Reviewed by Acorn, Rimu fanatic

Impression on the game: (SS64II, arcade version)

Graphics:
Very beautiful, graphics is very stunning. Imagine the backgrounds the SS!2 for NGPC being rendered in 16bit color & above,3D(the backgrounds of SS!2 are from SS64II, storyline also), well, not exactly 3D, it's just a repeating 2D graphic being wrapped around a 3D flat plane.(like Quicktime VR).

Character graphics:
By far this is the best 3D-SS game that has the most polygon count for each character. It looks smoother now, no more blocky limbs.

Character design:
"Aaaa, Slash Rimu wa KAWAII ne!^^, Su~~~teki~~~~~!^^" (quickly rotate the cursor to the button with Rimu's face to select her, at 5o'clock position) "Pin~ku Rimururu ga hoshii da!" (immediately press the B button for her alternate color.) ^^, well, just a small little scene when me played the game^^. The character designs here is probably the best in the whole SS series. Each character has his/her slash/bust version, with different designs and feel, it's like having twice the number of characters to choose from. You guys should really see wat Kazuki(Bust) and Sogetsu(Bust) do as their winning pose when they win a match.

Sound:
Beautiful, ESPECIALLY Rimu's theme song. The ending theme song is also quite nice too (not the part where the ending shows, it's the character cast/3D image display after the ending) Sound effects is good. me really like the moment when Morozumi Taizan shouted the words of his super out when he executed it(Heaven's Rage 'nu~!,fa~!,Chon~!,Ten~!') Wow, the impact of his super is really very stunning with the sound on. (Besides, Rimu sounded real cute in SS64II^^)

Gameplay:
The most important aspect of a good game is good gameplay. me will give this game a rating of 6.5/10 for the gameplay. Why? Reason is it's too slow. Another reason is the damage engine isn't that well defined, although it is better than SS64. me would rather do a B slash than performing a visually stunning chain combo that deals much lesser damage than a normal B slash. Characters now have their defined speeds and 'recoils'. You can feel the slowness is Kazuki(Bust)'s every attack and vice versa, the lightning quick slashes from Nakoruru, where you will have to cancel the slashes to moves just as quick using her. This game has a few glitches/bugs to report(some of them are very irritating). Hanzo(slash) has a infinite trap bug and Hanzo(bust) has a bug that can grab/issen the opponent even the opponent is recovering from the multi-part throw that he/she has successfully broken.

Endings:
Wat's disappointing about the game is the endings. me really dun like text-based endings where they just narrate wat happen to the character after defeating Yuga. me want some animation....ohh, wait!.., there is some animation in the ending.......(looking hard at the screen, only found the character looking away, breathing hard.....same for all characters). Ha, 'some' animation indeed.....

Overall verdict:
+ Good storyline (even there is some simple story/cut-scenes between stages)
+ Best engine of the 3 SS3D games
+ Best character design of the 3 SS3D games
+ Can really see the difference between the slash and bust versions now
+ Nice to hear theme songs
+ Impact-ful moves and supers
+ Beautiful artwork
+ Both Rimus are so cute!^^(personal opinion^^)
+ Implementation of low/medium/high jumps is definitely a plus

- Too slow
- CD combo system is pathetic. The 14hit slash (now 10hit) rises opponent's ragebar too, really dunno wat's the use of the 14hit slash.(gives both players max ragebar)
- Damage needs to be tweaked. (Sogetsu's slash's CD+BBB,QCF+A,lowJump+B, B, DPF+A, Dash, B, HCB+BC(super), DownForward+A. 11hits with a super move, the damage is lesser than a Forward+B, really dunno wat to say....)
- the Hanzo bugs/glitches (how can Hanzo plant 3 bombs on the opponent at one time one?)

7/10 score.