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Samurai Shodown V
Developer(s)	Yuki Enterprise
Publisher(s)	SNK
Japanese title	サムライスピリッツ零
Designer(s)	Yuki Enterprise
Release date(s)	December 11, 2003
Genre(s)	Fighting
System(s)	Arcade, Neo Geo, Xbox, Playstation 2, GameTap
Players	1-2
Mode(s)	Arcade, Versus
Website	snkplaymore.co.jp
Preceded by	Samurai Shodown IV
Followed by	Samurai Shodown V Special

Samurai Shodown V, known as Samurai Spirits Zero (サムライスピリッツ零) in Japan, is the eighth game in SNK's Samurai Shodown/Samurai Spirits series of fighting games. It was one of the last ever games to be released on the Neo Geo. The original Japanese version of the game also has a great deal of dialogue in single-player mode, but all of those scenes are simply left out when the game's language is set to English. Unsurprisingly, this upset most English-speaking fans. The domestic Xbox version of that release restores these scenes and translates them into English. The game was also released on the PlayStation 2, but that version was only made available in Japan and Europe due to SCEA not approving the game.

Following the revitalization of SNK after its collapse in 2001, the company decided that it would be worthwhile to create another game in the largely-defunct Samurai Shodown series. As part of their reorganization, development duties were given over to the relatively-unknown Yuki Enterprise, which had mainly only created simulation and board games for the Simple 2000 series of PlayStation 2 games in Japan, and had no experience in developing fighting games. This announcement caused considerable unease among series fans.

In spite of this, SNK managed to raise excitement by announcing that Nobuhiro Watsuki, the creator and author of the Rurouni Kenshin manga and anime series, was hired to design the new characters, and they were gradually revealed by way of silhouettes on the official website, and slowly showing the official artwork. Word finally got out that the game was to be a true prequel to the rest of the series, taking place two years before Samurai Shodown. This created its own issues with the series timeline.

The gameplay was sped up slightly from Samurai Shodown IV, and the button layout was changed again. The Slash/Bust system of the last few games was done away with, and each character now only had one version, though in several cases, the Bust mode was replaced by a new character of very similar setup.

[edit] Table of Contents

[edit] Moves

[edit] Basara

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Name		Input
Friendly Rip	+
Shadow Sucker	(close), +
Aerial Jab	+
Soul of the Beast	+
Flaying Feet	+
Skull Cleaver	( or ) +
Shadow Exit	+
Ground Slash	+
Forward Jump Shadow Feint	+
Vertial Jump Shadow Feint	+
Reverse Jump Shadow Feint	+
Forward Shadow Feint	+
Forward Roll Shadow Feint	+
Back Flip Shadow Feint	+
Diving Shadow Feint	+
(Rage) Shadow Dance Dream Pull	+

[edit] Charlotte

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Name		Input
Power Gradiation	+
Splash Fount	+	(hold )
Tri-Slash	+	(hold to charge)
Violette Lunge	+
Lance de Lion	+
(Rage) Crystal Rose	+

[edit] Enja

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Name		Input
Feet of Flames	+
Hade's Flames	+
__Heaven's Glow	+	(during Hade's Flames)
____Demon Path	+	(during Heaven's Glow)
Flaming Destruction	+	or or
(Rage) Enja's Bursting Heat	+

[edit] Galford D. Weller

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Name		Input
Strike Heads	+
Plasma Blade	+
Shadow Copy	+
Replica Attack	+	or
Rush Dog	+
Machine Gun Dog	+
Replicant Dog	+
Overhead Crash	+
Stardust Drop	(any direction)+
(Rage) Forward Double Megastrike Heads	+
(Rage) Reverse Double Megastrike Heads	+

[edit] Gaira

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Name		Input
Earthquake Assault	+
Ceiling Slam Grabber	+
Hard Head Grabber	+
Butt Slam	+
Heart Slicer	+
Shout!	+
Centennipierce Slam	+
(Rage) Exploding Euthanasia	+

[edit] Genjuro Kibagami

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Name		Input
Lightning Wings	+
Triple Death Hack	+	(can be performed up to 3X)
Zen Blade	(close), +
Cherry Blossom Slice	+
Slash of a Hundred Demons	+
(Rage) Five Flash Rip	+

[edit] Hanzo Hattori

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Name		Input
Ninja Exploding Dragon Blast	+
Ninja Shadow Split	+	or
Falling Ninja Cicada Larva	+
Gashing Ninja Cicada Larva	+
Ninja Windsplitter	+
Ninja Shrike Dash	(while dashing), +	(cancelable)
Whistling Shrike Drop	(close), +
Rolling Aerial Attack	(any direction)+
Ninja Silencer	+
Ninja Monkey Dance	+	or or or
(Rage) True Shrike Dash	+

[edit] Haohmaru

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Name		Input
Cyclone Slash	+
Secret Cyclone Slash	+
Crescent Moon Slash	+
Renting Tremor Slash	(while dashing), +
Earthquake Slice	+
Sword Slash Attack	+
Rice Wine Whack	+
(Rage) Secret Move	+

[edit] Jubei Yagyu

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Name		Input
Geyser Thrust	+
Tsunami Sabre	+
Sabre Thrash	+	(hold )
Reflecting Mind's Eye Sabre	+
Mind's Eye Sabre of Mutual Destruction	+
Raging Heavens' Mind's Eye Sabre	+
(Rage) Moonbeam Slicer	+

[edit] Kazuki Kazama

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Name		Input
Flames of Disaster	+	(can be performed up to 3X)
__Soul Burner: With No "Flames of Disaster"	+
__Soul Burner: With 1 "Flames of Disaster"	+
__Soul Burner: With 2 "Flames of Disaster"	+
__Soul Burner: With 3 "Flames of Disaster"	+
__Exploding Death: With No "Flames of Disaster"	+
__Exploding Death: With 1 "Flames of Disaster"	+
__Exploding Death: With 2 "Flames of Disaster"	+
__Exploding Death: With 3 "Flames of Disaster"	+
Annihilating Flames	+	or or
Flaming Backdraft	+
(Rage) Exploding Flames	+

[edit] Kusaregedo The Demon

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Name		Input
Evil Spirit Summons	+
Gastrorrhea	+
Flesh Raiser	+
Heretic Brand	(close), +
(Rage) Flying Head Butt	+
(Rage) Heretic Hunt	+

[edit] Kyoshiro Senryo

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Name		Input
Dance of Fire	+
Twisting Heavens	+
Toad Plague	+
Lion's Tail Blast	+	or
Raging Lion's Tail Blast	+
Smoldering Blood Pounce	+
Tsunami Crunch	+
(Rage) Ruffian Kyoshiro's "Flesh and Blood Fandango"	+

[edit] Mina Majikina

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Name		Input
Earthly Bow-Heart	+
Heavenly Bow-Heart	+
Sungan's Lure	+
__Sungan's Arrival	+	(after Sungan's Lure)
Shinabui's Grief	+
Abysmal Incantation	+
Come, Champool!	+