/vr/ - Retro Games

Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits: Bushido Retsuden is a turn-based RPG based on SNK's Samurai Spirits (Samurai Shodown) fighting game series, which features various warriors and monsters duking it out in medieval fantasy Japan. This game was notoriously delayed many times, originally announced at the height of Samurai Shodown's popularity, and eventually released with only two of three planned scenarios, which would have covered the three main SamSho games.

At the beginning of the game you can choose to play as one of six characters--Haohmaru, Nakoruru, Genjuro, Galford, Ukyo, or Cham Cham--and progress through a 2D sprite-based overworld of towns, monsters, and turn-based battles, complete with equippable weapons, armor, and accessories, which is to say it is a traditional RPG modelled after Final Fantasy. The story only has minor changes depending on which character you play as, and eventually you can recruit secondary party members, which may be other protagonists you didn't choose or additional characters from the series.

The game's story, presentation, and gameplay were well-received especially by series fans, though long load times were cited as a problem. The PSX version (it was originally released for the Neo-Geo CD) features an active-time bar for battles, which keeps them from being strictly turn-based.

For a while there were rumors that Working Designs would bring this game to North America, but this never materialized and it stayed in Japan. Multiple translation groups have considered tackling the game but as of today no-one has completed an English translation.