Samurai Shodown RPG (Neo Geo CD) Playthrough [1 of 2, English]
334A playthrough of SNK'S 1997 role-playing game for the Neo Geo CD, Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits: Bushidouretsuden (真説サムライスピリッツ 武士道烈伝).
This video is the first part of a two-part playthrough. Part two can be found at https://youtu.be/3di8DY_Z1ms
Chapter 1: Descent of the Dark Skies begins at 3:17. Chapter 2: Lament of the Pale Blooms begins at 6:25:03 and is continued in part two. (The bonus chapter can also be found in part two.)
Since the game was a Japanese-exclusive release, for this video I'm using a translation patch created by Jeff Nussbaum. If you'd like to check it out for yourself, you can find more information at https://ko-fi.com/moriyamug.
Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits, better known to the English-speaking world as Samurai Shodown RPG, was the first (and only) traditional JRPG to be created in-house by SNK. It was also one of a tiny handful of Neo Geo games that were released solely for the home market on CD.
The game is split between two chapters: the first, Descent of the Dark Skies, is a retelling of the plot from Samurai Shodown (https://youtu.be/pq78JeitEUw) in which Amakusa Shiro, a Christian who led a revolt against the Tokugawa shogunate in the late seventeenth century, has been resurrected by the dark god Ambrosia and aims to unleash Hell on Earth.
The second, Lament of the Pale Blooms, depicts the events of Samurai Shodown 2, wherein the spirit of Mizuki Rashoujin possesses a woman in a renewed bid to subjugate the world to will of Ambrosia.
These stories are played from the perspective of one of six playable characters (Haohmaru, Genjuro, Nakoruru, Ukyo, Galford, Cham Cham, and Charlotte), and though the story largely remains the same between them, each hero comes with his or her own unique character-specific intro scenario, cutscenes, and dialogue exchanges.
For the sake of consistency, I went with Haohmaru as my primary character for both chapters in this video, but I changed up the supporting party members between stories. In Descent of the Dark Skies, Haohmaru is joined by Ukyo (a skilled swordsman dying of tuberculosis) and Nakoruru (a nature-loving Ainu priestess and an ace healer). In Lament of the Pale Blooms, Haohmaru teams up with Rimururu (Nakoruru's adopted sister, first introduced in Samurai Shodown III) and Reon (an insecure ninja girl whose clan's sworn mission is to defeat Mizuki Rashoujin).
The cast of primary and secondary characters is quite large, so you get a wide range of options when it comes to building your party. If you want a team of hulking powerhouses, the spear-wielding kabuki dancer Kyoshiro and the French fencer Charlotte are excellent wrecking balls. If you prefer the fleet of foot, the blond American ninja Galford (accompanied by Poppy, his attack pooch) and Nakoruru can dance circles around most enemies. And if you're the type that prefers solitude, you can play as Genjuro, a power-hungry madman who doesn’t want or need anyone else's help.
The game's structure, thematic elements, and presentation remind me a great deal of Final Fantasy VI (https://youtu.be/gt5l5cG2E08). SNK's inexperience with the genre shows in the uneven pacing and the bland dungeon designs, but the game makes up for most of its shortcomings with its flashy, fun combat system and the vivid ways in which it mixes history with fantasy to breathe life into its 19th century setting.
And what a setting it is. Samurai Shodown RPG's presentation is an artistic triumph and a beautiful showcase of talent for SNK's art and music teams. The level of detail poured into the environments, the smoothness of the animation, and the outstanding Feudal Japan-influenced soundtrack are all best-in-class, and they do the development team's arcade roots proud. It's a full-scale JRPG presented with the visual punch of a mid 90s SNK arcade fighter, and it delivers that punch through the entire game. At this scope, it's little wonder that the game spent so many years in development.
It's also an excellent showpiece of the Neo Geo's ability to curbstomp the PlayStation and Saturn when it comes to 2D graphics. The load times are a little long (playing it on a CDZ is highly recommended), sure, but the fluidity of the action helps offset that annoyance. The PlayStation and Saturn versions of the game load faster, but when you see the cuts that had to be made to get the game running on those machines... ouch.
Samurai Shodown RPG is a game that a lot of people have dreamt of playing over the years, and it's excellent that, thanks to the dedicated efforts of a small team, it's now accessible to English speakers. I've played through the game in both Japanese and English, and the quality of the translation and hacking work are primo - far better than we would've ever seen from SNK had they given it an international release. If you enjoy the game, consider tossing Jeff a few bucks in thanks for the effort that he poured into it.
_____________\nNo cheats were used during the recording of this video.