Samurai Shodown

Samurai Shodown (Japanese name Samurai Spirits, サムライスピリッツ) is a weapon-based fighting game developed by SNK, released for Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware in July 1993. It is the pioneering sword-fighting fighter, carving out a distinct samurai combat style amid the Street Fighter II fighting game boom. Set in Edo-era Japan, plague and wars ravage the land. Tokisada Amakusa, executed by the shogunate, resurrects with dark powers to bring ruin to the world. Twelve warriors, ninjas and shamans from across the country set out to defeat Amakusa and end the disaster. The gameplay emphasizes spacing, patience and decisive single strikes rather than long combo strings. Heavy slashes deal massive damage and can cut away a huge portion of an opponent’s health. Its iconic **Rage Gauge** fills when taking hits. Once full, the character turns red and attack power surges dramatically, creating strong comeback opportunities. Blade clashing activates weapon lock; mash buttons to overpower your foe and knock their sword away. Swords have durability and can break after repeated clashes. Disarmed fighters are weakened, and players can perform the advanced bare-handed sword catch counter technique. Matches follow best-of-three rules. During fights, the background referee Kuroko occasionally tosses meat for health recovery or bombs onto the battlefield. The roster features iconic fighters: Haohmaru, Nakoruru, Ukyo Tachibana, Galford and Wang Hu, each with unique weapons and move sets. It features gritty pixel art and traditional Japanese soundtrack. It was extremely popular in Chinese arcades and established the blueprint for weapon-based fighting games, inspiring many later sword combat titles.

These are the default keys. Every arcade board has a different number of buttons and means different things by them. The rows above are buttons 1–6 on the board: on Neo Geo boards (The King of Fighters and friends) A/B/C/D are buttons 1–4, Metal Slug uses only 1, 2 and 4 (shoot / jump / grenade), and Pac-Man uses none at all. Six-button fighters with three punches and three kicks (Street Fighter II and the like) get a different layout from the core: light punch U, medium punch I, heavy punch Q, light kick J, medium kick K, heavy kick E. Click the gamepad icon 🎮 in the player toolbar, then “Remap keys” to open the emulator’s own control settings (keyboard and gamepad, saved automatically). Gamepads are detected automatically. On phones you get on-screen buttons.