Samurai Shodown, if anything, gives a proper aesthetic and gameplay for it's name sake. The game is absolutely oozing with Japanese influence, from it's music, sound effects, and general cast of characters. Samurai Shodown is a very Japanese game, and by all means is perhaps the biggest reason why it has endured for as long as it has. Sadly though, Samurai Shodown's first outing is not good.

I understand that this is the first game in the series, and I can't really fault that the characters look a bit off or that they didn't get some balancing issues right. As the first game of the series, it's simply not going to be polished or feel as good as it's sequels will. That said, why is Samurai Shodown so rough around the edges? From it's very slow combat and movement, to it's weird control methods, and even it's out stayed campaign of having to fight everyone in the roster. Going through arcade nowadays is not only a trial for how hard the game and AI can be, but also just one full of patience for how long you're there for. Add that together with the randomness of the POW system and lock sword system makes for any given fight to be much harder than it needed to be rather than a charming unique feature.

This game just isn't fun to play anymore. While I do think most older games, especially fighters have merits to play their older versions, Samurai Shodown just does it better in future games, and anything left here is really just for older fans to appreciate. There is a small story to follow here, but even the game itself breaks the flow of it that it kinda still makes no sense to began with. Aside from that, you are just getting a slower, harder game to play compared to any of it's sequel games.