Sengoku (Neo Geo AES) Playthrough
136A playthrough of SNK's 1991 beat 'em up for the Neo Geo AES, Sengoku.
Played through as Ninja Dave.
Four centuries ago in feudal Japan, two samurai joined forces to take down a "powerfull warlord" who planned to take over the world "by attacking entire towns and villages and terrorizing them beyond belief." When he finally fell, the warlord promised to return 400 years later to try again, and sure enough, he keeps his word. Now in the 1990s, he sits in his evil castle floating in the skies over Washington D.C., and Ninja Dave and Cowboy Kev, the descendants of the heroic samurai who saved the world in the Sengoku era, are the only ones who can stop him and his army of undead spirits.
Sengoku was SNK's first beat 'em up for the Neo Geo platform and was released on the same day as Alpha Denshi's Ninja Combat (https://youtu.be/hV9bgRRHvNo) in Summer of 1991. The game takes the basic formula behind classic belt-scrollers like Final Fight and Street of Rage and incorporates a few creative innovations to make it stand out from the pack.
Dave and Kev battle the hordes across five stages made up of destroyed cities and post-apocalyptic wastelands, and at several points they'll leap between dimensions through portals that link the modern world to the demons' spirit realm.
In their human forms, the heroes can collect colored orbs that temporarily grant them use of a variety of swords, and in the sky world, they'll come across some friendly spirits who grant them the ability to shapeshift at will for a limited period of time. The spirit forms include a dog (perfect for crowd control), a ninja (weak but speedy), and an old-school samurai (strong sword attacks with great range), and progress often hinges on how adept you are at exploiting the advantages they provide.
Sengoku looks and sounds nice for an early Neo Geo title. There's plenty of variety in the backdrops and the enemy designs, and the music is a fun mix of FM-synthed rock and sampled recordings of traditional Japanese instruments. The animation tends to be stiff and awkward, though, much like the controls. Combos don't flow together smoothly, jumps lack any feeling of weight, and it often feels like your flailing your swords at thin air, but the fast flow of the action keeps it fun, and Iiked being able to snap off an enemy sword with a well-timed attack.
It's not really a "classic" of the Neo Geo library, but Sengoku has enough charm and personality to make it a memorable standout among the platforms' early games.
There were also Japan-exclusive ports for the Mega CD and Super Famicom (https://youtu.be/ikdYlEKLSas).
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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