Samurai Shodown series: Which games are the best?

[Ecco]

I just got the Samurai Shodown Anthology for PS2. I love it. I sat down with my cousin tonight and tried out every single game in the series. (Previously I've played a lot of SS1 on an SNK collection, and before tonight, I also played most of the way thru SS2.)

So now that I've played each game in the series at least a little, I have my first impressions, and I'm wondering how other people rank the different games in the series.

For starters, I love SS1 as very unique and classic. SS2 seems solid, but very similar to SS1, and so a bit less interesting. SS3 seems to be a huge leap for overall graphics, animation, cool stages, and smooth game play...

What do you think? How do you rank the games in the series?

[NeoVamp]

People over at the NeoGeo forums would say that SS2 is the absolute best Samurai Shodown game ever.

Personally i like #4 a lot, but that might be the atmosphere since its darker.

but gameplay wise I've seen tons of people swear by #2

[TheEdge]

^ Ya, A lot of people like SS2 and I don't blame them I think its fantastic but if I had to choose a favorite I would have to go with SS3. Something about it's animation, fighting mechanics, and bare bones roster gives it "more with less" feel to it.

I would have picked SS5 but the game is far too easy. Even on the highest difficulty.

[GohanX]

SS2 is fantastic, although I personally prefer to play part 1 most of the time. Part 4 gets a lot of hate, but I enjoy it quite a bit. I loved the dark atmosphere of part 3 but the gameplay kind of sucked. I've never played anything past 4.

[NeoVamp]

Part 4 gets a lot of hate

Actually its Part 3 that gets all the hate, and from what I've read they just don't really talk about #4.
#5 is good but feels slightly unfinished, which was fixed with SS5-Special.

SS6 is.. just hideous to look at, they used the old classic sprites but added high res backgrounds,
which results in a horrible mess which is almost Mugen worthy.

[TheEdge]

SS6 is.. just hideous to look at, they used the old classic sprites but added high res backgrounds,
which results in a horrible mess which is almost Mugen worthy.

I was wondering why SS6 graphics looked "off".......

It looks very pixelated even compared to the rest.

[acdc]

part 1 and 2
then it went downhill for me didn t like the newer characters
and i miss the part that in part one after a victory the body of the loser is dragged away in straw on a bed
i never see that in the other parts
3 and 4 where horrible 5 was also a waste and 6 it was good but why no enedings for the players only a bit talking and that s it

[NeoVamp]

One thing i always loved of #4 is how sometimes you get sprayed with blood after delivering a final heavy attack to your opponent.

Thats a pretty cool thing to see, i jump in and slice, and he stands there..
and then.. PSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH he starts gushing blood and your side gets all red with blood.

[TheEdge]

Was Samurai Shodown the first fighting game to have fatalities?

[jerry coeurl]

Mortal Kombat came out before Samurai Shodown. Certainly the first fighting game worth playing that had fatalities though, in my opinion.

As far as I'm concerned, in MK the violence and fatalities where the main draw, where the gameplay itself was pretty unremarkable. In SS, the fatalities were icing on the cake.

[MitsuruX]

Persoanlly i like 2 and 4 the most.. but 1 holds a special place in my heart...lol