Tokyo Blog

I’ve been playing a new incarnation of an old favourite recently, the last in the series from SNK actually. Samurai Shodown V Special is the best in the entire series. You’ve got most of the best characters, plus many new ones, with additional special moves and additional techniques. In this game, you can go into Rage mode, or you can exchange your anger for ‘concentration’ by meditating in order to, at a certain time, go into Concentration One mode, where all of your enemy’s moves take place in slow motion, whereas everything you do is normal speed. This enables you to land about 10 strikes on him while he’s still drawing his sword, as well as move behind your enemy and slay him before he has time to turn around. There are many more cool features, too many to list, and it’s a pixel-art masterpiece - every frame of every sprite. As icing, Yuki and SNK Playmore added Suicides and Fatalities. If you know how, you should play it (but not if you want to be productive at any time in the near future). Oh, and get the uncensored version. That way you can see people getting sliced in half, beheaded or spraying fountains of blood.