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Samurai Shodown Anthology Description:

The complete collection of the SAMURAI SHODOWN series, containing 6 games; Samurai Shodown, I, II, III, IV, V, and VI Celebrate the history of SAMURAI SHODOWN by battling as one of the greatest Samurai of all time. Six separate adventures that span across the life of the franchise in this incredible collection.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1539 in Video Games
• Brand: SNK
• Model: PST20021A
• Published on: 2009-03
• Released on: 2009-03-24
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: PlayStation2
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .59″ h x 5.45″ w x 7.52″ l, .30 pounds

Features

• Six incredible games on one disc
• SAMURAI SHODOWN 6 available for the first time in North America
• Tons of unlockable bonus content material
• Pick-up-and-play, non-stop action
• Arcade perfect port of each title

Customer Reviews:

The Long Awaited Anthology Finally Arrives
It’s about time this anthology gets released in North America; we had to watch as it gets delayed time & time again while the PAL version gets released in Europe before ours.

This is basically a localization of the Japanese version, so no V Special. I’m not disappointed that it’s not in this collection. As to why it’s not here, take your guess from one of the following possibilities:

1. It being the last game for the Neo*Geo, SNK Playmore wanted to keep it available only for that system.

2. SNK Playmore USA wanted to add it the North American release, but took it out to keep its Teen Rating.

3. Seeing the negative response that the American-made King of Fighters Collection- The Orochi Saga got from gamers, they decided to just localize the Japanese version.

Like the previous collections (the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting & World Heroes ones), the main screen has a beehive design. From there you pick which mode you wanna play (arcade, vs. & training mode) & from there pick from the 5 Neo*Geo Samurai Shodown games. The first 2 games have virtually no loading once the game starts while the rest loads between matches & the load time is very brief. Of the 1st 5 games, the only one I found to be a dud is SSV due to the fact that bosses are very cheat & the fact that there are no endings. (the XBOX version of Samurai Shodown V had endings) Even III had endings albeit text ones & is more enjoyable despite the bad balance that game had.

Samurai Shodown VI is separate from the 1st 5 games & has to switch emulators as it runs on different hardware than the other ones. Basically a dream match, bringing back every fighter that appeared in the 2-D series, it’s the “Street Fighter Alpha 3″ of the series. After picking your fighter, you choose from 6 “spirits” based on previous installments. Unlike the other games in this collection, this isn’t based on the arcade game but the PS2 version & for good reason; there’s more fighters, extra spirits (including one where you can customize your own spirit) & extra modes like training, & survival mode. As this is based on the version found in the Japanese version of this collection, everything’s already unlocked from the get-go (in the PS2 version that came out a few years ago in Japan you had to unlock everything on your own.). Also unlike the other games in this collection, there’s no blood or gore & for the record, the arcade game didn’t have it either.

At the end of day, you’ll either love or hate Samurai Shodown VI. I happen to love it…a lot. Love the large number of fighters you can pick from & the new fighters (esp. Andrew who’s based on President Jackson & Iroha). While the final boss Shin Gaoh is a bit of a cheat, he’s easilier to beat than Gaoh in V & the endings are some of the best I’ve seen in the series. While not the best game here, it’s WAY better than V will ever be.

Even without V Special or even unlockablies, this is still a great collection & Samurai Shodown fans should rejoice. When you have cousins who play mostly modern 3-D games & can’t wait for this to come out, you know this will be a big bestseller. Now I’m waiting to see if King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match gets released in North America something in the future.

Final Release of Samuria Shodown Anthology: Without V-Special!
Pros:(1)Overall, the collection is a perfect arcade port perfect transfer from NeoGeo engine and Arcade systems, inc engines. Brilliant color and graphics and fast action like never before making the individual Samurai games”(Console version -based) terrible now. The main menu system is very nice and easy to access and save your progress. While in idle mode, the game displays multiple scenes of each dual from each series, which is very cool.
(2)Specifics on the game: the feel of the controls are pretty much the same compared to joystick action, except for the special moves and rage engage, but that is easily relearned. The sound is crisp and the custom mode is super cool, changing thier color outfits and choosing which spirit you want to use for any of the first 5 games, really cool.
(3)Special bonus: Samurai Shodown 6 is top notch and makes part 5 like part 3. Not only are the special moves easier to manuever, but the special finishing moves and power gauge is totally “BOSS”and so beautifully painted! Great playability and couldn’t stop playing part 6 until I defeated the Main Boss three times in different levels, a great game.
Cons: (1)It was a real pity that they didn’t include Samurai Shodown 5 Special, despite the slight difference, special was better. (2)How come they didn’t include the option to change it to the original Japanese mode? Sometimes its cool to see those Japanese characters on fire when fighting!
(3)I felt the introduction music and video sucked! Since this game represents a long timeline of the games, I was expecting a real authentic Japanese and in depth and personal introduction, whereas the video intro appears to be a cheap method of putting together clips of each series with the Earthquake theme from part 1, which I felt was crap.
(4) The way they made the index was weird, making part 6 standing on its own, probably because of the original format(PAL) and the game size they had to apply it as a stand alone title on the disc, still they could have used a better indexing system or even a cool intro video similar to Soul Calibur intro video.

Special news: I am happy to say that Samurai Shodown has not died just yet, and a new game release is coming out on the PS-3, called THE SPIRIT OF DESTINY. Looks awesome and very real, and can’t wait to play it.

Overall I give it 5 gold stars!!
Thanks for reading.

Finally…
With SNK’s recent compilation releases of their various franchises, I’ve been anxiously waiting one featuring the Samurai Shodown games. Well, here we are finally. Samurai Shodown Anthology features Samurai Shodown’s I-VI, with Samurai Shodown VI making its first appearance on the PS2 in America. The games have been emulated wonderfully, and all play just as well as I remember them being. For me personally, Samurai Shodown VI is worth the price of admission alone, featuring a huge roster of fighters and some deep and varied fighting mechanics as well. While it isn’t without its flaws and not such a favorite of other fans of the franchise, it’s the best of the bunch, and it’s good to finally see it make it to our shores on a console. The only real flaw of Samurai Shodown Anthology is that Samurai Shodown V Special isn’t included here, which is a crying shame. That aside though, Samurai Shodown Anthology is another great, budget-priced SNK compilation that is definitely worth your time if old school, 2-D fighters are your thing; and if you’re an SNK buff, this is more than worth picking up.

Amazon.com Product Description
The Samurai Shodown Anthology is a compilation of games from the groundbreaking SNK weapon-based fighting Samurai Shodown series. Celebrate the history of the franchise through the years by battling as one of the greatest Samurai of all time, through six separate adventures in this incredible collection. The collection includes six games from the series including Samurai Shodown I, II, III, IV, V and the never before released in North America Samurai Shodown VI. .caption { font-family: Verdana, Helvetica neue, Arial, serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; } ul.indent { list-style: inside disc; text-indent: -15px; } table.callout { font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1. 3em; } td.vgoverview { height: 125px; background: #9DC4D8 url(http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/electronics/detail-page/callout-bg.png) repeat-x; border-left: 1px solid #999999; border-right: 1px solid #999999; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 250px; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12px; }

Classic weapons-based fighting. View larger.

Diverse cast of playable characters. View larger.

A wealth of special moves. View larger.

Games of the Anthology

	Released in 1993, Samurai Shodown remade the fighting genre by introducing weapons-based combat. With it victory was made possible with a single stroke and the popularity of the genre soared.
	Released in 1994, Samurai Shodown II featured special moves like weapon-breaking and an increased total of 15 playable characters, as the cocky Haohmaru gladly pursues forces that seeks to destroy him.
	Released in 1995, Samurai Shodown III featured a fighting system overhaul that made it possible for players to choose from two sword types, as well as three levels of ability when entering into a duel.
	Released in 1996, Samurai Shodown IV introduced multiple combo elements, such as slashes, sneak attacks and suicides to the fighting system as well as time limits making for more possibilities and ratcheted action.
	Released in 2003, Samurai Shodown V increased the number of playable characters to 24, including four that are entirely new and introduced new features like “Sword Gauge” and “Concentration One.”
	Released in 2005, Samurai Shodown VI features 2D and 3D backgrounds, a large cast of playable characters from the entire series and the “spirit select” system, which allows access to fighting styles from the entire series.

Key Game Features:

• Features six incredible Samurai Shodown games (releases 1-6) in one.
• Samurai Shodown 6 available for the first time in North America in this compilation.
• Extensive gallery of unlockable bonus materials; concept art, soundtracks and more.
• Arcade perfect port of each title.
• Pick-up-and-play, nonstop action.
• Single player and 1-2 local multiplayer support.

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