Just an FYI - the New Samurai Spirits/Shodown begins Testing Oct. 27th

After no showing the AM Show and not having a playable build at the TGS, I assumed the earliest we'd really get to see the new Samurai Spirits Sen was going to be at the AOU show in February. SNK Playmore has surprised me however and has posted on their official site that the game will be showcased at the Hey Akihabara arcade on October 27th and 28th.

The game is going to be a 3D game and will be the second "series" released by the company on the Taito Type X2 hardware.

This is one of the games coming out that can still get me excited these days.

I hope it maintains some level of crude austerity, with a lot of atmosphere and character....

The exact opposite of this would be some of the later Soul Calibur games where everything is gaudy, super detailed, heavily ornate, and absolutely fucking brainless/soulless.


And thanks for the heads up, I'm always dying for ANY info on this goddamn game.

Here is something that i found...

Looks decent from those screenshots. I hope it plays well...

That is almost a reason to spend a few hours in Akihabara.

I'd probably go down but there is a ton of stuff happening that same weekend and I'm not going to be around.

Hope the reports are positive.

Considering what little I know of the game, it makes it kinda hard for me to get hopeful about it.

Can't wait!

I'm actually really excited about this game.

What system would it get ported to most likely?

Lets Gekiga In said:

I'm actually really excited about this game.

What system would it get ported to most likely?

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For now....it's gonna wind up on PS2.

good times to own a PS2 if your an snk fan these days, seems every game and its dog is ending up on the PS2.

A Type X2 game ported to PS2?? OUCH. Maybe if they crank the resolution down, leave out all textures and just leave a wireframe i'll be able to keep up at 15fps or so. Porting a Type X2 game to PS2 would be foolish if you want any quality to survive the port.

I wonder if they plan on placing this into the vewlix cabs and making it play at 720p.

It's really good lookin... hopefully it'll get a console release.

retro said:

A Type X2 game ported to PS2?? OUCH. Maybe if they crank the resolution down, leave out all textures and just leave a wireframe i'll be able to keep up at 15fps or so. Porting a Type X2 game to PS2 would be foolish if you want any quality to survive the port.

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Go play Maximum Impact: Regulation A.

See that? That was also a Taito X2 game, at one point, and it survived the trip (back home) to the PS2 just fine, I would think. Personal thoughts of what you think of the game not-withstanding, you can't deny that the quality of the port is to be called in question, at least.

But what's the bottomline? This IS SNK we're talking about here. More than likely, SS SEN will end up pushing the Taito X2 hardware in the same capacity that MI: Reg A did, and that wasn't much. That's why a PS2 port was easy enough to be made a reality in Reg A's case, and more than likely why SEN will probably follow suit with a port to PS2 (and maybe Wii?) soon enough.



Any way, with K2/Galapagos back in the saddle, I'm honestly looking forward to this. I just have a few things that I hope will come to pass above all others:

1) The return of Shiki and Ashura - Whether that means this game would be a re-telling of the 64 game(s), or some what after that, I really would like nothing more than to see these two come back. Screw the PSX game, it should be stricken from the records of canon any way...

2) Bring back the Shura/Rasetsu (Slash/Bust) system - I would rather have a smaller roster, where the characters are all well-defined and well-designed, than have a roster ripe with uninspired clones like Rera, Rasetsumaru and the demons (Enja and Suija). And if this would mean that we could get the likes of SS-64-2 style Busts, who might as well have been separate characters unto themselves, then so much the better. Enja-style Kazuki is the man...Enja from the Yuki SS games can go fall in a well and die, as far as I'm concerned...

3) Style! - The 64 games definitely did have style, just like the first couple of 2D titles. Even with the fatalities, you would often see a hand-drawn version of your character getting severed. I want that style back, because honestly, I don't think Yuki did anything to keep that aspect of the series alive, in some ways. That's what matters to me above blood and gore....just make it stylish, supernatural sword-fighting game once more...

CyberAkuma said:

...
This IS SNK we're talking about here. More than likely, SS SEN will end up pushing the Taito X2 hardware in the same capacity that MI: Reg A did, and that wasn't much. That's why a PS2 port was easy enough
...

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Good point, i didnt keep that in mind. Seems like a bloody waste of X2 hardware then in that case...

Eh, I just see it as a means to an end.

I mean, I'm sure SNK will eventually get to the level where they will be able to do some awesome stuff, both 3D and 2D. But they certainly ain't there yet. That's why we're just going to have to wait it out, as they get more experience with the hardware, and then are able to better put it through its paces.

After all, it took quite a number of years before SNK was able to do stuff like Last Blade and MOTW on the MVS stuff, right? Maybe it'll be likewise here...and the Taito platform always gives them the room to expand and improve at their own pace.

retro said:

A Type X2 game ported to PS2?? OUCH. Maybe if they crank the resolution down, leave out all textures and just leave a wireframe i'll be able to keep up at 15fps or so. Porting a Type X2 game to PS2 would be foolish if you want any quality to survive the port.

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This Kotaku article claims that KOF XII is confirmed already for PS3 and XBox 360:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/fighter/king-of-fighters-xii-confirmed-for-ps3-and-xbox-360-302738.php

I would hope that since XII is going to the next gen hardware, so will the new Samurai game. Regulation A is different because in my understanding it is under-utilizing the Type X2 hardware. It's basically a port of a PS2 game dressed up a little, so that game going straight to PS2 is an exception.

I would hope that the next round of new games will be a big step up from Regulation A. Maybe Regulation A is just a half step, getting SNK Playmore's feet wet on the new hardware, kind of like KOF Neowave was on the Atomiswave. The real Type X2 games are yet to come.

Where have you been? The majority of the internet pretty much already established the opinion that the Kotaku article is a bunch of crock, until there's more in the way of info to back it up. Go read the topic a few posts/page down, or go any where else, to basically get an idea of what I'm speaking of.

But in short: seeing how Kotaku has been both proven wrong before, and they're not exactly on the same page of credibility as say, AM-net, it would be best to take what they say about KOF XII with a grain of salt.

Besides, it wouldn't make much sense for SNK to be focusing on high-end stuff just yet. They don't have the manpower or the money to spend on such ventures, nor is the high-end stuff exactly in high demand over in Japan, where the likes of DS, Wii and PS2 STILL rule the roost. When the time comes, I'm sure SNK is interested in being ready. But why push for it with serious gusto, when, again, the likes of the "low-end" stuff like the PS2 and Wii are trouncing the PS3 and 360 in sales?

retro said:

Good point, i didnt keep that in mind. Seems like a bloody waste of X2 hardware then in that case...

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If I'm correct, then the X2 has a P4-2.8Ghz and a X800XT in it. That's enough to run Quake 4 lag free with 4xAA. No excuse for that board not to be cranking out some eye candy.

It's not that the hardware CAN'T do it. Pretty much everybody knows that the only piece of arcade hardware that probably stands to kick the X2's ass is Sega's Lindbergh.

But just because you have the power, doesn't mean that you have to take advantage of it, or even if you are able to.

Such is the case with SNK. Again, they're probably not going to come close to scratching the surface of the X2 hardware until a) they get more familiar with it and b) they have the money, means and manpower to make it happen. That's more than likely going to take a few years. Until that time happens, this is just the way it's going to be.

And besides, when it comes down to it, I'd rather see SNK do more to try to use the hardware to render better gameplay experiences and utilize interesting art styles, rather than just push HD visuals just for the sake of HD.

There's a reason why the likes of Team Fortress 2 is kicking the likes of Halo 3's collective asses, despite the fact that TF2 is technologically inferior to a number of the newer shooters out there today...

CyberAkuma said:

Where have you been? The majority of the internet pretty much already established the opinion that the Kotaku article is a bunch of crock, until there's more in the way of info to back it up. Go read the topic a few posts/page down, or go any where else, to basically get an idea of what I'm speaking of.

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I would love to see that the the cell shading thing was just a wild rumor and that they actually are redrawing all the 2-D sprites in high res for KOF XII. At any rate, I think the idea of it being ported to 360 and PS3 is a fairly likely outcome, confirmed or not.

Abasuto said:

If I'm correct, then the X2 has a P4-2.8Ghz and a X800XT in it. That's enough to run Quake 4 lag free with 4xAA. No excuse for that board not to be cranking out some eye candy.

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At 800x600 with the quality settings down.

Of course, performance on a dedicated gaming set up and the standard PC with resources diverted lots of extra hardware and software makes a fairly big difference.

I honestly would've expected at least a better single core processor in it. You can get P4 3.2ghz or AMD 3500+ CPUs dirt cheap now.

anyone checking this out tomorrow?

I'll be there Sunday afternoon. PM me if you want to hang out.

CyberAkuma said:

There's a reason why the likes of Team Fortress 2 is kicking the likes of Halo 3's collective asses, despite the fact that TF2 is technologically inferior to a number of the newer shooters out there today...

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Because it was bundled with other games and is available for more than 1 system?