Matthew Byrd

Sep 11, 2018

Fighting franchise Samurai Shodown is finally back

Fighting game Samurai Spirits (known as Samurai Shodown here in the West because we love misspelling things) is staging a comeback.

As revealed at the Tokyo Game Show, SNK’s Samurai Shodown is returning to the fight. The tentatively titled Samurai Spirits (which we imagine will be translated to Samurai Shodown again outside of Japan) looks like a reboot in terms of the visuals displayed in the title’s teaser trailer.

Unfortunately, the teaser doesn’t offer much in terms of concrete details about this new installment in the fighting franchise. However, based on the few snippets of gameplay footage that are shown, it does seem like this game will be a 3D fighter (the original Samurai Shodown games were 2D fighters) and that it will feature at least some of the characters from the original. 

We also see that this new version of Samurai Shodown will continue to emphasise the unique character weapons featured in the original titles. If the trailer is any indication, we can expect this new game to feature a variety of characters whose movements are based around their weapons and, in some cases, an animal companion. 

It’s certainly nice to see so many elements of the original games making a comeback, but we’re very curious to see how fans will react to the new art style and the decision to not return to 2D. Those original games are not only mechanically brilliant but they featured some of the most jaw-dropping animations and stage designs that the genre has ever offered. 

More on Samurai Spirits/Samurai Shodown as it nears its 2019 release for PS4 (and possibly other consoles).