Samurai Shodown Added to Evo 2019 Main Stage

[cageymaru]

Samurai Shodown has been added to the main stage of the Evolution Championship Series (Evo). The remake of the classic fighting game has an early-summer 2019 release date. Main stage games unveiled during the Evo 2019 reveal livestream include: Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Tekken 7, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st], Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, SoulCalibur VI, Mortal Kombat 11, and Samurai Shodown.

While some games are heavily-expected returns (like Street Fighter V and Tekken 7), a notable few are welcome newcomers, such as the upcoming Samurai Shodown and the much-loved Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]. Mr. Wizard and MarkMan have also pledged that side events will receive even more spotlight at Evo 2019, continuing the trend from last year in giving other communities more spotlight, even if their favorite game isn't on the main stage. Evo 2019 will take place on August 2-4 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

[cageymaru]

This is Evo circa 2004.

 

[vegeta535]

Too much bouncy boobs in dead or alive 6 for Evo eh?

 

[Domingo]

Beyond Dead or Alive's "special" physics, it isn't a really popular competitive game. It's like a more approachable (and more basic) hybrid of Tekken and Virtua Fighter. Some of those anime games are unbelievably niche, but literally their entire scene will show up for EVO. As they say in College Football "they travel well." I don't think DOA has anything like that.
The big surprise is no Smash Melee. That's still one of the most played tournament games out there even if many people in that scene have finally moved on to Ultimate.
As far as Samurai Shodown goes, it looks pretty good to me. Damage appears to be awfully heavy thus far, so it will likely be high risk/reward type of game.

 

[The Mad Atheist]

Surprised they didn't shut it down like they did with DOA 6 with all that blood.
'What's with all this sex and blood in games, said the law makers'......

 

[Deleted member 83233]

Funny DOA6 and Samurai Spirits/Sho are the only two fighting games I'm looking forward to right now. I think the approachable aspect of DOA is what is appealing. I don't compete, or play online. I play it with friends at home usually with a few drinks. The fighting system is nearly perfect in that environment. I recently stopped playing SFV in silent protest of their ads. (I won't whine about that here... ) So Soulcalibur VI is really the only fighter I've been playing recently. Looking forward to these two games. I hope the renewal of Samurai is better than the recent KoF game. KoF14 was one of three games I've ever gotten a refund for. It just felt way off to me, and visually it wasn't all that great either. (then again I always felt like KoF was a bit of a B series)

 

[Domingo]

I wish I could get back into Tekken, but playing that game is like a full-time job. You have to memorize how to block like 500 moves just to avoid being a punching bag. I love the game, but I just can't do that. I think that's why only like 2-3 Korean players (like Poongko) play anything else besides Tekken. It's just too much.
SC6 is a little like Tekken Lite, so maybe I'll give it a shot.

 

[Deleted member 83233]

I wish I could get back into Tekken, but playing that game is like a full-time job. You have to memorize how to block like 500 moves just to avoid being a punching bag. I love the game, but I just can't do that. I think that's why only like 2-3 Korean players (like Poongko) play anything else besides Tekken. It's just too much.
SC6 is a little like Tekken Lite, so maybe I'll give it a shot.

Same here. I bought Tekken 7 thinking it would get some serious play-time in my house. I haven't seriously played the series since T3, so I had delusions of grandeur. Then I started playing it, and realized how much time I must have put into the old ones to play like I did in the 90s.

 

[Domingo]

Same here. I bought Tekken 7 thinking it would get some serious play-time in my house. I haven't seriously played the series since T3, so I had delusions of grandeur. Then I started playing it, and realized how much time I must have put into the old ones to play like I did in the 90s.

I was fringe-level really good in those days and I still can't keep up. The movelists are like 30-40% larger and the characters are all way different from one another now. Plus, I don't know if online gaming is very good for teaching you to play well. It's not like you have one guy spamming something effective until you finally learn how to stop it. You basically play a few matches vs. a random person and you never encounter that person, move, or strategy again.
I'm now a .500 player and just glad to not have a losing record.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Ah Samurai Shodown, that game brings back memories of the Street Fighter like craze of games that exploded on the scene to really give birth to what we know refer to as fighting games.

Definitely remember plunking in a few quarters to one of those NeoGeo cabinets

 

[bigdogchris]

Place by where I lived growing up had a SS and MK arcade side by side. The hours spent there ...

 

[DrezKill]

Man I really hope this new Samurai Shodown game doesn't suck, like KoF 14 does. Still really sad to see SNK busting out these games with 3D graphics instead of gorgeous pure 2D art. I was hoping KoF 14 continued the style of KoF 12 and 13. Woulda been awesome if this new Samurai Shodown had great 2D art like that as well. Like most gamers, I first played the Samurai Shodown/Spirits games in the arcades, but I really spent a lot of time with the 4th game on Sega Saturn. A few years ago I actually picked up a Neo-Geo MVS (MV-1C board). Nothing like playing Samurai Shodown 1-4 on the original hardware. My buddy with an MVS also has the 5th game, and the 6th game on the Sammy Atomiswave. They're okay but I prefer 1, 2 and 4. Anyways it will be interesting to see how tournament players take to this new game at Evo 2019. This and MK11 won't be giving them a whole lot of time to practice before the tournament. Actually didn't know this new Samurai Shodown game was so close to release.

 

[deton8]

I still have the SNES cart for this heh. Makes me feel old, but in a good way.

 

[Deleted member 83233]

Man I really hope this new Samurai Shodown game doesn't suck, like KoF 14 does. Still really sad to see SNK busting out these games with 3D graphics instead of gorgeous pure 2D art. I was hoping KoF 14 continued the style of KoF 12 and 13. Woulda been awesome if this new Samurai Shodown had great 2D art like that as well. Like most gamers, I first played the Samurai Shodown/Spirits games in the arcades, but I really spent a lot of time with the 4th game on Sega Saturn. A few years ago I actually picked up a Neo-Geo MVS (MV-1C board). Nothing like playing Samurai Shodown 1-4 on the original hardware. My buddy with an MVS also has the 5th game, and the 6th game on the Sammy Atomiswave. They're okay but I prefer 1, 2 and 4. Anyways it will be interesting to see how tournament players take to this new game at Evo 2019. This and MK11 won't be giving them a whole lot of time to practice before the tournament. Actually didn't know this new Samurai Shodown game was so close to release.

IV is my favorite. It’s the only one I play really.

 

[RanceJustice]

This is great to hear and shows real faith in the Samurai Spirits/Shodown reboot; I was pretty sure it would get a EVO side event at least because of the history, thinking its newness may have prevented it from the main stage until the competitive community tested to see if it was "good". Main stage is even better! This, combined with the announcement that the reboot SamSho will release on PC suggests a bright future!

P.S. - Honestly surprised at BlazBlue CrossTag Battle. I was under the impression that it rather flopped both among the competitive and regular player circuit (a sharp drop after fans of the cross-over series came, saw, and got bored) and that the last "pure" BlazBlue title, CentralFiction, was the primary game from its genre for the scene.

 

[Rahh]

Mortal Kombat will always be my favorite.

 

[Deleted member 83233]

Mortal Kombat will always be my favorite.

I loved MK2. After that I wasn't as much into the series. I did play the hell out of 1 & 2 though.

I'd REALLY love to see a new Last Blade game. Last Blade 2 is still one of my favorite SNK fighters aside from Samurai Shodown IV

 

[Domingo]

MK2 and MK3 weren't that bad. At the very least they had some level of competitive balance. They had some gimmicks to get the attention of passerbys, but they were actually better games than a lot of trash that was flooding arcades back then. Things didn't go off the rails until MK Ultimate (worst AI ever) and (especially) MK4.

 

[DrezKill]

I loved MK2. After that I wasn't as much into the series. I did play the hell out of 1 & 2 though.

I'd REALLY love to see a new Last Blade game. Last Blade 2 is still one of my favorite SNK fighters aside from Samurai Shodown IV

Last Blade 1 and 2 were among the first games I picked up when I got a Neo-Geo MVS a few years ago. If this new Samurai Shodown turns out decent, then I wouldn't mind seeing another Last Blade game either.

Mortal Kombat 9 was a good game, enjoyed the story too. I never played 10 (I hope to try it out before 11 comes out), but I did watch the story for it and it seemed okay I guess. I hope MK11 is awesome. Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 were the ones I spent the most time with, and loved the most. MK3 was aiight but it didn't hold my interest. I fell off the series after that. I know I messed around with some of the other ones briefly (Deadly Alliance, Deception, Armageddon) but they were lackluster, had issues, and I just never really got into them. MK9 is the best one since the first 2 games, I would say. It got me lovin' MK again. Still like 1 and 2 more, but 9 is a solid title.

 

[Domingo]

Almost nobody liked or even played MK4. It was the game that buried the series for years. It showed up around the time where there were like 30 other fighting games and it was a legit step back from MK3 and Ultimate. Of the four arcades in my area, only two got the game. By that point Tekken and Marvel were all the rage. You also had KOF, both SF3 and Alpha 3, and the surprisingly approachable VF3, too. Of the two places that got it, one got rid of theirs after just a few weeks. The other one collected dust while people watched Eddie Gordo go apeshit on the machine beside it.
The console exclusive ones that came out in the early 00's were way better than 4. It was like a strange 3D hybrid that was more choppy than the digitize actors were. I didn't even think that was possible.