Samurai Shodown II

Samurai Shodown II, known as True Samurai Spirits: Haohmaru Hell Change (真サムライスピリッツ 覇王丸地獄変, Shin Samurai Supirittsu Haōmaru Jigokuhen, The hen meaning “change” being a pun on hen (編, hen) meaning “chapter”, “volume”, or “work”) in Japan, is the second game in SNK's popular Samurai Shodown series of versus fighting games.

Story
The official story, as given by SNK, is as follows:

"Shiro Tokisada Amakusa, cause of the calamities occurring worldwide and driven to resurrect the Dark Deity Ambrosia, was slain by a single samurai whose existence was never recorded by history.

This person deeply involved with the resurrected Amakusa, Haohmaru, was suddenly attacked one night. But the one who was up easily defeated was not Haohmaru, but the sinister assailant...

Haohmaru's attacker was clearly manipulated by someone or something -- an evil force. The would-be assassin gasps a final promise to Haohmaru. 'I'll have your soul one day.... Ambrosia...lives.' The evil ones are after him! Haohmaru, sensing an evil force rivaling Amakusa, pays a visit on his old fencing master. While Haohmaru relates his story, his master's visage grows unusually grim.

'Stay away. You have undeniably grown stronger. But you must not confront them. Do you understand?'

His master obviously knows more, but grows silent, and besides Haohmaru isn't listening anyway. That night, they share a few drinks to celebrate their reunion after a long separation, and at dawn Haohmaru slips out unannounced to embark on his journey.

An audacious smile plays on his lips."

According to the story, Mizuki was a high priestess in a Shinto temple but she was possessed by the marauding deity.

Overview
Following up on the extremely-enthusiastic fan reception of the first SS game, SNK rebuilt the sequel from the ground up, including almost all of its predecessor's cast, adding several new characters, and refining the overall gameplay with more responsive control, more moves (particularly the use of the POW meter as a finishing-move meter), and a substantial number of Easter eggs.

The cast of characters was expanded to include the following new additions:


 * Genjuro Kibagami, who was to become Haohmaru's greatest rival.
 * Cham Cham, a young, catlike girl who was the younger sister of Tam Tam (who was excluded from the game).
 * Neinhalt Sieger, a knight from Germany, who fights with a giant, gun-containing gauntlet.
 * Nicotine Caffeine, an old, diminutive monk, and master of Haohmaru and Genjuro.
 * Kuroko, the hidden boss of the game, is playable for the first time. Kuroko's movelist is interesting as he uses moves that are used by some of the characters in the game as well as characters from other SNK fighters such as Ryo Sakazaki. His super move in the game is a comical version of Ryo's Ryuko Ranbu.
 * Rashojin Mizuki, the first female final boss in the series and the only boss to have assistance from an animal.

The overall gameplay was expanded to include several movement options, such as being able to roll forward and backward, ducking to avoid high attacks, or doing small hops to avoid low strikes. This game was also the first game to incorporate an offensive blocking technique or "parry", via a command issued at the last second, a player would be able to deflect the incoming attack and leave their adversary open to attack by a split second. Such a technique would not be incorporated into other fighting games for several years, until the advent of Capcom's Street Fighter 3. There are also cameo appearances from other SNK characters, a hidden boss who would occasionally come out to challenge players, and several other treats for fans to uncover.

Critical and Fan Reception
Samurai Shodown II was even better-received than the original (though it did not sell as well in its home version), and is commonly regarded as one of SNK's finest games ever produced. At the height of its popularity, strategies, tricks and tactics were discussed and debated, and it is arguably one of the most heavily dissected fighting games ever made, with sizable documents being written to support or refute claims of one character's dominance over another's. It also made GameSpot's list of The Greatest Games of All Time and EGM's List of Top Ten Cult Classics. At Game Rankings, it holds the overall rating at 100%.

In spite of (or perhaps because of) its considerable popularity, the game went for several years without being released on any other system. When it did happen, it was a port of the Neo*Geo CD version for Windows-based PCs. This version did actually get a release in the United States, and can still be found in some game stores. The only other port was for the Sony PlayStation, in the form of the Samurai Spirits Kenkaku Shinan Pack (サムライスピリッツ剣客指南パック), which combined the first two games into one package, and was only released in Japan. However, at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show on September 21, 2007, a Xbox Live Arcade port and a Wii anthology containing every Samurai Shodown game were announced.

Dialogue
SS2 is renowned for having some of the most hilarious bits of Engrish in the history of video games, even considering SNK's history of questionable translation. Chad Okada, The Game Lord and a former visual model from SNK America, stated that efforts to localize the text were stunted as the time and money needed to fix it would have been more expensive than releasing the title in its original state. Some examples are listed below (with spelling mistakes intentionally included):


 * The intro: "Long, long ago, there were a man who try to make his skill ultimate. Because of his bloody life, it's no accident that he was involved in the troubles."
 * After a fighter is selected: "Time has passed since the last trouble. New battles are going to start, now again."
 * During a single-player fight: "Wait a challenger", "No challenger is acceptable"
 * All characters: "All creature will die and all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai."
 * Cham Cham: "Oooh! It was scarry!"
 * Cham Cham: "Shit! You really make me mad!"
 * Charlotte: "In France, there's no impolite person like you! It's reasonable I win!!"
 * Charlotte: "You imitate my distinguished family. I never forgive you."
 * Earthquake: "Gosh! I've made it mincemeat! He he he he he!"
 * Earthquake: "He he he he he, you'd better on a diet!"
 * Galford: "Hey! Do you like to challenge my American ninjutsu?"
 * Gen-an: "He he he, I drag your soul in the evil world."
 * Gen-an: "Who is the real king of the evil world, let's have it our!"
 * Genjuro: "I'll be never beaten by anyone who lives in confort, like you."
 * Genjuro: "KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!"
 * Haohmaru: "How weak you are! I will kill you as well as 'tofu' with my sword!"
 * Haohmaru: "I don't like this ominous feelings."
 * Haohmaru: "I slay my imitation with my sword together with Mt.Fuji!"
 * Kyoshiro: "Go through the beauty of real 'kabuki' by your death!"
 * Nakoruru: "Power, speed and beauty. I have defeated you in all way."
 * Nicotine: "What a nice person! You kindly give the palm to such a crock!"
 * Sieger: "Don't be hateful each other. Love is the best strength."
 * Sieger: "Give you my knock for justice!"
 * Ukyo: "..... To cut a same face..... ..... feel bad....."
 * Wan-Fu: "How foolish, stupid and silly you are! Get away, chicken!"
 * Wan-Fu: "Look at our great Chinese power!"