Samurai Shodown

Samurai Shodown, known in Japan as Samurai Spirits (サムライスピリッツ) is the name of a versus fighting game series by SNK . It is considered to be the premier 2D weapons fighter, and is one of the best-known video games created by SNK.

Despite the name of the series, most of the characters are not samurai in the true sense of the word. In Japan, the name of the series is officially in katakana, but is alternately written in kanji (侍魂, Samurai Damashii), with the second character pronounced supiritsu, “spirits”, to better reflect the game’s setting.

The earlier arcade games are also notorious for their “Engrish”, such as the word ‘victoly’ which appears at the end of each match. In fact, even the title is misspelled, although the recent additions of the series have since fixed this error. As with many game titles developed in Japan, Samurai Spirits had its name changed for other regions.