There are over 2000 images here, including official artwork, character illustrations and even behind-the-scenes sketches showing how many of the game’s moves were originally designed. Game options are surprisingly limited: other than switching between the US and Japanese versions of the game, most of them only let you choose the difficulty level and remap your buttons.ĭigital Eclipse collections are also known for their brilliant Museum modes though, and this one absolutely knocks it out of the park. You’ve got your usual selection of zoom options (original resolution, zoomed to fit the screen’s height and zoomed to widescreen), filters (no filter, TV filter, arcade filter) and an impressive selection of 47 different background images to choose from. Since this is a Digital Eclipse release, the presentation and emulation are virtually flawless. Other than that, though, this is more or less Special with a few extra bits and pieces: an incredible inclusion from a historical and preservationist point of view, but slightly underwhelming if you were hoping for a drastically new update. The characters in SSV Perfect have new endings (which were designed to tie in with Samurai Shodown VI) and there’s a new cutscene halfway through where the game explains to the player that the final bosses have to be defeated with Overkill moves (something that wasn’t explicitly explained in SSV Special).

Whatever you believe to be the case, temper your expectations for the mythical Samurai Shodown V Perfect: while it’s incredible that we’re even able to play it, it isn’t massively different from SSV Special. Which is best comes down to personal taste: some believe the more serious tone of Samurai Shodown III gives it a unique feel the others don’t have, whereas others believe II and IV are masterpieces of the genre and have rarely been bettered to this day. This collection marks the first ever time Special has been available to play, and now that SNK acknowledges it, it’s officially the last ever Neo Geo game.Įach of the games appeals in its own way.

The studio behind it, Yuki Enterprise, got as far as putting a single test arcade game in a single location in Japan before SNK found out about it and cancelled it (because it wanted to focus on the upcoming Samurai Shodown VI). Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)įor those not familiar with it, Samurai Shodown V Perfect was originally developed back in 2004 right after work finished on Samurai Shodown V Special. That’s Samurai Shodown I, II, III, IV, V, the upgraded Samurai Shodown V Special and – for the first time ever – Samurai Shodown V Perfect. It’s time for the retro compilation experts at Digital Eclipse to have a crack at it, though, and the result is Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection, which comprises the seven Shodown games released on the Neo Geo MVS arcade system.

Samurai Shodown Rpg English Patch