Game Reviews

It's no secret that the Samurai Shodown series played a huge role in vaulting SNK up to the big boy fighting game table. And as popular as the original release was, it was the sequel that would set the standard by which all future titles of the franchise would be judged. Samurai Shodown III would mark the first time the series underwent any major changes, and while many of them certainly improved the playability of the game, they also ended up rubbing some longtime fans the wrong way.

Many of the same fighters from past games return in this third instalment, although there are a few new ones tossed into the mix. While it still retains the hack 'n' slash feel of past releases, there are quite a few noticeable changes that won't take diehard fans long to notice.

When your fighters are getting ready to begin the match, they can now move around from side to side in order to get into position for their first attack. The old combination of pressing two buttons at once to initiate a strong slash or strong kick has now been replaced with three slash buttons – light, medium, and fierce – and only one kick button. This is definitely a much-needed improvement and offers a very small trade-off since the kicks have never before played a large role in the overall scheme of things.