Samurai Shodown Sen (aka Edge of Destiny) is one of those weird 3D instalments of Samurai Shodown series that happened after SNK’s implosion. Officialy, it was ever released only in the arcades (Taito Type X) and on Xbox 360, making it one of the few games that still warrant having Xbox 360.
But recently I discovered that a PC version exists. At first I thought this is some kind of a scam. Then I thought that it’s some kind of wrapper around Xenia. Neither seem to be true. Some comments say that this might be a leaked prototype, put together by fans. Which may explain why it uses dgVoodoo to run.
After I managed to play it once, though, the game stopped booting, giving an error in what I suspect to be Japanese. And no matter how many times I tried to delete it and unpack it again (there’s no installation process), they game just wouldn’t start.
Speaking of Xenia, though, I discovered that it emulates the game perfectly well. And that’s the opportunity to finally discuss what it is. Because in essence, it’s not a Samurai Shodown game. It’s Soul Calibur with characters from Samurai Shodown. Instead of weak/medium/strong slashes, there are vertical and horizontal slashes. There’s a grab (throw) with a single button. There are very few special moves, but many combos. And the inputs are mostly chains of attacks, not QCF/QCB common to SNK games.
The characters are modelled and animated well (looking at you, Arika), no complains there. Visually, it’s an Xbox 360 game. I’m not sure what specifically prompted that style on Xbox, but it’s very dark, gray/brown in tone.
