Games of the 8-, 16- & 32-bit era

Samurai Shodown

Title	Samurai Shodown
First release	1993
Developer	SNK
Publisher	SNK
Platforms	3DO, Game Boy, Game Gear, Mega Drive / Genesis, Neo Geo, PC (Windows), PlayStation, SNES / Super Famicom, Arcade ADB
Genre	fighting game
Also known as	Samurai Spirits · Shin Samurai Spirits: Haohmaru Jigokuhen · samsho · Samurai Shodown 2
Players	1–2 players
Co-op	No
ESRB rating	T Teen
Releases	Neo Geo: 1993-01-01 (NTSC-J), 1993-08-11 (NTSC) 3DO: 1993-01-01 Mega Drive / Genesis: 1994-01-01, 1994-12-09 (PAL) Game Gear: 1994-01-01 SNES / Super Famicom: 1994-09-14 (PAL), 1994-11-01 Game Boy: 1994-11-01
Wikidata ID	Q1209867

Twelve warriors from Japan, France, the United States, and China engage in sword-based combat in this handheld fighting title. Players control various samurai and ninjas using special moves to battle through stages, though the experience omits combos and fatalities. This version adds two exclusive characters, Kuroko and Hikyaku, to the roster for both single-player and two-player multiplayer modes.

Description: REG-Vault, CC BY-SA 4.0

View on Wikidata Read on Wikipedia

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), gaps filled from REG-Vault and TheGamesDB and Arcade Database (ADB). Only retro platforms tracked by this site are listed; the year is the earliest release date recorded on Wikidata.

Sources

Wikidata (Q1209867) · last updated 2026-09-27 · CC0

REG-Vault (gb/samurai-shodown) · last updated 2026-10-29 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (megadrive/samurai-shodown) · last updated 2026-10-28 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (snes/samurai-shodown) · last updated 2026-10-27 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

TheGamesDB (744,97414,97416) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (4857) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (4609,31885) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (5823,113744) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (21719) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (25200) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

Arcade Database (ADB) (samsho) · last updated 2026-10-02 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · internal use only

Arcade Database ADB

MAME romset	`samsho`
Title at ADB	Samurai Shodown / Samurai Spirits (NGM-045)
Manufacturer	SNK
Year	1993
Genre	Fighter / Versus
Players	2
MAME driver status	GOOD

Artwork: ADB (Arcade Database); artwork © original manufacturer (SNK); snaps by ProgettoSnaps via ADB. Non-free, internal use only (hotlinked, not downloaded).

Scraping using Arcade Database by motoschifo · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · romset via Wikidata P2451 (wikidata-qid) · fetched 2026-10-02 16:28 UTC · filled here: platform

Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © SNK · internal use only

1 / 24 Box art Box art (front) 1

Image credits

Box art, Screenshots, Logos, Artwork (17): Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © SNK · internal use only. REG-Vault page

Box art (1): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded, NTSC release) · © SNK · internal use only. TheGamesDB page

Box art, Screenshots, Logos, Artwork (6): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded) · © SNK · internal use only. TheGamesDB page

Sprites

No sprite sheets yet. Find sprites on The Spriters Resource ↗ /

Videos

Game Boy Longplay [130] Samurai Shodown

World-of-Longplays · Game Boy version · longplay · 38:59auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:43 UTC

Samurai Shodown Longplay (NEO-GEO) Tam-Tam Full Game No Commentary

By Urien84 Longplays · Neo Geo version · longplay · 32:42auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:42 UTC

"Auto-matched" videos were found automatically (title + platform match via the YouTube Data API) and may occasionally be wrong. Videos are hosted by YouTube (embedded via youtube-nocookie.com; nothing loads from YouTube until you press play) and belong to their channels.