Samurai Shodown Bushidoretsuden (RPG)

The infamous legacy of SNK's only turn-based RPG on the Neo-Geo platform is wrought with development troubles, broken promises, and stodgy marketing tactics. This story is well documented over at the SNK Fandom Wiki, but for brevity sake here's a synopsis. Samurai Shodown RPG was originally planed to have three story arcs, one arc for each of the first three games in the arcade series, spread out over two separate releases. Due to fan backlash and trouble with development, the third arc was cut entirely but some characters and events from that arc still remain in the final code. Rising development costs and low sales of the Neo-Geo CD also forced SNK to release the game (albeit in a stripped down form) for the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation as well.

Released to tepid reviews in mid-1997, the game would go on to sell okay across the three platforms, but it was far from the smash hit SNK had hoped it would be. It didn't help matters that the 32-bit console versions were a wreck compared to the Neo CD original, and that the astounding Final Fantasy 7 had released earlier that same year which raised the bar on what consumers expected out of a turn-based RPG. To make matters worse, the game was also never officially translated to English or any other language. This left Neo CD owners and Samurai Shodown fans in Western countries out of the conversation entirely. There was a fan translation project in the mid-aughts that managed to translate Haohmaru's story in the first scenario to English, but due to lack of community support the project was canned years ago and has never been picked back up. There have been other small translation efforts to various languages, but even those projects remain unfinished and in limbo.

2023 Update! As of 11/30/23 there is now a full English patch for the game. You can patch your game ISO and play it on a real Neo CD, a Neo SD Pro (on AES or MVS), or via emulator. Enjoy! Find information and downloads at Romhacking.net.

In the modern year of 2021, the Samurai Shodown RPG is looked upon as little more than a curio of a bygone era where arcade games were popular enough to spin-off into other genres to flesh out their characters and story. Samurai Shodown was a big deal in the mid-1990's, and the series had rich lore and interesting characters that could drive such an endeavor. Still, the lack of a meaningful translation, bad ports to other consoles, and the ire SNK drew from fans and critics of the day killed any momentum the game had even before it released. So, should you as an English speaking denizen of the modern era bother playing this interesting arcade game spin off? Yes and no. Let's dig in.

The Samurai Shodown RPG allows you to choose from two different story scenarios when you begin the game: the first scenario follows the plot of the first game as you work to take down Amakusa Shiro, and the other scenario follows the plot of the second game as you journey to stop Mizuki and the resurrection of the demon god Ambrosia. Once you select your scenario you can choose from one of six main characters from the series roster to begin your journey: Haohmaru, Galford, Cham-Cham, Genjuro, Ukyo, and Nakoruru. While almost all characters from the first two games (and some from the third) are present, some are NPCs that only help out in certain battles, while others you can recruit to your party of three but have little effect on the storyline. The main character you selected at the outset dictates the critical path and certain events you will take to the end game. Fun fact: if you choose Nakoruru as your main character you can choose to have her wolf companion rather than her eagle, Mamahaha.

Due to the game being in development during the height of Samurai Shodown's popularity, the storyline does not completely follow the official cannon for the series. For example, the first game (1993) in the series is actually the third game in story cannon, and the second game (1994) is the sixth game in story cannon. The events of Samurai Shodown 3 and 4 actually happen between the first and second games. While this is slightly confusing, the gist here is that even if you can play both scenarios of the RPG through to the end you will not gain additional insight into the events that happened in the third and forth proper games. 

Samurai Shodown RPG is the very definition of the "JRPG." The game flows like most JRPGs of the day: you enter a town, somebody has a meltdown over something, you somehow get "involved in the troubles" (SS2 joke), you have to solve the problem for the person through a dungeon or battle event, and you rinse and repeat that cycle until the end of the game. Like most JRPGs, there is an overworld map you must use to traverse from location to location, dealing with random battle encounters along the way. There is little else to do in the overworld but travel between points. Although, certain sections of the map are gated off until you have completed a particular plot element that opens up travel to new territories. This is a very linear adventure with little need or use for exploration. 

Love them or hate them, random battles were the defacto way to handle combat in 90's era turn-based RPGs, and the SSRPG follows this template with gusto. Random encounters happen every 3-7 seconds on the overworld map and in dungeons, making traversing even short distances a pain. Once in battle you are presented with a turn-based system with all the various menus and options you'd expect out of a 90's era JRPG. The only interesting thing here is that when you begin the game you can choose to select if you want menu commands for special moves or if you want to input controller motions like in a fighting game. While this is a neat feature (and helps to make the game playable for those who can't read Japanese), it doesn't speed up the tempo of battle, which is a travesty. Every battle encounter will take you no less than 3 minutes even for low-level enemies and higher level enemies will take double that time or longer. Basically, battles are needlessly long for how often you are forced into them. 

Special moves are the only way you're going to get through the game, so be sure to make ample use of them. You gain experience and levels quickly, and for each level you gain your HP and MP stats are refilled. Every special attack requires MP to use, but I never have run into a situation where I needed to use any HP or MP items to replenish my stat points due to the high rate at which you gain levels. Normal attacks do very little damage compared to special attacks, so you can basically ignore normal attacks unless you're in POW mode (explained below). Every character has their signature special moves, and even some new ones they gain along the way. Familiar moves are also given additional properties in the game to fit the switch to the RPG genre. 

As you gain levels new special moves open up, and some special moves gain access to additional power levels that are more expensive to cast but have better properties. You can think of these power levels as the three different levels of attack from the arcade series - light, medium, and hard. For example: Cham-Cham's boomerang throw with the A button targets one enemy, but once you gain access to the next level of the attack, pressing B will target all enemies on the screen.

Like the arcade games, the more damage you take the higher your POW meter rises. When you have a full POW meter your normal and special attacks get a generous damage boost, which can quickly turn the tide of battle. A full POW meter will also carry over into other battles for a short while as well, which is a nice touch. That said, it does take quite a bit of damage to enter into a POW state so you can't abuse the strength increase it brings. 

There is little to do with accessories in the game. There are armor and charms to purchase, but your weapon stays static with your character. There are points where you can talk to a blacksmith to increase your weapon's damage, and you can add elemental properties to armor. While these systems are great in theory, the language barrier will prevent you from getting too involved in these mechanics. 

If you're just starting out my piece of advice here is to choose a high magic user (like Nakoruru), a character with good multi-attack options (like Cham-Cham), and a tank/melee damage dealer (like Ukyo or Haohmaru). If you chose Genjuro as your main character in the first scenario, you can recruit no other party members for the entirety of the story. While Genjuro has his fans, selecting him basically puts the game in hard mode, so be warned. There are FAQs and guides online that flesh out character stats and team combinations, so I HIGHLY recommend you check those out before starting a game. 

Fun tip - if you're an animal lover you can make a party out of Galford, Nakoruru, and Cham-Cham. Their familiars are a part of their overworld sprites, so it's fun to have three animals running around the Japanese countryside with you.

If you're playing on Neo CD, Samurai Shodown RPG is absolutely gorgeous! The pixel art on display is top notch and full of little details all around the world. The general tone of the art follows the thick black ink lines of the third game in the arcade series, so every detail has a grittiness to it. Animation is second to none as well, with both battle and overworld character sprites having fluid and detailed animation sets. SSRPG really is a stunning work of pixel art, and series fans should play though at least a little bit of the game to see all the work and effort the developers put into the world. Sadly, there are only a handful of enemy types that cycle color pallets to denote an increase in strength from the lower-level enemies. Because battles are so frequent, the limited enemy variety gets old quickly.

Music is also a high point, with great traditional Japanese inspired tunes that grace your quest. The overworld theme is quiet but adventurous, the battle theme has great use of Takio drums, and the town theme is just upbeat enough that it keeps you engaged as you run around the various villages looking for quests or action points. Sound effects are of similar quality to the arcade games, and all characters retain their voice actors from the arcade series for an authentic experience. Because all Neo CD games use Redbook Audio, you can stream the soundtrack directly from the game CD on any CD player - which is a nice touch.

Loading times on the Neo CD are infamously slow across the board, but are not too bad here all things considered. There is a roughly two minute load when you boot the game, and another two minute load when you select your save file before you get into the game proper. From there, it's a shorter 20-40 second load when you enter towns or dungeons, or go back to the overworld map from an event area. Random battles, thankfully, do not have any loading as that would be entirely too painful to sit through given the ungodly high encounter rate...if you're playing on Neo CD.

The Saturn and Playstation ports are not so forgiving with loading due to those consoles having a significantly lower amount of both system and video ram. On top of a serious cut to character animation and world detail, the game loads frequently. There is a 12-15 second load for every random battle. In a town, every time you enter or exit a building, there is a 15-20 second load as well. When you look at the game wrong, it has another 30 second load just out of spite (lol). There are other various differences between versions you can check out online, but make no mistake - play this game on the Neo CD. You'll thank me later. My first experience with the game was on the Saturn when it came out in 1997, and even back then it was hard to play because of the frequent loading.

In order to play this game and understand the story, you must have at least an intermediate understanding of written Japanese in the three main alphabets: katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Because of the high language barrier and no scripts being translated and available online, the only way to understand the plot beats is to follow a FAQ. The FAQs available do not translate the plot for you, but just tell you where to go and who to talk to. The nuance of the characters' personalities and interactions are completely lost - which is a bummer as a well-written story can often help to cover up flaws in many RPGs and encourage the player to keep engaged. Because so much of that is lost on anyone who can't read Japanese, the warts of the game are all the more prevalent. 

Samurai Shodown RPG isn't a bad game, but it's slow, poorly paced, and hard to get into given the language barrier. It's not impossible to complete for a native English speaker, but you must have a high tenacity stat (in real life) to have the gusto to push your way through to the end of either scenario. There are some surprising events along the way, and even a few new characters to meet in the second scenario. All in all, though, SSRPG is a bit too obtuse and full of its own hubris to be a must play game for RPG or Samurai Shodown series fans.

Still, if your curiosity gets the better of you this game is very affordable on any platform of your choosing. A used Neo CD copy can be had for as little as $25 and a brand new, sealed copy can be had for just over $70 in this modern age. The Saturn and Playstation versions are around the same price, but again, stay FAR FAR away from these ports unless you can have the collective patience of 16 saints and like choppy animation. Given the current state of emulation, there is absolutely no reason to play the Saturn or Playstation versions in 2021.

If you're collecting for the Neo CD, definitely pick this up. It's a great curio and should be in every Neo CD collectors library. For everyone else, give this game a hard pass and watch some let's play videos on YouTube.