Samurai Shodown V impressions

[ubersaurus]

Went up to the arcade today, and there it was. So I played around with it a bit.
First off, its not as good as 2, but its better then 3 and 4, easily. The backgrounds are for the most part, the same ones from 3 and 4, and alot of the sprites are the same. Overall though, it looks very pretty.
The game has an interesting system. There is a rage meter at the bottom of the screen, which I assume is for supers (I never really figured out if it was for that or something else). Theres an instant kill mode that activates by pressing A,B, and C together, which, like in guilty gear, sucks down your super bar. Once you run out, no more supers for you. And no enlightenment mode, either.
Ah, that. I didn't actually see it, myself, but essentially, once you lose one round, a small part of your life bar will be orange. Once you reach this part, it turns blue, and by inputting a command that I don't know, you will slow down everything in the game but your own character for a few moments. The orange bar is small, but there is a way to make it bigger (no idea though).
Controls are, as such: A-weak slash, B-medium slash, AB-hard slash, C-normal attack(kicks, punches), D-evade(rolls, short jumps, lie down), ABC-IK mode, BC-something or other. That out of the way, a few character thoughts.

Mina-the bow and arrow whore. All her normals are essentially arrows she fires out. Really good to keep people out, due to the speed. She has a move where she fires an arrow into the sky, and another command will bring them all down whenever she wants, on top of her foe. OUCH. Hard to get in on, and due to a move where she leaps across the screen, hard to stay on.

Rera-UBER fast. She can rush you down, and may have Mina's number, essentially. She can hop on a wolf for even more speed. Lots of speed, lots of priority, lots of pain.

Yoshiro?(whatever his name was), either way, he was the guy with all these knives. He's cool. He's got some painful moves,I saw people use him really well just with some basic stuff.

Water dude-he owns the skies. He has an air fireball of sorts where he throws 3 blobs of water down. Very good, and tricky to get past. I think he could be decent.

Genjuro-HELLA better then he was in SvC, Genjuro can do alot of his old tricks. Good uppercut, same old genny fireball, hell, same ol Genny.

Rimiruru-my god, what have they done to her? Barely any range on her normal moves, and kinda crappy specials. Nice super though.

Charlotte-my other girl, and she's pretty good. Standing B beats out alot of stuff, standing AB is good anti air, she's pretty good at poking. Once she loses her sword though, about all she can do is die.

Needless to say, this game is better then SvC, what with being pretty playable with other people. Detroit has always been an SNK town, with Samurai Shodown being one of the big games...I'm bettin SamSho5 will continue the tradition.

[Kid Fenris]

I never liked the concept of pressing two buttons at once to perform a glorified normal attack, but other than that, it sounds great. I wish I could play it, though I think I'll be saying that a lot, since the arcades in my area haven't stocked an SNK game since Prehistoric Isle 2.

And which one's the water-dude, Sogetsu or Suija?

[jaydubnb]

Thanks for the rundown! SSV is a game I've been hoping wishing would happen for a while now, and its nice to know that it isnt just some half assed game.

As for the Enlightenment mode i want to see it in action! Thinking about everything moving slowly while you retain normal speed seems a bit trippy @_@

[ubersaurus]

Water guy's name was Suija I believe.

I forgot to mention-both kinds of throws appear to be in. At least, I've done a normal throw with Charlotte, but SS3 style off balance throws seem to be in too.

Apparently, the Instant Kill doesn't kill exactly-it just does a crapload of damage, so that it may as well be an IK. My mistake.

[Sotenga]

I think SS2 will never be equaled, but if this one is better than 4, then I gotta snag it! I will most likely end up getting it on the PS2, along with SvC Chaos. :D

[ubersaurus]

I found out Enlightenment mode is entered with the motion of quarter circle back+CD. when your life is in the orange. Since it slows everything down for a few seconds, thats a good time to get a good combo off, finish with your Issen(what I thought was an instant kill). It also allows juggle combos.

If you're having trouble with Mina, don't be pissed-its normal. The only good way to get in on the hobag is to make good use of the evade button, and to try and fake her out. Or pick Rera. One missed arrow=Rera to the face.

[Ed Oscuro]

Oooh, if it's better than IV it can't be bad (though IV's graphics seemed really rather weak considering the age of the series) at all. Especially if it's SNK's late work, which we know to be true. I like eye candy, I really do.

I'll be getting the Japanese AES version (eventually).

[buttasuperb]

though IV's graphics seemed really rather weak

Gonna have to disagree with that. Samurai 3/4's sprites are amongst the most beautiful of any fighting game, and the background through the whole series have been fantastic. Don't have any problems whatsoever with SS4's graphics.

V sounds cool, I can't wait for the MVS kit price to drop. :)

[ClubNinja]

I'd like to agree here - SS IV is just *awesome* looking. In fact, it's actually my favorite of the series thus far, though I admittedly haven't played III or V. On some days, I even prefer it to Last Blade, which is pretty big for me. Anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to giving SS V a go once it's within my means. Fantastic.

[ubersaurus]

SS 3 and 4 are among the best looking neo geo games to date. The only ones that can compare are MOTW and Art of Fighting 3. So taking sprites and backgrounds from the earlier two samurai shodown games is perfectly fine with me :P My problems with 3 and 4 can be addressed simply due to 3's high damage setting, and the 100% combos that came of that, and 4's goony combo engine. Still look pretty though.

This game is right next to SNK vs Capcom and 3rd Strike at that arcade, and it looks leagues better then SvC and not much worse then 3s. That should definitely say something about the graphical quality of this game.

[Ed Oscuro]

though IV's graphics seemed really rather weak

Gonna have to disagree with that. Samurai 3/4's sprites are amongst the most beautiful of any fighting game, and the background through the whole series have been fantastic. Don't have any problems whatsoever with SS4's graphics.

V sounds cool, I can't wait for the MVS kit price to drop. :)

Maybe it's just looking at it on a monitor (even though I own the cartridge, which Butta knows of course) but I noticed some faked transparency (steam blasts and such). I'll have to look over that one again. I'd agree that the backgrounds are beautifully done, but I've always felt that some of the characters just aren't as well done as Mark of the Wolves. Still, how much time have I had to spend with these games? Admittedly very little, especially since I don't feel like roughing up the AES carts to play 'em. Gotta get MVS for that.

[ubersaurus]

Update from Japan on the characters, and some other stuff.
Firstoff, to charge up your Enlightenment meter, once you've filled your rage meter, hold down D. Holding D down also ups your rage meter. Ok, onto the characters. (Courtesy of Mummy-B from SNK-capcom.com and shoryuken.com).

"Yoshitora is annoying. Crouching B just about anti-airs everything, if not then just use his DP a little early - It is alot like Somersault Kick in that it has a hitbox behind his head as well. His low hitting, really quick super is probably the best one in the game, if not tied with Rimururu's. Jumping AB is multi-hit and has a ridiculous ass hitbox, just like his standing AB of super rapage. If you are victim to a counterhit from one of these bitches, kiss half your life goodbye. Yes, half. He also has a standing slash that's faster than anything I've ever witnessed before in my life. It even beat out Charlotte at close range. And Rera's stand and crouch A.

I take back what I said about Rimururu. I fucked around with her today and she is fucking crazy strong. She zones better than Basara AND has a better super. I can't recally the motion of the moves now because I'm trying to remember all this other shit and I'm kinda drunk, but she has a Basara purple shit projectile-like ice ball that travels across the ground. She can run after it, and if you get hit by it, she gets another free hit. If you jump, she can immediately jump AB you (uppercut slash) or DP Ice Flower (which is pretty damn fast and has a pretty huge hitbox). You can do cross up and high/low games on someone's wake up with her air ice platform shit. Like, knockdown, jump and do air ice block so that the hitbox when it falls will hit in the back, jump backward to get in front, do low A or something on thier wake up, if they jump they hit the ice thing and you can repeat, ice block falls and if they are crouch blocking it's an overhead and you another free hit, etc etc. This is REALLY fucked up in the corner because you can cover theym from jumping at all, then just sit back in any D mobility option range to hit them back in the corner and it's like quasi lockdown. Doing her ground ice shit on someone's wake up is pretty ridiculous, too, but it's escapable if you block it or you immediately jump from wake up. The only people who can clear the hitbox of her super to get behind her so that that I've seen are Rera via get on wolf, jump, and C hop off double jump, and Mina via DP+B. Everyone else will eat it if they jump. And it travels forward and covers the entire screen horizontally and covers 3/4 of the screen vertically while traveling forward. I put her in top tier. ABC + infinate supers for a limited amount of time = you can do shit but block. I am going to learn this bitch for real. Fuck Mina.

Galford is decent. Command throw is like not worth using. However, he's got some tricky shit with Poppy and his normals are okay - nothing really good to poke with unfortunately. Jumping B will do well in air to air, and Jumping AB doesn't well jumping in. Still has standard crouch AB slice. Plasma Blade is pretty good but seems to have a little bit of recovery. The old BCD poof move when he comes down is pretty safe now if blocked - he flies like all the way across the screen. His super is I think the only one that can be done a different way than qcf+CD, if you do the qcf+BC way, he hits from behind and CD is from the front.

Sogetsu is... Wierd. I don't like normals at all. However his specials are pretty cool. He has Bridget-like (GGXX) projectile cross up and zone games with his qcf+slash move as it is some water bubble that stays out on the screen for a second or two and A, B, and AB versions naturally vary the distances. He has a DP move that's like Kyosuke's Raijin Break. I reiterate that I did not like his normals at all. If he had better ones, he would probably be top tier because he's pretty quick.

I used the Chinese old guy briefly. He is really wierd. I don't know what his shit does. I don't like his Hi I'm Rugal Look At My Dark Barrier move... and he has a REALLY fast airdive special, that can be combined with this special that's like an instant retreat. You do qcb+slash I think and he like hops the fuck back across half the screen into the air real quick and you can come back in via dive slash special. Nothing really to write home about though.

Tam Tam is okay, but he is fucking slow as shit and when you pentrate the length of his sword, he pretty much dies. He does have an excellent zoning game though with his spit shit out and make it rise up fireball, his skull throwing shit (high/low). Sword is pretty quick and long. Super is not great though, but can surprise people once or twice. Does nice damage too.

Shizumaru is pretty good. His only downfall is lacking a good ground poke. The best one I found was standing A and it whiffs on alot of crouching characters. He's got a built in Meditation protection move that's got some wierd fucking invincibility or autoguard on it. I would hold D, tap it and he would drop his umbrella and run forward with the blade like Taki does in SC and you drop instantly. It went through some pretty amazing shit. Like projectiles, normal slashes, and things like Genjuro's sliding slash rekka move. It was on and off though so I don't know how I was doing it, it must be some autoguard window. Jumping AB is pretty awesome. His DP is nice and AB version covers a good area in front of him as well, but anti airing with either his super for with qcb+slash twirly umbrella auto combo move is better. You can do a Chun Li-like head stomp and he can also bait mad shit with a floating in the air with the umbrella move. I baited Rimururu's super and floated over it as it passed under me and I activated Englightenment and multiple twirly umbrella auto combo moved her to death. You can do that move in the air coming down too. His umbrella toss projectile is really quick and good to use as well. Needs a solid ground poke and a good AA poke though.

This guy played a REALLY solid Genjuro. You can combo his triple rekka slash from standing B I think it looked like. The cross up version of the triple rekka slash can be avoided by jumping straight up. He can cancel is retracting animation from a whiffed AB into his DP which has pretty good priority if done early. I learned to time Charlotte's jumping B to hit it out though. He has a good command grab. Super is quick. His projectile is a BITCH. Toss out shoji screen door at you, you block it, it BOUNCES UP, he runs up. Now, does slashing moves to fuck with you, if you jump the projectile is still up there and you get hit, if you crouch block it drops on your head and overheads you. If you block it all, it drops and keeps you in blockstun. Crazy good. Yeah, he is pretty damn good.

Learned some neat shit with Charlotte today. You can hold her Trislash ala Kaiser Wave, which is cool because the hibox is so huge you can anti-air with it if you do it right. After a blocked Trislash, you can follow it with a Running Pokefest for chip/guard crush/rape. I learned there's a perfect distance to do this so that she can't be punished even by Yoshitora's AB slice afterward, but you have to make the first hit connnect at max range and you must be midscreen so that you get pushback. Jumping back with B like stops everything almost. Jumping AB has a sneaky as shit cross up hitbox, but the timing is tricky on it. Oh yeah, I did push throw, activate Enlightenment, SUPER RAPAGE. Don't know if it was from the throw or just him not blocking or what. Charlotte and Genjuro had the most consistent winstreaks today and eventually ended up trading wins back and forth. I am happy about my Charlotte.

So, this is my new take on the tiering so far:

TOP
Mina, Yoshitora, Rimururu

ALMOST TOP
Charlotte, Rera, Basara, Shizumaru, Genjuro

MIDDLE
Tam Tam, Galford, Sogetsu

other people I haven't tried out yet so can't tell."

[Ed Oscuro]

How balanced does that sound compared to the older titles?

...does sound mad crazy and pretty awesome, though!

[Sotenga]

I would love to play as Yoshitora... what? Can you blame me for wanting to kick ass with a samurai toting seven swords? Genjuro and Hanzo are teh rool. Hey... wait a minute. How good is Hanzo in this game? He's always one of the better characters, but if he lost some of his power, that would bite majorly. But you know who I really want to play as on here? Kusaregedo. How is the Dirty Bastard as a character anyway? I love his design, and I imagine he's all about power. Oh, and who are the bosses? Can you play as them, and does anyone have any screenshots of them? The bosses can be the coolest characters sometimes. I want to kick everyone's arse at this game so badly... SS forever! :D

[jaydubnb]

I played SSV for the first time today at the Chinatown Fair. Having played III and thinking it so -so and having never played IV, I have to say that SSV is damn good. It looks great....lots of folks say its a cut and paste job, but if it is, it's pretty much looks consistant. I also has a nice, tight feel, though I had to adjust to the D button not being a kick.


Question: When you activate Enlightenment mode, do the backgrounds warp, or is that for the Issen? I saw it happen twice while at the arcade, but nothing became of it. Also, what happened to Chiki? I thought she was to be in the game...or is she an unlockable character?

[ubersaurus]

I played SSV for the first time today at the Chinatown Fair. Having played III and thinking it so -so and having never played IV, I have to say that SSV is damn good. It looks great....lots of folks say its a cut and paste job, but if it is, it's pretty much looks consistant. I also has a nice, tight feel, though I had to adjust to the D button not being a kick.


Question: When you activate Enlightenment mode, do the backgrounds warp, or is that for the Issen? I saw it happen twice while at the arcade, but nothing became of it. Also, what happened to Chiki? I thought she was to be in the game...or is she an unlockable character?

Both Issen and Enlightenment mode make the background screwy-enlightenment, if I recall, makes it look like a negative, and Issen turns it all crazy (like in sam sho 3 towards then end of a fight). I've never seen anyone personally do enlightenment.

Balance comoared to sam sho 3 and 4 is better, I feel, due to the (so far) lack of easy 100% combos and infinities (I'm not even aware of any existing at this point). Compared to 2, I'm not sure. 2 had the Gods Ukyo and Charlotte, and it was hard for anyone to really beat Ukyo. But once you got past him, and to a lesser extent Charlotte, the game's cast could fight each other pretty well...the only exception that I'm aware of is Nakoruru, who was toned down hardcore from her godly status in Sam Sho 1. She really had to work for wins in 2.

Yoshitora is badass. People were doing really well with him at the arcade-the one girl who's been playing Nakoruru since the old samurai shodowns declared Yoshitora her new character after getting him by accident.

Hanzo is middle of the road as far as being good goes. His command grab has been nerfed, but he can still do some good stuff. Kusaregado seemed too big for his own good. I only saw people play him once, but apparently the one guy working there uses him pretty well. I just don't think there's much he could do to Mina though, being so slow and huge. Essentially though, he's the earthquake of the game.

As for the bosses, I only saw the sub-boss, this dude with a mallet who has his fan club come out and attack as moves. He's pretty entertaining to see.

[Ed Oscuro]

Balance comoared to sam sho 3 and 4 is better, I feel, due to the (so far) lack of easy 100% combos and infinities (I'm not even aware of any existing at this point). Compared to 2, I'm not sure.

Still...awesome! Also, sub-bosses? This is starting to sound much bigger than the Last Blade series!

[Sotenga]

I wonder what the final boss is like... I imagine that he'll have a special edge over regular characters, as is the tradition of SNK bosses. You know, like in SS3, you had to kill Zankuro THREE times, and you couldn't win through a time out on the third. Or like Kain in Mark of the Wolves, where if you beat him once, his entire life bar has the T.O.P. activated. What could they do for the mysterious SSV boss? :evil laugh:

And SS2 will probably remain my favorite SS game. BRING BACK EARTHQUAKE! :rocker:

[ubersaurus]

It looks like Galford's dog Poppy is playable..I found this code on snk-capcom.com.

"Move icon to Galford, then press:

Left, right, left, left, right, right, left, left, right."

I'm gonna try it out next time I get the chance. But that'd be cool.

Oh, and his moves are supposed to be DP+C, when close

QCB+A/B

QCB+AB

HCB+CD

and the super is QCF+CD, when close.

I guess this clears up rumors about him and at least some of the bosses being playable.

[Sotenga]

It looks like Galford's dog Poppy is playable..I found this code on snk-capcom.com.

"Move icon to Kazuki (The fire user, I'm not completely sure about his name), then press:

Left, right, left, left, right, right, left, left, right."

I'm gonna try it out next time I get the chance. But that'd be cool.

Oh, and his moves are supposed to be DP+C, when close

QCB+A/B

QCB+AB

HCB+CD

and the super is QCF+CD, when close.

I guess this clears up rumors about him and at least some of the bosses being playable.

:O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O :O

Poppy... as... a play... able... character?!?!?!?!? MUST. PLAY. SSV. NOW!

[jaydubnb]

It looks like Galford's dog Poppy is playable..I found this code on snk-capcom.com.

"Move icon to Kazuki (The fire user, I'm not completely sure about his name), then press:

Left, right, left, left, right, right, left, left, right."

I'm gonna try it out next time I get the chance. But that'd be cool.

Oh, and his moves are supposed to be DP+C, when close

QCB+A/B

QCB+AB

HCB+CD

and the super is QCF+CD, when close.

I guess this clears up rumors about him and at least some of the bosses being playable.

lol I wonder if he tosses Galford a bone

[ubersaurus]

I'm actually a little worried about these secret characters, myself. It's no secret that they were a major problem in SvC, but then, SvC's accounted for a full 1/3rd of the cast. This is what, 3, 4 characters? Even so, as long as they aren't so good that they put Mina and Yoshitora to shame, I'll be happy.

[Kid Fenris]

It looks like Galford's dog Poppy is playable..I found this code on snk-capcom.com.

I guess this clears up rumors about him and at least some of the bosses being playable.

lol I wonder if he tosses Galford a bone

Isn't Poppy female?

Useless fact: Due to a translation gaffe, Poppy was called "Puppy" in the American edition of the first Samurai Spirits anime OVA. It is one of many problems found in the production.

[ubersaurus]

Edit-apparently the poppy code you have to start on galford, not kazuki. I edited the post up there, but just in case anyone didn't notice. Apparently Poppy has a major disadvantage, but I don't know what it is. I made this post though, to bring players some help for dealing with Mina, once again, from MB on snk-capcom. She's a tough nut to crack until you figure out the trick.

"You can beat Mina by blocking. Seriously.

Just sit back, and block. Slowly walk forward. Sooner or later, you'll get into "uncomfortable space" for Mina, and he'll either have to do something with D, jump, or more likely DP+B cross up escape move.

DP her. Jump back + slash. Dash back and block the cross up; you're still in her face and she has to get out again.

Mina is not that hard to beat. She doesn't win very much anymore. You just have to sit back and block. Her arrow don't do any chip and she has to hit you with like a hundred to guard crush you. Land a couple good hits, then just block from there on. As long as you're ahead in life, sit back and block. There isn't shit she can do about it. She can only kill you if you rush in trying to attack her. So don't do it.

I haven't lost to any Minas at all lately. Yoshitora's owned her, Genjuro's owned her, Charlotte's owned her, Rimururu owned her, etc. Just block and wait. The best thing she can do is try to chip with (b)f+slash multi arrow special, and she can try overhead dropping arrow and low B gimmick, but you can block them both because of the recovery on the arrow drop special.

Easily beatable. You just have to be patient. Blocking > Mina."

[buttasuperb]

I'm THIS close to selling a bunch of crap and buying the MVS kit.

[ubersaurus]

I'm this close to shelling out the cash to buy the AES cart. It'd be my first new neo geo purchase ever.

[buttasuperb]

Well if I buy this MVS kit, it'll be the most I've spent on a game ever. But I have a SvC homecart preorder paid for over at the Neostore, so hopefully I can cancel that, and use that money towards the SS5 MVS kit. Won't seem so expensive that way for some reason.

[jaydubnb]

I'm this close to shelling out the cash to buy the AES cart. It'd be my first new neo geo purchase ever.

Dude, I was thinking the EXACT same thing. I was planning on getting the SvC cart, but after playing SSV, its just so much better.

[ubersaurus]

You know what's really cool...one of the biggest japanese tournaments, Super Battle Opera, has added Samurai Shodown V to its lineup in May. Bringing the full list to
Darkstalkers 3
Sam Sho V
KOF 2k3
Tekken 4
Capcom vs SNK 2
Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
Guilty Gear XX #Reloaded
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution

That's definitely saying something, to have this game in something like that. Hell, the more anticipated SvC is notoriously absent. Here's hoping Samurai Shodown V ends up in the big US tournaments next year.