Samurai Shodown V (or Zero) loc-test VIDEOS!

Hey guys and gals,

Out of pure boredom (or perhaps a desire to justify my Neo expenditures) I took a trip down to the Sunnyvale Golfland earlier today to experience the new Samurai Shodown in all of its goodness. If the ingame title screen is any indication, it looks like the US version will be named Samurai Shodown V after all (unless that V really stands for “very rehashed material”). The game was receiving regular play from numerous interested parties but was not occupied as frequently as SVCC, probably because it was stuck in an old Warrior’s Rage cabinet with a blurry monitor. I got to watch pretty much the entire game seeing as some guy was hell bent on finishing it (took him 64 credits, with most wasted on the last boss). I only had a 32 MB card on me, but I put it to good use to bring you a few bits of video that will hopefully satiate any cravings until a widespread release. Shawn has contacted me and has been kind enough to offer to host these so that everyone will have a chance to download them without me having to worry about my bandwidth. Thanks go out to Vinh and Chris of SNK-Capcom.com for hosting these over the night to alleviate bandwidth stress on my website. I will take more videos of the other new characters today and will ask Shawn to create a page for all of them here on neo-geo.com.

Each clip is about 10-15 seconds long and ~5MB:

<a href="http://www.snk-capcom.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi?movie1.mpg" target="_blank">Raoh (Final boss) vs. Nakoruru</a>

<a href="http://www.snk-capcom.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi?movie2.mpg" target="_blank">Rasetsumaru vs. Nakoruru</a>

<a href="http://www.snk-capcom.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi?movie3.mpg" target="_blank">Rasetsumaru vs. Hanzo</a>

<a href="http://www.snk-capcom.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi?movie4.mpg" target="_blank">Rasetsumaru vs. Mina</a>

<a href="http://www.snk-capcom.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi?movie5.mpg" target="_blank">Ukyo vs. Yoshitora</a>

<a href="http://www.snk-capcom.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi?movie6.mpg" target="_blank">Yunfei vs. Yoshitora</a>

From what limited play I got, I saw the game as a very balanced visual mix of Samurai 3 and 4. I am not sure if that justifies spending $325+ on a new release, but then most people don’t complain about a new King of Fighters every year, so who am I to spoil the fun. On the other hand, the graphics in this game reek of “rehash” material to the point where they might as well have named is Samurai Shodown X. However, I am not here to judge but to share the convenient proximity of this location to my residence, so enjoy!

Sincerely,

Mikhail

<img src="http://www.shockmatrix.com/ss5/pic1.jpg" alt=" - " />
<img src="http://www.shockmatrix.com/ss5/pic2.jpg" alt=" - " />

Edit: Updated video info.

<small>[ September 07, 2003, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Kiselgof ]</small>

I'm downloading as I type, thanks! That "evil" Haohmaru looks pretty cool.

Looks good. Hopefully I can get sometime off this
or next month and personally see it. buttrock

Nice videos, short but sweet.

Thanks!

Thank you for the vids! Kinda silly they are calling it Samurai Shodown V, but it really doesn't matter since none of the Samurai Spirits uses numbers for sequels anyway.

Hmm, looks OK.
It dosent look like being anything particularly amazing, just par for the course for a Sam Sho game.

Which is fair enough really.

thanks for the vids. i can't wait to get ahold of this game!

really want to see enja and suija (sp?) and of course, gaira, but i can wait

<small>[ September 07, 2003, 03:05 AM: Message edited by: kafuin_gaira ]</small>

Thanks very much for taking the time to take those vids---and upload them. Much appreciated <img src="http://www.neo-geo.com/ubb/icons/icon35.gif" alt=" - " />

thanks.

I wish that the backgrounds were not so reminiscent of past Samurai Spirits games, regardless the graphics still look nice. Let's just hope that the gameplay is nice as well...

Thanks alot for taking the time to get those video's for us, I appreciate it.

<small>[ September 07, 2003, 04:09 AM: Message edited by: mikace01 ]</small>

As someone who loved all the SS games, a rehash with some new characters and a few new backgrounds is still welcomed. Sure I would have loved a whole new game, but the backgrounds recycled are nice, and the new ones look pretty decent. The new characters look pretty cool too... Overall, I can't wait to check this one out myself. Wish I could get down to Golf Land, but I am in VA for a little while longer, so I won't be in LA again until next year... Ah well... it's all good.

-Nick

Cool vids kiselgof, glad someone took the trouble to film it in motion.

Has anyone forgot that there are about 12_14 new character designs for the old & new together, (some new, some not) so having 12 new characters does not pass for a sequel, i think it does.

No one knows nothing about what all this game has to offer, but just because we get all the old characters as well as the other 12-14 every one can see the old characters as a mix of there bust & slash versions & nothing more.

Its like you would rather have the 12-14 new fighters & new designs & you will all love it then as its completely new, but snk/playmore/yuki went on to include all the other fighters too & then most don't like it. Having all the old cast is a privelidge, as they could of done another samurai shodown 3 & took out all the other fighters. Its better to have the rest of the cast there as apposed to not there at all.

<small>[ September 07, 2003, 05:22 AM: Message edited by: the_colonel ]</small>

Thanks for the vids, Mikhail.

Well, yes, graphically it looks a lot like Samsho 4, but the backs seem a bit, uhm, static to me, tho I like the parallax scrolling in some of them.

Are there any Shodown/Desperation screens as well? That's one thing I always loved in the series.

Jau... so far, so good.

Observations...

-You loose sword power even if you slash the air.

-Tokugawa seems to use a big hitting attack on ukyo, which drains about 45% of his sword gauge, so its good to rush him whilst his power is low.

-Ukyo's far A+B looks like his ss3 version

-Naks new stance

-The new chinese character does a wired thrust hop back whilst on the floor for a bit, like there might be 2 more ways to get up from the ground, thrust hop to there feet forwards or backwords.

-The hop seems to be modified so you can hop in any direction instead of on the spot, i wonder if you can hop attack whilst you do the hop, if so, this games gonna be good strategy wise.

-Tokugawa's moves are badass, especially his uppercut attack & Big slice followed by different hitting direction alternate sword blasts.

-Resetsumarus anger gauge is lit up red (powered up), when he lets loose multiple attacks his sword gauge goes down abit obviously, but when his anger gauge runs out his sword gauge decreses perminantly to where it was building up from.

So its important to judge when you think the anger gauge will run out, as you don't want it to run out whilst its at the bottom quarter because you'll only have enough swings for about one strong, two medium or 3-5 light swings.

What happends when your sword gauge runs out i don't know, but if it stops you from doing any attacks at all, this game will be da bomb... it will finally teach people how to play this game properly & not to just keep pressing slash all day, yes! this game is hardcore & its style looks way different.

-DM's take away a chunk out of your sword gauge

-I think you can heal your sword meter (when a chunk has gone perminently for the round) by maxing out the anger gauge, your sword gauge will then heal back to normal. There must be a way to make the rage gauge go up then, maybe has something to do with the enlightenment gauge.

-kicks even take sword gauge energy

-What the little red dot means next to your name does i don't know, but it flashes yellow when you slash i think.

<small>[ September 07, 2003, 06:27 AM: Message edited by: the_colonel ]</small>

Well, it could be worse. They could have called the game "Samurai Shodown Alpha."

Seriously, even if it's just like other SS games, that's still more than most games can say. So... blah.

the_colonel:
-I think you can heal your sword meter (when a chunk has gone perminently for the round) by maxing out the anger gauge, your sword gauge will then heal back to normal. There must be a way to make the rage gauge go up then, maybe has something to do with the enlightenment gauge.

Click to expand...

The sword meter, (or whatever it's called) goes up by itself really quickly. So quickly in fact I never saw it run out on anyone in the 3-4 hours I played/ watched the game.

The closest I saw it to running out was from three hard slashes from Ransetsumaru...

...but by that time the opponent was dead!

Yeah, the SG does build fast, but nobody is using any real tactics to make them use attacks often, everyone must be getting hit pretty hard then, because don't forget that its also the power of your attacks to, so if one does a mediem slash but the sword is at full, it should be a powerful attack.

In video 5 someguy nearly eptied his SG but the stupid cpu was taking all the hits.

yeah the damage needs to be tweaked wouldnt you say.. i sware 4 tongue throws from kyoshiro left me with a few pixels frown

I have a few questions if you don't mind answering:

1.) Uh, where's the referee?
2.) How do the weapon meters work again? Why does the full-scale size change?
3.) What was the button layout?
4.) Were there random item drops (ie health, boms, etc)?

Thanks!

Electroman:
I have a few questions if you don't mind answering:

1.) Uh, where's the referee?
2.) How do the weapon meters work again? Why does the full-scale size change?
3.) What was the button layout?
4.) Were there random item drops (ie health, boms, etc)?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

1) Sadly, no ref. I miss him too.

2) Someone else is gonna hafta answer this one... I never saw a weapon meter run out. My guess is that you lose your weapon for awhile. Either that or you freeze and act stunned like the guard crush meter in SFA3.

3)(A) weak slash
(B) medium slash
(C) kick
(D) dodge/avoid
(A)+(B) strong slash

4) No pick ups of any sort

1/. The refs the new boss of the game make_fac

2/. The more sword gauge you have the more damage your moves cause, the less there is the weaker your moves are. Its like a stamina gauge more than a sword gauge, as i don't think you can do moves if you don't have enough, i could be wrong though as knowone knows (well! someone does) what happends when its fully drained.

3/. A=weak slash, B=medium slash, A+B equals strong slash, C=kick, D=special button

4/. No

no pick ups ?

I find that part of the strategy

"OMG A chicken!"

*diagonal roll forward onto said meat before opponent*

Thanks for the vids, the game really is looking better and better (to me at least), despite the rehashes. The new characters looks great - I heard something about Nobuhiro Watsuki (the Rurouni Kenshin guy) doing some of the new character designs - anyone know if this is true?

Kaz

Cool vids. Biggest dissapointment is the mispelling of Victoly!! WTF is victory?

Looks pretty cool, but all the character sprites look reused! Hanzo, Nakoruru looked reused from SS III/IV oh_no

It still looks like its gonna be kick ass though buttrock