SNK is back in a pretty big way with one of their first major games in years, Samurai Shodown. The game is a revival of a legendary and long running franchise that’s all about samurais, ninjas, and swords. And of course, when it comes to revitalizing a classic, you have to go back to the old school nostalgia. But there’s all kinds of challenges to that as well, on both technical level, as well as a creative one. That’s what the director of the game broke down when it came to adding new characters.
In an interview with Siliconera, Director Nobuyuki Kuroki talks about the difficulty in creating new characters for the classic franchise. They go through an early draft period, then discussion with trying to use as little elements from other characters as possible. In the end, what comes out can be quite different than the original draft.
“During the early development stages, our in-house artist and designer Saji-san first set the tone of the characters and drafted the designs,” Kuroki said. “Based on those designs, we discussed together when deciding what kind of characters we would like to make.
“The most difficult part for us was probably trying our best to avoid using similar elements that have been used before and to build up a distinctive character.
“According to our experiences, no matter how perfect when you draw the plan, there will be loads of differences when you play it. So, to make the game more balanced and comfortable, we will arrange battle planner to play the game.”
Samurai Shodown is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia. The game will launch on Nintendo Switch and PC February 25th, while the former will include special Samurai Shodown! 2 NeoGeo Pocket port.