Samurai Warrior (Firebird, 1988)

a.k.a. "The Battles of... Usagi Yojimbo"

Based on the Usagi Yojimbo comics by Stan Sakai.

Commodore 64 original by Doug Palmer, Paul Kidd and Russel Comte from Beam Software.

Spectrum conversion by Ross Harris and Dave Semmens from Source Software Ltd.

Amstrad conversion by Gregg Barnett, Cameron Duffy and Dam from Source Software Ltd.

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INTRO RANT & GAME STATUS

Back in the 80's, fighting games were brilliant. Most gamers loved them regardless of how unrealistic the controls and character animations were, but then, you couldn't expect too much because you  would be playing them most likely on an 8-bit machine. Nowadays, the old games look and feel... well, old. The level of realism and graphics are so high in the latest Tekken, that it doesn't really feel much like a game anymore. The time you will spend on studying the movements to get your preferred combos and everything to perfection, takes about as much time as taking a course in your prefered martial art and learning to perform some of the movements yourself, and it'll be useful in real life as well.

The old beat'em up games, however, were just that: games. You'd pick them up and learn to play them in a minute, and depending on your level of concentration, skills to use the few moves available, and a great amount of luck, you'd be able to get quite far. That was the case with most of the beat'em ups back then - The Way Of The Exploding Fist, International Karate, Kung-Fu Master... you know.

Then, the guys who made the Exploding Fist, gave us Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi  Yojimbo. Most of us probably still look at it with slightly rose-tinted glasses, but back then, it was a very different gaming experience to anything, and it still is. The game is currently rated 8.6 at Lemon64 from a total of 199 votes, and is ranked #26 in the top 100 list, from games with at least 100 votes. CPC Game Reviews has given it an 8 out of 10, and 67 World of Spectrum voters have rated it 8.17, but it doesn't quite reach the current top 100. So, whichever the platform, it's still quite highly regarded in the retro gaming world.
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