Playable and fightable characters introduced in Samurai Shodown 64 and its sequel
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Debuting in Samurai Shodown 64
Shiki
Shiki
Half-Shaded Shiki
...I don't feel a thing.
Weapons (2019): a nameless pair of twin blades
Weapons (as Half-Shaded Shiki): Summonable energy blades
Voiced by:note
One of the main heroines in the 64 series. Ever since birth, she was tailored to be Yuga's servant and when she came of age, she was Brainwashed into becoming his servant and tasked with hunting down the male counterpart that Yuga needed for a perfect body: Haohmaru. Fortunately, Haohmaru managed to kick Yuga's ass beforehand, thereby freeing her soul, but rendering her amnesic about the whole affair. She has a brief respite, acting as a fortune teller by the name Kanae. Unfortunately, Yuga soon revives and sends in Asura's Shadow to kidnap her, but they end up falling in love. The original Asura and his Shadow defeats Yuga and later Shiki gives birth to a daughter from her liaison with Shadow Asura: Mikoto. Shiki leaves her in the care of Haohmaru and Nicotine (and presumably Gaira as well), then vanishes....
More of Shiki's backstory is revealed in 2019. As part of her conditioning process, she was put into a deep sleep until the opportune time arose for when she would be needed. However, in 1787, an evil energy began to slowly seep into Japan, causing mysterious calamities and disturbances. These disturbances somehow roused Shiki from her slumber and left her displaced. Hearing a voice calling to her, she takes up a pair of nameless blades and begins to search for its source.
More of Shiki's backstory is revealed in 2019. As part of her conditioning process, she was put into a deep sleep until the opportune time arose for when she would be needed. However, in 1787, an evil energy began to slowly seep into Japan, causing mysterious calamities and disturbances. These disturbances somehow roused Shiki from her slumber and left her displaced. Hearing a voice calling to her, she takes up a pair of nameless blades and begins to search for its source.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She's got dark colored hair and rarely expresses any emotions.
- Babies Ever After: All of her endings in crossover or spinoff games will ALWAYS involve her giving birth to Mikoto.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: At the hands of Yuga, who created her into the perfect servant for his nefarious deeds.
- Breakout Character: SNK certainly loves her considering she was picked for SVC Chaos and later showed up in Battle Coliseum as well. So much so when the reboot was announced, she was front and center with most of the mainstays of the series. Of the 64 characters, she's the only one that had prominence.
- The Bus Came Back: After being absent from Samurai Shodown games since 64-2 (despite various appearances in other games), she finally makes a return in 2019.
- Double Entendre: Her dialogue, as well as much of her design aspect, is heavily based around these.
- Dark Action Girl: Even though she's one of Anti-Heroines but she definitely qualifies as one of the most powerful warriors in the series. And quite the popular one among the community as well.
- Dual Wielding: Uses twin katanas.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Beautiful, but in an eerie and pale sort of way.
- Emotionless Girl: A languid, monotone young woman whose expression barely changes, even when she's hacking opponents to pieces.
- Evil Counterpart: Dekuina in 64 and Half-Shaded Shiki in 64-2.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Half-Shaded Shiki's special moves are written in Sanskrit, much like Yuga's.
- Hope Spot: In her ending in 2019, her brainwashing wears off after Shizuka is defeated...only for Yuga to suddenly appear, restore her brainwashing, erase her memories again, and put a sleeping curse on her until the proper time of her awakening.
- Light Is Not Good: Or white in this case. Half-Shaded Shiki, the Bust/Rasetsu version of Shiki, dresses in white, but she's more malicious than her counterpart, being one of the three guardians of Yuga's lair.
- Lost Superweapon: Onmarin and Youshinrin, her Kofun-era swords, were discovered in the depths of hell, stabbed into the body of a dead demon and it's said that not even Mizuki could pull them out. Yuga, on the other hand, managed to and gave them to Shiki.
- Magic Knight: Half-Shaded Shiki relies on magic to attack her enemies, such as Energy Balls, Power Floating, Psychic-Assisted Suicide and Teleport Spam.
- Mark of the Beast: A bunch of them: her snake tattoo is a Mind-Control Device created by Yuga, and the red in her eyes symbolizes Yuga's level of control — but since she has heterochromia, it means that she's only partially controlled.
- Meaningful Name: The name "Shiki" has various homonyms, like "beauty", "mood" or "sexual love", though "colour" is the meaning of the kanji used to write her name.
- Ms. Fanservice: Shiki wears a Stripperiffic, figure-hugging outfit that bares her shoulders and back, with some sort of tight body-glove underneath.
- Ninja: Of a sort — if anything, this is the type of fighter she most resembles.
- The Protagonist: Of the 64 series along with Haohmaru (and Asura in 64-2).
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Half-Shaded Shiki can force her enemy to imitate her and stab themselves, although it deals more damage to the enemy than to herself.
- Rei Ayanami Expy: Developers admit that her personality and part of her win quotes were based on Rei Ayanami.
- Slashed Throat: Proficient at it — her horrific super in 2019 sees her mount the opponent and slash their throat with both katanas in a scissoring motion.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Showing off her full-body snake tattoo.
- Stripperiffic: She sports a highly stylised kimono in a game where most of the (Japanese) characters sport pretty much period-correct outfits.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Half-Shaded Shiki.
- The Vamp: Slightly more sexualized as Bust Shiki/Half-Shaded Shiki, with a penchant for poisonous kisses and a rather suggestive soul drain similar to Hotaru's infamous special move.
- What Is This Feeling?: In her ending after defeating and freeing Shizuka Gozen, Shiki is apparently freed from Yuga's brainwashing. She suddenly sheds a Single Tear and doesn't know why. She then breaks down in tears and faints from her overwhelming emotions.
Hanma Yagyu
He is the expert inventor of the Yagyu clan. One day, he was ordered by his superiors to observe a rival clan. To do this, he slipped into the clan under the guise of their princess' body-guard. The princess instantly found Hanma to be an enjoyable character because of his smiling face and appointed him as her actual personal bodyguard. However, one day, the father of the princess told Hanma to go investigate the mysterious puppeteer, AKA Yuga.
- Ambiguously Related: Although they are members of the same clan, he is not directly related to Yagyu Jubei.
- Arm Cannon: Hanma Yagyu is armed with one of these, similar to Sieger's gauntlet but his has limited shooting capabilities (being mostly used for close-range fire blasts).
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Word of God: In his story, Hanma admits he idolizes Sieger, which is the reason why he wanted to recreate his gauntlet himself.
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- Boxing Battler: His Bust form emphasizes boxing, as he's got Balrog-like straight punches and uppercuts and even Makunouchi Ippo's Dempsey Roll.
- The Bus Came Back: Appears for the first time in 2D in the Samurai Spirits OL mobile game.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Also a Bungling Inventor, mostly because of Karakuri Hanma.
- Gentle Giant: Of the 64 series.
- In Name Only: Despite the last name, Hanma has no relation with Jubei.
- Meaningful Name: "Stone horse". His name can also be pronounced as hammer.
- Mighty Glacier: Of 64 series in general.
- Now That's Using Your Teeth!: His smile is not only for show, as it can be used for reversing attacks!
- Perpetual Smiler: Hanma is smiling all the time and sports a giant grin, verging on a the uncanny.
- Power Fist: His weapon is a mechanical gauntlet called "The Boulder Slicer".
Deku ♂ and ♀
Weapons: A big sword (Deku ♂) and twin katanas (Deku ♀)
Voiced by:note
The Deku are semi-human dolls created by Yuga the Destroyer. Yuga was seeking the two strongest bodies for a perfect resurrection, one female and one male. He found the female one in Shiki, and the male one in Haohmaru, but in case he failed to activate both of them, Yuga created the two back-up dolls, Deku (the male one) and Dekuina (the female one), which were based on Haohmaru and Shiki respectively.
- BFS: The male Deku fights with big weapon that is curved at one end like a scimitar or axe.
- The Bus Came Back: As a boss in the Samurai Spirits OL mobile game.
- The Cameo: An army of Deku are seen in the Asura's Zanmaden OVA.
- Doppelgänger/Evil Knockoff: Of Haohmaru and Shiki, created by Yuga.
- Dual Wielding: The female Deku's katanas.
- Flesh Golem
- From a Single Cell: The male Deku is made of a piece of Haohmaru's flesh that Maju took in their fight.
- Meaningful Name: "Puppet" historically, but now also used to mean a "useless person".
- Moveset Clone: Of Haohmaru and Shiki, with a new super move for each.
- Soulless Shell: Both Deku and Dekuina have no emotions at all.
- Sub-Boss: Of the first 64 game.
Gandara
Weapon: His own body
Gandara is a monster comprised of thousands of corpses stitched and held together through Yuga's use of forbidden magic. Yuga uses it as a bodyguard, but despite its overwhelming strength, Gandara was defeated by Kazuki and Sogetsu Kazama. When Yuga revives himself in Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage, Gandara is made en masse and produced in some kind of factory. One of these is defeated by Hanzo in his ending.
- Attack Its Weak Point: It seems to take more damage from blows to the head.
- The Brute
- The Cameo: Gandara also appears in Akari Ichijou's super in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum and SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos's version of Shiki, if she's defeated by Red Arremer/Firebrand, she's converted into Gandara.
- Chained to a Rock: His Samurai Shodown! 2 incarnation is chained to a wall - that doesn't make him less dangerous, though.
- Dishing Out Dirt
- Flesh Golem
- Four Is Death: Its creation involves placing a Deku into an egg for 44 months and 44 days.
- Implacable Man
- Meaningful Name: Roughly translates to "lightweight steep boulder", also shares a name with the ancient Gandhara kingdom, in line with Samurai Shodown 64's Sanskrit thematic.
- Mid-Boss: Of the 64 games.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: As well as a large number of forsaken adults.
- Stone Wall
Yuga the Destroyer
Origin: Makai (the demon world) Flag
Weapon: Magic
Voiced by:note
The Big Bad of the Samurai Shodown 64 games. Yuga is an ancient evil, presumably originating in the demon world, who attempts to use Shiki and Haohmaru to create a perfect body and become the 'God of Destruction' and unite both the Demon and Human worlds. Yuga's powers are themed around the dual energies of yin/yang, and similarly it can inhabit both male and female bodies.
- Ambiguous Gender
- Ambiguously Related: There are many speculations regarding Yuga's relationship with Ambrosia. For many fans, they're the same entity (see Ambrosia for more details). His cameo appearance in 2019 only makes things even more confusing, as he appears when Shiki defeats Shizuka, who is a puppet of Ambrosia.
- Big Bad: Of the 64 series.
- The Bus Came Back: Appears as a boss in the Samurai Spirits OL mobile game.
- Creating Life: Responsible of the creation of Maju, Gandara, the Deku and the Literal Split Personality of Yuda / Asura.
- Demonic Possession: Becomes Shiki's daughter Mikoto and tries to completely possess her.
- Early-Bird Cameo: He appears in Shiki's 2019 ending to whisk her away back to Mt. Osore, though only his silhouette is shown.
- Gender Bender: In the second game, a mostly male Yuga transforms into a female version known as "Toki no Hebi Yuga".
- Marionette Master: Begins with stealing babies from wombs, giving them supernatural powers, and brainwashing them later in their lives to be his mindless servants.
- Meaningful Name: shares a name with a Hinduist epoch.
- One-Winged Angel: In Samurai Shodown 64, Yuga simply gets up from his sitting position when you face him. In 64-2, he transforms into a woman and later grows wings from her back.
- Shapeshifter Weapon: As "Toki no Hebi Yuga", she gets more psychical and turns her arms into blades.
Debuting in Samurai Shodown 64-2
Asura
Origin: Makai (the demon world) Flag
Weapon/s: Nanatsu no Kodai Buki note
Voiced by:note
A dark entity who battled Yuga over the title of "Demon World's Strongest", but was defeated and sealed, before breaking free, being cloned (known as "Shadow Asura") and becoming Yuga's servant. Yuga's first defeat weakened the seal, thus the original Asura broke free and set out for revenge. The original Asura confronted the Shadow Asura, and the two end up banding together to defeat Yuga for good. As the Shadow clone begins to vanish, due to being empowered with Yuga's magic, the original merged with him, turning into the being known as Yuda.
- Anti-Hero / Anti-Villain
- The Bus Came Back: Returned in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum.
- Blood Knight: Mostly seen in the OVA.
- Dark Is Not Evil
- Fallen Angel: Implied to be one by his nickname, "Betrayer of kami".
- Meaningful Name: Named after the
Chaotic Neutral Hindu deity. - Morph Weapon: His katana can turn into a jousting spear, a bow and arrow, a poleaxe, etc...
- Theme Naming: His attacks are named after various demons.
Shadow Asura
Origin: Asura
Voiced by:note
Shadow Asura is a clone of Asura created by Yuga using a forbidden technique, but still retains the emotions and thoughts of the original. This Shadow clone is completely loyal to Yuga, but wavered when he realizes his affections for Shiki. He comes to love Shiki and wants to save her from her former master. Upon Yuga's defeat, he begins to deteriorate because Yuga's magic is what kept him alive. Before he merges back with the original Asura, Shiki gives birth to their child.
- Anti-Hero / Anti-Villain
- Blood Knight
- Casting a Shadow: One of his attacks.
- Dark Is Not Evil
- Energy Weapon: Uses a bunch of them.
- Expy: Various aspects of 64's Deku are seen with him, such as floating and enlarging his sword
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Is a different character in the storyline, but in-game he is merely Asura's bust version.
- Heel–Face Turn
- Light Is Not Good: At least under Yuga.
- Love Redeems: He becomes a good guy after falling in love with Shiki, and even having a child, Mikoto.
- Meaningful Name: He keeps it simple, as it only means "another Asura".
- Theme Naming: His special attacks are all named after angels in Gratuitous English, spelled backward.
Taizan Morozumi
Voiced by:note
A demon-sealing warrior armed with a giant spear who seeks to avenge his wife and son who were killed by Yuga. When needed, the tip of his spear can turn into a calligraphy brush to write kanji symbols, using own blood as ink. The meaning of whatever he has written becomes reality (for example, the word "Fire" becomes a fiery explosion)
- The Bus Came Back: Appears in the Samurai Spirits OL mobile game as a 2D character.
- Elemental Powers: Every time Taizan writes the characters for an element in kanji, whatever he has written manifests against the opponent — for example, writing "fire" creates an explosion.
- Heartbroken Badass
- Hermetic Magic: The Morozumi family have the power to seal demons, a tradition Taizan upholds.
- Improbable Weapon User: Come on, a giant calligraphy brush!?
- It's Personal: Taizan goes out for personal revenge against Yuga, who killed his wife and son.
- Martial Arts and Crafts: A fighter/calligrapher.
- Meaningful Name: Loosely translates to "Octagon of a great mountain / Mount Tai / of great importance".
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: Played for Laughs in NGPC games.
- The Pen Is Mightier: He's uses a spear-calligraphy brush hybrid. While in the official art he wields one or another depending on the Slash / Bust mode, in gameplay it shows itself as a spear until he writes symbols and the brush's bristles suddenly appear.
- Shout-Out: Because of his look, especially the headband and glasses, Taizan could be based on Genma Saotome, who also has a wife (Nodoka) and a son (Ranma).
- Start of Darkness: In his battle against Yuga, Taizan stayed his hand as he felt himself "becoming a demon", so he simply returns home, seals his brush and guards his family's graves, never to fight again.
- Super-Deformed: Mostly graphics-induced in his other appearances outside this game, both for Neo Geo Pocket Color: Samurai Shodown! 2 (port of 64-2) and SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighter Clash series for NGPC.
- Technical Pacifist
- Warrior Poet: One wouldn't expect anything less from a skilled calligrapher.
Karakuri Hanma
Origin: Hanma's creation
Weapons: Various weapons hidden in his body
Karakuri Hanma was created by Hanma to ensure the safety of Yukihime before he went off to fight Yuga. However, in his overzealousness, he made a mistake in the programming and Karakuri Hanma eventually runs amok. Realizing what occurred, Yagyu Hanma is forced to destroy his creation and come to Yukihime's rescue.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Hanma's bad programming makes Karakuri attack Yukihime instead of protecting her.
- Arm Cannon: Karakuri Hanma has two, instead of his creator's single cannon.
- Boxing Battler: Reduced to a special move, in contrast to the first game's Bust mode.
- Breath Weapon: Can breathe fire.
- Clockwork Creature
- Fast Tunnelling
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Is a different character in the storyline, but in-game it is merely Hanma's bust version.
- Hidden Weapons: Has one cannon on each arm and a shoulder cannon.
- Meaningful Name: "Karakuri" Hanma.
- Mighty Glacier: Of the 64 series in general.
- Now That's Using Your Teeth!: As with Hanma.
- Perpetual Smiler
- Robot Me: The first "Robot" of the series before Ocha-Maro.
- Robotic Psychopath
