SAMURAI SHODOWN! 2

Written by Neon8

 

US Title: Samurai Spirits! 2 
Japanese Title: Samurai Spirits! 2 
By: SNK
Year: 1999
Size: 16 Megs
Pocket Link? Yes
Dreamcast Link? No
B/W Compatible? No
Color Compatible? Yes
Japanese Option? Yes
English Option? Yes

 

Samurai Spirits! 2 

 

One of 5 launching games for the NGPC in the US. Samurai Showdown! 2 would have to impress and impress quickly to get curious Samurai Showdown (Spirits) fans to notice it and go out and buy it along with a NGPC. 

 

Graphics- 8.5

 

The characters in SS!2 animate well and are well drawn. The super moves in SS!2 look really well animated and add a nice effect. The cards you get along your battles have some really nice artwork done on them as well. The backgrounds also are made well to display a sort of dark atmosphere for the fighters. However the backgrounds seem a bit too dark at times sometimes making you have to go to have more light because of the inability to see what's going on, on the NGPC screen.

 

 

 

Gameplay- 9.0 

 

This pocket Samurai Spirits featured the cast from Samurai Showdown 4 along with some characters from Samurai Showdown 64. A large roster of fighters combined with slash and bust modes for each character amounted to a nice amount of styles of fighting to keep you busy with SS!2. The game itself is extremely fun and plays much like its big brothers on the Neo-Geo system. You'll love the atmosphere in this game, which only this game and its predecessor can give. Well perhaps Last Blade as well, but I don't have it so I don't know. The fighting engine seems really well balanced with no fighter having too much of an advantage over the other except the bosses of course. One of the fun aspects of SS!2 is getting the various cards which let you pull off various new super moves. 

 

 

Sound- 8.0 

 

Some music in this game like Rimuru's theme are excellent and presented well on the NGPC while some other themes didn't make as good of a transition over, the music is still recognizable and good because of it. The sound effects are okay for the NGPC as well. 

 

Control- 10.0 

 

I found this game to be extremely easy to control using the NGPC's excellent joystick and was able to pull off all the moves. Innovation- 8.5 The game is once again Samurai Showdown but things like the Slash/ Bust system and the collecting of cards added some innovation to this sequel. 

 

Replay- 9.5 

 

The game has loads of reasons to play it over again such as the Slash/ Bust system/ the large roster, card collecting but most of all it's excellent game engine should keep you busy for a while. 

 

 

Overall- 9.0 

 

Overall this game is an excellent purchase for any NGPC fan or Samurai Spirits fan as it has many things to keep you busy and having fun with it.....

 

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More Reviews of This Game:

by MiniJhun

 

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