Is Samurai Showdown II the best in the series?
It depends on your taste.
First of all, 'SamSpi 2' has been a kind of very conservative remake of the first chapter, but despite this, it was one of the greatest games released during the first period of life of the NEOGEO, so graphically it has aged well and even today the colors and backdrops are beautiful and full of life.
More Games About Buildings and Food — Dango & meat from Samurai Shodown II, by SNK
However, it's a game where hits inflict a lot of damage, so the game experience is based much on waitings.
Samurai Shodown 2 - Haohmaru - Rice Wine Whack GIF
The original creators at that time have tried to update the game mechanics with the third and fourth chapters, however, the last refinements were made on the polygonal chapters released on Hyper Neo Geo 64, which on a collectible level I don't know if you'd be interested in.
Anyway, on NEOGEO the chapters of 'SamSpi' that in my opinion have best embraced modernity, were the fifth chapter and especially its special version.
The fifth chapter has an excellent story mode (cut in the American edition for the MVS and AES versions) and an interesting game technique, which is called as 'Concentraion One': however, has the defects of having the backgrounds recycled from previous chapters (but without any animation); the old characters have then the same sprites of the old chapters (but recolored) and there is absolutely no some music track that can be defined as memorable.
While with the 'V Special' have smoothed a little that feeling of poverty and have added also a level of violence even higher than that of the third chapter, which culminates completely with the assassination techniques of the characters, which in this chapter have been called as Zetsumei Ougi (in short are the techniques of the fatalities).
Overkill | Samurai Shodown Wikia
Samurai Shodown 5 Special - Specials and all Fatalities
If today you want a great hybrid between the excellent technical apparatus and the simplicity of the first chapters, but with the addition of a high level of violence, the latest chapter released in 2019 is a great middle ground.
All Super Moves So Far (PAX East Build) GIF | Gfycat
Samurai Spirits Showdown - Discover & Share GIFs - Tenor
Hey guys, I was looking to get a us version cart of Samurai Showdown II but they're kind of expensive on eBay and there are only a few. Is it way better than the first game or would the first game be a good place to start? Also what does a copy of Samurai Showdown II go for these days? There's one for 450 on eBay with box and cart, would 300 be too much for it?
As I said at the beginning, the second chapter was an update of the first, so, if you really don't want to take both, the second is the title with the most substance.
Then why isn't it the same price as the japanese one?
The market is based on the supply of the material and the demand of the public.
When 'Samurai Spirits' was released in Japan it was one of the most incredible successes that SNK has ever had: many Japanese went crazy and bought a NEOGEO just to have this game in their homes, while in the United States despite 'SSII' has been a very popular game, have not been produced the same number of copies of the Japanese archipelago.