Sengoku 2

Sengoku 2 (戦国 伝承 2, Sengoku Denshō Tsu) is a side scrolling beat-'em-up game produced by SNK and the second game of the Sengoku series. It was released in arcades on April 9, 1993.

Story
The story given by SNK is as follows:

"A time of Sengoku, it's the weak becoming the victims of the strong. It began when a monarch got evil powers. He awakened peacefully sleeping souls and used his power to control them.

But there was hope for those who has everything taken away by the monarch.

A princess looked into the future and predicted an evil monarch would be born and she knew a strong soldier would appear in the future. The princess called to the soldier with her whole spirit..!!"

Overview
The setting and story for this game is also established better than the first: the players are warped back in time to the year "157X". They must fight the evil monarch for the princess if they wish to be brought back home. Overall, the sequel improved all aspects of the first title: animations were smoother, characters were colored brighter, and the game's score improved in quality. Though shorter in length -cut to four levels instead of five- the game is also generally seen as being more enjoyable.

The gameplay retained the fundamentals from first, though more effort was put into the game's combat system. The player is already armed with a sword and power ups now increase the abilities for the sword and the player's other abilities. The ability to dodge and block blows was added, lengthening the one-on-one bouts with bosses and unique enemies. Fireballs (A, B, and C together) can also be launched at will and the new "sever" attack (B) allow players to see an unique death animation for their enemies. Additionally, a couple scenes in the game also include horseback riding.

Transformations from the previous game were also revamped. The three forms are:


 * A tengu - fights with a staff; long ranged but a little slower than others
 * A kitsune - same as before but with better agility.
 * A ninja - same as before but with additional unique spells.

However, like the first game, these improvements are generally seen as also making the game repetitive. The title has it's share of admirers and detractors with fans being split on their final verdict.