. . . Seeing that convinces me that, more than ever, Haohmaru shouldn't be rendered in 3D. I really liked playing the old 2D installments, but this video leaves me uninspired and, from the comments, played just as bad.

epherlite

@kidnicky: Rest assured it plays nothing like soul calibur.

It plays like a hollow Samurai Spirits. No jumping really screws with the original gameplay mechanics. Leaving everone rather grounded and boring. Since all it becomes is a block / special move spam fest.

Witzbold

SNK should really be aware that the reason I still play Samurai Shodown instead of Soul Calibur is because I DO NOT FUCKING LIKE SOUL CALIBUR. So please keep it different,kthxbye.
And before the trolls start,yes I have played every Soul Calibur,multiple times,I just don't like it.

kidnicky

Aw. I loved Samurai Showdown.

KM91

@Witzbold: Yeah... but it's not like Samurai Shodown has been that good since SS2. Sure, SSV wasn't TERRIBLE, but SS2 is still the superior-iest version :P

RemyDuvalle

Oh... no. Couldn't they just have made it with 2D with hi-res (a la Guilty Gear) sprites? I even thought Zero was ok for chrissake, this is shit.

Tikirific

@Trowble (XBL/PSN): I'm in! There's got to be a broom around here somewhere.

Neopolitian

@fatbaldnet: I played the fucking game. Won 6 times in a row and wanted someone to kill me the whole time due to how boring the game was.

Witzbold

Goofy smiles on those fighters.

sir_carrot

Was that Galford? Looked like it. Where the hell was his dog? I'm calling shenanigans!

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

The video makes the game look worse than it really is. I mean when you got two people playing who have no clue what theyre doing, it just doesnt look very cool

Altima NEO

this is not a main series samurai spirits game, people! this is part of the 3d spinoff series. Either do some research or quit your bitchin'.
the last true samurai spirits game was VI (or Tenkaichi Kenkakuden if you're in japan) on the atomiswave. it was 2d, it was sprite based, and judged by the response to newcomer iroha i strongly doubt that snk will mess with the formula when VII comes around.

wana10

@riskbreaker: They have been successful with the 3D KOF games recently so they seem to want to try and blow some life into SS with a 3D version.

Kyle81

damn, didnt SNK learn from their Samurai Showdown 64 games and the 3D one of PS1? no one wants that...we want 2D. isnt this dev team paying attention to KoF XII?

riskbreaker

@Witzbold:

Ugh! I agree...From what we can gather from the video (and your hands on impression) it's all very bland. Sure it is a beta build and will improve so on but to what extent can they build on?

Sure looks and seems like a Soul Calibur knock-off.

I'm not familiar with the SS series. I only liked and played The first and second one. What I liked about it then was it was very dynamic compared to other fighters. Galford had his dog, etc. And the scaling. Yeah that was something new back then.

@AndrewDB:

Seems like it. Or the exposure they're given has increased. I really hope the Arcade business as a resurgence. I want to go wait for 15 minutes at a mall's arcade and be beaten in like 1 minute. Heh! good ol' days!

excaliburps

NOOOO!!! what did they do to Samurai Showdown...

Krumm

The guy playing Haohmaru got owned. But yeah, seems pretty lame :(.

darthmole12

I mean about the game, not the film of the game.

valuepack

What's with the jumpy camera? 180 degree rule? I want to throw up.

valuepack

Keep it 2D, well animated (anime or cell shading,) and such like that. It was, and still is, my favorite fighting game of all time. Spent many hours on it on the SNES.

PapaBear434

Wow they have destroyed what could of been a great game. oh and Haohmaru would of won that fight hands down.

MURDERFACE

Where's the pooch?

purplehanz

@Syril: I know, I'm so disappointed at the lack of Poppy. I hate to see what happens to Nakaruru.

BigDanG

It's really too bad we can't say VICTOLY! about this game.

JohnnytheFuture

Hey now, SS6 was pretty darn good game. Course this is a step back but at least the last (semi recent) 6th game was good and 2D. The series has always had its ups and downs.

Kyle81

Oh, god. This proves that SS has gone down the pooper.

blackadvent

I am really disappointed. What's with that speed? Is this Kof Mi? Disgusting. And more importantly where is blood and fatalities? The feeling of metal's going through bone and flesh looks totaly disappeared. I want my old SS back.

kazemaru

@fatbaldnet: That's the advantage of being a blog. You can pose as journalists but if you pull something unbefitting of the profession you can fall back on the excuse that it is, after all, just a blog. ;)

That being said, I share the overall opinion of the post. The game looks very backwards and completely uninspired. The comparison to Soul Calibur is almost insulting.

I'll also agree with Witzbold about SS2 being the best of the series. Wan Fu fought with a stone pillar! That was just brilliant.

HJungle

Soul Caliber has the weapons based fighting on lock, SS can go home now.

zanzibarlegend

@fatbaldnet: because KOF unlike SS has withered, KOF is gaming goodness just on the strength of its predecessor titles which i played at launch in the arcades. KOF has a strong and loyal fanbase. SS was ok for like 2 games and that's it. im speaking from a true hardcore SNK fan who has played SNK games since conception.

KOF has succeeded where SS has failed. its that simple.

zanzibarlegend

@fatbaldnet: I guess that means Final Fantasy 13 is ready to be taken to the shed and shot, right?

Grive

Right now, this game has series or studio-killing disaster written all over it. This is not Samurai Shodown, or even a particularly good clone of another game.

At least SS2 is supposed to get an XBL release at some point.

arstal

Where's the blood!? This is Samuari Shodown/Spirits, right?

At least one series used to have the balls to agree that sword wounds cause blood...

VicViper

Just give us Samurai Showdown 2 HD, and I'll forget about this horrible video I just watched. No pets, no jumping, no going to get played.

Bellamy

2D FTGs should always stay 2D.

tabrith

@zanzibarlegend: It's especially funny that you're trying to say something on its 12th iteration is relevant.

fatbaldnet

Where the fuck is Galford's dog???!!!!

Phail!!.

Fyren

oh.. no.. what happened to the crazy, outrageous, and cool moves!? the samurai showdown i know was also bloody and atmospheric.

this could be anything but a Victoly.

orangeclover

T_T what happened to my SS ? i want it back

symphony_of_the_night

Damn it, there goes the SS series...

RPGr

@Witzbold: Was that you playing? I've never seen Haohmaru ever get his ass kicked that badly. XD

Doesn't look as bad as you're saying, but definitely pales compared to the good ol 2D ones.

Furious_Liver

Tekken-ish gameplay? That didn't look anything like Tekken gameplay to me. If it were Tekken-ish it would be a lot better than that

YUYU

@fatbaldnet: Witz saw the game with his human eyes, not through some low level youtube vid. this franchise has stunk for a long time, its time to pack it in. this generation of relevant fighters are as follow:

1)SF4
2)Tekken 6
3KOF 12
4VF5
5)SC4

thats a good list of fighters, we dont need this has been series.

zanzibarlegend

@Witzbold: damn Witz, it looks like bird shit, o well.....
at least KOF looks promising

zanzibarlegend

It would suit Kotaku not to post extremely biased opinions on the front page after a few minutes of gameplay by one person.

As I've had to comment several times before, as journalists you should know better.

fatbaldnet

VICTOLY!
Or, not.

Infradead

This looks very bad. I was never into this game much but I think with games like Soul Calibur in the 3D arena it time to call this one quits.

WolfGod

@DaiMacculate: 64 was a bit better. This game just felt totally unfinished. :x

Witzbold

@Witzbold: How would you say it compares to Samurai 64? Is there any hint of relation, or is it a whole new tekken-esque experience (which I know you already compared it to). I'm not at all a Tekken fan (Soul Calibur is right at the edge of my tolerance for that matter), so yeah this is bad news.

Maybe somebody needs to just goto Playmore and intervene, anybody got a few thousand yen and Suda's address? ;)

DaiMacculate

From the impressions, it sounds like SSS hasn't changed much from the last loketest videos I've watched (that is, it looks desperately boring to play). SS should return to 2D using KOF XII as a template.

Draconis

@DankPanties: If the gameplay was exactly the same Id be happy.

Its gone TOTALLY FUCKING BACKWARDS.

Witzbold

@Witzbold: I can't even imagine how Nakoruru would work without jumping or her pets.

This game just gets too far away from its roots to even be a Samurai Showdown/Spirits game. Guess I'll have to be content with my SS Saturn Best Collection.

Agies

@Kyle81: Its a lot worse... trust me. D:

Witzbold

@kidnicky: Because Dankpanties is a freaking idiot.

Mr.DuckSauce

@Witzbold: We'll hope he's just off chewing on the good stuff, and he'll bring it back - even if slightly mangled - sometime in the near future instead of burying it in the back yard.

Saxboy

Looks like a crappy version of Soul Calibur

Kyle81

DANKPANTIES-
If the gameplay's exactly the same as it was 15 years ago,why is Witzbold (a fan of earlier entries in the series) bitching about the gameplay in the article? I'm guessing it's different.

kidnicky

@blue_monkey: Well, they have KoF Maximum Impact in 3D.

FranUnFine

@Syril: He died of boredom.

Witzbold

*sigh* at least they keep KOFXII 2D

blue_monkey

@Witzbold: Meaning basically every 3D fighter that is not Virtua Fighter.^^

FranUnFine

@sammyDAsammon: You have no fucking idea how much the jumping part added to the original series. Take that away and the awesome other things you could do and you are left with garbage.

Witzbold

This game requires less dimensions, more fun.

Cappy

@Milihpen:
sorry buddy, looks like its actually your internet
videos are working fine where im at

sammyDAsammon

Gamevideos is absolutely the worst streaming I've seen in a long while. It seems like nearly every time I try to watch a video from them, I have to buffer for 10 seconds every 2-3 second clip. They need to drop some money on a little more bandwidth, or they should stop streaming video.

Milihpen

this game looks SWEET!
that guy doesnt know what he is talking about, of course there isnt going to be a godaweful amount of rediculous jumping around! the deverlopers are obviously trying to make a soul calibur-ish 3D fighter, and excessive hopping about has no place in 3D fighters.
haha, some people and they're opinions....

sammyDAsammon

Man, now it looks like a cheap Soul Calibur knockoff. That kunai throw? Is that what Galford's lightning spkike has been reduced to? And where the hell is Poppy?

Syril

Witzbold, I think you might be wrong? It's funny that your opinion pretty much is made into fact in the article that this game sucks. I'll admit when you play other genre of games you can tell when they suck, but how long have you been playing SS to tell us that it sucks?

Unless of course, Witzbold, if you played Capcom Fighting Evolution for "6 matches" and knew that it sucked already, or you played Street Fighter 3: 3rd strike for more than 6 matches and kept playing it, which ironically wasn't well received by the US at first and took a long time for it to pick up and eventually become a favorite amongst US players.

godrifle

theres not a resurgence in fighting games, they never went away. its just people are paying more attention to them now.

pandafresh

I always enjoy seeing Haohmaru get owned.

Way

@ShinobiFist(PSN-XBL): Its not, its real bad. D::::::::::: I wanted someone to kick my ass off the machine since I was tired of winning 6 times in a row. Thankfully someone did.

The game isnt really fast, its more like you move towards eachother then do moves which looks fast, but the gameplay doesnt feel like it.

They just should go back to the roots of the best in the series which is Samurai Spirits 2.

Witzbold

Epic yawn. Same gameplay as the last 15 years. Come on SNK, we need more than just "perty pixels" now.

DankPanties

Epic yawn.

Same exact gameplay as it was 15 years ago.

We need more than just "perty pixels" these days, SNK.

DankPanties

From the video, it reminds more of SS IV(The link combos) I like the pacing of the game, seems very FAST! The background looks very cool and dynamic. I think is to early to judge this game yet, just like SF IV, the game seems rather slow, but I'm sure Capcom will tweak it. One thing for sure, this game is SOOOOOOO, not going to be SS64

ShinobiFist(PSN-XBL)

noOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

ahmeng

Man, there has a been a massive resurgence in fighting games lately.

Anyone else noticing this?

AndrewDB

Aww, hopefully its tuned up. Loved the previous games.

DaCarver

I am very very sad at what the Samurai Spirits series has turned into.

This is one game that seriously needs to go back into the "oven" since it is so not done. Even more so when put into comparison to Street Fighter IV that is on display almost right behind it. :x

The game just felt totally hollow. Everything good was ripped out of the series and thrown into the trash.

Witzbold

What! No puppy?! Looks like Soul Caliber kinda. Except everyone is a relative of Taki's.

ese_incoherent

Oh Galford, how i have missed you! Does he have the wolf with him? He HAS to have the wolf!

YotaruVegeta

I was never a Samurai Showdown fan.

Random J

A contender to SF4? Maybe...

PsycheDiver

graphics look pretty good, not great but good. whoever was playing the black haired guy (can't remember his name) most be comatose cause there was no offense, or defense, at all.

slappyMCslappy