Customer Reviews

The Long Awaited Anthology Finally Arrives
It's about time this anthology gets released in North America; we had to watch as it gets delayed time & time again while the PAL version gets released in Europe before ours.

This is basically a localization of the Japanese version, so no V Special. I'm not disappointed that it's not in this collection. As to why it's not here, take your guess from one of the following possibilities:

1. It being the last game for the Neo*Geo, SNK Playmore wanted to keep it available only for that system.

2. SNK Playmore USA wanted to add it the North American release, but took it out to keep its Teen Rating.

3. Seeing the negative response that the American-made King of Fighters Collection- The Orochi Saga got from gamers, they decided to just localize the Japanese version.

Like the previous collections (the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting & World Heroes ones), the main screen has a beehive design. From there you pick which mode you wanna play (arcade, vs. & training mode) & from there pick from the 5 Neo*Geo Samurai Shodown games. The first 2 games have virtually no loading once the game starts while the rest loads between matches & the load time is very brief. Of the 1st 5 games, the only one I found to be a dud is SSV due to the fact that bosses are very cheat & the fact that there are no endings. (the XBOX version of Samurai Shodown V had endings) Even III had endings albeit text ones & is more enjoyable despite the bad balance that game had.

Samurai Shodown VI is separate from the 1st 5 games & has to switch emulators as it runs on different hardware than the other ones. Basically a dream match, bringing back every fighter that appeared in the 2-D series, it's the "Street Fighter Alpha 3" of the series. After picking your fighter, you choose from 6 "spirits" based on previous installments. Unlike the other games in this collection, this isn't based on the arcade game but the PS2 version & for good reason; there's more fighters, extra spirits (including one where you can customize your own spirit) & extra modes like training, & survival mode. As this is based on the version found in the Japanese version of this collection, everything's already unlocked from the get-go (in the PS2 version that came out a few years ago in Japan you had to unlock everything on your own.). Also unlike the other games in this collection, there's no blood or gore & for the record, the arcade game didn't have it either.

At the end of day, you'll either love or hate Samurai Shodown VI. I happen to love it...a lot. Love the large number of fighters you can pick from & the new fighters (esp. Andrew who's based on President Jackson & Iroha). While the final boss Shin Gaoh is a bit of a cheat, he's easilier to beat than Gaoh in V & the endings are some of the best I've seen in the series. While not the best game here, it's WAY better than V will ever be.

Even without V Special or even unlockablies, this is still a great collection & Samurai Shodown fans should rejoice. When you have cousins who play mostly modern 3-D games & can't wait for this to come out, you know this will be a big bestseller. Now I'm waiting to see if King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match gets released in North America something in the future.

Final Release of Samuria Shodown Anthology: Without V-Special!
Pros:(1)Overall, the collection is a perfect arcade port perfect transfer from NeoGeo engine and Arcade systems, inc engines. Brilliant color and graphics and fast action like never before making the individual Samurai games"(Console version -based) terrible now. The main menu system is very nice and easy to access and save your progress. While in idle mode, the game displays multiple scenes of each dual from each series, which is very cool.
(2)Specifics on the game: the feel of the controls are pretty much the same compared to joystick action, except for the special moves and rage engage, but that is easily relearned. The sound is crisp and the custom mode is super cool, changing thier color outfits and choosing which spirit you want to use for any of the first 5 games, really cool.
(3)Special bonus: Samurai Shodown 6 is top notch and makes part 5 like part 3. Not only are the special moves easier to manuever, but the special finishing moves and power gauge is totally "BOSS"and so beautifully painted! Great playability and couldn't stop playing part 6 until I defeated the Main Boss three times in different levels, a great game.
Cons: (1)It was a real pity that they didn't include Samurai Shodown 5 Special, despite the slight difference, special was better. (2)How come they didn't include the option to change it to the original Japanese mode? Sometimes its cool to see those Japanese characters on fire when fighting!
(3)I felt the introduction music and video sucked! Since this game represents a long timeline of the games, I was expecting a real authentic Japanese and in depth and personal introduction, whereas the video intro appears to be a cheap method of putting together clips of each series with the Earthquake theme from part 1, which I felt was crap.
(4) The way they made the index was weird, making part 6 standing on its own, probably because of the original format(PAL) and the game size they had to apply it as a stand alone title on the disc, still they could have used a better indexing system or even a cool intro video similar to Soul Calibur intro video.

Special news: I am happy to say that Samurai Shodown has not died just yet, and a new game release is coming out on the PS-3, called THE SPIRIT OF DESTINY. Looks awesome and very real, and can't wait to play it.

Overall I give it 5 gold stars!!
Thanks for reading.

Finally...
With SNK's recent compilation releases of their various franchises, I've been anxiously waiting one featuring the Samurai Shodown games. Well, here we are finally. Samurai Shodown Anthology features Samurai Shodown's I-VI, with Samurai Shodown VI making its first appearance on the PS2 in America. The games have been emulated wonderfully, and all play just as well as I remember them being. For me personally, Samurai Shodown VI is worth the price of admission alone, featuring a huge roster of fighters and some deep and varied fighting mechanics as well. While it isn't without its flaws and not such a favorite of other fans of the franchise, it's the best of the bunch, and it's good to finally see it make it to our shores on a console. The only real flaw of Samurai Shodown Anthology is that Samurai Shodown V Special isn't included here, which is a crying shame. That aside though, Samurai Shodown Anthology is another great, budget-priced SNK compilation that is definitely worth your time if old school, 2-D fighters are your thing; and if you're an SNK buff, this is more than worth picking up.