Ranking EVERY Samurai Shodown Game WORST TO BEST (Top 11 Games!)

[@brichan1851]

*Samurai Shodown/Spirits* has always been one of my absolute favorite series of games. Even the worst of the games, *SamSho Sen* , was worth owning, to a fanboy like me. *Samurai Shodown* was what made me want to own a Neo Geo back in the 90s. I never did. I was fortunate enough to own a SNES, but never got SNK’s monster console. I settled for the SNES version of *Samurai Shodown* , which was good enough for me. I also owned a Neo Geo Pocket Color, where *SamSho 2* graced my little system. I simply loved it. To me, no game is a quintessentially Japanese as *Samurai Shodown* . So many other fighters incorporated elements from other cultures and places. *Street Fighter II The World Warrior* (another favorite of mine) featured a roster of characters from all over. But *SamSho* was Nihon through and through. Yes, it has characters from other parts of the world, too. It was all in the presentation that made *Samurai Shodown* feel especially Japanese. The music, the voices, and the fighting mechanics were a perfect translation of a Kurosawa film being put into a video game. For the most part, I agree with your list order. I may have moved a few titles around, here and there, but there is no question that the top 3 should be *Samurai Shodown II, V Special/Perfect* , with 2019’s *Samurai Shodown* sitting at the top. I own 2019’s version on both Switch and Xbox One. I have yet to buy it for PS4, and may get it one day. The comparison of the two versions I own leaves me in awe. Of course, the Xbox One X makes *Samurai Shodown* especially beautiful. However, I am amazed at how good the Switch version looks and plays. Content-wise, the games are nearly identical. The Xbox One version has recently been graced with rollback netcode, which would be more awesome than it is, if more people were playing it, today. But having *SamSho* physically on-the-go on my Switch is just SO cool! I actually find myself playing it on Switch more than on Xbox. This is a personally important series, to me. I am enamored of the Neo Geo, and the plethora of fighting games on the system. To me, *Samurai Shodown/Spirits* stands far above everything else on the system. It’s always been a special series that I wish got more recognition and appreciation than it does. Hell, I’ve even run into gamers born after 2000 who claim to have never heard of the series. That’s a crime. I thank you for your excellent video and for sharing your opinion. Please, do all you can to get the word out about this excellent series. The gaming world needs *Samurai Shodown* ! It’s people like us that keep the warrior’s spirit alive.

[@leandronc]

SamSho 4 is my personal favorite. That games oozes atmosphere, it's so dark. I think Samsho 5 had too many weird characters, Mina, Sankuro, Kusaragedo, some very tonally different stages, they all stretch the boundaries of what fits. Meanwhile, everything in 4 is perfectly distilled to the style.

[@pyronfr]

5:01 Minor correction: Hanzo is not actually Hanzo, its his son and his actual name is Shinzo. So technically, Haohmaru is the only returning character from Warrior's Rage

[@juliansalamanca9989]

😮😮

[@PhyA52]

4 is my personal favorite.

[@juliansalamanca9989]

Is the Best with samsho II

[@gumdeo]

IV had a great feel to it.

[@PhyA52]

@@gumdeo It has the greatest ambience in fighting games, hands down.

[@Kain5th]

I'm still gonna suggest a samurai shodown x soul calibur game happens someday. seriously that would be an awesome crossover

[@Tungdil_01]

I agree, but that would be difficult to have this crossover as they belong to different companies. However, until this game becomes a reality, my proposal is Samsho vs. Last Blade, both belonging to SNK.

[@ralfxephon1]

@@Tungdil_01 What AN excelent idea

[@Someone_Somewhere7]

Well, Haohmaru did show up in SC6. It's up to whether Namco is willing to invest or not.

[@MrDp115]

Hell yeah it would

[@realtalk6195]

Or a _King of Blades_ game featuring characters from Last Blade, Samurai Shodown, Ninja Master's, and maybe Kabuki Klash.

[@stevesteve0521]

Samsho 4 is the best game in the series, aesthetics are amazing, roster is good overall, slash and bust system works much better than 3, addition of rage explosion and cd combos adds huge depth to the game, the ability to kill yourself one round to give yourself full rage meter the next round was a great mechanic and the game even has fatalities although not as vulgar as samsho 5 special.

[@chubbyrichard8438]

Literally the best... No lie..

[@stevesteve0521]

@@chubbyrichard8438 it’s my favorite for sure

[@Scorpion24]

I agree 💯 samsho4 is the best hands down

[@stevesteve0521]

@@Scorpion24 I really love everything about the game

[@gumdeo]

IV also has the best cut-scenes.

[@chancepaladin]

ooooooomgggggggggg, yes #2 is SO damn addicting. disarm was really cool too. While Vega had a weapon in SF2, it could be disarmed, he couldn't rearm it. You could break his claw and masks. So in Samurai Shodown to have disarms, and characters where disarm was even a valid tactic, AND PETS ON TOP OF THAT, just.. insane.

[@peterscoop2647]

I got Samurai Shodown 4 for free from Prime, Im gonna play it today!

[@ncsphilosopher7240]

my top samsho 4 2 1 3 5s end

[@stevesteve0521]

Swap 3 with 5s and you have the same exact rank as mine

[@JEFFALITY]

You said theres only 2 slashes and 2 kicks in SamSho1? Dood.... they explain during controls you press both slashes or kicks for the heavy versions man. I get your a casual player but i mean it tells you to your face how to do them.

[@cesarflores2760]

The fighting againts Drako in Samurai Shodown Sen was pretty fun

[@juliansalamanca9989]

For me 1st. (IV) 2nd. (II) 3rd. (2019) 4th. (Vsp) 5th. (III)

[@taym510Oak]

I can’t believe I just found your channel great video 👍🏿

[@nemesisprime2993]

Samurai showdown is the game that make i like fighting games, it pave the way for soul blade, and others like it.

[@Ke11yAnn_]

SNK released a newer 'Enhanced' version of the Samurai Shodown (2019) game on 3.16.2021 - it feels smoother and more responsive than any other fighting game I've ever played because it takes advantage of newest tech in gaming - True 120fps gameplay w/120Hz input timer! I highly recommend SamSho fans try it out! It's only on Xbox Series consoles but it is 100% worth the money if you like immediate response to inputs. SNK has said many times "The Future is Now" and they really meant it when they released this version!

[@EmYiKay1995]

Question, how do you play the Hyper Neo Geo games? I couldn't find any emulator that can run the games well, even on MAME and fightcade...

[@Xorcist77]

Warriors Rage had one thing going for it, that puts it slightly higher on my own list... my second favorite Samsho character design of all time, Haito Kanakura (only beat out by Shiki's amazing design). I wish Haito could make it over to Samsho 2019 as DLC.

[@stevesteve0521]

I like it because it has a lot of the mechanics samsho 4 did which is my favorite game in the series

[@BabyMaharaja0]

you can slash people in half and kill them in the first samurai showdown. It's not just in later games I'm pretty sure

[@MoonlitSlime]

Interestingly enough, while Warrior's Rage 2 isn't directly in the title of the Japanese version, it is printed inside the spine on the Japanese copies

[@shinji-kaneda7911]

Next 2 Haohmaru Shiki is one of my fav. characters Very cool design

[@noahegr3341]

Great video, I love SamSho! I’d argue V and V Special would deserve separate entries in favour of V Perfect’s inclusion, since V has a canon story and V Special is in a way, gameplay wise, to V what Fatal Fury Special was to Fatal Fury 2; an improved version, yet a different enough game to be considered as a separate entry in the series.

[@Tungdil_01]

What's the difference between SamSho 5, SamSho 5 Special, and SamSho 5 Perfect? Which one is the best version?

[@stevesteve0521]

I agree 5 having an actual story(at least the Japan arcade and Xbox release does) plus having yumeji and sankuro as exclusive mid bosses makes it feels different to me

[@stevesteve0521]

⁠@@Tungdil_015 has two non playable exclusive mid boss characters in sankuro and yumeji and poppy (galfords dog) as a hidden playable character. It also has an actual story to it with cutscenes in between some fights but this was removed in the arcade North American release for whatever reason and only in the Japan arcade release or the Xbox release of the game. Samurai shodown 5 special doesn’t have the things I mentioned for 5 but it added the boss characters from samsho 1-4 in Amakusa, Zankuro and Mizuki. The music and some stages in the game also changed, the aesthetics are a bit darker and some gameplay elements were tweaked like your concentration gauge being a lot more bigger than 5 which allows you to enter the state of nothingness much earlier (This is the mechanic where if you loose one round and then the next round your meter becomes blue you can activate the state of nothingness to make your opponent move very slow and you can attack them with either Chain combos or you can do a fatal flash/issen to them). The biggest addition to 5 special is the game has much more gore to it, probably the most from any samsho game and it has fatalities that you can do to end your opponent as well. It’s definitely a big upgrade to 5 in my opinion which is why it’s played most competitively. 5 perfect as far as I can tell is mostly the same as 5 special except it added some story scene stuff but toned down the fatalities and some of the gore like blood coming out when you finish an opponent by slicing them in half. It’s not not really a big enough update to 5 special to consider it a different game most people would consider it a downgrade much than an update.

[@noahegr3341]

@@stevesteve0521 Right! V’s story is my favorite in the series; Yumeji’s story arc is a particular highlight of that game’s story to me and I think Sankuro is one of the funniest characters in the franchise. Liu Yunfei’s sacrifice at the end of the game is also one of the most memorable moments in the series to me.

[@noahegr3341]

@@stevesteve0521 great explanation! The only thing I’d add is that V had some balancing issues with its character roster, which V Special fixed for the most part (Kusaregedo is still quite over powered in V Special imo).

[@paperluigi6132]

Since the Switch version of 2019 isn’t getting rollback, I’d say that, to compensate, they should add Takamaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle as a guest character exclusive to that version.

[@rickym1883]

I think that sen looked pretty good lol

[@skelefool7781]

Started with playing Sam Sho 2 on my Game Gear in 90s my mom hates video games and surprised me on my birthday ... been playing fighting games ever since ;)

[@elmono6299]

Samurai Shodown/Spirits 2 and V Special/Perfect are my favorite games from the entire franchise. If we were to get a new entry, i would just want more original fighters who were cut from the last game, bring back the fatalities from V Special/Perfect, and please no shitty online multiplayer game or mediocre phone game guest characters. ⚔️

[@Tungdil_01]

What's the difference between SamSho 5, SamSho 5 Special, and SamSho 5 Perfect? Which one is the best version?

[@elmono6299]

@Tungdil_01 The original Samsho V had a big roster but unfortunately had some balance issues. This early version is the most tame of the 3 as it has a mild amount of blood and lacks the inclusion of the 4 playable bosses and fatalities that would be introduced in the future updated versions. The arcade intro is set during a feudal Japanese war zone. Samsho V Special fixed the balance issues. The 4 final bosses: Amakusa, Mizuki, Gaoh, and Zankuro returned as playable fighters. Added more blood and introduced fatalities to the game in which each fighter gets their own fatality. The arcade intro is set along the shores of a Japanese coast complete with a row of Torii (Shinto gates) and Mt. Fuji in the background. Samsho V Perfect (the rarest of the 3) added cutscenes and endings to the arcade ladder. However, the game tones down on the fatalities. Other than those differences, it's exactly the same as Samsho V Special. Its arcade intro is a Japanese castle in a mountain surrounded by mist. The best version is a tie between Samurai Shodown V Special and Perfect. As either one, you'll be fine with. Luckily, Samurai Shodown V Special is the most common entry that's playable on every console as it costs only $7.99, and the emulated port by Code Mystecs runs perfectly on a Windows 10 laptop. However, if you want to play Samurai Shodown V Perfect. There's only 2 ways to play the game. 1 is to get Samurai Shodown: the NEO GEO Collection, and 2 is to find playable on an EXA Arcadia arcade cabinet.

[@Tungdil_01]

@@elmono6299 thank you so much for this complete answer!

[@stevesteve0521]

Both amazing games personally I think 4 is the best

[@gametourny4ever627]

I need to pick up more games in the series. I only have the first game for the 3DO and the 2nd game for the Aes and enjoy them both dearly. Hopefully I can grab some more in the future.

[@RikiYao]

SS3 has the greatest artwork in the series, and it's hardcore. SS5 is terrible in my opinion, all the new characters designs are garbage from look to moves...

[@mutantmangoman]

And now the online for SamSho 2019 is updated and it’s great!

[@p0mf47]

samurai showdow V is still my #1, 2019 is more like a modern take of V

[@123hyouretsuzan5]

SS4 is the best of all. 4 has the fastest, deepest and complicated gameplay in the series due to the flexibility and smooth of the motion. For example in 2 and 5, when your opponent slash you by C and you block it successfull, the delay frames make it sometimes impossible to punish your opponent (in 2 you can't jump or dash attack immediately, slow shoots, slow anti air, make it impossible for short sword characters to punish C of long sword characters sometimes, in 5 you have dash attacks but doesn't work everytime). But in 4, everything is possible if you read the opponent well. You can easily use special moves (shoot, anti air, super move, switch sides, dodge, parry and more) to cancel the recovery frame of C, but the opponent also have many way to punish your C attack (dodge-> punish, jump attack, dash attack, shoot, some anti air skills, super move, throw, parry and more), make the C slash is much more strategy for both players. All thanks to the smooth motion and no delay frames. in 4 you can even decide when and how you stand up after getting opponent's successfull attacks (heal, get up quickly backward/forward/straight up, get up late anytime back/forward/straight or even using some real quick attack while getting up), make it much much deeper in meaty strategy. in 4 you basically can punish your opponent anytime you want for any decisions he makes. All you need to do is to make a well read. The combo system in 4 also make the game less "lucky" than other game in the series. In other games, the C slash can easily take so much damage, which can lead to the cutscene that sometime a lame C slash can make you lose although you dominated your opponent almost the game, and the C slash is the only choice to pull back the game when you're losing (pow explosion and super moves also can but only 1 time in the whole game or at least need POW). Be carefull with C slashes and POW is basically enough to make you win the game if you have huge advantage at life bar. But in 4, C, super moves and pow explosion are not the only choices to make huge damages, the variety of combos forces both you and your opponent to be as be carefull as possible. The combos can be started with any moves, not just B, C or POW explosion. And you can even punish your opponent by combinning throw with combos (the only game in the series that can combo after throwing). Throwing techniques are critically deathly in 4, make it critical hard to defend like a rat. Plus, not to mention that 4 also has the fastest gameplay in the series, imagine that you have to be carefull with any decisions, anytime and read your opponent, timming perfectly in that speed. Speed, strategy, combos and deathly punishing, all combined into one. Crazy!

[@rickym1883]

4 looks amazing!

[@jasonyoung1898]

Samsho64 both 1&2 were amazing. You're right when you said you weren't a fighting game officiant

[@AkagiRedSun]

Samsho 1, 2, 5 SP, and 2019 are all you need

[@andyauthor2007]

Which of these games is notorious for having an insanely hard final boss? I want to say it's 3, but I'm not sure. I'm not much for 2D fighting games anyway. In my opinion they cheat, the computer just pins you in the corner and then wrecks you while you are mashing buttons to try to block, counter, or get out of the corner to no avail. That's why I like the Soul Caliber series. In Soul Calibur there's really no corner for the computer to pin you in.

[@gumdeo]

Samurai Shodown V for life ☺

[@shadowsrants6663]

Next you rank the baldurs gate games.

[@Tossphate]

Ton of fun Ton of moves Ton of levels Ton of characters Ton, ton, ton

[@chubbyrichard8438]

Samsho 4 is the best of all... Literally the best...

[@jojobizarreadventure171]

For me : Ss2 Ss1 Ss4 Ss v and v special Ss 2019 Ss 6 Ss 3

[@nobita3378]

I love SamSho 6 rosters. But i felt very weird when i played it. Also their background looks very cheap. Samsho 5 special far far better.

[@chickenbites8877]

I love Samsho 4

[@Khinh-xq6lx]

the parry system is fun

[@akirashamma5092]

Samurai Shodown 5 shouldve been number 1, its by far the best Samurai Shodown game. My fav character in that game is Kyoshiro.

[@gumdeo]

It's a blast to play.

[@Scorpion24]

I was woth you until you put samsho 2 before 4,......4 was hands down the best of the series

[@123hyouretsuzan5]

Yeah, SS4 has the most fast and complicated gameplay. SS2 lacks too many strategies compared to 4.

[@ghscrub1604]

SANURAI!

[@Khinh-xq6lx]

2 won the speed award

[@d.feiro3396]

SS3 must've been called SS2 in the west. Cause I (thankfully) NEVER saw that weird looking game he showed lol

[@stevensanders2692]

My fav has to be Tam Tam!!!

[@ericlathan6178]

you could cut them in half in the first game

[@Afura33]

I haven't played the first 4 games in your video. Imo the worst was Samurai Shodown 3 for me and best was Samurai Shodown 4.

[@mr.dilanger]

Samurai Show down 3 was the best for me. They grew up from the cartoony look and went Ninja Scroll look. Then 4 came out. Choppy, cartoony and the sound was atrocious. 5 was lets be like Last Blade...well lets just play last Blade instead...then 6 really....really.

[@tjames4597]

4 > 2 > 5 Special > 2019 for me.

[@abandoned_soul]

New subscriber here. I like your review and your voice is so calming. Why you don't try performing ASMR 😅✌🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼

[@KhariruOficial]

Bricks

[@AllFather97]

Next rank ace combat games

[@NorwingMartinez-or6ut]

💪👍👍

[@dominickk5293]

Sen was trash.

[@mastomitra]

Ninja masters

[@gawaniwhitecrow2731]

Ahéhee

[@wallypup4650]

like Soulcalibur....but like really low budget, and BAD🤣👌

[@NorwingMartinez-or6ut]

The greatest fighters of all time great job 💪💪👍

[@DarthNVious]

I cannot agree more with this tier list; aside from the fact that SamSho V and V Perfect are two actually different games. Not a big deal though. V Perfect basically sent vanilla V into the state of nonexistence.