Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood

About Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood

Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood (1995) is SNK's darker weapon-fighting sequel, giving every character a Slash and a Bust version and a new three-slash button layout.

Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood in Depth

The third main Samurai Shodown is the first part of a two-chapter story set between the first and second games. Its aesthetic is darker: the light-hearted Earthquake, Cham Cham and Gen-an are gone, the kabuki master Kyoshiro Senryo is reimagined from a flamboyant performer into a grim, muscular man, and every character has been completely redrawn. Each fighter comes in two versions. Slash, known in Japan as Shura after the battle-loving asura, plays closest to Samurai Shodown II, while Bust, or Rasetsu after the rakshasa demon, is a more aggressive style with new moves, looking different only in colour, except for Nakoruru, whose Bust form fights with her wolf Shikuru instead of the hawk Mamahaha, and Galford, who fights without his dog Poppy for the first time.

The controls now give three of the four buttons to weak, medium and strong slashes and one to kicks, instead of two each. Many basic attacks can be cancelled into special moves, rare in earlier games, and special moves gain priority. Most of Samurai Shodown II's movement options are replaced by a dodge, pressing A and B together, which near an opponent becomes a quick switch to their back for follow-up attacks. Attacks can also be blocked in mid-air, and items are thrown onto the battlefield from off-screen rather than delivered by a man running in the background.

Making Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood

SNK developed it for the Neo Geo in 1995 as a substantial overhaul of the series, darker in look and with significant changes to play. It received moderately positive reviews. Electronic Gaming Monthly felt its graphics fell short of the first two games and that the Neo Geo controller made some moves hard, but praised the large roster and dual personas and rated the gameplay superior to its predecessors. GamePro's Major Mike felt that innovations like the personas and sidestep were offset by the loss of some of the best characters and weaker backgrounds, concluding that "while Shodown III won't disappoint fans of the series, it isn't the jump that Shodown II was over I." Samurai Shodown IV continued the story.