPG
Mode(s) Single player
Platform(s) Neo-Geo, PlayStation, Sega Saturn
Media 1 CD-ROM

The Samurai Shodown RPG, or as it is officially titled, Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits: Bushidou Retsuden (Japanese: 新説サムライスピリッツ武士道列伝), is a computer role-playing game for the SNK's Neo*Geo CD system, and was also ported to the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation. It was never released outside of Japan.

The official title translates as follows:
新説: Shinsetsu, or "new theory."
サムライスピリッツ: Samurai Supirittsu, or "Samurai Spirits."
武士道: Bushidou, which is the samurai code of chivalry.
列伝: Retsuden, or "a series of biographies."

As the original title does not translate smoothly to English, it is commonly simply referred to as "Samurai Shodown RPG."

Contents

[edit] Development

The development history of the game is fairly storied. It was announced for development at the height of the Samurai Shodown series' popularity in 1995, and underwent many delays in the process, finally being released a few years later. For some time, rumors abounded that it was never going to come out.

As originally envisioned, the game was to be split into three episodes: one for each of the three games in the series. For a while, it was to be a NeoCD exclusive, but developmental and financial pressures caused SNK to also release it for the other two current systems. In a somewhat inexplicable marketing move, SNK decided that each version was to contain only two of the three episodes, thereby necessitating a player to buy two copies of the game in order to get the whole thing. Unsurprisingly, this plan resulted in a significant backlash from fans, and was discarded.

Eventually, as development ground on, the executive decision was finally made to scrap the third chapter entirely, and focus solely on the first two, so as to allow the game to be released sooner. This may, in fact, be the only reason SNK's original two-chapters-per-version plan wasn't put into effect. Finally, it was released in mid-1997, to generally mixed reviews. While it was praised for its striking animation and 2D visuals, it was hampered by excessive load times.

[edit] Game play

The basic setup of the game is very similar to most console RPGs, such as Final Fantasy. Your characters roam an overworld, enter towns and dungeons, and get into battles, which occur on a separate screen. The menu options enable equipping of armor and accessories, as well as use of items.

At the outset, the player is given the option to choose from six character to be the "main" character of the story. They were Haohmaru, Nakoruru, Genjuro Kibagami, Galford D. Weller, Ukyo Tachibana and Cham Cham. The basic outline of the plot did not diverge greatly for any of them, but each had different dialogue ingame, and each also had unique special scenes which would go into greater detail of the character. Over the course of the game, two other characters could also join your party. The secondary characters who could join you were Charlotte Christine Colde, Rimururu and Kyoshiro Senryo, as well as other "main" characters whom the player did not select at the outset. In addition, the second chapter also introduced a new character, a warrior by the name of Shippuu no Reon (疾風の鈴音), whose name translates roughly to "The Ringing of the Gale Winds." All of the first two Samurai Shodown games' characters make an appearance, either as a temporary helper, plot device, and/or enemy.

From a game-mechanics standpoint, combat is not unlike Final Fantasy in most respects. Its most significant deviation from formula is that there is an option which enables the player to input the joystick motions for the various special moves manually, just as they were done in the arcade games, rather than simply selecting the moves from a list. For example, to do Haohmaru's Senpuu Retsuzan, or "Cyclone Slash" (Japanese: 旋風烈斬), one could do the standard "quarter-circle forward" motion of pressing down, down-right, and then right plus the attack button in sequence. This, combined with the overall speed of combat, makes for fairly engaging gameplay, as it requires one to remember the motions for a character's moves.

Tactically, the game ranged wildly (but steadily) in its overall difficulty. The second chapter is notably more difficult than the first, and the standard "attack" command is rarely useful, in comparison to the ubiquitous special moves. The characters are given an ample supply of "spirit points" with which to do these moves, and they are always needed, as they are typically the only things that are effective against most foes of equal or greater strength.

While armor and accessories could be bought and equipped, there are no weapons for sale anywhere. Each character has the same weapon throughout the game, and players could visit blacksmiths in the game to temper their weapons to make them stronger. These smiths could also infuse the weapons with one of the game's various elements, which would make the weapon's normal strikes more effective against certain enemies, depending on which was chosen.

The various dungeons and overworld maps tended to be small in size, which compensated for the extremely high encounter rate. On average, in a dungeon/overworld, fights would begin every 3-5 seconds of movement (slightly more frequent while running). By playing through both chapters with a single character (not including load times), total game length was roughly 20-25 hours.

[edit] Weaknesses

While Bushidou Retsuden is a solid game by any meaningful standard, its largest issue is basically that it was too ambitious for the platforms on which it was made. It was a larger-scale game than SNK had ever produced before, which resulted in the lengthy development time.

Though it runs in the standard low resolution of 90s game consoles, it sports a large amount of animation and color, both for the player characters and for all of the various enemy creatures. This makes for long load times, for all three platforms; particularly on the 1x CD-ROM drive of the original Neo*Geo CD system. On that system loading a battle takes approximately 35 seconds. Considering the frequency of random encounters, it can be quite frustrating.

For non-Japanese-speaking players, the language is also the equivalent of a brick wall. The game was targeted at adults, and the writing reflects that, with every single line of text containing a great deal of Kanji. Even most of the menu options and item names are Kanji-based. Since the game was never given a release outside of Japan, importers have to wade through a great deal of unreadable text.

[edit] Version Differences

While the core gameplay is largely similar between the versions, certain aesthetic and gameplay differences between the Neo-CD and PlayStation/Saturn versions suggest that the development may have been handled by two different dev teams.

  • The NeoCD version has considerably more animation in the combat sprites than the PS and Saturn, including unique idle stances for each character, and specialized death animations for monsters.
  • The PS and Saturn version have significant animation cuts in the characters' walk/run animations.
  • The NeoCD version has more ornate and colorful menus, where as the PS and Saturn versions have fairly blank, purple-and-green menus instead.
  • Motions in the NeoCD version have a smoother look and feel than the others.
  • In the overworld map, the NeoCD version uses a scaled-down version of the dungeon/down character sprite. The PS version uses a new sprite entirely.
  • The NeoCD runs in its native resolution of 304x224, whereas the PS and Saturn run in 320x240.
  • The PS version enables the player to select the strength of a normal attack after choosing a target, whereas the NeoCD does not.
  • The PS version shows an Active Time Battle bar, which the NeoCD lacks.
  • The PS version has higher-quality music than either of the other two versions, owing to higher-quality PCM samples.

[edit] Bonus Content

The most obvious differences between the three versions are the bonus modes which are unlocked after beating the game.

  • Neo*Geo CD: A third "mini-chapter" is enabled, wherein the player controls Hisame Shizumaru as he wanders around, running into cameos appearances of various SNK characters from other games.
  • PlayStation: A "side story" mode is enabled, which enables the player to view non-interactive sequences about many of the series' other characters.
  • Saturn: An interview mode is enabled, which enables the player to view a lengthy, non-interactive sequence about the various characters (and which frequently breaks the fourth wall). This bonus content is also available in the PlayStation version, by way of a hacked save file.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Playable Characters

[edit] Other characters


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