Samurai Shodown, by japanese company SNK launched in 1993, was the first world-wide recognized videogame featuring this kind of warriors, many based on real people of japanese folklore like Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), Sasaki Kojiro Genryu (1572-1612, Musashi's rival), The Yagyus (a famous line of samurai family), Hattori Hanzo (1541-1596), and classic fictional characters like Oscar Francois de Jarjayes ("The Rose of Versailles" by mangaka artist Riyoko Ikeda), Nemuri Kyoshiro ("Sleepy-Eyed Kyoshiro, Notes on Villany" by Shibata Tosaburo) and many others.īecause the storyline is set during the XVIII century, the music make use of mostly traditional japanese instruments like shakuhachi and shamisen a few songs are composed with contemporary instrumentation, and thanks to the great acceptance of the game SNK (with the label SCITRON and manufacturer PONY CANYON) was able to release Original and Arrange soundtrack albums, something that would be repeated later with each new installments. There was a 1992 arcade video game called Shogun Warriors by Kaneko, being one of the first fighting games featuring traditional japanese warriors like samurais, swordsmen and ninjas. Each game introduced new ideas, concepts and mechanics, like finisher moves, super special moves and more.
good reception, and success of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Capcom, 1991), many companies tried to capitalize the uprising of the fighting genre in the videogame industry, like Midway's Mortal Kombat or SNK's Fatal Fury. 4.3 Game Boy exclusive playable charactersĬoncept overview Also see: Development of Samurai ShodownĪfter the release.