RE: Samurai Shodown (2019)

I’ve been thinking of the best way to succinctly describe Samurai Shodown (2019) -- a way to summarize it in a way that’s accurate, entertaining, and gives me a 1% higher chance to get more pageviews.  It hasn’t been easy, partly because SNK’s latest is a far cry from a LOT of stuff on store shelves these days.

Pared down to basics?  Sure, you could say it’s Street Fighter at the core.  That is, it takes fundamental concepts and strategies and upholds them over virtually everything else.  Conversely, that means that this game is not on the level of your standard “anime fighter”.  There’s been a jump to 3D graphics, but it’s by no means a 3D fighter like Tekken or Soul Calibur.  I wouldn’t even put it on the same level as Mortal Kombat, goriness aside.  No, this is its own beast.  An anomaly, for sure.

That’s why I’ve come up with a way to succinctly describe the game.  Samurai Shodown is the best game.

…For pissing people off, that is.

If you’re the type who buys fighting games based on how feature-rich they are, then SamSho is a hard sell right out of the gate.  You’re not going to get a sprawling campaign like MK11, or Street Fighter V, or even one of the ArcSys fighters like BlazBlue.  It’s a classically-told “narrative” where you pick your fighter and have them go through arcade-style matches until you fight your rival and eventually the boss.  On that note?  I won’t spoil it here, but the SNK boss this time around isn’t especially hard.  Certainly not out of the ones I’ve faced.  You just need to be ready to deal with a tank of an opponent with hyper armor galore and a penchant for starting the second round with a full-screen super.

The chaff has been cut.  If you’re playing this game, you’re in it for fights against human opponents locally or online.  If you’re not doing that?  You’re in the training modes, learning how to play and how to use your chosen character effectively.  That’s the core experience.  By and large, that’s all there is to this game.  I haven’t tested the netcode/online play for myself, but apparently it feels fine; lag isn’t a deal-breaker like it’s been for previous SNK games.  Curiously, I’ve heard that Tam Tam is a pretty popular pick.  Appearance-wise, that’s a shock; gameplay-wise, I can see it.

In a nutshell, SamSho is a weapon-based 2D fighter; you’ll make use of light, medium, and heavy swings of your trusted arms (with some kicks for good measure) to slice up your foes.  As always, you’ll have a handful of special moves per warrior.  Critically, you have some universal gameplay mechanics at your disposal: a stationary dodge, a deflect motion that disarms foes, a Weapon-Flipping Technique (read: your Super) for big damage, and a Super Special Move (read: your Ultra).  The Rage Meter at the bottom of the screen gives you a power-up once you’ve taken enough damage, and you can tap that meter -- as a last-ditch effort -- for a Rage Explosion, giving you a brief window of invulnerability to escape enemy pressure and get an offensive boost.

By the same token, every character has access to a “Lightning Blade”.  Pop your Rage Explosion to make it usable, then hit the same button combination again to activate.  The cons?  If you miss, you sacrifice your Rage for the rest of the match; you can only use the Lightning Blade once per match, and it’s almost certainly punishable on block; it’s telegraphed as hell, because you have to Rage Explode to use it…and convince your opponent that it’s time to turtle up.

The pros?  True to the name, the Lightning Blade is a full-screen attack that moves at warp speed -- which means you can punish randomly-thrown out/blocked moves.  It functions as an anti-air with the right timing.  And, crucially?  If you land it, you’re probably going to do some BIG DAMAGE.

That should have been the subtitle for this game instead of…you know, nothing.  BIG DAMAGE.  This is a game where a basic, 3-hit, jump-in combo can sap 30-50% of your life in one go.  The only saving grace is that -- and I need you to sit down and take a deep breath for this -- this is a fighting game that massively deemphasizes combos.  They’re still in there, certainly, but this is not your SF, MK, BB, GG, KoF, MvC, UNIEST, P4U, DBFZ, or even SSBU.  (Props to anyone who knows what all those abbreviations stand for.)  What you’re going to want to do, and try to do, is use single strokes -- normal and special moves -- to carve out wins as well as flesh. 

Can you control space with your movements and attacks?  If so, you’ll be in a good place with this game.  If not, you’re going to learn or get slaughtered.  Your heavy attacks invariably do a ton of damage, but they’re slow in a game whose pace is already pretty lax.  Throw them out recklessly, and you’re going to take hits more than you’ll land them -- some of which will smack you for BIG DAMAGE.  If you’re using your heavy attacks wisely, though?  You’ll press the button as in accordance with reactions, punishment, and predictions -- reading your opponent and breaking down offense and defense alike with well-placed moves.  Kabuki fighter Kyoshiro may have a heavy anti-air, but the speed of it (or lack thereof) forces you to predict a jump attempt rather than just press the button and fuhgeddaboudit.    When you do, though?  Boy, does it feel earned.

SamSho is such a back-to-basics approach to the genre that it tries to swan dive back into the Bronze Age.  I’m not really opposed to it; modern fighters are still borderline inaccessible because of the effort needed to breach its systems.  I can hang, but even I need a long sit-down after playing a hyper fighter like DBFZ -- one of several games with days-long combos, blistering speed, and my favorite metagame of Which Way Do I Block (feat. Impossible-to-Read Mix-Ups via Assists). 

In terms of actions per minute, SamSho’s leisurely pace works to its advantage.  To some extent, I’d recommend it over any other fighter out there because of the beauty in its simplicity.  Lower execution barriers and a focus on fundamentals make it a strong contender for beginners.  So, for some people?  I could end the post here by saying “This is the perfect fighting game to get into.”

…

…Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut…this is also a frustrating fighting game to get into.  I’m not going to say that the game is imbalanced, because I’m not an authority and it’s too early to start questioning that.  What I will say instead is that this is a game that’s ridiculously, terrifyingly easy to A) subject your opponents to your bullshit, and B) be subjected to bullshit in turn.

I decided on my main as soon as the game was announced (having worked under the assumption that she was a shoo-in): Charlotte.  I’m still sticking with her -- with Kyoshiro as a sub -- because I like her style and she’s served me well, i.e. gotten me the most wins.  But as is often the case, I’d rather fight with her than against her.  Her rapier pokes give her impressive range, with a thrust that goes about 85% of the screen.  Her projectile’s strong, too -- and even stronger, because you can hold it to delay the launch, turning it into a quasi-anti air (and thus eliminating one of the dangers of reckless fireball spam).  She’s got a low slide that doubles as a command grab -- and since she can use it even while disarmed, she’s not as helpless as other fighters put in the same situation.

A Charlotte who’s on point (not me) can, in theory, dominate a match from the other side of the screen.  I doubt she’s the only one; Tam Tam’s normals have a massive range befitting his size, not to mention he can throw three projectiles at once.  How effective of a strategy is it to hang back and chip away at foes from a safe distance?  I’m not sure, but there’s huge potential to exploit it as needed, like when the fight’s tempo picks up and somebody needs to back off.  It must be frustrating to try and get in on the defender, given the breadth of options they have.  A Lightning Blade can work, sure, but you only get one.  You have to win two rounds by default.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum?

Shout-outs to me for being able to -- as always -- instantly and correctly call out which characters my brother would take a shine to.  In this case, all I needed was a thirty-second clip of Yoshitora to nail his preference in one shot.  There’s a set of criteria I’m well-versed in, but the simplest way to put it is that he’s no stronger to overly-obnoxious characters.  Imagine my surprise when Yoshitora ends up going even further beyond with his obnoxiousness.

To be clear: I’m not saying he’s overpowered.  He’s just a pain in the ass to deal with.  Thanks to his seven swords, he has a special move for every situation (up to and including a command grab).  If he lands a hit with all of his other specials, he unlocks an extra move -- a Genmu Zero of sorts -- that he can not only use freely and endlessly, but also sap 95% of your life in one shot.  That’s…not great.  But the real problem is that his heavy attacks are egregious.  Standing heavy covers 75% of the screen, hits five times, and doubles as an anti-air; it’s punishable on block with a running slide, but the problem is that he wastes so much time in every match.  Meanwhile, there’s his jumping heavy, which…well…just watch.

Granted I’ve never had to personally deal with those heavy cross-up shenanigans, but still.  Leave it to my bro to gravitate toward the biggest pain in the ass.

There’s a bigger question at play here, and one that’s hard to answer because it ties directly to the game’s nature: is there too big a reward for aggression?  Or, more appropriately, is the BIG DAMAGE too big?  I’ve had to go up against my brother’s Yashamaru (because of course he’d pick Anime McEdgelord) multiple times.  And I’ve lost multiple times just because he happened to land a good jumping heavy.  In something like SFV, getting hit by a jump-in isn’t necessarily a round-clincher, typically because most characters have an on-reaction anti-air to sort shit out.  In SamSho?  You can go from full health to half thanks to one basic jump-in combo.  And then from half to nothing thanks to some stray hits and another jump-in.

Even if that’s “nature of the beast” territory, I can’t help but question it.  And everything, really.  Am I winning because of my tactical, suppressive use of normals from the proper ranges?  Or is it just because I’m spamming Triangle and no one can do anything about it?  Is my brother winning because he’s reading my attempts at mounting an offense?  Or is he just lucky that he can hit Circle and heavy slash me as soon as I get near?  And, crucially: is the BIG DAMAGE there to enforce how dangerous one single hit can be, demanding full focus from both players?  Or is it just a baked-in comeback mechanic, giving anyone a chance to win thanks to one lucky hit?

The simplest answer here is “more research is needed”.

Questioning SamSho now means questioning every fighting game ever created.  If and when you start thinking about the genre conceits -- and every individual entry along the way to the present -- then there’s a decent chance that the whole house of cards will come tumbling down…and then spontaneously combust.  Really, the best bet is to just not think about it that hard at all; if a player has fun with it, and gets into it in the heat of the moment, then clearly, it’s doing something right.  To be frank?  Yes, I’ve absolutely had fun with this game.  Yes, I’ve absolutely wanted to throw the PS4 into the street.  When it comes to playing fighting games, elation and indignation are two sides of the same arcade stick.  (Ask me about Smash Ultimate.  I dare you.)

What’s really going to clinch the game’s fate is the conversation we’ll have about it months or years down the line.  SNK had its time to shine, but those days are long gone.  As happy as I am to even have this game in 2019 -- and another KoF on the way, woot woot -- I’m very concerned about its longevity.  Are people going to be playing it, or even talking about it, by next year’s EVO?  Or will it go down in history as a curio?  A stepping stone?  A quick shot of money into SNK’s bank account?  I don’t know for sure, but I will say this: it sure as hell can’t hurt to have more Charlotte around.

And that’ll do it for now.  See you next time…when, hopefully, I’ll be able to play Ruixiang more competently than…uh…incompetently.

She’s a swell lady.