I better say a note before I begin. This is only my experience, not a review. I won't bring out a review with so many details until later. Oh yeah. If you happen to see this during the first week of the month, Happy Golden Week!

Before I got to play the game for four runs last month, my mind kept saying, "Oh man! When in the world will I finally get the chance to play 'Samurai Spirits Zero'? This is not right! This area should be one of the first areas to get the game!"

For eight long and irritating months, I kept hearing bits left and right. "There will be a 'Samurai Spirits Zero Special'". "The game will be renamed 'Samurai Shodown V'." I heard bits like those.

Well, after getting in four runs last month as I mentioned earlier, the first time, I inserted my quarter and then my heart said, "Yeah! It's nice that I finally am playing 'Samurai Spirits Zero' as I get to experience moments of nostalgia again!" My mind on the other hand said, "I wish I wasn't playing 'Samurai Spirits Zero' right now. I forgot the fundamentals of the game and even if I look at the directions on the screen, I will still look flat out lost". Plus, I was on a real tight schedule, meaning that I couldn't enjoy myself for so long, though I did play a couple of extra games. As you can tell, my two parts were in two different worlds. There was one bright side though. The maxed out ikari power moves are so easy to do because I have always had trouble making them come out over the years.

My first character was Mina obviously. (I backed my quote up now, did I?) When I picked her, I knew that by picking her, I'd be pulling out a double-edge sword. Yes, she is real fun to play with and she has a real good distance game, but in terms of overall defense, she's one of the worst characters to pick if you need endurance. So, my heart said "Yukino Satsuki-sama!" and after that, I went into my first battle. Along the line while I was playing against the computer, someone wanted to challenge me with his Charlotte. I was in trouble because I now have so many commitments that have hindered my skills for the last few years, but then again, I did pretty well against people in "The King of Fighters 2003" a month before. Go figure. (Maybe I still have some fire left in me.)

After a pair of matches with myself winning the first one and my opponent winning the second one, I switched to Rera. Despite myself having some fun moments, I did regret picking her at that time. Why? We were even before the start, and the best time to pick her in my scenario would have been the time when I am winning by two matches because I never did use Nakoruru's troubled side that much. Yeah, I may have softly said a couple of Japanese words I'm not supposed to say, but the fact was that I lost two straight matches.

So, I was down two matches to one at this time. As Iori would say, "Asobi wa owari da!" This was the time where I pulled out the stops and picked my two best characters of the series: the Ainu sisters. I started with Rimururu along with my mind saying, "Hey! She and Champuru do sound like Yuuna!" and I pulled even. I can't remember if we had a fifth and deciding match, but if we did, I must have won it because at the end of the day, I know that I only lost two human matches. (I think that's right.) Well, I lost against the computer and I wanted to start over with the other sister.

I have a new start again and I pick Nakoruru this time around. Good old Nakoruru hasn't changed much in ten years. This time, I got a new human opponent. I fought against his Galford and then his Rasetsumaru and I won both matches. The ironic thing was, I nearly lost my first match just because not only did I give him the chance to pick the blade up I knocked out of his hands and a lesson on how to pick up a dropped weapon, but I gave him the second round, which is not like me because I don't like giving second rounds. While I'm at it, I don't like being given a second chance because I can and I will shove that regret down your throat if you do. Plus, I don't like people feeling sorry for me. I lost to the computer again, but I lost to the ugly cheap guy with a hammer who was a sub-boss as I learned a while back. (I know his name, but I just don't feel like saying it right now. =P)

The fifth time I played, I picked Yoshitora. Yes people, I didn't pick a kawaiiko-chan this time around. =P My thoughts when I picked him were, "He has a good design and he has style, but personally, as much as I like Yuuki Hiro-san, there are several guys out there I would have picked before him to play as the new focus character." What's different this time was that as far as I know, this is the only character I never received a challenge against someone up to this point. As usual, I lost. Then again, I was on a tight schedule and it would have been better if I lost pretty quickly.

Finally, I picked Mina again for my last run. That last run was the longest one of the day as I did let the ugly cheap guy live with regret twice (or in other words, I won both rounds by time), though the run wasn't as long as I hoped for it to be. Oh well.

Why can I say about the first run? I had a very good start. I got too cocky in many cases, but that didn't matter because I thrived when I needed to.

The second time was different, though I rushed again. For one, I actually was pushed, which was a blessing and a bother. Two, I also studied more thankfully. Three, I actually selected more characters than just the kawaiiko-chan I played earlier and Yoshitora, though I didn't select him this time around. Oh and finally, unlike the last time I played, I lost to Yumeji, another sub-boss. (Man! She really is one tough cookie! I don't even want to know how Gaou is like.)

It's too bad that I can't remember the second run detail by detail exactly, but I can say what I remembered. A friend of told me during my run that the game's out of synch because you can't combo in this game. I told him about the green meter, but I forgot two matters. One, you can make combos, but they're not that big and two, the combo starter is gone, which I'm glad they got rid of.

The first person I fought was a guy met at the only okonomiyaki place in my city of residence who also happens to be a friend's friend. He had a pretty good Rimururu-chan, but I won with Mina if I recall. Since then, he really pushed me with his Sogetsu and I can't recall if he chose anyone else other than those two, but yeah, he pushed me with his Sogetsu. (Yes, Sogetsu is still Sogetsu and even though I like playing as him, I hate facing a fellow using him.) If I recall, my Nakoruru did beat his Sogetsu. We were even and the interesting thing was that he said that I am very animated, which is true because I said a couple of Japanese words I wasn't supposed to say. I think I did that earlier too while we're at it. =P

The second guy I faced picked Rasetsumaru. I'm not sure, but I think I faced him last time. How did he do? He was pretty good and we were nearly even I suppose.

I faced another guy who kept picking Genjuurou. The moment I lost the first match against him was the moment I saw his weakness: he can't handle a passive game. So, who would be the best character in this situation? Mina. Ever since that first match, I won every match against him. I got the best of him, 3-1.

The last guy surprised me. Why? Early on, he was too flashy with Yunfei, a character I didn't pick. However, his Yoshi was a different story, as he was a little less wild. I think he got one or two wins more than me. If not, we were even.

What do I have to say about the second run? I learned a lot. Mina was my best character. (A lot of people hate fighting Mina indeed. Fu fu fu.) I wish I learned about the Genjuurou flaw earlier. I also wished that I had not selected Rera again as well as Shizumaru, though I had to get one game with him at least. I would have done better against the Yoshitora I faced, had I picked someone like Galford earlier.

The third time was really different competition-wise because I decided to pick the character suited for the battle. Did I do well? No and as always, I did say a couple of Japanese words I can't mention here. (This is mainly a reason why I stopped playing against people in fighting games as well as puzzle games and decided to do the works I do now these days.) Got one more losses than wins and I was really pushed. I never got far with Juubei against the computer and one of my friends lent me his game just because he didn't want to pick Haoumaru, only be stopped in my first human fight. Come to think of it, I never even got to face the cheap ugly guy with a hammer.

The fourth run was nothing special. I just did one run with Mina and I didn't have any passion of some sort to fight anyone. So, I didn't fight the cheap dirty and ugly guy with a hammer.

Now, what can I say about my experience? I am better than I thought. Mina is my new deadly character and a character that suits me well because I'm not so much of a combo fighter. I'm more of a person who plays more distant, but I can mix it up if I need to.

Did I hold my own in those three runs? Yeah. Did I have fun in those three runs? I guess. Did I feel like I succeeded? No because I made a lot of mistakes that made me either partially passionate or cocky. The best example I can say is that I didn't wait until I wasn't playing some fellow to play as characters like Rera and Shizumaru. (Funny that I made the same mistake twice in Rera early on.)

As for regrets, one of them easily is not finding the game sooner. Another one is that group of mistakes. I didn't fight hard enough against Yumeji. Oh and I never got to play as a few characters like Poppy.

Well, that's that. Wait for my review of the game and then you will all see my next editorial. Mata ne.