History YMMV / SamuraiShodown

* 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 a]] FunnyAfro (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]].

* [[InvincibleVillain Boring Invincible Villain]]: Dark Emperor, having full invincibility in all his ingame appearances so far in ''Samurai Shodown RPG''.

* 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.

** The character addition choices in the ''V'' and ''VI'' era. While there are some gold gems such as Tokugawa Yoshitora and Mina Majikina (and both of them ended up making the cut for the 2019 game), others are either oft-forgotten or became BaseBreakingCharacter on their own (See Iroha above) due to design choices and [[FlatCharacter personalities that do not endear people much.]]
*** Starting with ''V''. Many characters were created out of nowhere just to separate the Slash and Bust versions of the existing character and they are DoomedByCanon not warranting to be saved due to unpopularity (Such as Rasetsumaru (based on Bust Haohmaru), Enja (based on Bust Kazuki), Suija (based on Bust Sogetsu). Rera (based on Bust Nakoruru) is so far the only exception since she's also the materialization of the '[[PaletteSwap Purple Nakoruru with malicious grin]]' spanning throughout the franchise). Liu Yunfei is by far one of the most forgotten new additions in ''V'' despite his more interesting arc with Gaoh (despite it being more self-contained), Kusaregedo was extremely unpleasant and didn't attract a similar charm of 'ugly characters' like Earthquake and Gen-An (despite him being a deliberate attempt to combine both in ugliness). And the bosses... well, aside of Gaoh anyway (who warrants a cameo in the ''2019'' due to his importance in Yoshitora's arc); Yumeji only had 'being based on Mori Ranmaru' gender ambiguity, but aside of that they only took a few moves from Bust Ukyo and then call it a day by giving them [[MovesetClone an ability to morph to other characters to steal their moves]] and Sankuro jumps straight into TheScrappy status (read below). There's only a handful people who liked these new additions and they're not very vocal.

* UnexpectedCharacter: Wan-Fu, of all characters, returning as a DLC character in the 2019 installment. Arguably Kazuki without Sogetsu as well, although the latter is set to join him in the second Season Pass.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Iroha, being a NinjaMaid whose true form is a crane, [[MsFanservice is decidedly sexy]] and [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall by referring the player as her 'Master']]. This is a double-edged sword for her due to the fact that one camp thinks she has potential to be interesting if she can get introduced outside of ''Samurai Shodown VI/Tenkaichi'' (the title itself being a DreamMatchGame), and indeed, out of the new additions in ''Tenkaichi'', she has one of the more realistic weapons that could be implemented in canon (butterfly swords), while the other camp thinks that she's unnecessary {{Otaku}} bait who's hopelessly stuck with her only role at [[PanderingToTheBase 'pleasing the players']] without any chance of CharacterDevelopment because they think [[PanderingToTheBase that]] was [[GoneHorriblyRight exactly her core character.]] Bringing up whether she should appear in games outside of ''Samurai Shodown VI/Tenkaichi'' is bound to lead to more than a few arguments. Came to a head when Nobuyuki Kuroki, director of the 2019 installment, announced in a Dengeki interview that his team deliberately excluded her due to her fanservicey nature contrasting with the tone they wanted to set for the game (at least until Season Pass 2, where Iroha would be part of the DLC). [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement However, this page is not the place to elaborate.]]

* BrokenBase: ''Samurai Shodown V Special'''s DarkerAndEdgier nature by showing some very gory and graphic fatalities like ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' and ''VideoGame/EternalChampions''. An incredibly cool idea that is stylish and it fits with the series' mostly serious nature well? Or is it a rather repulsive idea that never suited the series to begin with? And those who feel the latter are especially repulsed by the fact that the cute child characters (Shizumaru and Rimururu) in the game can cause and be on the receiving end of these fatalities.

* 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.

* FoeYay: Suija's "I want your body!". Of course he wants a [[spoiler: body that is good enough for him to possess]].

* {{Moe}}: Nakoruru and her sister Rimururu. Nakoruru is actually considered one of Japan's most prominent {{Moe}} characters...

* {{Narm}}:
** Some of the dialogue, due to SNK's, um... ''tactful'' grasp of the English language.

* {{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 have already lost its luster by that point.

** The character addition choices in the ''V'' and ''VI'' era. While there are some gold gems such as Tokugawa Yoshitora and Mina Majikina (and both of them ended up making the cut for the 2019 game), others are either oft-forgotten or became BaseBreakingCharacter on their own (See Iroha above) due to design choices and [[FlatCharacter personalities that do not endear people much.]] Both of them have their

* BrokenBase: ''Samurai Shodown V Special'''s DarkerAndEdgier nature by showing some very gory and graphic fatalities like ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' and ''VideoGame/EternalChampions''. An incredibly cool idea that is stylish and it fits with the series' mostly serious nature well? Or is it a rather repulsive idea that never suited the series to begin with? And those who feel the latter are especially repulsed by the fact that the cute child characters in the game can cause and be on the receiving end of these fatalities.

** Mina is pretty much a OneSceneWonder, only canonically appearing in one game (and the same game had her [[spoiler:''DrivenToSuicide'']]) and just making obligatory appearance in the non-canon dream match game, but her tremendous 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, meaning that [[spoiler:SNK may have to find a way to retcon her suicide]].

** One of the reasons that ''Samurai Shodown Sen'' ends up being a FranchiseKiller was that "It looked like a watered down [[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur]]-wannabe game." Fast forward to mid-late 2019, Haohmaru ends up being a GuestFighter in [[VideoGame/SoulCaliburVI an actual Soul Calibur game.]]

* SavedByTheFans: The 2nd wave DLC of the 2019 game features Mina Majikina as the first character after she topped the poll for most wanted character to return by fans. The game takes place after ''V'' where she debuted and [[spoiler:was implied to have [[DrivenToSuicide killed herself after killing Chample]]]]. To get around that, her 2019 ending reveals that [[spoiler:Mina was unable go through with killing Chample, choosing instead to seal the evil controlling him within her]]]].

* SavedByTheFans: The 2nd wave DLC of the 2019 game will feature Mina Majikina as the first character. The game took place after ''V'' where she debuted and [[spoiler:was DrivenToSuicide. To fit in with the story, SNK may have to write around her suicide, either retconning it or [[BungledSuicide bungling it]]]].

* 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 DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound. 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.

*** Starting with ''V''. Many characters were created out of nowhere just to separate the Slash and Bust versions of the existing character and they are DoomedWithCanon not warranting to be saved due to unpopularity (Such as Rasetsumaru (based on Bust Haohmaru), Enja (based on Bust Kazuki), Suija (based on Bust Sogetsu). Rera (based on Bust Nakoruru) is so far the only exception since she's also the materialization of the '[[PaletteSwap Purple Nakoruru with malicious grin]]' spanning throughout the franchise). Liu Yunfei is by far one of the most forgotten new additions in ''V'' despite his more interesting arc with Gaoh (despite it being more self-contained), Kusaregedo was extremely unpleasant and didn't attract a similar charm of 'ugly characters' like Earthquake and Gen-An (despite him being a deliberate attempt to combine both in ugliness). And the bosses... well, aside of Gaoh anyway (who warrants a cameo in the ''2019'' due to his importance in Yoshitora's arc); Yumeji only had 'being based on Mori Ranmaru' gender ambiguity, but aside of that they only took a few moves from Bust Ukyo and then call it a day by giving them [[MovesetClone an ability to morph to other characters to steal their moves]] and Sankuro jumps straight into TheScrappy status (read below). There's only a handful people who liked these new additions and they're not very vocal.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Iroha, being a NinjaMaid whose true form is a crane, [[MsFanservice is decidedly sexy]] and [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall by referring the player as her 'Master']]. This is a double-edged sword for her due to the fact that one camp thinks she has potential to be interesting if she can get introduced outside of ''Samurai Shodown VI/Tenkaichi'' (the title itself being a DreamMatchGame) while the other camp thinks that she's unnecessary {{Otaku}} bait who's hopelessly stuck with her only role at [[PanderingToTheBase 'pleasing the players']] without any chance of CharacterDevelopment because they think [[PanderingToTheBase that]] was [[GoneHorriblyRight exactly her core character.]] Bringing up whether she should appear in games outside of ''Samurai Shodown VI/Tenkaichi'' is bound to lead to more than a few arguments. Came to a head when Nobuyuki Kuroki, director of the 2019 installment, announced in a Dengeki interview that his team deliberately excluded her due to her fanservicey nature contrasting with the tone they wanted to set for the game (at least until Season Pass 2, where Iroha would be part of the DLC). [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement However, this page is not the place to elaborate.]]

** Gen-An Shiranui, what with him being the original freak character of the series and a IneffectualSympatheticVillain, as well as being the first choice by troll players to piss off their opponents. He is currently the most requested character to appear in the 2019 ''Samurai Shodown'' game as DLC by a large margin.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: One of the complains of playing Mina in her previous appearances was that Chample stays in the battlefield, [[TheLoad doing nothing but spamming]] DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound and there is a command solely to put it to sleep. When Mina is revealed for the ''2019'' game, players are glad that Chample is completely off-screen and not intruding on the battlefield again.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: One of the complains of playing Mina in her previous appearances was that Chample stays in the battlefield, [[TheLoad doing nothing but spamming]] MostAnnoyingSound and there is a command solely to put it to sleep. When Mina is revealed for the ''2019'' game, players are glad that Chample is completely off-screen and not intruding on the battlefield again.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Iroha, being a NinjaMaid whose true form is a crane, [[MsFanservice is decidedly sexy]] and [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall by referring the player as her 'Master']]. This is a double-edged sword for her due to the fact that one camp thinks she has potential to be interesting if she can get introduced outside of ''Samurai Shodown VI/Tenkaichi'' (the title itself being a DreamMatchGame) while the other camp thinks that she's unnecessary {{Otaku}} bait who's hopelessly stuck with her only role at [[PanderingToTheBase 'pleasing the players']] without any chance of CharacterDevelopment because they think [[PanderingToTheBase that]] was [[GoneHorriblyRight exactly her core character.]] Bringing up whether she should appear in games outside of ''Samurai Shodown VI/Tenkaichi'' is bound to lead to more than a few arguments. Came to a head when Nobuyuki Kuroki, director of the 2019 installment, announced in a Dengeki interview that his team deliberately excluded her due to her fanservicey nature contrasting with the tone they wanted to set for the game. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement However, this page is not the place to elaborate.]]

** 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.

* MostAnnoyingSound: Chample. Chances are, if you play as Mina, you WILL want her to put Chample to sleep before your eardrums explode.
** Gen-An's gigantic claw makes a metal clinking sound that becomes somewhat grating after a while.

* UnexpectedCharacter: Wan-Fu, of all characters, returning as a DLC character in the 2019 installment. Arguably Kazuki without Sogetsu as well.

* GameBreaker: His {{BFS}} in the first game. At Point-blank range, his Power Slash dealt three hits that took off about half a full life meter ''and'' usually left you dizzy to boot. His [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks Thunder Bomb]] could also be a OneHitKill if his Rage gauge was maxed out (a far from uncommon occurrence, see below).

** And it's probably safe to say that the lackluster ''Edge of Destiny''/''Sen'' had buried the franchise for gfor quite a while.

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

** And it's probably safe to say that the lackluster ''Edge of Destiny''/''Sen'' had buried the franchise for good, at least 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 a]] FunnyAfro (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.

* ThatOneBoss: Sankuro.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Ukyo Tachibana, was originally written as a rival to Haohmaru but he was going to die due to having tuberculois. However Ukyo got so popular SNK didn't kill him off but tried to replace him with Genjuro as Haohmaru's rival but Ukyo stuck around in the series anyways (Justified since ''III'' and ''IV'' serve as interquels to ''II''). Nowadays it is interpreted that Ukyo is Haohmaru's friendly rival while Genjuro is Haohmaru's "not-so" friendly rival.
* ToyShip: Shizumaru and Rimururu, appeared in same game, appeared in a slew of artworks together, and the rest was done by millions of asian fan artists.

* TheWoobie: Shizumaru, Jushiro and Mina are shining examples of this trope. ''Specially'' Mina, [[spoiler: who ends up ''[[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]]''.]]

** 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. It's impossible to take seriously.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Iroha, being a NinjaMaid whose true form is a crane, [[MsFanservice is decidedly sexy]] and [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall by referring the player as her 'Master']]. This is a double-edged sword for her due to the fact that one camp thinks she has potential to be interesting if she can get introduced outside of ''Samurai Shodown VI/Tenkaichi'' (the title itself being a DreamMatchGame) while the other camp thinks that she's unnecessary {{Otaku}} bait who's hopelessly stuck with her only role at [[PanderingToTheBase 'pleasing the players']] without any chance of CharacterDevelopment because they think [[PanderingToTheBase that]] was [[GoneHorriblyRight exactly her core character.]] Bringing up whether she should appear in games outside of ''Samurai Shodown VI/Tenkaichi'' is bound to lead to more than a few arguments. Came to a head when Nobuyuki Kuroki, director of the 2019 installment, announced in a Dengeki interview that his team deliberately excluded her due to her fanservicey nature contrasting with the tone they wanted to set for the game. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement However, this page is not the time nor place to elaborate.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: Hanzo's finishing move is a ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' -style X-ray move. Even better, ''[=MK9=]'' was the installment that revealed that Scorpion's real name is Hanzo.

** Mina is pretty much a OneSceneWonder, only canonically appearing in one game (and the same game had her [[spoiler:''DrivenToSuicide'']]) and just making obligatory appearance in the non-canon dream match game, but her tremendous 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.