Title - "Samurai Spirits: Amakusa K
rin"/"Samurai Spirits: Amakusa Kourin"
Alternative title(s) - "Samurai Spirits: The Amakusa Advent"/"Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge"
Genre(s) - Fighting - 2D
Platform(s) - Arcade, Neo-Geo home systems, Play Station and Saturn
I won't bother talking so much about "IV". "IV" came out in 1996. Eveyone from the third game is here. The characters that have returned are J
bei, Charlotte, Tam Tam, and Cham Cham if you only have the Play Station version. The only two new characters are the adopted Kazuma brothers of Sogetsu, the elder one who uses water and Kazuki, the younger one who uses fire. Zankur has been revived by Amakusa and the two have gone mad. In order to have Amakusa's wishes come true, he kidnaps the kawaii sister of the Kazuma pair: Hazuki, who is said to have special powers. This causes the wild Kazuki to be a rebel and go away from his clan for a long time to rescue his sister, while Sogetsu becomes the one who has to kill his own adopted brother for breaking a rule.
You know what? The last time I reviewed this, I was too harsh. So, to those who liked the game, enjoy the changes.
Fun - 6
Hazuki. I see the Ainu sisters again and seeing Jbei return is a sight for sore eyes. The one new bright spot is Hazuki. Yay!
I can sum up the flaws in one word: mechanics. Oh boy. Yeah, some were fixed from "III", but this also created new ones. I wouldn't say that they're worse, but oh well. I'll go more into the flaws later.
Life - 6
Oh darn. Had the fixed the flaws, I would have bumped up the score a bit. I really wanted to do so.
Control - 6
I'll start with the new rules to keep in mind. You better get to Amakusa's place within the time limit you're given to save Hazuki and yes, certain characters get more time than others. Beginner class now represents the easeness of a combo system I'll get to in a bit. Each round now lasts for a minute and both characters have two life bars as in games like "Real Bout Garou Densetsu".
Now, I'll bring the good news. You can now hit your opponent on the ground w/ down-forward and a slash button, though you're wide open if you whiff. You can still do dodges also. The timer goes at a normal rate. Oh and matches are a bit longer this time.
The bad news is that aside from the previous game's button format, you can't air block. The broken combo starter is done with C and D at the same time. By pressing every slash button, you put up a rage mode which gives you more power, but at a cost. Adding on, they add conclusion moves, which I thought were pointless. I won't get into more than that.
Audio - 9
For some reason, the new samples don't sound as good as they have been of the past. I mean, they're okay, but I've heard better in the old days. Rim's new actress is okay, though at times, it didn't have the same spirit. (I'm guessing that Tomo-san left because of "Saint Tail".)
Putting the brothers aside, old themes have returned. I hear "Shizen no Utage" again and Galford has his theme song from the first two games. Rim's new theme is pretty good too.
Story - 6
"1995" had a story like this. For some reason, it doesn't fit here. Oh well.
Art - 10
They fixed the art flaws from the previous game. That's all that mattered. It's a shame that people universally share backgrounds, but that's okay. I can go on and conclude this review, no?
Overall - 7
Other than seeing Hazuki and Eye Patch-san, how should I say this? This is one of the few games in which I can give a game a decent score and end up not liking it. While the game should get some respect in my opinion, the game didn't do much for me and still doesn't.
+
Hazuki is such a kawaii character and many old characters return.
-
Unfortunately, you subtract a few flaws, you add in new ones as well.
Date of creation - 12/30/03
Last update - 8/11/04