Reviewed by C.K. Gan

I think SS4 is almost like everyone's favorite, even SS64 is out for a while, people are still talking about SS4 this, SS4 that. And sometimes even when people are asking question like 'Do you know any good Haohmaru's combos' in the message board, we all have this assumption that guy was talking SS4 Haohmaru's combo. Even SS64 is a later game than SS4 but SS4 is still the game people prefer to play nowadays.

I think this is the most beautiful game on the Neo Geo MVS, even the special effects(such as lightning effect on moves) may not be as well done as KOF97, but in terms of characters' artwork and frames of animation, this is nicest looking piece of art on Neo Geo. And also color coordination is very well done(SS2 is a bit too colorful and SS3 is a bit dark).

The gameplay is almost as same as SS3, except it has more features in the game. One of the more creative feature is the 'Rage Explosion', by pressing ABC, you'll then have the option to use either ABC combo or BCD fatal slash. To me, the 'Rage explosion' is one of the highlight features in the game, in other hands, the 14-slash combo is just a dull creation. Button pressing combos may seem boring in the first place, but after realizing that you can do a special moves during the 14-slash combos made it a lot more interesting than it seems. It's a good thing that in SS4 they have more characters than SS3. But the thing is they have about same amount of special moves as SS3. (Geez, in KOF, almost every character has a new move every year) Also one of the thing I don't like about the game is the bad AI system they have, for example, you can jump from a short distance from Genjuro and lure him to do a uppercut and you counter him right after he does the uppercut. Well, this is only the computer AI, when you play with human players, you'll certainly get more fun out of this game.

Now SS4 is the kind of fighting game that provides good musics, well, other than the same good old Nakoruru, Rimururu and Galford theme, I think they compossed they best and the coolest boss, the Amakusa's theme(Zankuro's theme is pretty good too). I think the Amakusa's theme is the coolest theme among all the SNK games, actually, among all the fighting games.

Although it may be almost everyone's favorite, but it doesn't mean this is the best Samurai Shodown or the other way around. It has flaws, however this game has proven that SS series is one of the best fighting game series .