Posted on: April 3, 2019

GreyFlash101

Games: 3 Reviews: 2

A well made barebone MVS port to PC

I'm not sure why there is so many negative reviews for this game.... I've loved playing the game back in the arcades back in 2004-2005 era. Heck... In general, I love all Samurai Showdown MVS games. I also own this game on my Neo-Geo Mini console.. I was iffy on purchasing this for my PC -- just to have on hand. I was shocked how well this port plays on my my PC. I've experienced smooth frame rate with zero lag in full screen mode on 720p TV. All the gameplay is here! The gore and character tension - including sacrifice round moves (back, forward, down joystick motion and start button). This port plays better than the Neo-Geo mini variant on a standard 720p screen at full screen. This pc port is more vibrant too. Only drawback is that this is a very basic MVS rom port of Samurai Showdown V Special. Not much room for customization. You're trapped with default controls for keyboard and x360 controls. No language configuration. One universal full screen resolution. However, on the Neo-Geo Mini there are more options you can tinker with. If anyone is curious what the difference of the ports, GOG's edition is edited from the actual MVS roms while the Neo-Geo Mini version is from the AES roms. Overall: For the low price, this is a great MVS port. Plays better than the Neo-Geo Mini variant (from my own experience). Fluid gameplay -- you will find yourself joy-tapping your controls. This port is a much more affordable option than alterative options --I.e. buying a NeoGeo Mini or hunting down a MVS unit that still works and the actual rom-cart for Samurai Showdown Special V which can easily max out a few credit cards. Negatives: Options are very limited. Button config not available. x360 controls unchangeable. No multiple language option. One universal full screen res.

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Posted on: March 25, 2020

Roma_Invicta72

Verified owner

Games: 26 Reviews: 2

Beautiful game decent port

I remember this game from my childhood and was very happy to find it on GOG. It's as pretty and fun as I remeber, dripping with atmosphere but if you are here you probably already know that. The port seems ok. Positive: +You can apply filters, vsync, customize the resolution, scanlines etc. +online mode (even though no one seems to be playing but that's not the game's fault) +no drop in the framerate anymore negative: -controls are not customizable -the move list uses the arcade button names, have fun figuring out what the 'S' button on your Xbox controller is

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Posted on: March 18, 2020

nqr90

Verified owner

Games: 80 Reviews: 2

Love it and It works on linux

This is one of those games I played when I was a kid, and finally can play it again. It's been a pleasure reviving those memories and trying a more fundamental fighting game. Went for it on discount to test on linux, Code Mystic versions work fine on wine. Version CM-2020.02.19 works online. If you want to play online you will need to install GOG Galaxy with wine, install core fonts package and run Galaxy on wine and log in, download the game trough galaxy but don't run it trough, instead go to the folder Games on GoG Galaxy and run the SSVSE .exe on wine over there.

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Posted on: October 23, 2024

friendly.brick

Verified owner

Games: 26 Reviews: 1

Perfect, but GOG is the problem.

This game is marvelous, certainly a classic and one of it's kind. But my problem is with the online support, not just with this game only, far as I know, most GOG games with "online support" also suffer from this: You need to have the game installed through GOG Galaxy to make it's online functions to work, if you install with the DRM-Free installer you are stuck with the offline options only, which feels bad because it almost looks like you pirated the game. Even still, you're trapped only at the GOG version of the servers, which right now as I write this are completely empty, no one is playing it, and there's no crossplay with the Steam servers also, so you can't unfortunately play online with strangers for example, and it really makes me sad to be honest. Still, it's a total great game, but if you want to play it online save some few more bucks and buy the Steam version. But if you, person who is reading this review, still wants to buy it here, feel free to add me as an friend whom you can play with (Spoiler: I'm a noob lol).

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Posted on: June 12, 2020

wilkan

Verified owner

Games: 509 Reviews: 155

Fun to Watch, Nightmarish to Play

NOT RECOMMENDED for anyone new to the series. You have better options nowadays. Games down to being able to pick them up and have fun with without preparation. "Samsho" 5 Special fails at all aspects of that. 1. You need to find it and people to play with it (the CPU is an input-reading omni-blocker even on the lowest difficulty). 2. The game is very difficult to handle for many reasons. Basic moves do almost zero damage even when not blocked and some moves require diagonal direction inputs, of which the arcade cabinet maybe could input, though is excruciatingly difficult to intentionally produce with a keyboard w/ the complete absence of diagonal direction keymapping. If your chosen character has a lot of key moves with diagonal inputs, you are screwed. 3. There are a lot of quirks in the game mechanics and also with every character. Even the damage calculations are weird, in that sometimes you can hit a dude all day and sometimes you lose 80 % health after Haohmaru hit you two times. There is a counter damage bonus, though it does not explain everything. Also some characters simply do astronomical damage. E.g. most characters with swords. The special mention goes to the gigantic Kusaregedo, who's jump kick sprite and hitbox fill almost half the screen. That dude and traditional sword characters seem to populate the top of the tier lists. Some characters are clearly worse than others. Most people have no patience for learning fighting games. I like this genre, though even to me it is confusing, overly complex and stiff. It's Street Fighter in the way that if the move you are doing is not exactly what is most useful in the given situation, you are going to lose a lot of life because of it. It is a very punishing and hard game, even on difficulty 1. For comparison, Soul Calibur is easy, rewarding and fun, mostly because of simpler control and move schemes. Complexity and niche-overspecialization killed the fighting games at the time. SS5 demos why and how.

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