Samurai Shodown Sen; reviewers did this one dirty

awbacon

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Is Samurai Shodown Sen perfect? absolutely not! Is it a fun as hell game that at times is very pretty to look at and has some legit fun mechanics? Absolutely! But if you read review scores from the era they'd have you think the game is abject garbage not worth anyone's time.

Sure SNK has never been as good at 3D as they have at 2D...but damn..."it doesn't have a good story" and it gets marked down to a 60 for it? Who cares...its a fighting game. They need great narratives like porn does...which is to say we are here for the action, not the plot.

Or am I just a moron? Come shit on me! or agree whole heartedly

 

NeoSneth

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It wasn't Tekken Tag or Soul Caliber. That's all people cared about at this time.
 

terry.330

Time? Astonishing!
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The game is trash. This is one time where the reviewers got it right. It's one step above the Simple series games.

What's next? You gonna declare Metal Slug 3D a misunderstood masterpiece?
 

awbacon

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The game is trash. This is one time where the reviewers got it right. It's one step above the Simple series games.

What's next? You gonna declare Metal Slug 3D a misunderstood masterpiece?
Lol no I wasn’t nice to 3D. Sen is a good time. I said what I said…but hey I get shit for enjoying the Hyper Sam Sho games too so?
 

kernow

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That's because
A) You have bloody awful taste in videogames
B) It's all an elaborate ruse to make these shitty games worth something.

I can almost predict the next piece of trash that will come up and be "seriously underrated" at this point.

Esoteric my arse, garbage noone wants more like 💃
 

kernow

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Brb I'm going back to the mister video where the SD card slot is pointed at a total of 26 times and is shown to *be removable*

It's like "rare" retrogaming for clueless idiots, run by a clueless idiot
 

terry.330

Time? Astonishing!
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I get that he just got a Type X setup and is excited about it but these always come off as a guy who buys mediocre crap and then through the videos isn't just trying to convince his audience that it's actually awesome but also himself.

Making blatant clickbait proclamations in the video titles doesn't help either. Maybe at least give them some more objective titles.
 

awbacon

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That's because
A) You have bloody awful taste in videogames
B) It's all an elaborate ruse to make these shitty games worth something.

I can almost predict the next piece of trash that will come up and be "seriously underrated" at this point.

Esoteric my arse, garbage noone wants more like 💃
Lol elaborate ruse to sell? I’d have to sell stuff for that to work. A) say things are good b) ? C) profit?
 

awbacon

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I get that he just got a Type X setup and is excited about it but these always come off as a guy who buys mediocre crap and then through the videos isn't just trying to convince his audience that it's actually awesome but also himself.

Making blatant clickbait proclamations in the video titles doesn't help either. Maybe at least give them some more objective titles.
Haha I am not trying to convince myself of anything. If I don’t like something I get rid of it. Well except my student loans…I don’t like those but I’ve yet to find a quick way to dispose of them
 

kernow

The Goob Hunter
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"I don't play cave games for score"

Hence completely ignoring 99% of the depth and why people play these games in the first place.
 

famicommander

Tak enabled this rank change
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Lol elaborate ruse to sell? I’d have to sell stuff for that to work. A) say things are good b) ? C) profit?
Haha I am not trying to convince myself of anything. If I don’t like something I get rid of it. Well except my student loans…I don’t like those but I’ve yet to find a quick way to dispose of them
So, not that I give a fuck what you do with the shit you buy, but you're simultaneously asserting that you don't sell video games but that you also get rid of games you don't like?

How, pray tell, do you dispose of these games if not via sale?

Funeral pyres?
 

yagamikun

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Cool video. I appreciate what you're trying to do here. At the same time - the game is shit. :) Here's a long-form response I think you're looking for.

I have a general distaste for contemporary game journalism - especially when journalists who know nothing about fighting games "review" a fighting game. The 90's were horrible for this trend. SS3 is still hidden in the shadow of bad-mid-90's game journalism which is a shame. Here, though, I get where the journalists of the time were coming from as far as visuals are concerned.

I don't think Sen looks bad, but it doesn't look like a SS game. I think that's the point reviewers were trying to make with the actual in-game models and the like. Everything is brown and drab like just about 95% of all other games in that generation. SS games have always had flourishes of bright primary colors, especially on the characters themselves, and in Sen it looks like somebody decided to smear the color grey over the entire screen. Everything just looks washed out, dark, and boring.

The animation cycles are also boring. At least with the 64 games SNK tried to capture the exaggerated 2D movements of the characters that telegraph their personality - here, the animation isn't jerky, but it doesn't have the exuberance or personality of the 2D series. An easy example is comparing Kyoshiro's (which you feature) idle animation in this game compared to all others - standing there in Sen not moving much Vs prior games with his hopping on one foot with his wild hair bouncing in time with his movements.

It's like SNK forgot to put any personality in the game - and SNK is known for injecting more personality in their games than just about any other fighting game developer.

Sen is a product that plays and looks "just okay," but that's kind of the point; it's just okay in a series that is traditionally more than just okay.
 
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awbacon

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So, not that I give a fuck what you do with the shit you buy, but you're simultaneously asserting that you don't sell video games but that you also get rid of games you don't like?

How, pray tell, do you dispose of these games if not via sale?

Funeral pyres?
Trade it to someone else. Sell it for what I paid for it. You know…the same stuff everyone else does!
 

Heinz

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@kernow rocks up
giphy.gif


Meanwhile @awbacon
giphy.gif
 

awbacon

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Cool video. I appreciate what you're trying to do here. At the same time - the game is shit. :) Here's a long-form response I think you're looking for.

I have a general distaste for contemporary game journalism - especially when journalists who know nothing about fighting games "review" a fighting game. The 90's were horrible for this trend. SS3 is still hidden in the shadow of bad-mid-90's game journalism which is a shame. Here, though, I get where the journalists of the time were coming from as far as visuals are concerned.

I don't think Sen looks bad, but it doesn't look like a SS game. I think that's the point reviewers were trying to make with the actual in-game models and the like. Everything is brown and drab like just about 95% of all other games in that generation. SS games have always had flourishes of bright primary colors, especially on the characters themselves, and in Sen it looks like somebody decided to smear the color grey over the entire screen. Everything just looks washed out, dark, and boring.

The animation cycles are also boring. At least with the 64 games SNK tried to capture the exaggerated 2D movements of the characters that telegraph their personality - here, the animation isn't jerky, but it doesn't have the exuberance or personality of the 2D series. An easy example is comparing Kyoshiro's (which you feature) idle animation in this game compared to all others - standing there in Sen not moving much Vs prior games with his hopping on one foot with his wild hair bouncing in time with his movements.

It's like SNK forgot to put any personality in the game - and SNK is known for injecting more personality in their games than just about any other fighting game developer.

Sen is a product that plays and looks "just okay," but that's kind of the point; it's just okay in a series that is traditionally more than just okay.
I mean it's a vibe for sure, and not a standard SNK one. Clearly they were tying to make it as film like and cinematic as possible...and in some spots I def think they succeeded. Other parts...not as much

but the entire "bad review score because bad story" is like reviewing a restaurant as "great food, bad decor"
 

wataru330

Mr. Wrestling IV
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9,607
The gfx look like diarrhea shat onto a ant hill, in a mud-bog.

Suspension of disbelief ruined.

I tried this in arcade upon release, bought the Xbox rev trying to be supportive/hoping for a gfx remix.

0/10.
 
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