Samurai Showdown 3: Blade of Blood

Damn, what the heck happened to this game? The PSX port of Samurai Showdown 3 is not a stand-up title at all. And I think a lot of the problems stem from the way the graphics were handled. Though the artwork and character design is as cool as can be. The animation is a complete hack job featuring walking animation and stances with 2 to 4 frames apiece. In fact the running frame rate seems pretty low. I'm guessing 10 to 15 frames (if even that) per second resulting in a slow moving and slow playing game.

The pace of this title is almost like that of the original Samurai Showdown on the SNES. Remember how slow that was? There's an obvious delay between pressing a button and seeing your character react onscreen. Which means you'll have to learn to be patient and readjust your timing if you're going to be a proficient fighter. It can be done, but is not really worth the effort especially after playing fast games like Street Fighter Alpha 3. If you can stand the speed, you'll find a healthy choice of characters including both their "Good" and "Evil" versions. The big different between them is the coloring (Evil characters were dark colors of course) and different sets of special moves. This feature actually doubles the amount of character you can play as. The last boss is particularly annoying though. He blocks nearly all of your moves and you have to finish him off before the time runs out. With the aforementioned problems this is not an easy task. Actually it can be pretty frustrating.

Again, this is not the best version of Samurai Showdown 3. You'd probably be best off getting the Neo Geo Gold version if you can afford it. And if you're still seeking a good 2D fighter for the Playstation, you just can't beat Street Fighter Alpha 3 (as sick as you may be of the series). Hopefully the upcoming port of King of Fighters 99' will be much better.

(pics by the pros at videogames.com)

Overall 6.8

Review written by ShinjiZ for GameyPlace.com on March 05, 2001