Disclaimer: Samurai Shodown at PAX East 2019 was a demo build with no training mode, laggy monitors, some faulty pads, and only one stick setup. Everything said here is subject to change. I am by no means a Samsho expert but I do know my way around 5sp to some degree. If you find any footage that might contradict anything I’ve said here, @ me on Twitter and I can amend this document if you have a case.
Shoutouts: Special thanks to @tamns0n, @joshez, and Ming for helping me test things. Good games to everyone I played over the weekend at the event! The PAX event staff at the booth were also very cool and did what they could to maximize my time with the game while being fair to the rest of the event attendees.
A = Light Slash
B = Medium Slash
C = Heavy Slash
D = Kick
WFT = Weapon Flipping Technique (super that’s usable after full rage bar or during rage explosion)
Issen = Lightning Blade - fully invulnerable super usable once per game during rage explosion
Super Special Move = throw invulnerable super with slow startup usable once per game. Costs no resources
Overall Impressions
I really liked it. As everyone has been saying, the game feels like a Samurai Shodown game and it feels very satisfying to play. Series veterans will probably feel at home playing this and new players will probably be attracted to its straightforward yet unique system design. I’m just a little bit worried about the round-stealing comeback potential of issen and the walk speeds felt painfully slow. In the presentation department, Kuroki and his art team knocked it out of the park with the visuals and the sound team really outdid themselves with the sound effects.
Game System Details
- Some of my notes below are assuming some basic knowledge of how other Samurai Shodown games have played in the past
- Check out the Mizuumi Samurai Shodown 5sp wiki if you’d like some background knowledge
Movement:
- Walk speeds are VERY SLOW across the board
- Running has long recovery but can be canceled into dashing attacks
- Most dashing B and C attacks seem to have long recoil animations
- Jump arcs and speeds feel about the same as they did in 5sp
- Still need to do jumping attacks very deep to combo after landing but less extreme than in 5sp
- Knockdowns last very long and there is no ukemi (quick getup) and no delayed wakeup
- Rolling can be done in either direction and can go through the opponent
Blocking
- Blockstun is still very short
- No absolute guard (have to keep blocking multi hit attacks or you get hit)
- Just Defend seems cancellable into specials (unclear if true GC or just a function of shortened blockstun)
- Feels slower than Garou guard cancel (confirmed by Giby)
- Just Defend window feels similar to Garou (hard to tell because monitors were laggy)
- You can Just Defend in the middle of multihit strings but it’s very difficult for some (i.e. Charlotte Splash Fount)
- Nakoruru’s heavy projectile reflect special can be punished between the longer pauses with JD into Charlotte’s dp
- Just Defend may sometimes grant rage meter, reduces blockstun, and allows for universal guard cancel called Stance Break (performed by pressing A+B immediately after you JD)
- Stance Break does no damage, costs no meter, and knocks down opponent if it hits
- Still unclear what conditions cause rage meter to build
- Didn’t test if Stance Break is invulnerable
Throws
- Can’t be teched
- Feel pretty fast
- Short range
- Didn’t test if throw ranges differ by character
- Back throw has more hitstun than forward throw
- Every character can get 5C, 2C, or some specials after a back throw at any part of the screen
- Every character can get a 5B or 2B, or some specials after a forward throw at any part of the screen
- For example: I think Genjuro’s optimal meterless forward throw followup is light rekkas
- Throws into corner change combo possibilities because of proximity normals
- Haohmaru forward throw when near the corner allows him to do n.5H
- Every(?) character could combo into WFT after forward throw
- I did Jubei forward throw into WFT once but it’s possible the other guy didn’t block
- Fairly confident Jubei can WFT after back throw
- I did Jubei forward throw into WFT once but it’s possible the other guy didn’t block
- There is a short throw invulnerability window after characters wake up but possibly not after air resets
Deflect
- Performed with 236AB (qcf LS+MS)
- Seems like it’s 1f startup again
- Active window felt about the same as 5sp
- You can recoil cancel standing and crouching normals into deflect
Invincibility
- Dodge (A+B) is fully invulnerable while active and has some recovery
- Seems best for calling out throws
- Can’t be cancelled into anything that I found
- WFT, Super Special Move (SSM), all the “dragon punch” moves I tested all seem to lack invincibility
- SSM is throw invulnerable
- Nakoruru bird cling has at least some invincibility
- Issen (Lightning Blade) has full invincibility
- Rage Explosion activation has fairly long startup and full invincibility
Miscellaneous
- Frame data felt similar to 5sp for just about everything
- There is a KoF style “button hold” input buffer
- Hold a button after performing a special move input to do it at the first possible frame
- You can jump immediately after landing if possible by holding up unlike 5sp
- There’s no pushback if you press a button while someone is knocked down unlike other Samsho games
- Having no UI indicator showing Super Special Move availability was a conscious decision since it’s supposed to be kind of like a “hidden technique” (confirmed by a dev)
- You cannot block or jump immediately after landing if you’ve done a jumping attack
- Didn’t test if you can dodge
- Counter hit damage multipliers are different in different situations (couldn’t test further)
- Galford dog glitches are gone
- I tried like 10 times to do the Genjuro card unblockable but failed every time - looks like it might be possible but the timing is very tight and different from 5sp
- Charlotte jump heavy crossup is much harder to perform - possibly impossible
- Stuff like Tam Tam JD into command grab might end up being pretty good
Game Presentation
- Beautifully shaded character models with distinct sumi-e (I think - someone more cultured than me please confirm/deny if you know) painting style
- Look at Earthquake’s stomach to see what I mean
- Background changes colors during rage explosion and Super Special Move
- Rage explosion turns background kind of a muted “night” palette
- SSM puts a “parchment” effect on the background during startup and animation
- Fantastic art direction! Thank you Kuroki and team!
- Sound effects are impactful and satisfying
- Character themes are nice and reflect character personality well
- Can’t select music before games
- Stage select cursor not defaulted to random (demo build so who cares)
- I annoyed game designer Josh Weatherford after the panel to ask that random stage select randomize the stage every time players rematch in final build
- He said he’s bring it up at their next meeting
- Fun fact - he seems to have been one of the developers to have worked on the super cool AI “ghost” feature
- I annoyed game designer Josh Weatherford after the panel to ask that random stage select randomize the stage every time players rematch in final build
- No special stage intros or character matchup intros
