Happy 20th Birthday, Samurai Shodown!

[insaneben]

On July 7th, 1993, Samurai Shodown (or Samurai Spirits) was released in arcades.

So, feel free to celebrate however you see fit. Share memories of your favorite Samurai Shodown moments (be they game-related or otherwise). I'll post my memories of the first time I encountered the series later on.

In the meantime, discuss.

UPDATE:
On a cold and windy December day in 1993, I celebrated my birthday by going to Shakey's (like a smaller, cleaner Chuck E. Cheese, but with better video games, better redemption prizes and better pizza). Upon entering the arcade portion of the building, I saw Mortal Kombat II, Super Street Fighter II and Samurai Shodown. Needless to say, it was like a dream come true (if your dream involved being surrounded by arcade games you had only read about in magazines weeks earlier). Eventually, I tried out Samurai Shodown, unaware of what I was in for. The gameplay was solid, but what floored me the most was when you could make your opponent bleed to death or get sliced in half (and here I thought only Mortal Kombat had fatalities in their games). My eyes widened the first time I saw Charlotte get pierced and Haohmaru split in two. My two favorite characters then were (and still are) Galford and Nakoruru. (One year later, when I went back and had accumulated enough tickets to buy a stuffed Alaskan Malamute, I named it Poppy- true story.)

Happy 20th, Samurai Shodown! SNK Playmore may have forgotten about your birthday (and may not be making a new SS game anytime soon), but I certainly haven't. Here's to you, you crazy funsters!

 

[city41]

I was intrigued from the moment I saw Ukyo's stance. He's still my favorite character.

 

[scrubsy]

I think playing the original game is only fitting today. While not the best in the series, it sure started off one of the greatest fighting series in my eyes.

 

[GutsDozer]

SamSho was the first MVS game I ever saw and I was instantly hooked.

 

[ViolentStorm]

Happy birthday Samurai Shodown, one of the best series of games for the Neo Geo

 

[Heinz]

Another year on ye olde spinning rock. I hope to see you round the next time we spin around!......

 

[Mugicha]

 

[NeoGeoNinja]

Wow. 20 years.

First time I ever played/owned SS1 was on 3DO. In hindsight it was a decent port and it solidified my love for the series on the whole.

Can't find a moving gif, so this will have to suffice: my favourite stage/music in SS1:

 

[galfordo]

one of my all-time favorites ... started off playing genan at a truck in my hometown

bought a 3DO for the sole purpose of having a decent arcade port of this game without having to steal car stereos

 

[ki_atsushi]

Samurai Spirits was the very first Neo game I ever played, and it still has one of my favorite videogame music tracks of all time:



Nakoruru's village stage has such a beautiful and haunting song. It was one of the first game soundtracks I ever hunted down because of this.

 

[StealthLurker]

Still remember the afternoon when I saw SS1 for the first time. Samurais, ninjas, the atmosphere & music, clashing swords, blood spray...

As someone who loved watching old samurai flicks & tv shows prior to seeing it I was like many, instantly hooked.

Happy 20th!

.

 

[SNKorSWM]

First time I played this was on a two slot neo cab in the local arcade.

 

[Black IcE]

The first time I ever saw Samurai Shodown 1 was at the Aladdin's Castle in Aurora, CO. They had it on a 50 inch rear projection cab. I really enjoyed listening to the opening music as the volume was cranked up well over the other cabs and the bass carried well. I played it sometimes but didn't get into the series until #2. I used to play #2 a lot at a gas station in southwest Denver while I waited for the bus to go to work. I eventually got the AES version and played it to death.

 

[jquick]

I used to have Samurai Shodown 1 on the 3DO as well. It was a very well made port. One of my most favorite games on the 3DO. If I remember right, it wasn't censored and kept the blood and death animations. The game was brutally hard near the end and I remember feeling super stoked when I finally beat it. Great memories.

 

[One-Up]

and still one of the cheapest carts you can get! Thus a nice introduction to the Neo Geo.

 

[megageoff76]

This was one of the first games I ever bought.

All creature will die, all things are broke. That's the law of Saulabi..

 

[Ataru]

First time Iplayed SamSho 1 it was in 1995 or 1996 on an old european cab style (maybe a jeutel) in a café. I remembered my dad gave me a few bucks so he can get the rid of me and drink with his friends. The quality of animation (far froma SSF2 on Snes) the japanese folkloric music and the difficulty really hooked me.
I also wondered what the fuck The character of Charlotte was doing in this game : a mix between Catherine deneuve and Joan of Arc in a samurai game !
Great game, one of the best ever !

 

[StealthLurker]

This was one of the first games I ever bought.

All creature will die, all things are broke. That's the law of Saulabi..

Sounds like the Korean version (Salubi)?

.

 

[SonGohan]

Amazing game. I used to play a 4-slot that was right across the street from my house which had Fatal Fury 2. I came in one day to find this game on the marquee, and for whatever reason, the machine was on free play. I hated trying new things, and I probably wouldn't have played it otherwise, but since it was set to free play, I gave it a go. I had that machine to myself for probably a solid 3 hours, and as people started to trickle in and saw it was set to free play, it became crowded. I'll never forget that short time I had to myself to play this brand new game, which became an integral part of why I love the Neo Geo so much.

Fatal Fury 2 didn't get much play at all after that (and even less when Fatal Fury Special was released later on in the year). But, yeah, Samurai Shodown is one of those "I remember where I was.." sort of things in my life.

 

[Naika]

I used to own the SNES a version and unfortunately, it can't hold a candle to the original. When I was living in Chicago in my youth, seeing the blood spray like in classic chambara films told me that "This game is seriously awesome." Happy 20th Samurai Spirits!!!!!

 

[Samuray]

Yeah, playing it for the first time was something special indeed. It was on Christmas eve for me, I got it together with a couple of other Neo games, among them "Fatal Fury 2", "World Heroes 2", "Art of Fighting 2" and "King of Fighters '94". What a fighting rush those weeks and months after that were! And SS really stood out due to its setting.

I also remember drooling over a review of the game in a magazine. They had huge screenshots, one of them showing the Earthquake stage. Man, I burned that image into my retinas from staring at it for all those months till Christmas

Just been playing "Samurai Shodown 3" these past couple of weeks, by the way. Timeless. The series as a whole.

 

[evil wasabi]

Totally did not account for this. Sunday I played a few rounds of SSIII. Had some seriously good matches.

Things that worked well: Amakusa dashing into f,db,d,df+slash
Slash Gaira - beast.

Things that did not: Bust Basara teleporting and going into his uppercut move. The uppercut move sucks. It has sucked for 18 years.
comboing Shitzumaru's DM off his B. Couldn't get the timing right at all.
Amakusa teleporting into his DM. Only pulled this off one time. Such a shitty DM.

 

[Normdog]

I used to love playing SS after school back in the day.


HBD SS!

 

[Tron]

HBD to the samurai shodown series,beside it giving me a good dose of engrish. Victoly !! I remember playing SS1 in a arcade over in the next county.It was the first time i played a weapon fighter,and since then i been hooked on the series even more so compared to fatal fury.

 

[Metal Slug76]

This is the game that started it all for me on the Neo Geo MVS. First played it on a Neo Geo 4 slot at my local sub shop back in the early 90s.