Title - "Samurai Spirits: Zankur
Musken"/"Samurai Spirits: Zankurou Musouken"
Alternative title(s) - "Samurai Spirits: Zankur's Unparalleled Sword"/"Samurai Spirits: Zankurou's Unparalleled Sword"/"Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood"
Genre(s) - Fighting - 2D
Platform(s) - Arcade, Neo-Geo home systems, Play Station and Saturn
I better get a few statements off my chest that are aimed at the video game fans in Japan. So, skip the next paragraph if you want. I'll get back to you people who aren't in Japan in a bit.
"Hidoi! S
nin no anatatachi wa Shizumaru ga daikirai desu yo! Naze? Hai, Shizumaru wa Hamaru de wa arimasen soshite kare wa tsuyoi desu. Demo Shizumaru wa sugoi nazenara kare no hanashi wa kand-teki na."
You want a translation? "How cruel! Some of you people really hate Shizumaru! Why? Yes, Shizumaru is not Hamaru and he is too strong. However, Shizumaru is amazaing because his story is really touching."
Oh. I better introduce the game and I'll get back to this little rant. "III" first came out in 1995. Out are Jbei, Nikochin, Seiger, Earthquake, Charlotte, Cham Cham and Mizuki. In are Rimururu/Rimnerel for some of you - another kawaii Ainu anime flavored character who happens to be that sister of Nakoruru I talked about earlier or rather, adopted sister, Hisame Shizumaru - the young troubled lad who becomes the new focus of the series, a new pupil of Hamaru, a searcher for his own past and the guy Rimururu loves, Gaira - Nikochin's big and goofy grandson who wants to have fun, Kubikiri Basara - the troubled soul whose girlfriend has died, Amakusa - the first boss who has been revived and is now in search of his evil half to be whole again and Minazuki Zankur - the final boss who becomes possessed with a demon and the one responsible for the many killings in various villages as well as a person who knows so much about Shizumaru's past.
I know what you're thinking. What? Only 12 characters? Okay, there's 13 if you know how to get Zankur. Multiply by two. Each character has two modes: shura and ratetsu. Shura is like the mode of the past and the best way to translate this would be someone at ease. Ratetsu is a new mode and the best way to translate this is someone who is more driven by power or force. No, they don't mean "slash" and "bust" respectively, nor do they mean good and evil respectively.
Actually, for the number of characters, the number was supposed to be 11 from the start. The ending of Nakoruru from the previous game tells you why, but because people in Japan loved her so much, SNK had no choice but to put her back in. Then Rimururu was supposed to be the next in line for Nakoruru's gig. Oh well. What matters now is that the Ainu sisters are the most popular characters of the series, with Nakoruru and Rimururu being #1 and #2 respectively. So, all is well.
So, yeah. Select your character first. Once you have done that, pick your mode and your class. Beginner gives you five opportunities to block automatically, normal is your standard class (the class I always pick) and advanced disables your ability to block, but your POW bar is always full.
Oh yeah. As for the rant, Shizumaru is the third least liked character in Japan. He is a bit too powerful here and he was too weak in the next game. Plus, people in Japan hated him because he became the new focus, while Hamaru was no longer the big character of the story, though he still plays a role in the kid's life. Anyway, like I said, I have always considered him to be a spiffy character because of his story, his tactics, his personality and his design as well as the fact that he's somewhat similar to Ryga of "Ranma" fame.
I am not going to lie. Threes in the fighting game world do not perform well. I will say that for a three, this one is okay. As a game itself, it's a mixed bag and I'll explain why in a bit. Oh and yes, each Ainu sister is worth a point. Take them away and I would have given this game a four.
Fun - 5
You have to face 11 characters as well as your mirror and Kuroko, who fights as your mirror and who is no longer a secret fighter to fight against. In other words, you have to face Kuroko. After that, beat the final boss three times. That's right! Three! After you win two out of the first three rounds, you better win the final one or you need to use up a credit pal.
Kiss the joyful theme and say to it "Saynara," because the theme has now become more darker than ever. Apparently, so has the game's fun. How so?
Okay, I'll admit it. I did have some fun in this game, but it was mainly because of Rimururu. Oh yeah. Since I did not mention this earlier, if you want to know the names of the helpers of Nakoruru, Rimururu and Galford, Nakoruru's hawk and wolf are named Mamahaha and Shikuru respectively, Rimururu's ice spirit is named Konril and Galford's husky is named Poppy.
I had some fun with Shizumaru. In some cases, characters are better played in shura mode than ratetsu mode and vice-versa. To some extent, the feel is still here. The final boss was hard, but the overall challenge of the game is actually right this time and I liked the final boss not only as a boss, but as character as well.
Remember the first game's damage flaw? This does not only apply to a full POW bar, but to a non-full one as well. The timer goes way too fast.
Despite the fact that SNK upgraded the second kawaii character by adding in Rimururu and subtracting Cham Cham, the additons don't offset the subtractions. I never did care about Charlotte that much mainly because I never played well with her until the next game, though I still need work with her, and Seiger was another character I didn't care about since I was never good with him, though he was a noble man. Cham Cham was eh to play with and a pain to fight against, which is why I'm glad SNK took her out because she would have given me more pain in the long run, Earthquake was just a flat out big pain in the butt, which made me glad that SNK took him out as well and Gen-Ai was the speedy and smaller version of Earthquake, meaning that I'm glad SNK took him out too. Don't get me started on Mizuki. I am not happy that Jbei (the only real samurai) and Nikochin are gone though. Nikochin is a fun character.
Oh yeah. There's a list of more flaws in the Control section. I'll get to that in a bit.
Life - 5
If it wasn't for the new kawaii couple, I would have died from boredom. Really. Thank goodness the kawaii couple showed up.
Control - 5
The good news is that the fundamentals are like the ones in "The King of Fighters 1994" and you can block in the air as well as being behind your opponent, should you dodge up close. Oh and instead of the weapon being broken once you are hit with the POW move, you will lose your weapon, but it will land elsewhere and you'll have to pick it up right away. The last one I should say is that you get a full POW bar if you are low on health.
The bad news is that there are three bits and they do hurt this section badly. Well, I wouldn't say the first I will metion hurts it badly. Personally, I was never a fan of the shura and ratetsu mode and it was hard for me to get into it. The second reason is the guard pull/push, which is done with hard slash, as I have relied on throws often. The last one is the real killer: the control format. You are now given the three slash and one kick format, in which kick is D and sweeps are now done with down-forward and D. I hate this because you are now given less attacking options and this new format doesn't feel natural anymore.
Audio - 9
Once again, people have new samples. Nakoruru definitely has new samples and some include her "Onegai" and "Itai" ("It hurts!") samples. Rimururu is played by Sakurai Tomo-san (Meimi in "Saint Tail", Mylene in "Macross 7" and so forth). She was meant for this role in my opinion.
This game has Nakoruru's weakest theme song, but it's not the reason why I deducted a point, as it's not that bad as people say. I love Galford's new theme song and I like Rim's too. Oh yeah. The character select theme from the previous game is here.
Oh. What's the reason why I subtracted a point? For some reason, the voices won't come out from the first player's character in introductions. Why SNK didn't check this is beyond me.
Story - 10
There are no bad stories and I like the general story a lot. So, why shouldn't I give the score a perfect score here? The character stories all either touching or power-driven.
Art - 8
Although the sprites and the backgrounds look new and good, the two reasons why I deducted points is that some portraits seen when you choose your modes and when you win need work. Other than that, that's about it. The sprites look bigger and look fresh. The task of Hamaru and Uky not sharing a background had to be done at some point I suppose, but Galford's background threw me off because I would always see him in San Francisco. I guess the staff wanted every character to stay in Japan. It's fine anyway.
Oh yeah. Remember when I said that this game is so dark? People do get cut in half at the end of a battle and you hear screams of pain as well. While this concept is not new, some of the screams are.
Overall - 6
"III" may be one of the weaker games of the series, but for a three, this one is actually not half-bad. It has a lot of flaws, but the new characters introduced in the series sort of make up for them. To those who like the game, good for you for being true to yourselves. This one just let me brought forth only a little smile or two.
+
Besides the stories, the dark touch is nice and there's another kawaii Ainu character! Oh and the characters new to the series are definitely welcomed for being part of the fun.
-
The button layout, the timer, the damage issue, there are plenty of mechanics flaws that hurt this game.
Date of creation - 12/30/03
Last update - 8/11/04