Okay, this is why SSWR is not a heated coversation topic. First of all, ever since SS64, the game has gone downhill. I have never seen it in a video arcade in the US, but the main reason (and this is why I don't care much for the game) is they cut SO many characters. They left in Haoh (thank God) because it's not SS with out him, and they left in Nakoruru because she's so cute (it's all marketing--why won't pikachu evolve?). But I would like to see a continuation of the old characters. What about Charlotte (that really pissed me off)? Kazuki? Sogetsu (This pissed me off too)? Galford? Young Haoh? Ukyo? Genjuro? Shizumaru? Kyoshiro? Amakusa? All of these were cut. And also, I think that the new characters for SSWR just don't have the "character" that the old SS had (like Earthquake's farts or Haoh's drinking problem). I don't like SS as a video game--I like the characters in the game. The characters in SSWR, however, did not seem to have that originality to me. Two of them looked a lot alike: Yaci and Jushiro. Saya--who is supposedly Japanese, has both blond hair and high heels, and her outfit is not what would be worn in 18th Century Japan; it looks like it's made of leather. And then you have the two brothers who supposedly hate each other. Hello? Wasn't the Kazuki/Sogetsu story similar? Or Haoh and Genjuro--same thing (but they're not brothers. I think that the only characters that I liked were Mikoto (I like that angel/devil thing), Oboro (I like the red and black skin) and Rinka (she's got spunk). I know it sounds a bit nostalgic, wishing for old SS, but it really disappointed me to have so many characters cut. There are so many Ukyo fans and Shizumaru fans and Galford fans and Charlotte fans, and certainly they are disappointed as well. IN my opinion, I would like this game better if they brought back the old characters.