Been killing some wee time (and mudafuggas!

) finishing the first 5 Samurai Shodown games. I have yet to finish "SSV Special", but whatever, that game is just the fifth with better and more balanced gameplay and a few extra joes and janes to beat. Not that much of a story or anything.
I have been playing this franchise for about 13 years, but this was the first time I actually "tried hard" to finish the damn games.
My thoughts on each one:
SS: Classic, hard as f*ck to beat the CPU if its in a bad mood, but one hell of a game. Damn good. After level 5, its really a "coin eater", due to its arcade origin.
Only con is the limited cast (no Genjuro

), and maybe the small list of moves, cept for Hanzo. This was the only game where I did not use Genjuro, but "Iaijutsu Master" Ukyo instead. I want to finish the franchise with this guy also, over the years he's the character I go to for a Genjuro break.
SS2: I am pretty sure that I mentioned this game as one of my top 10 ever, at some point. Amazing cast, playability, the same REALLY hard to beat CPU, AND my man Genjuro's debut!
SS3: Everything looks great, fantastic actually but its not a game that "stays", its unbalanced, and by that I do mean it literally. Some characters are just waaaaaaaay better than others, a shame given the fact that both of the first 2 were/are known for balanced gameplay, you can finish the game if you are good with any character. Here, some character's 3 slashes without blocking will kill you, in secs. Also, while button layout is cool and "easier", it does not feel as much tactical and well, hard.
But the game is beautiful to look at, and it brings some cool brand new faces, despite omiting somne really good characters from SS and SSII.
SSIV: Lots of characters, two of them actually awesome (the protagonists, Kazuki and Sogetsu), return of old faces, easy peasy to finish and the "easy" gameplay again. I like it, but like its predecessor, falls short in places. I had no motivation to fight yet again the same bosses.
SSV: I played this on MAME (JP version) so storywise, I am clueless. The roster is really cool (Rurouni Kenshin's author designed some of the new faces) and the final boss is a tough SOB, but manageable, at least with Gen the Man. Its a cool game, but by then , the magic of the series had sunk a bit, I so much prefer getting my *SQUEE* kicked fair and square in the first 2 games, than making the final credits of the later ones.
I have to try VI, but since its a non-canon sort of game, I am not that excited or anything.