A fighter on a handheld? Ha ha ha ha, don't make me laugh! It's gotta' suck, right? Small screen, funky d-pad (er, stick), only 2 buttons... I bet you know where I'm going with this, right? As a complete surprise, Samurai Shodown 2 on a handheld does not suck. In fact, it's every bit as deep as the arcade version, one of the best fighters I've ever played! Amazing! Astrounding! Can leap tall buildings... er, nevermind :)

So how did SNK cram a true fighter onto a handheld? Well, first off, the game has 15 characters, complete with their arsenals of kicks, punches, special moves, and "Rage Guage" moves (similar to "Super Moves" in SF). The game is played only via the two buttons, one button fakes a move, the other slashes. You can do combinations of the buttons to do kicks, and if you hold slash down longer, you'll get a more powerful slash. The "Fake" button also does kicks when you're jumping. Special moves are done via a motion on the D-pad and a press of the A or B button, or both. You can double-tap back to do a quick back jump, double-tap forwards to run etc. This is all old news for SamSho fans, and probably for fans of any other 2d fighter as well.

A new feature added into the game is this: when you win certain fights (usually the more difficult ones), you're awarded with a card. You can append up to two cards to your fighter when starting a game, and each card either boosts an attribute (such as attack or defence), or improves one of your special moves, adding extra functionality, or some equally handy powerup.

The graphics and sound are as perfectly translated as the gameplay. The SamSho series has always had that feel to it, that atmosphere... the cutscenes laden with screen flashes, the long, quiet, wind-filled parts in the music tracks, and speaking of the music, wow! Even better than the gameplay, the music has been brought to the NGPC perfectly, easily the best music I've ever heard in a handheld game.

I don't even know what to say about the game other than that it's excellent. This is also coming from someone who hasn't had a lot of experience playing the SamSho series, a SamSho nut cannot miss this game!