Michael Crider
Fans of classic 2D fighters should keep an eye on the release charts. A new anthology of SNK classic Samurai Showdown Shodown titles from the NeoGeo arcade era is landing on a bunch of platforms. It’ll be $40 on the PS4 and Switch when it releases in July. You can get it on Steam on June 18th for the same price.
But if you check the Epic Games Store on PC, you can get it a week earlier, June 11th. And I confess to burying the lead here: you can get it for free. Like a bunch of high-profile games lately, Epic is giving away Samurai Shodown: NeoGeo Collection for free on the PC. After the 18th it will cost $40, just like the Steam version.
For the last year or so Epic has been giving away a new freebie game (or two) every week, as it tries to build up its PC platform as a true Steam competitor. It makes sense: the company’s shift from game engine vendor to publishing powerhouse has been fueled by the free-to-play Fortnite: Battle Royale. Most of the giveaways have been smaller indie titles, but in 2020 they’ve been shifting to AAA giveaways like Assassin’s Creed, Batman Arkham, and Grand Theft Auto.
Samurai Shodown: NeoGeo Collection includes the original game from 1993 and its four sequels, plus the remixed Samurai Showdown V: Special. There’s also Samurai Showdown V: Perfect, an updated version with story elements that were never released in the arcade or on home consoles. (So, yes, it’s more like five games and two special editions.)
The collection also has online multiplayer for all games, over 200 music tracks, interviews and behind-the-scenes info from developers, and videos of classic professional matches. All of this follows renewed interest in the series after Samurai Shodown, a 3D reboot game that was released to great acclaim last year.
