Fans of the venerable arcade fighting game series, Samurai Shodown, probably already know about the role-playing game (RPG) spin-off from the 90’s. That game is now available in English for the Neo Geo CD-ROM for the first time (I think it is the first time). Samurai Shodown RPG was also released on the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn around the same time, both inferior to the Neo Geo CD version in various ways (mostly animation).
A Detour for SNK
When SNK announced Samurai Shodown RPG, Samurai Shodown Tales of the Bushido if you are a purist, it was clear the company was trying a new path. Early in their days as a third-party developer for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) SNK did dabble in role-playing games (RPG) with Crystalis (an action RPG in the style of Zelda). Once they launched the Neo Geo and moved to focusing on that arcade unit, and home console, RPG’s simply did not appear – the closest we got was Crossed Swords 1 (cartridge) and Crossed Swords 2 (another Japan exclusive for the Neo Geo CD).
With the release of their CD-ROM platform, aptly named the Neo Geo CD, SNK tried new things such as affordable home ports. As with most early CD based consoles, loading time was a concern. This was quite evident with fighting games such as the King of Fighters series which had load times just like fighting games on PlayStation or Saturn.
Another route that SNK was taking was attempting to expand their franchises into new genres. Sadly, we only saw one release in this expansion effort – Samurai Shodown RPG.Staying True to Their Roots
Samurai Shodown RPG did take the characters from the franchise in a new direction. You chose a fighter as your main character from a selection of six available characters. All of the characters from the first two Samurai Shodown fighting games appear in SS RPG in some manner. They might be helpers, temporary partners, enemies, etc.
Battles are turn based allowing you to enter commands just like the fighting game or choose from a menu. A nice touch to help fans of either genre get acclimated easily here.
There are two chapters to Samurai Shodown RPG, a third was scrapped to release the game sooner. This fan translation adds in many options not available in the original.
According to ROMHacking.net this fan translation adds new artwork, bug fixes such as character portraits displaying correctly, choice of various features from the Saturn or PlayStation versions and more.
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