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 February 18, 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.

Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to Sengoku, except that the playable character is constantly armed with a sword for they which can initiate wide plane attacks and vertical slashes. Pressing both attack buttons together allows the character to block or dodge attacks. Another button combo gets the character to perform a special trick attack. The character can also jump and do jump attacks. Occasionally the character would be mounted on horseback and have to carefully hack and slash enemies during a canter.

The player can transform the character into three different forms including, the armour-clad wolf, the shuriken-throwing ninja and the staff-wielding Tengu warrior for a limited time. Various collectible orbs heal the character's health or enhance the character's attack abilities and that of the different forms' capabilities.

Critical Reception
Sengoku 2 has been met with positive reception from critics and reviewers alike since its release.