- Joined
- Jan 4, 2002
- Posts
- 9,353
EDITED WITH NEW GAMEPLAY INFORMATION ADDED
Hi guyz,
as Simone (FTL) mentioned, on Saturday I've attended and operator expo in Rome called ENADA, and I was lucky enough to play Samurai Spirits Zero, Metal Slug 5 and Pochy to Nya.
I also got my chance to speak with a couple of SNK-Playmore international representatives, and that was ace.
Anyway, here are my impressions on Samurai Spirits Zero, which I tested all alone for an hour or so.
Well, the game is basically OUT NOW on MVS format, but I think the version I tested was a 95% complete one, as no cut-scenes, no dialogues nor ending were anyway present.
I played all along in 1-P mode and cleared the game a couple of times. Well, my impression is totally positive. The style of this game is SS 100%, that's just a great sequel in a great series, and just seems almost like a 'gift from god' today.
First of all, the new characters are *perfectly fitting* the old crew. New starring Yoshitora Tokugawa and cute archer Mina Makijina are the no dubt the best among the newcomers crew. Kusaregedo is, well, weird, and so is YungFei (is he able to fly all around? Can't get it).
*** Yoshitora is a classical 'SNK starring' character. He's made to be cool and strong. He uses all his 5 sword for multi-hit slash. His moves are basically QC motion types. Very strong and fun to play overall.
*** Mina is indeed a new style of character. She's an archer as you know, and all here 'slash' moves (I mean, not special moves, just pressing buttons) are arrow-thowing based. Each button used reflect in a different trjectory for your arrow. This is true for all standing, jumping and crouching attacks. Of course, this gives mina an INCREDIBLE reach. When engaged in close combat, Mina changes his attack and stab with his bow itself anyway. Her special moves are mainly 'chargin' moves anyway (like back->forward+button) and hse seems always to have quite a bit of delay befor her special moves are pulled out. She's a great character overall, greatly designed and animated, very fun to use.
*** Kusaregedo is BIG. Of course he's slow as hell. His weapon is his own 'no-hand broken arm', and he actually lose it when dis-armed. His attacks are very weird, he also uses to summon earth demons to block on the ground his opponets, and such.
*** YungFei is very strange too. He's a swordman, but seems able to double-jusp or someway float in the air. I see the attem of SNK-P to create new style of play with new characters. Very interesting, yet I've not tested him very much.
*** Nakoruru and Rimururu both have brand-new sprites.
*** TamTam has NO new sprite (as was erroneusly reported).
*** Suija, Enja, Rera and Rasetsumara are no 100% brand-new sprites. Those are mainly derived in animations by their 'shura' old counterpart.
ALL sprites have-been re-coloured with a new colour style. They all loow WAY BETTER than in Amakusa Kourin. This style is anyway different from Zankuro Musouken too, and it's really nice. Especially those character introduced with Amakusa Kourin (Charlotte, Jubei, TamTam, Kazuki, Sogetsu) looks particulary nice with the new colouring style.
Backdrops are nice. I think the whole Zankuro Musoken bg palette is present here, but some are retouched even in different versions. IE I've seen two different version fo the classical bamoboo forest stage, both retouched with a new 'distant bg' effect. Quite nice. Plus, quite a bit of brand-new bg are also introduced. I think I counted 6 new bg at least, but I think there are more. Let's see... YungFei is some sort of forest with a budda statue. Yoshitora is inside a noble house, Mina is in front of an Okinawa temple, Yumeji and Gaoh (bosses) both have their own unique bg (two different battle fields), plus there's a stage on the bridge a ship, and another one settled on the dockside... it's SEVEN new bg already.
BOSSES:
Sankuro, the mid boss, is derived from Genjuro, basically the same sprite with a different weapon and a different head. It's mostly a comical character.
Yumeji Kurokochi, the pre-boss, is on the other hand totally derived from Ukyo, even same weapon here, just different stance and head. She's a kind of shapeshifter anyway, and uses to morph herself into different fighters from the game in exectuting certain moves. I don't think Yumaji may morph and stay in another fighter form: the shapeshifting is used only during the execution of given moves.
Gaoh: final boss. He uses a trdent-like spear. It's a new sprite indeed. When powered-up he transform into a horned demon, a new sprite again. Not bad at all.
As for gameplay, well basically this is Samurai Spirits.
As the fierce slash is now obtained pressing A+B, a new function is assigned to the D button (kick is now C).
The 'shura-rasetsu' dualism is now gone, thus characters are generally a mix of the former two styles, which basically means more moves avalaible to each one. Fine for me! :-)
*** The new 'third bar' system works greatly. Basically, each time you use a slash, or a slash move, you're attack bar decreases. The bar will automatically-re fill if you just stop attacking. The bar affect you're attack level: once is epty your special attacks will almost produce no damage (just the slight amount the produce if blocked, actually). I think this system has been adopeted to avoid furios combat. I.E. trying to continuosly Splash Font and opponent with Charlotte is basically no-use now. It's clear the game is trying to force some kind of 'pace' of its own in the gameplay, and I think it works great.
I don't see the game very 'combo frenzy' oriented as Amakusa Kourin. The playbility seems to evolve to Zankuro Musoken, and that's for the better IMHO. I always thought Amakusa Kourin as too much influenced by fast-paced fighters like KOF, which is nothing like Samurai Spirits feel. Anyway, i still have to get perfectly the differnt uses of the D button.
The character still goes red in the rage system. Once you get in rage you can 'rage explode' your power (rage) bar. This will affect your sprite (your stance become faster), and also the BG changes in the 'death screen' (the one used to close-death moments in chapert 3 and 4). Your attack ratio is of course very enhanted during the Rage Explode mode. Once this burst is terminated, though, your rage bar is GONE, completely ereased. Nice system if you ask me, addig some strategy to the fight.
Also, super moves are now no more destroying enemy's weapong, just dis-arming the enemy, with his weapong directly landing on the ground ready to be recollected by the owner.
All in all, it's a nice game and a nice sequel. New stuff is interesting and well done. All stuff is just not cuttend and pasted in, but nicely retouched and renewed. The style is totally in there.
Still, it's pretty evident SNKP had not all the resources it used to put in such a release. Can't say why, must be something about the details, or whatever.
Yet, this is 2003/4, not 1993/4... and after a decade NeoGeo surely cannot be considered an arcade mainstrem. We're living in a narrow niche today, but hell, it's just great to watch and play a game such as a new chapter in the Samurai Spirits series nowadays.
Thanks SNK-Playmore for keeping the NeoGeo alive!
Hi guyz,
as Simone (FTL) mentioned, on Saturday I've attended and operator expo in Rome called ENADA, and I was lucky enough to play Samurai Spirits Zero, Metal Slug 5 and Pochy to Nya.
I also got my chance to speak with a couple of SNK-Playmore international representatives, and that was ace.
Anyway, here are my impressions on Samurai Spirits Zero, which I tested all alone for an hour or so.
Well, the game is basically OUT NOW on MVS format, but I think the version I tested was a 95% complete one, as no cut-scenes, no dialogues nor ending were anyway present.
I played all along in 1-P mode and cleared the game a couple of times. Well, my impression is totally positive. The style of this game is SS 100%, that's just a great sequel in a great series, and just seems almost like a 'gift from god' today.
First of all, the new characters are *perfectly fitting* the old crew. New starring Yoshitora Tokugawa and cute archer Mina Makijina are the no dubt the best among the newcomers crew. Kusaregedo is, well, weird, and so is YungFei (is he able to fly all around? Can't get it).
*** Yoshitora is a classical 'SNK starring' character. He's made to be cool and strong. He uses all his 5 sword for multi-hit slash. His moves are basically QC motion types. Very strong and fun to play overall.
*** Mina is indeed a new style of character. She's an archer as you know, and all here 'slash' moves (I mean, not special moves, just pressing buttons) are arrow-thowing based. Each button used reflect in a different trjectory for your arrow. This is true for all standing, jumping and crouching attacks. Of course, this gives mina an INCREDIBLE reach. When engaged in close combat, Mina changes his attack and stab with his bow itself anyway. Her special moves are mainly 'chargin' moves anyway (like back->forward+button) and hse seems always to have quite a bit of delay befor her special moves are pulled out. She's a great character overall, greatly designed and animated, very fun to use.
*** Kusaregedo is BIG. Of course he's slow as hell. His weapon is his own 'no-hand broken arm', and he actually lose it when dis-armed. His attacks are very weird, he also uses to summon earth demons to block on the ground his opponets, and such.
*** YungFei is very strange too. He's a swordman, but seems able to double-jusp or someway float in the air. I see the attem of SNK-P to create new style of play with new characters. Very interesting, yet I've not tested him very much.
*** Nakoruru and Rimururu both have brand-new sprites.
*** TamTam has NO new sprite (as was erroneusly reported).
*** Suija, Enja, Rera and Rasetsumara are no 100% brand-new sprites. Those are mainly derived in animations by their 'shura' old counterpart.
ALL sprites have-been re-coloured with a new colour style. They all loow WAY BETTER than in Amakusa Kourin. This style is anyway different from Zankuro Musouken too, and it's really nice. Especially those character introduced with Amakusa Kourin (Charlotte, Jubei, TamTam, Kazuki, Sogetsu) looks particulary nice with the new colouring style.
Backdrops are nice. I think the whole Zankuro Musoken bg palette is present here, but some are retouched even in different versions. IE I've seen two different version fo the classical bamoboo forest stage, both retouched with a new 'distant bg' effect. Quite nice. Plus, quite a bit of brand-new bg are also introduced. I think I counted 6 new bg at least, but I think there are more. Let's see... YungFei is some sort of forest with a budda statue. Yoshitora is inside a noble house, Mina is in front of an Okinawa temple, Yumeji and Gaoh (bosses) both have their own unique bg (two different battle fields), plus there's a stage on the bridge a ship, and another one settled on the dockside... it's SEVEN new bg already.
BOSSES:
Sankuro, the mid boss, is derived from Genjuro, basically the same sprite with a different weapon and a different head. It's mostly a comical character.
Yumeji Kurokochi, the pre-boss, is on the other hand totally derived from Ukyo, even same weapon here, just different stance and head. She's a kind of shapeshifter anyway, and uses to morph herself into different fighters from the game in exectuting certain moves. I don't think Yumaji may morph and stay in another fighter form: the shapeshifting is used only during the execution of given moves.
Gaoh: final boss. He uses a trdent-like spear. It's a new sprite indeed. When powered-up he transform into a horned demon, a new sprite again. Not bad at all.
As for gameplay, well basically this is Samurai Spirits.
As the fierce slash is now obtained pressing A+B, a new function is assigned to the D button (kick is now C).
The 'shura-rasetsu' dualism is now gone, thus characters are generally a mix of the former two styles, which basically means more moves avalaible to each one. Fine for me! :-)
*** The new 'third bar' system works greatly. Basically, each time you use a slash, or a slash move, you're attack bar decreases. The bar will automatically-re fill if you just stop attacking. The bar affect you're attack level: once is epty your special attacks will almost produce no damage (just the slight amount the produce if blocked, actually). I think this system has been adopeted to avoid furios combat. I.E. trying to continuosly Splash Font and opponent with Charlotte is basically no-use now. It's clear the game is trying to force some kind of 'pace' of its own in the gameplay, and I think it works great.
I don't see the game very 'combo frenzy' oriented as Amakusa Kourin. The playbility seems to evolve to Zankuro Musoken, and that's for the better IMHO. I always thought Amakusa Kourin as too much influenced by fast-paced fighters like KOF, which is nothing like Samurai Spirits feel. Anyway, i still have to get perfectly the differnt uses of the D button.
The character still goes red in the rage system. Once you get in rage you can 'rage explode' your power (rage) bar. This will affect your sprite (your stance become faster), and also the BG changes in the 'death screen' (the one used to close-death moments in chapert 3 and 4). Your attack ratio is of course very enhanted during the Rage Explode mode. Once this burst is terminated, though, your rage bar is GONE, completely ereased. Nice system if you ask me, addig some strategy to the fight.
Also, super moves are now no more destroying enemy's weapong, just dis-arming the enemy, with his weapong directly landing on the ground ready to be recollected by the owner.
All in all, it's a nice game and a nice sequel. New stuff is interesting and well done. All stuff is just not cuttend and pasted in, but nicely retouched and renewed. The style is totally in there.
Still, it's pretty evident SNKP had not all the resources it used to put in such a release. Can't say why, must be something about the details, or whatever.
Yet, this is 2003/4, not 1993/4... and after a decade NeoGeo surely cannot be considered an arcade mainstrem. We're living in a narrow niche today, but hell, it's just great to watch and play a game such as a new chapter in the Samurai Spirits series nowadays.
Thanks SNK-Playmore for keeping the NeoGeo alive!
Last edited:
Thanks for the run down!
