Publisher: SNK
Developer: SNK
Size: 1 CD
Memory Usage: None
No. of players: 2(simultaneously)
Known in Japan as: Samurai Spirits
Official Ad: Yes
Well, apparently, being a samurai has all sorts of responsibilities...like not fearing death(or the reaper...or singing "Don't Fear the Reaper"), struggling to defeat evil and, of course, destroying all enemies! Yeehaw! Alright, now that we've gotten all the overly-butch testosterone out of the way, let's get down to the actual story....oh wait, that pretty much *is* the actual story...

What's it all about?
It's a one on one, weapon-based fighter that plays more on exact, strategic hits rather than straight out combo-crazy action. Every hit you inflict in the game is the result of waiting for the perfect moment, or countering something that an enemy has done. As there are little-to-no combos in the game, you need to make the most out of each strike and counter as they are so hard to come by in some matches, and are of vital importance to winning. During matches an odd sorta guy will run back and forth, from time to time, throwing onto the playing field, coins(for points), food to refill your life meter and even bombs that will explode causing damage to non-blocking characters. Matches end when, of course, someone's life bar has been depleted or the time runs out...but winning with a particularly nasty slice can actually kill your opponent, either resulting in a geyser of blood shooting out of their chest or leaving them in two pieces...
Graphics - One thing about the Neo Geo, everything it does, it does *big*. The characters, the backgrounds, everything about this game is just huge...and to compensate, the screen will actually scale in and out as you move further and closer to your opponent. Nowadays, we're so used to it with every 3D fighter on the market doing this, but back in the day this was one of the first(if not *the* first) to ever do this...and it's still a sight to behold. The characters themselves are animated quite well, and have an impressive amount of detail to them. Most backgrounds have an overwhelming abundance of animation in them(Galford's bustling ship yard comes to mind), and though some can be pretty plain, it really adds to the ambient atmosphere SNK was trying to convey in certain stages.
Sound - The game gets a completely redone, and enhanced soundtrack thanks to the CD media it's on...and it sounds amazing! The soundtrack wasn't too shabby to begin with on the cart, but with real instruments it just sounds so much more authentic to the mood of the game. As for the sound effects, the Neo does another great job of putting forth some nice stereo effects along with clean voice samples.
Control - Excellent...oddly enough. Let me elaborate: In the arcade I found the control to be difficult and seriously unforgiving, and even with the Genesis' amazing six button controller(on the Genesis version), it seemed to stay the same...but on the Neo CD version, with the Classics Converter and a PSX pad I don't seem to have *any* issues with it. All special moves are easily pulled off now, and the control seems to be so much tighter...it might just be me....who knows. For those of you with a Classics Converter, using its turbo feature is a good way to win sword clashes and teach the AI a thing or two about being cheap...
AI - Cheap as Hell! From doing the same move over and over and over as you jump in, to the constant throws and unrealistic damage the AI will inflict as you progress closer to the end, it will really test your endurance(and patience) at times. Try playing Hanzo when he's one of the later characters and you'll see what I mean, his Bullhead Blast will take off a good 65% of your health...and he *never* misses it...
Replay value - High. It's a fighting game(and a good one at that), you'll play it on more than a few occasions, I can almost guarantee it.
Load Times - Very reasonable. Though the initial load is pretty hefty(this is standard with all Neo CD games), you only have to see it once. Basically, you choose your character, the CPU randomly picks someone, the game loads, you are shown the match up screen and then you fight(this is repeated until you stop playing). Thankfully, there is no load time when you use a "Continue", *if* you use the same character. The only downside to it all, and this is extremely minor, is that there's a slight pause between when the actual "Continue" screen shows up and when the music to accompany it begins playing(thus, allowing you to hit "Start").

Please note that this set of load times was based on using Haormaru while playing through the entire game.
Initial Load: 42 seconds
First Fight: 22 seconds
Vs Earthquake: 10 seconds
Vs Wan-Fu: 13 seconds
Vs Hanzo: 12 seconds
Vs Nakoruru: 12 seconds
Vs Kyoshiro: 13 seconds
Vs Ukyo: 14 seconds
Vs Charlotte: 14 seconds
Vs Same Character: 5 seconds
Vs Galford: 14 seconds
Vs Jubei: 12 seconds
Vs Gen-An: 13 seconds
Vs Tam Tam: 12 seconds
Vs Amakusa: 15 seconds
Character Ending: 4 seconds
Bonus Stages: 4 seconds
Choosing new character after continue: 12 seconds
Loads are timed when the "Now Loading..." screen appears, not just when the bar starts moving(as this can be one to three seconds after the screen initially appears). I don't use a stopwatch or anything fancy, just the internal clock on my iBook to time it. It could be a second or two off...
Tips for better gaming experiences:
Knowing what your character can do, and the typical patterns of the AI are a big factor in winning...my best advice is to check out this amazingly good FAQ by Galen Komatsu and Scott Fujimoto. Split into two pieces, the first part goes over AI patterns, gameplay tricks and character info, where as part two runs you through the moves(and how to perform them), of every character. Click here for part 1 or here for part 2 of this excellent piece of work.
My rating: 90(out of 100) - An excellent, and beautiful fighter with some amazing graphics and solid gameplay. The redone soundtrack really shines, and with the load times being so very reasonable this is one that *every* Neo Geo CD owner should have in their collection. The only real downside, and the reason major points were taken off, would be due to the extremely cheap AI...
EGM gave it: 9, 9, 9, 9(out of 10) Note: This score was originally for the AES version
GamePro gave it: 5.0(graphics), 5.0(sound), 5.0(control), 5.0(funfactor)(out of 5) Note: This score was originally for the AES version

"To call him lazy is an understatement" - Haomaru
JD's review: It looks better than the Genesis version, but waiting 10 to 12 seconds just to get my ass whipped *again* by the cheap AI is not my cup "o" noodle. Thanks, but no thanks.
Click on the two pictures directly below for a comparison shot from the Sega Genesis conversion of the game. Please note that the Genesis shots were toned down for bandwidth issues as well as resized.
Get back on the stage!
Poor Tam Tam, the forgotten samurai...
Die, you bastard!
Apparently, people in the world of Samurai Shodown are filled with lovely, point yielding coins...
Mandatory bits of hilarity brought to you by the ever-wonderful SNK US-translation crew:
As per the game's official side-description, it is boasted as: Katana Battle Action Game

Any and everything about Earthquake. I'm sorry, everything about that character is a joke: He's a *ninja*.....from Texas....in 1788....
The best Samurai in the world:
Samurai Shodown was number 99 in EGM's "100 Best Games of All Time" list. GamePro named it the Fighting Game of the Year for 1993.