History YMMV / SamuraiShodown

** Cham Cham is also quite popular for someone who only appears in three games (''II'', ''IV'' (as a UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}}-exclusive character) and ''VI''). She even has her own pachinko game! She does come back for ''2019'' as DownloadableContent (Season 3).

* EvilIsSexy:
** Most of Shiki's attacks and motions are seductive-looking, which was done on purpose. Han-In to nari shi Shiki takes this even closer to Kamasutra levels, with some of her moves imitating sexual intercourse. From male characters, Hanmen no Asura and Suija/Suija. Sogetsu are the subjects of this trope.
** Symbols and sculpted imagery at the walls of Gandara's stage depict scenes from Kamasutra. In the next game, these can be seen at a distant wall in Han-In to nari shi Shiki's underground cave stage.

** Iroha is another case; despite her single appearance in the series and quite controversial character, she was popular enough to be included in many dating sims and mobile phone games, and be given her very own spin-off game. It was only a matter of time, but now Iroha has finally been confirmed as DLC for Season 2 of ''2019'', marking her official debut into the canon storyline.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Few who had a chance to play ''Warriors Rage'' ([=PS1=]) likes to pretend it doesn't exist. Not that people hated the idea of a new generation of cast, but because the game itself is considered the worst installment in the series, ranking even below other divisive 3D games.

* FriendlyFandoms: With the Videogame/SoulSeries due to their similarities. Bot are big HistoricalFantasy weapons-based fighting game series that are [[StuckInTheirShadow overshadowed]] (usually) by their hand-to-hand counterparts and have suffered a FranchiseKiller before coming back in a reboot revival. Many fans see a crossover in their minds, which led to Haohmaru being [[https://twitter.com/EVO/status/1158141474371801088 announced]] a GuestFighter in Videogame/SoulcaliburVI.

** The 2019 release itself had the misfortune of falling into this. While it reviewed well and enjoyed a brief competitive scene, its first year of release ultimately got bookended with the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic. The Pandemic effectively brought all in-person competitive tournaments to a halt for over a year, and due to the poor Delay-Based Netcode, the game got lambasted for it's poor online play when the players were forced to turn online for competitive tournaments. Essentially if game either didn't have Rollback Netcode or already have an established player base, it effectively killed any chances of a community developing around it. Due to this, Samurai Shodown was largely abandoned and didn't get to benefit from a NewbieBoom that so many of its contemporaries like ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Guilty Gear -Strive-]]'' and ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV'' did. However, unlike their last franchise-killing game, the 2019 game more or less [[GoOutWithASmile fizzled out with a smile]], with many of the old fans enjoying the short time they had before unlike with ''Sen''.

** Iroha is another case; despite her single appearance in the series and quite controversial character, she was popular enough to be included in many dating sims and mobile phone games, and be given her very own spin-off game. That flood hasn't stopped yet. It was only a matter of time, but now Iroha has finally been confirmed as DLC for Season 2 of ''2019'', marking her official debut into the canon storyline.
** Mina was originally intended to be a OneSceneWonder, canonically meant to only appear in one game (and the same game had her [[spoiler:''DrivenToSuicide'']]) and just making an obligatory appearance in the non-canon DreamMatchGame, but her tremendous [[TheWoobie Woobie]] qualities and adorable look secured her popularity that she even appeared in ''[[Anime/QueensBlade Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos]]'' alongside the aforementioned Cham-Cham and Iroha (including Nakoruru would have been a complete overkill). It also helps that she's one of the first attempts at putting a literal archer that doesn't mostly clobber her enemies close range in a fighting game gives her points of uniqueness. She ends up being SavedByTheFans, whereas she will be first in line of the 2nd wave of the 2019 game DLC, [[spoiler:which led to SNK {{retcon}}ning her suicide in order to include her from within said game]].

** Iroha is another case; despite a single appearance in the series, she was popular enough to be included in many dating sims and mobile phone games, and be given her very own spin-off game. The internet was flooded with {{Hentai}} images of Iroha the day after her debut, and that flood hasn't stopped yet. It was only a matter of time, but now Iroha has finally been confirmed as DLC for Season 2 of ''2019'', marking her official debut into the canon storyline.

*** Continuing in ''VI'', the dream match status means that the character doesn't even need to be involved with the story, just be as outlandish as possible, which could be a double-edged sword, either they think it's unique or downright unnecessary. Iroha is already explained above, Andrew and Ocha-maro had an interesting concept (a pastiche of one of the American Presidents and a Karakuri doll respectively) but the Dream Match status hampers them or their outlandish statuses prevents them from developing anywhere. Sugorokumaru also suffers the same problem and might have the least interesting concept while ''still'' being outlandish enough to take seriously. Only time will tell if Iroha can break the trend based on her appearance in the ''2019'' game and see if the ''VI'' additions can be implemented well in the canon story and expand beyond it.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: After the game almost dying out due to the COVID-19 pandemic that killed offline events and limited players to online play, SNK finally revealed that Samurai Shodown 2019 would be getting updated rollback netcode in 2023.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Asura.

* NarmCharm: The ending cutscene of the 2019 game consists of [[spoiler: Shizuka]], now no longer possessed, gushing about how there are so many wonderful things in the world and how [[spoiler: she's]] so happy to be going to the afterlife now -- which is a little saccharine, but quite charming too.

** Ruixiang has started to become known as "Chinese [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Velma]]" due to her design and [[BlindWithoutEm her glasses falling off]] when she loses her weapon. Another is the first part of her name "Wu", because people [[NoPronunciationGuide got tired of trying to pronounce "Ruixiang"]].

* ToyShip: Shizumaru and Rimururu, first appeared in the same game, appeared in a slew of artworks together, and the rest was done by millions of Asian fan artists.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** One of the drawbacks to playing Mina in her previous appearances was Chample, who would stay on the frontlines [[TheLoad doing nothing but spam]] that sound. There was even a command solely designed to put it to sleep. By the time Mina was released for ''[=SamSho=] 2019'', players were glad that Chample was off-screen and not intruding on the battlefield again.
** Fans of ''V Special'' weren't really looking forward to the ''Samurai Shodown [=NeoGeo=] Collection'' since an excellent port of that game already exists. But then [=SNK=] announced that the collection would come with ''Samurai Shodown V Perfect'', the unreleased final version of the game that had been rumored to exist for years, but who's only proof of existence were off-screen photos from a single arcade location test in Japan.
** Samurai Shodown 2019 mixes this with a bit of AccidentallyCorrectWriting when it comes to retconning Tam Tam and Cham Cham. As mentioned under AmbiguouslyBrown on the main work page, the two siblings were said to be from South America but borrowed cultural aspects from across the Americas and even Africa and Australia. The 2019 game first retcons them to be specifically Mayan, then also changed Cham Cham's pelt from being a tiger's to a spotted cat's. Being Mayan coincidentally solves some other issues, as wearing jaguar skins, teeth, and claws was often done by the ruling class or by great warriors and hunters. Cham Cham and Tam Tam also bear some vague resemblance to the Maya Hero Twins, with Cham Cham easily lining up with Xbalanque who was physically cat-like, and turning their siblings into monkeys being similar to Tam Tam's fate in Samurai Shodown II. Even Cham Cham's boomerang isn't impossible to believe now, as some civilizations in the North American Southwest actually used them for hunting, and that isn't too far from Central America for her to have believably found one. Cham Cham's skin is also a bit darker now (more so in the artwork). Overall, while still fantastic {{Mayincatec}} characters, there was a clear attempt to make them less generically "tribal".
** In a surprise move from SNK, they announced at EVO 2022 that ''2019'' will be receiving rollback netcode in 2023.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Gaira's whole purpose in the fifth game: Run around like an idiot, then gets his hair shaven. He's bald in the sixth game, but that's a dream match

* FanonDiscontinuity: Few who had a chance to play ''Warriors Rage'' ([=PS1=]) likes to pretend it doesn't exist. Not that people hated the idea of a new generation of cast, but because the game was pretty terrible, even compared to other divisive 3D entries.

* {{Sequelitis}}:
** The first ''Samurai Shodown'' was a huge success, even in the United States (where it won ''Magazine/ElectronicGamingMonthly'''s Game of the Year award in 1994), and ''Samurai Shodown II'' performed just as well as the first one. However, ''Samurai Shodown III'' made too many changes to the game mechanics that [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks alienated fans of the first two games]] while reducing the character roster to only 12, replacing half of the roster in the process. While SNK addressed many of the complaints fans had with the third game in ''Samurai Shodown IV'', the franchise had already lost its luster by that point.
** And it's probably safe to say that the lackluster ''Edge of Destiny''/''Sen'' had buried the franchise for quite a while.
* TheScrappy: Sankuro Yorozu is amongst one of the most disliked characters in the series. His design is considered uninspiring, he's basically a PaletteSwap of Genjuro Kibagami, except with a hammer, and his moveset was just calling in his AssistCharacter (which will interrupt your jump, sweep low or hold your character in place), eating to recover his health, or pull a gun for a cheap shot as his desperation move, making him a [[ThatOneBoss That One Mid-Boss]]. His story is also very minimal, he's just a lowly thug trying to make big bucks in the middle of the war, is a DirtyCoward, and has very disturbing quotes against female characters. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also his face is made to be really ugly and uninspiring, even with an]] afro (and considering that other deliberately ugly characters like Earthquake or Gen-An still manage to remain popular, that's saying something). He's only seen in the fifth game and the dream match, and overall, not a single fan misses him. It says something when ''[[ImAHumanitarian Kusaregedo]]'' [[EveryoneHasStandards wants nothing to do with him]].

** After [[VideoGame/TheLastBlade Hibiki Takane]] was announced for the Season 3 DLC, many people figured that we weren't gonna get a second GuestFighter for it. Then in the second Japan Fighting Game Publishers Roundtable, SNK made the surprise announcement that there would be another collaboration character for Season 3. What's more, said character is from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' of all series! While pretty much everyone figured that Baiken would be the character in question, ''Guilty Gear'' is [[SchizoTech an entirely different genre]] in terms of setting from ''[[JidaiGeki Samurai Shodown]]''.