Samurai Shodown



""Long, long ago, there were a man who try to make his skill ultimate. Because of his bloody life, it's no accident that he was involved in the troubles.""

- Intro, Samurai Shodown II

Known as Samurai Spirits in Japan, this SNK Playmore one-on-one Fighting Game series is set during the closing years of the Edo period. The first game was the debut of the Weapon Fighter subgenre, and the one of the first fighting games to introduce a super meter, the Rage Gauge. Once filled, this gauge increases the strength of attacks; starting with the second game, Samurai Shodown II, each character also has a super move that empties the gauge after successfully connecting. Samurai Shodown II is also credited with introducing the first "parry" system.

Overall compared to its numerous fighting game brethren, Samurai Shodown stood out from the crowd namely by being more about finesse and less about chaining super combos. Specifically, thanks to the high damage output of singular moves, the battles here would run either incredibly quick or maddeningly slow. It leads to a more chess-like experience with a focus on hit-an-run tactics that makes play quite unlike most other 2-D fighters. However, for this very reason, its remained mostly in the cult favorite realm as high-speed super-combo-chaining fighters have taken nearly complete prominence. Also, on a lesser note, its rather bloody to say the least...it may not have focused on the gore aspect like say; Mortal Kombat, but it can fill almost as many buckets.

A total of six games were made for the original Neo-Geo (MVS and AES) system, with Samurai Shodown V Special being the last game to be released for the system. Other two games, Samurai Shodown 64 and Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage, were released for the ill-fated Hyper Neo-Geo 64 in the late nineties, while a Distant Finale game, sharing the title (losing only the "64") Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage was later released for the Playstation, much to the confusion of the players; in Japan the games are known as Samurai Spirits II: Asura Zanmaden and Kenkaku Ibunroku - Yomigaerishi Soukou no Yaiba - Samurai Supirittsu Shinshou respectively. Samurai Shodown VI was released for the Atomiswave arcade board and Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny was released for the Taito Type X2.

Ports of most games existed—including two for the Neo-Geo Pocket—but were not numerous. A few Spin Offs were made, like Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits: Bushido Retsuden, (aka Samurai Shodown RPG) for the Neo-Geo CD, Nakoruru Ano Hito kara no Okurimono for the PC, as well as a pachislot game. A few characters have appeared in crossover games like the Capcom Vs. SNK series, and the third Days of Memories game features only Samurai Shodown characters.

While perhaps not entirely historically authentic—the Bakumatsu period was awfully short on fire-breathing kabuki actors, green cavemen, and clockwork robot girls, and none of the Tokugawas was a Handsome Lech who wielded eight swords at once—the game is notable for its atmosphere, which enthusiastically recalls the Edo period's music, style of dress, etc.

Incidentally, the title is deliberately misspelled, a sort of Portmanteau of "showdown" and "shodo." That doesn't mean that the games' English translations aren't full of accidental misspellings and Blind Idiot Translation, though...

It is in its own way, a sort of spiritual predecessor and inspiration for the current dominant weapons fighter: Soul Calibur. It even gets some small nods in various outfits for the characters that echo those found in Samurai Shodown.


 * Absurdly Sharp Blade:
 * Cham Cham's boomerang, of all things.
 * SNK's explanation is that the boomerang was carved from an "iron tree" that grows in Green Hell (Cham Cham's village).
 * Even more absurd are Gaira's giant prayer beads, Wan-fu's stone pillar and Nicotine's monk staff.
 * Also of note is the intro to the first game in the series (see the quote underneath the page image). Haohmaru is meditating then suddenly draws his sword and makes a Diagonal Cut through two stone lamp posts and a two foot thick tree.
 * The Ace: Seishiro Kuki.
 * Acrofatic: Earthquake fits the bill for this as he can Wall Jump just as fine as the others who can wall jump dispite topping out at over 500 pounds.
 * Affably Evil: Genan, who boasts of becoming the Demon King (King of Evil in SNK translation). Yet at the end of the day, he's just a disfigured oni-like creature with a glove inspired by Freddy Krueger, with a loving wife and kids he even brings with to work. See his ending in Samurai Shodown VI.
 * Age-Appropriate Angst: Shizumaru, Mina
 * A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Karakuri Hanma, since it runs amok some time after being created.
 * Alien Blood:
 * Deku and Yuga have teal blood.
 * Subverted by Karakuri Hanma who (being a robot) bleeds oil.
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Galford's feelings towards Nakoruru will mostly get unanswered due to her complete devotion to nature. . Maybe his love of justice would get requited instead...
 * Another example is that of Charlotte-Oshizu-Haohmaru. Charlotte and O-Shizu were both in love with Haohmaru, but he is a Celibate Hero, dedicated entirely to fighting. While O-Shizu is depicted as being permanently interested in him and Haohmaru returning her feelings to a degree (he even kisses her in his Samurai Shodown II ending, though he also tells her she's better off without him),.
 * Already Done for You: Happens in Samurai Shodown IV: your rival kills the boss first if you don't reach the boss in time and you get the bad ending.
 * Alternate Continuity: Games that were released by SNK Playmore, especially Samurai Shodown VI.
 * Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Amakusa's stage in the first game (and to an extent in the third, but he's not the boss). Mizuki's stage qualifies as well, seeing how its located in the Mt.Osore entrance to Demon World (Osore Zan Hell in SNK translation), and is filled with bizarre visuals.
 * In Samurai Shodown IV, either combatant reaching low health transforms the background into muted colors emblazoned with an image, symbolizing desperation.
 * Ambidextrous Sprite: Genjuro has a diagonal scar on his back. Yagyu Jubei has an eyepatch. They flip when the characters turn around.
 * That's not the worst of it. Haohmaru doesn't look as bad as some others (two-handed grip can just shift). One-handed weapon wielders (Charlotte, Cham Cham, Ukyo) can be handwaved by saying they're holding it in their other hand. Some two-handed wielders can get away with this too. Then there's Gen'an and Neinhalt Sieger, withtheir huge GLOVE weapons. Those.. don't switch that easily...
 * The worst offender is Youkai Kusaregedo. He has presumably eaten off his own right forearm, leaving only a big, sharp bone as his weapon. This arm, of course, switches sides when he turns around.
 * Ambiguous Gender: Yumeji's, which was done intentionally. Amakusa (although male), often gets confused for a woman. Yuga's first form uses male body, while second and third use female body.
 * Ambiguously Brown: What are Tam Tam and Cham Cham, anyway? Their village appears to be in Venezuela. Their worship of Quetzalcoatl and use of the Nahuatl language suggests that they're Mexican Aztecs, although Tam Tam's fighting style is supposedly Mayan, and the Palenke Stone presumably refers to the Mayan city Palenque. There are a few hints that they're African (the Tangiers Stone, chimpanzees, Cham Cham's tiger-skin outfit), and Cham Cham's boomerang suggests that she's Indigenous Australian...
 * Amnesiac Dissonance: Yuda's ending in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Amnesia Danger: Yuda. With time, he gets better.
 * Anachronism Stew: The games are set in 1788-1811. Texas and San Francisco are part of the United States (Texas joined in the 1845, California in 1850), Amakusa Shiro (1621-1638), Yagyū Jūbei (1607-1650) and Hattori Hanzo (1542-1596) are both alive, Prussia is a feudal kingdom with castles, armored knights, and an Arthurian king, the White House has its modern appearance, and there are robots (well, "mechanical dolls"). So we have French knights, American ninja, and pseudo-Mexican warriors fight against fictionalized figures from Japanese history. In Samurai Shodown RPG, Sieger marries Queen Victoria, who wasn't even born until 1819.
 * Edge of Destiny ups the ante with, among others, a Western Knight, a Native American, a Toreador, a Cowboy, a clone of Afro Samurai and a Viking.
 * And don't forget Samurai Shodown VI, which featured a Crane disguised as a maid, and someone who may be Andrew Jackson (as in: "7th President of the United States" Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)).
 * Also Earthquake's neon-colored punk-ish clothing is soooo 1980-1990.
 * An Axe to Grind: Garros and Black Hawk wield axes, and Asura has a giant living axe weapon. Notably, none of the Japanese characters wields such a weapon (Garros is a viking, Black Hawk an american native and Asura well... is a demon).
 * An Ice Person: Rimururu.
 * Andrew Jackson: Andrew from Samurai Shodown VI is based on him.
 * Anime Hair: Most of the cast has it.
 * The Anime of the Game: Series had 3 OVAs: Samurai Shodown I-based, Samurai Shodown Asura Zanmaden-based, and Nakoruru game-based (which was left unfinished).
 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Rimururu to Nakoruru.
 * Anti-Anti-Christ: Hanmen no Asura. Also Amakusa after Heel Face Turn.
 * Anti-Magic: Yuga's energy shield that automatically forms in front of her against any attacks and dissipates when attacks end. It was so prominent that it got own card in Card Fighters' series, being the only ability of Yuga to ever get outside of Samurai Shodown series.
 * Anti-Villain: Hanmen no Asura.
 * The Antichrist: The way Mizuki and Yuga act.
 * Arch Enemy: Asura and Yuga to each other. Asura and Hanmen no Asura too, until it turned that they are Not So Different.
 * Also Hanzo to Oboro.
 * Arm Cannon: Hanma Yagyu and his mechancial counterpart Karakuri Hanma are armed with these. Sieger's gauntlet has limited shooting capabilities as well (mostly used for close-range fire blasts).
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Genjuro Kibagami, who is pretty much always angry, has an intense rivalry with Haohmaru, and is just a sociopath in general. The only time he ever seems to enjoy himself at all is when he's cutting someone to shreds.
 * Also, Wan-fu, a gigantic Chinese royal who believes the path of the sword is "Possessing absolute power to crush his enemies." His character bio states he can kill a tiger in under three seconds, and that he insists he has no flaws and idolizes no one.
 * The Artful Dodger: Ran Po and Minto.
 * Artifact of Doom: The sacred Palenke and Tangil stones.
 * Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Nakoruru.
 * Apparently, it happens to be contractual
 * As Long as There Is Evil: Ambrosia and its servants are subjects of this trope..
 * Ass Kicks You: Earthquake (a ton of fun), whether from above or his Fart of Death grapple; Wan Fu (still a big guy), from above, just sticking it out at the enemy on land, or sitting on the enemy in a grapple; Hanma (another big guy) sticking it out; Brutes and Kusaregedo by diving at opponent with their butt forward. And, for some reason, Cham Cham (the Catgirl) does this too from above.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Gaoh, who is a ruler of one of Japan's provinces, leader of a rebel army, has deadly spear skills and can turn into a demon mid-battle by tapping into Dark Emperor's powers.
 * Ax Crazy: Basara, Mugenji, Rasetsumaru.
 * Enja's and Enja.Kazuki's behaviour also matches this trope.
 * Badass: Tachibana Ukyo, obviously. Care for an explanation? This guy practices iajitsu, the art of sheathing the sword after each strike, simply because it looks cooler. Furthermore, he applies the Rule of Cool to himself, preferring to look stylish and lose, than to win by baser, or uncool, means. Finally, he fights with his back to his opponent. All the time. Most notably, if he fought head-on and kept his sword out, he would be even faster and more lethal, but his own adoption of the Rule of Cool outweighs such concerns. Badass to the max.
 * Oh, right, he also throws an apple in the air and cuts it into pieces before it hits the ground, and he coughs often, even coughing up blood, because he is supposed to be dying of tuberculosis. Ukyo's badassery just happens to be eclipse most of the other Badasses, who would be badass enough in plenty of other series (Jubei, for example).
 * Badass Back: The same Ukyo, who fights backturned all the time (at least in 2D games).
 * Badass Grandpa: Nicotine and Daruma.
 * Badass Mustache: Gaoh and Golba.
 * Badass Normal: Haohmaru.
 * The Bad Guy Wins: In only one year after being defeated in Samurai Shodown 64, Yuga comes back, successfully enslaves Haohmaru and Shiki, plunges the world in darkness and nearly merges it with the Demon World..
 * Bald of Awesome: Samurai Shodown II had 5 bald characters at once (Genan, Wan-fu, Earthquake, Sieger and Nicotine) which equals to 1/3 of game's roster!! Sieger even was one of Chosen Ones in the plot. Since then players were introduced to Hanma Yagyu (owner of alternative palettes that made him bald), Daruma (old man who curiously wasnt bald in the artwork only) and Oboro (old balding last boss). In the epic display of baldness, Genan, Wan-fu, Earthquake, Sieger and Nicotine gather in Gaira's Samurai Shodown V ending and shave his head, making him a member of their bald group. With that, Gaira appears absolutely bald in Samurai Shodown VI, raising count of included bald characters to 6. While not technically bald, Youkai Kusaregedo exhibits male pattern baldness and only has a thin, if long, friars cap on his otherwise bare head.
 * Bald of Evil: Earthquake, Genan and Kusaregedo.
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Enja.Kazuki fights exlusively with punches, and Suija.Sogetsu with kicks. They have no weapons... becase they ARE weapons. They were the spirits residing in Kazuki and Sogetsu's weapons, and then took over their bodies.
 * Gaira literally looks like one, but is not... his massive beads are his weapon.
 * Barehanded Blade Block: A gameplay element implemented since the very first game and used in several (if not all) of the rest. Few players knew of its existence though, and fewer took advantage of it, as it was hard to pull out (though not as much as the parries in the second game).
 * Bastard Understudy: Members of Earthquake's and Sankuro's gangs.
 * Beam Spam: Hanmen no Asura, and to far bigger degree... Yuga.
 * The Beast Master: Nakoruru (with Mamahaha), Purple Nakoruru/Rera (with Shikuru), Galford (with Poppy), Cham Cham (with Paku Paku), Genjuro and Kyoshiro (with unnamed frogs), Mizuki (with Maju/Haon in Samurai Shodown RPG), Bizuki (with Haon in Samurai Shodown RPG), Rimururu (with Konru), Rinka (with Tetsunosuke), Mina (with Champuru).
 * Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Female characters, from Samurai Shodown III through to V Special, were immune to fatalities, and being defeated simply resulting in them being knocked unconscious.
 * Brutally averted from Samurai Shodown V Special onward, where all female characters, including the very pretty Nakoruru and her cute sister Rimururu are susceptible to fatalities, and defeating a girl in battle would result in her being sliced in half, decapitated, impaled or otherwise brutally killed in multiple ways, usually with their clothes cut off their bodies, exposing their breasts, underwear and genitals as they died..
 * Become a Real Boy: Rasetsumaru plans to do this by killing Haohmaru and taking his place.
 * Berserk Button: Enja.Kazuki's Insanity Awakening (if you thought he couldnt get any more insane). Rasetsumaru's Death Curse move (he cuts himself to increase own rage).
 * The Berserker: Zankuro, Gandara, Sword Demon Haohmaru (Haohmaru's Rasetsu form), Enja.Kazuki, Mugenji, Enja, Rasetsumaru.
 * Beta Test Baddie: Deku in Samurai Shodown 64, Rasetsumaru in Samurai Shodown V.
 * Better to Die Than Be Killed: The "suicide" (some of them aren't actual suicides) moves from Samurai Shodown IV. Worth only one KO, though, and can be used to ender "Raged" condition at beginning of next round.
 * BFS: Suzuhime. Asura, Hanmen no Asura and Yuda also carry very long swords in Sephiroth fashion. In fact, developers mentioned that Asura's sword was initially so long that its attacks had fullscreen range, so they were forced to shorten it for the sake of balance. Asura also has giant Beelzebub battle axe, impact of which can cause landslides.
 * Big Bad: Ambrosia, Yuga and Dark Emperor (each has a separate story arc).
 * Big Bad Wannabe: Sankuro is the embodiment of this trope. Also Genan, to lesser degree.
 * The Big Guy: Sieger and Wan-fu, Gaira, Hanma, Garyo, Walter and Garros. Those are the "powerhouse" class characters with "good" alignment.
 * Big No: Galford's defeat cry, EVERYTIME..
 * Black Knight: Asura is a variation of this trope.
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: Genans and Tashonmao's claw gauntlets. Kusaregedo's too, sort of (its a bone sticking out of his arm).
 * Subverted by Sieger's, Hanma's and Karakuri Hanma's gauntlet weapons that lack blades.
 * Blade Lock: Sword Clash Competition gameplay element in all games of series... which triggers a button-mashing contest to overpower and disarm your opponent. Though it's a little silly when the claws disarm the giant beads.
 * Blade on a Stick: Kyoshiro, Taizan, Jin-Emon, Gaoh and Jinbei are all polearm users, which grants them extended weapon reach.
 * Blatant Burglar: Earthquake.
 * Blind Idiot Translation: All of the games in the series are full of this. One rather unusual example in the second game looks like an exception, when Cham Cham is regarding the SNK Boss right after she's declared her intent to 'eat, eat you all': 'Shit! You really make me mad!'
 * Samurai Shodown IV is always happy to declare "victoly!"... which is counterweighted with a "fatarity!!".
 * The referee's statement after anyone's second fight in Samurai Shodown II is "ki ga warui" (meaning, roughly, "something's not right" or "something strange is happening"). It was translated literally into English, into the immensely quoteworthy "Horrible atmosphere."
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: Enja.Kazuki and Enja.
 * Blood From the Mouth: Ukyo Tachibana and Haito Kanakura.
 * Bloodier and Gorier: From the third game onwards, blood became much more abundant and kills were more detailed and frequent. Fatalities could be used by the fourth installment and the very gory "Zetsumei Ougi / Overkill" was added to Samurai Shodown V Special. Then Samurai Shodown VI left out blood and death entirely, but by Edge of Destiny, they added back some very graphic death scenes.
 * Blood Knight: Haohmaru, who is on the scene just looking for a good fight. Almost everyone he encounters, especially bosses, will get this kind of response from him: "Hey, you gotta be strong, huh? All right, this is gonna be a good fight!"
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Haohmaru is one of the few who are main characters. He fights, he loves it, he likes boozing off with his sake, he tends to inspire a lot of the younger generations (like Redheaded Hero Shizumaru) with his stern advice about battle. In fact, if there is trouble on the land, he's usually wandering around looking for good fights here and there, and either the Big Bads have to hunt him down themselves for their purposes, or he just approaches them demanding to know whether they're strong. Saving the world is for the heroine Nakoruru.
 * Bonus Boss: Also known as "intrusion characters", those are: Kuroko in Samurai Shodown II, Gandara in Samurai Shodown 64 and Asura Zanmaden, Sugoroku in Samurai Shodown VI.
 * Boring but Practical: Few things are better for punishing an opponet's mistake than a simple fierce slash; given the high damage levels used in the series, this often becomes an extreme case of the use of this trope. Oh, and while it's true that landing a disarming desperation attack tends to make the fight easier, there are still several cases when merely causing a good amount of raw damage is much better.
 * Boring Invincible Villain: Dark Emperor, having full invincibility in all his ingame appearances so far in Samurai Shodown RPG.
 * Bowdlerise: The overseas home releases were infamously censored changing the blood color to white; sometimes it could be seen even in the arcades. The worst example was Samurai Shodown V Special, which got deaths and the fatalities removed/censored (even in Japan), reportedly causing bugs in the game. This led to a massive recall of games, but players were refunded with new copies that added the fatalities back in, but as modified Issens that caused a massive spray of blood and nothing else. There are currently 3 emulated versions of the game: one with the original fatalities and gore intact, another with completely white blood, no gore, but the fatalities still intact, and the last being the one with very little blood, no gore, and the Issen fatalities.
 * Break Meter: Samurai Shodown I is probably the Trope Codifier. Blocking too much or trading hits with a counter swing may lead up to weapon loss.
 * Breath Weapon: Kyoshiro and Karakuri Hanma can breathe fire, and those are some of their signature moves. Tam-Tam can also shoot fire from his mouth. Gen-An has a slow-moving poison cloud.
 * Broken Bird: Angelica.
 * The Brute: Gandara and Sankuro. There are also characters named Brutes in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * To the lesser degree, Earthquake and Karakuri Hanma (although they too are "evil powerhouse" class characters, the big strength isnt their main gimmick).
 * Buddy Cop Show: Yagyu Jubei and Hattori Hanzo work together for the Tokugawa shogunate. Next comes the team of Seishiro, Jin-Emon and Hanzo the Second in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * The Bully: Brutes from Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Butt Monkey: Genan and Tashonmao. In game-related mangas, Genan also had a running gag when nearly everyone called him "nukesaku" (a derogatory term for a low-class person).
 * Byronic Hero: Genjuro Kibagami.
 * Cain and Abel: Tohma and Seishiro, sorta. Seishiro was wronged by Tohma killing his father.
 * Calling Your Attacks: Nearly everyone. Nakoruru and Rimururu call their attacks in Ainu, Galford in English, Sieger in Deutch, etc.
 * Canine Companion: Poppy to Galford, Maju to Mizuki, and Shikuru to Rera.
 * Canon Discontinuity: Series' titles produced by SNK Playmore:
 * Samurai Shodown V retconned several things just for the sake of making at least some events to fill game's story mode with.
 * Samurai Shodown V Special had no storyline, and Samurai Shodown VI was an uncanon dream-match.
 * Edge of Destiny looks like alternative universe too, or either it is one big retcon.
 * Can't Take Anything with You: While Asura traveled 20 years forward (as Yuda), he apparently left his memories behind, together with mastery of Seven Ancient Weapons.
 * Caramelldansen Vid: Here. To be more specific, this was based on "Nakoruru: Ano hito kara no okarimono" side game, known as Nakoruru ADV on the west.
 * Career Killers: Genjuro, Yaci and Haito.
 * The Caretaker: Ukyo to Kei Odagiri. Hanmen no Asura to Shiki. Jushiro to Saya and Rinka.
 * Catgirl: Cham Cham's got ears, mannerisms, a tail, walks on all fours, and scratches herself. Coincidentally, she's quite similar to Felicia from Darkstalkers...
 * Celibate Hero: Though Haohmaru has a girlfriend, his priority is fighting and O-Shizu knows that very well. Nakoruru is well aware of Galford's love for her, but she's too Married to the Job of being the priestess/spirit of Nature. ...
 * Chainmail Bikini: Charlotte has the breastplate, what may be gloves, and what once looked like armoured (if heeled) boots that seem to turn a bit sexier in later games. Neinhalt Sieger is a more masculine example, bearing one (HUGE) gauntlet as well as greaves and kneepads. Torso protection? His big bare Teutonic chest.
 * The Charmer: Jushiro.
 * A Chat with Satan: Happens several times in series, in Samurai Shodown I and in RPG, Amakusa fills the role of devil for this trope. Also at the end of Samurai Shodown RPG, character must face himself.
 * The Chessmaster: Yuga, Jigen Taishi and Golba have such attibutes.
 * Child Eater: Kusaregedo.
 * Child Mage: Rimururu. With all sorts of ice spells.
 * Child Soldiers: Mina, defending her village from demons despite her young age.
 * Church Militant: Amakusa, who was a leader of christian rebellion.
 * Circus of Fear: Yuga's puppet show which.
 * Classic Villain: Amakusa, being the first boss in series, and afterwards a recurring character.
 * Clifftop Caterwauling: Galford's and Sieger's Samurai Shodown II endings.
 * Clothing Damage: Happens to female characters from V Special onward, when they are killed by certain attacks; their clothes will be cut off their bodies, exposing their underwear and / or body parts as they die.
 * Killing a female with a vertical slash attack commonly cuts her top apart, which will slide off, exposing the girl's breasts as her body keels over and collapses.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Jushiro. His main hobbies are dreaming and watching the clouds.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Hanzo, Jushiro and Sankuro.
 * Compilation Rerelease: Samurai Shodown Anthology (Wii, PSP, PlayStation 2), which includes parts one through six in the series... but does not include Samurai Shodown V Special. Incidentally, this is the only way US and European players can play Samurai Shodown VI without resorting to importing the game from Japan. Luckily for them, Samurai Shodown VI has all Unlockable Content available from the start.
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard
 * Cool Old Guy: Yunfei. Also old Haohmaru in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * The Corrupter: Ambrosia and Yuga.
 * The Corruption: Rasetsu modes of characters. Particularly, Haohmaru becomes a cold-blooded killer known as "Sword Demon Haohmaru", while Kazuki and Sogetsu become possessed by the gods.
 * Counter Attack: Jubei is famous for those, being able to catch opponent's weapon with one sword and counterattack with other, starting from Samurai Shodown II. In later games, more characters gained reversal moves.
 * Creepy Child: This trope sometimes applies to Shizumaru and to Mikoto (especially in her childhood).
 * Creepy Doll: Karakuri Hanma. Especially with that BIG smile.
 * Creepy Monotone: Mugenji is the master of those. Basara takes the second place.
 * Criminal Amnesiac: Yuda.
 * Crossover: Versus series, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact 2 and Card Fighters series featured (among others) characters from Samurai Shodown.
 * Cursed with Awesome: Basara, first appearing in Samurai Shodown III, is a ghost. In the living world, Basara can teleport through shadow, transform into a shadowy bat, and control his chain blade with his mind. He wants his "accursed" existence to end so he can stay with his beloved Kagaribi in the afterlife..
 * Cute Bruiser: Nakoruru and Rimururu.
 * Cute Monster Girl/Catgirl: Cham-Cham, Tam-Tam's little sister. How much is her outfit and how much is real is hard to tell. What doesn't help is she tends to scratch for fleas at times. And asks the Kuroko referee 'Is it OK in this direction?' when doing so.
 * Cute Shotaro Boy: Hisame Shizumaru.
 * Dark Chick: Role of Mizuki, Han-In to nari shi Shiki, Mikoto and Angelica.
 * Darker and Edgier: The whole series can get dark in tone, but it varies from game to game. Samurai Shodown III and Samurai Shodown IV in particular have a bit of a mournful tone and a dark color palette. Samurai Shodown VI is the exception: it has a matsuri (festival) setting, and notably, no blood.
 * Dark Messiah: Amakusa is the embodiment of this. If not enough, there is Aku Amakusa who is even more fanatical and evil.
 * The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Amakusa's story.
 * Deal with the Devil:
 * Amakusa and Mizuki made such pacts with Ambrosia. Yunfei and Gaoh too... with Dark Emperor.
 * Zankuro refused to make this with Aku Amakusa, so he was sealed in a stone statue in Samurai Shodown IV.
 * Gen-An made one with Mizuki in exchange of going Back from the Dead in Samurai Shodown II (he was killed by Ayame, Galford's mentor, at the end of Samurai Shodown I).
 * Death Dealer: Genjuro Kibagami can fling cards as projectiles. These (as well as most of his theme) are from hanafuda, rather than the Western tarot-derivative deck.
 * Death Equals Redemption: Amakusa and Zankuro.
 * Death Seeker: Basara, who wants to finally rest in peace and reunite with Kagaribi in afterworld. Zankuro too seeks an opponent strong enough to kill him.
 * Deceptive Disciple: Genjuro to Nicotine. Enja and Suija to Yunfei.
 * Delinquents: Yaci, Haito, their Shibito gang, Brutes, Ran Po, Minto.
 * Earthquake, Sankuro and their gangs rise above being mere delinquents by having more experience and ambitions.
 * Demonic Possession: Amakusa over Shinzo Hattori's body. Mizuki over Bizuki's body. Enja and Suija over random ninja bodies and then over Kazuki and Sogetsu's bodies to form Enja.Kazuki and Suija.Sogetsu. Dark Emperor over Yunfei and then over Gaoh. Yuga partially over Shiki, and then over Mikoto.
 * Demon Lords and Archdevils: They serve Asura by turning into his weapons.
 * Demon Slaying: Basara and Mina are professional demon hunters.
 * Demoted to Extra: Several characters in the Samurai Shodown series, including Earthquake, Wan-Fu, Genan, Sieger, Jubei and Cham Cham (although a few of them returned as playable characters in later games, and Jubei was included in certain ports of Samurai Shodown III).
 * Depraved Bisexual: Genjuro, because he doesnt care.
 * Desperation Attack: Samurai Shodown V introduced a mechanic called Mu no Kyouchi ("State of Nothingness"), which caused the opponent to slow down and allowed the use of damaging Issen attack... but could only be accessed after one already lost a round and had lost a certain level of health. Also inverted with the game's Death Ougi finishing attacks, which only worked if the opponent had already lost a round and a certain amount of health.
 * Determinator: Enja.Kazuki and Suija.Sogetsu in Fire Emperor and Water Emperor modes respectively (they gain constant superarmor). Garyo and Tashonmao too, since they can cast 1-hit superarmor on themselves.
 * Gandara takes the cake, being in superarmor at all times, being unable to get thrown or knocked down, having higher than average defence and LOTS of unblockable attacks. He can literally chew you, spit you out and squash you afterwards.
 * Devil but No God: Reoccurring theme in series, since the heroes play the part of devil's counterpart instead.
 * Diabolical Mastermind: Oboro.
 * Diagonal Cut: Happens if the last blow is a strong slash with both characters standing.
 * Different As Night and Day: Though they aren't twins, Sogetsu and Kazuki.
 * Dirty Coward: Sankuro.
 * Disc One Final Boss: Yuga's male form. In Samurai Shodown 64 after Yuga's defeat, its body just falls down like broken doll as another entity emerges from it and flies away only to disappear with characteristic laugh. In the sequel, we are introduced to Yuga's female form which is the true boss.
 * The Ditz: Minto.
 * Dogged Nice Guy: Galford. He's really in love with Nakoruru, but the girl is too Married to the Job, though she did recognize his feelings to her. Coincidentally, turns out Galford is also Married to the Job (being a defender of justice)
 * Double Jump: Aerial - Iroha in Samurai Shodown VI, and Yunfei too... with help of special move. If wall jump is counted... then most light characters in series AND Earthquake.
 * Double Knockout: Samurai Shodown games count this as a win for both fighters (and go into a 30-second sudden death mode if it happens both times). In the 3D titles, Issen Competition activates instead to decide the winner.
 * In the earlier games, a double knockout was called a Double Fatality, even though the characters would stand up after the end of the fight. In Samurai Shodown V Special, characters could actually be cut in half during a double knockout, but would continue to fight in the next round.
 * Downer Ending: Ending of Nakoruru ADV game: . Many of the characters have downer endings in several games, ending in the demise of themselves or a loved one. Mina's Samurai Shodown V ending is possibly the worst, as she.
 * The Dragon: Gandara, Deku, Hanmen no Asura, Yumeji and coincidentally named Draco.
 * Dragon Ascendant: Zankuro in Samurai Shodown IV.
 * Dragon Ball: Kazuki, Enja, Kazuki and Enja are all considered nods to it, based on immediately recognizable looks, haircut and powers (giant fireballs anyone?). In most of his appearances, Kazuki even had Goku-resembling alternative palette (black hair, orange outfit), and his upgrade to Enja.Kazuki (later separate character Enja) featured color change to blonde... a nod to the Super Saiyan change.
 * Interestingly, Suija's third palette (black hair, brown pants) in Samurai Shodown V Special became widely known as "Raditz palette" amongst Japanese fans, again due to certain similarities to that character.
 * Dragon with an Agenda: Sankuro.
 * Dramatic Wind: One of Ukyo's win poses.
 * Driven to Suicide: Mina, in her Samurai Shodown V ending.
 * Driven to Villainy: Shiki and Mikoto.
 * Drop the Hammer: Ran Po and Sankuro fight with hammers. Minto too has a variation of this as her weapon.
 * Dual-Wielding: Jubei, Shiki, Kuno Seishiro, Yoshitora (although he has seven swords, he has only two hands), Black Hawk.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: The definition of Amakusa.
 * Ah hem: 'Yumeji. Bordering on Stupid Cute Flanders.
 * Dumb Muscle: Gaira is a dumb, muscled and rather violent buddhist monk, being a parody of the Martial Pacifist mold.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Ambrosia and its stage in Samurai Shodown RPG; then Hanmen no Asura's stage in Samurai Spirits Asura Zanmaden (which apparently was influenced by aforementioned Ambrosia setting).
 * Elemental Powers: Out the yin-yang. Galford uses electricity, Hanzo, Kyoshiro, Kazuki and Enja use fire, Yunfei (and to some) degree) Haohmaru use wind, Sogetsu and Suija use water, Rimururu uses ice. Hanmen no Asura uses light, shadows and dark electricity at once.
 * Based on his special move names, Jubei's projectiles and super are composed out of "reflected moonlight"
 * Notably, fire is pretty prevalent in Samurai Shodown II. Hanzo, Ukyo, Kyoshiro, Sieger, Charlotte, Wan Fu, Earthquake, Nakoruru, Cham Cham, Caffeine Nicotine and final boss Mizuki ALL have at least one manoeuvre that leaves you engulfed in flame. That's ELEVEN out of seventeen fighters. And the guy who runs by in the background? He tosses firebombs at the fight every so often too.
 * Emotionless Girl: Shiki.
 * Elemental Punch: Samurai Shodown II had Wan-fu channel flame through his weapon. Which might be a bit of overkill, since the weapon involved is a huge stone pillar. Galford, Enja and Suija are all subjects of this trope as well.
 * Empathic Weapon: Asura's Seven Ancient Weapons.
 * The Emperor: Suija.Sogetsu and Enja.Kazuki could enter Fire and Water Emperor modes that fused them with their elements. Yuga's full name is Kaitei Yuga (lit. "Emperor of Destruction Yuga"). Then we got Dark Emperor (Kuraki Sumeragi in Japanese) as last boss of Samurai Shodown V (fused with Gaoh).
 * Golba made few moves that affected countries across world, so he is partially a subject of this trope.
 * Enemy Mine: Haohmaru and Genjuro, Asura and Hanmen no Asura.
 * Kazuki and Sogetsu are subjects of this trope as well, but only formally (as Sogetsu actually has no intention to execute his renegade brother).
 * Enemy to All Living Things: Mizuki and Rasetsumaru. Kusaregedo... when he is hungry (almost constantly). Also, Asura/Yuda... to all things that happen to stand in his way.
 * Enemy Within: Enja, Suija, Yuga and Dark Emperor to Kazuki, Sogetsu, Shiki/Mikoto and Yunfei/Gaoh respectively.
 * Enemy Without: Aku Amakusa and Hanmen no Asura.
 * Engrish: VICTOLY!
 * Honestly, when even the title displays a sample of Engrish (it should be "showdown"), you may expect how far they will go with this.
 * Enigmatic Minion: Draco, although it may be explained by Golba simply hiring him.
 * Epic Flail: If we're going to count kusarigama, then Earthquake should be here. With a justified reason why the blunt head at the end of the chain is as big as a normal person's head—so are his fists.
 * Episode Zero: The Beginning: Samurai Spirits Zero.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait: Ukyo. Ukyo, Ukyo, Ukyo, Ukyo, UKYO.
 * Word of God says Genjuro and Sieger were designed to leave a lasting impression on female players.
 * Eucatastrophe: In only one year after being defeated in Samurai Shodown 64, Yuga comes back, successfully enslaves Haohmaru and Shiki, plunges world in darkness and nearly merges it with Demon World..
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys: Developers decided its better to convert Tam Tam into a monkey for Samurai Shodown II.
 * Everything's Better with Plushies: Everyone from Samurai Shodown II has the ability to turn into immobile small plushie versions of themselves, complete with a keychain.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Yukihime and Suzuhime.
 * Evil Albino: Tohma Kuki.
 * Evil Army: Oboro's Amazons.
 * Evil Counterpart: Kibagami Genjuro to Haohmaru. Also a Deceptive Disciple to Kafuin Nikochin.
 * Evil Duo: Enja and Suija, Yaci and Haito, Draco and Golba.
 * Eviler Than Thou: Asura and Yuga, in a way.
 * Evil Is Not a Toy: Dark Emperor to Yunfei.
 * Evil Knockoff: Rasetsumaru.
 * Hanmen no Asura subverts the trope by being a Good Knockoff... a kind of Psycho Prototype.
 * Evil Laugh: Yuga, Enja, Rasetsumaru. Genan tries to do this, but fails due to his high pitched voice.
 * Evil Mentor: Yuga to Hanmen no Asura and Han-In to nari shi Shiki (both of them have fighting techniques based on Yuga's).
 * Evil Old Folks: Oboro.
 * The Evil Prince: Asura.
 * Evil Sorcerer: Amakusa, Mizuki, Han-In to nari shi Shiki, Yuga, Aku Mikoto and Oboro.
 * Evil Twin: Rasetsumaru (Haohmaru), Enja (Kazama Kazuki), Suija (Kazama Sogetsu), and Rera (Nakoruru).
 * In Samurai Shodown III, Samurai Shodown IV, Samurai Shodown 64 and its sequel, playable characters have "Shura" (Asura, localized as Slash) and "Rasetsu" (Rakshasa, localized as Bust) modes. The "rasetsu" modes are the "heel" versions (either more evil, bloodthirsty, or using forbidden techniques), while "shura" modes are basically everyday "face" versions of characters. This was done to add more variety to gameplay and increase number of characters without need to draw new sprites. Warriors Rage (PS), V and later do not have these modes, but Rasetsumaru (based on Rasetsu Haohmaru) and Rera (based on Rasetsu Nakoruru) became separate characters instead.
 * Subverted by Hanmen no Asura who is a (standalone character) Good Twin to Asura, while serving as his "Rasetsu" version in game's roster.
 * Evil Uncle: Golba to Suzuhime.
 * Evil Versus Evil: Asura versus Yuga.
 * Evil Weapon: Can't get more evil than Asura's Seven Ancient Weapons, which are forms taken by demon lords that rule over seven deadly sins.
 * Also backstory of Genjuro's weapon reveals that his sword drove its wielder into killing frenzy and could make him insane (the swordsmith being the first victim), and it traveled from person to person causing various accidents, and was feared as cursed blade.
 * Oboro's weapons are said to be inhabited by evil spirits. Mikoto's and Rasetsumaru's weapons are classified as cursed weapons as well. Mikoto's was given to her by Oboro, and Rasetsumaru (as demon) probably brought his sword from Hell
 * Both male and female Deku have swords similar in style to Asura's and Oboro's weapons (same ornaments and eye inscriptions), most likely being of hellish origin as well.
 * Excellent Adventure: Hero and his party going 200 years back at one point the second chapter in Samurai Shodown RPG (where Mizuki is the main antagonist), to participate in the past battle against Mizuki.
 * Excited Show Title!: The Neo Geo Pocket Colour versions of Samurai Shodown are called Samurai Shodown! and Samurai Shodown II!.
 * Expy: Kim Hae-Ryeong shares the family name (Kim) and the same general look of a certain King of Fighters character, but it is a very common Korean family name and the look seems fairly basic... until he confronts Draco with "Aku wa yurusan!".
 * Eyepatch of Power: Since Jubei is supposed to be the one from real life, he wears an eyepatch.
 * Eyes Do Not Belong There: Asura's Seven Ancient Weapons have eyes all around them, the eyes actually move and watch the opponent.
 * Eyes of Gold: Asura and Hanmen no Asura have golden-colored eyes.
 * Face: Shura version of a character in series.
 * Fallen Angel: Asura.
 * Fallen Hero: Amakusa, after his historical death. Because he made Deal with the Devil.
 * Fan Service: Almost entirely avoided in the first, third and fourth games (the second game had Cham Cham). Then came Mina, who fights dressed in a bikini and wraparound skirt, and let's not even talk about Iroha, whose special attack involves her getting her opponent behind two shoji doors, stripping naked and then beating up the enemy.
 * Fartillery: One of Earthquake's grapples. Literally. Slashing wrong image in his dublication technique also leaves a gas bomb, as opposed to Hanzo's fire bomb or Galford's electric bomb.
 * Fat Bastard: Earthquake, the 1,380-pound ninja. From Texas. One hundred years before Texas existed. In his profile, it's stated that he likes people fatter than he is, and dislikes "skinny people".
 * Femme Fatale: Saya.
 * Fetus Terrible: An embryo appearing in the center of eye on giant sphere in Mizuki's stage (Yuga's fetus symbol may be related to it too)... it symbolizes the rebirth of Dark God in the realm of humans.
 * Unborn children that were changed by Yuga's magic are the subject of this trope as well.
 * Also Yuga's spirit escaping into Shiki's daughter (Mikoto) before she was born.
 * Fighting Game: Obviously.
 * Finishing Move: Under special circumstances, Samurai Shodown IV and Samurai Shodown V Special allow the winning player to perform an unique fatality-like move on the opponent (those are often gory... while conditions were never mentioned anywhere in-game). Most of games also allow generic finishers, where some slashes can actually bisect or cause High-Pressure Blood to erupt... although characters with blunt weapons have no access to dismembering generic finishers, and only can do a "wall slam" finish. Also, suicide motion allows characters to perform a fatality on themselves... in Samurai Shodown IV, Samurai Shodown V and Samurai Shodown V Special.
 * Fireballs: Nearly everyone has them, and Kazuki can used them as powerups (aside of using them as projectiles).
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: Yuda in Warriors Rage (PS), then Rimururu in the same game (after she de-hibernates).
 * Five-Finger Discount: How Ran Po got his weapon.
 * Flaming Sword: Kazuki in Samurai Shodown wields a flaming sword. Enja has flaming fistcuffs, Sieger and Wan-fu can set their weapons on fire during special moves.
 * Flash Step: Incorporated in the techniques of Ukyo, Seishiro, Tohma, Haito and Daruma.
 * Flight: Hanmen no Asura, Han-In to nari shi Shiki, Ran Po, Minto, Yunfei.
 * Also Nakoruru when carried by her hawk, Shizumaru when gliding on his umbrella. Suija's special move are executed exclusively from air, and his gameplay consists from jumping and diving through air, although he actually flies only in his intro/win poses. Suija.Sogetsu shows ability to fly only during his super.
 * Forced Into Evil: Hanmen no Asura, after he stops being an Anti-Villain.
 * Foreign Fanservice: Sieger. You read that right.
 * Forgot the Call: Yuda. He remembers with time.
 * For the Evulz: Mizuki's motive.
 * Fragile Speedster: Nakoruru, Rimururu and Rera. They are faster than the actual ninjas of the series.
 * Freak-Out: Basara and Mugenji. Kazuki once possessed by Enja.
 * Free-Range Children: Shizumaru who wanders the country in all the games. Apparently Haohmaru started to do this being 15-years old. Next we have 14-years old Suzuhime doing this in Samurai Shodown Sen.
 * Dont forget Nakoruru, Rimururu and Mina who are pretty young as well.
 * Friendly Enemy: Haohmaru and Genjuro, somewhat. Haohmaru wont even recognize him as an enemy, only as a rival.
 * Friend to All Living Things: Nakoruru... on a good day.
 * Frozen Face: Hanma Yagyu. In childhood, one of his experiments exploded in his face, permanently leaving him with a smiling expression.
 * Funny Afro: J.
 * Fuuma Shuriken: Basara has this on a chain as his weapon.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Hanma Yagyu.
 * Honorable mention for Mario from Warriors Rage (PS).
 * The Gambler: Genjuro is an avid player of hanafuda, and cards from it figure heavily (though perhaps figuratively) into nearly all of his special moves. Gambling also seems to one of sources of his income (aside of being a hitokiri: a killer for hire).
 * Gang-Bangers: Yaci, Haito, and their Shibito gang. Also Brutes.
 * General Ripper: Golba.
 * Genki Girl: Cham Cham and Rimururu.
 * Gentleman Thief: Garyo the Whirlwind.
 * Ghost Lights: Basara can summon one called Soul of Nue, as his special move. He also can dissolve into similar form himself, and reform into humanoid form at other location.
 * Giant Mook: Gandara.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Ma Gaoh. There's no lead up to his appearance, he doesn't quite fit the lighthearted festival atmosphere of Samurai Shodown VI, and he's never spoken of again up on his defeat. He fits all the requirements for this trope to a tee.
 * The Glasses Come Off: Andrew of Samurai Shodown removes his glasses before fighting. This is not the case for other three glasses-wearing characters (Taizan, Samurai and Jinbei).
 * Glorious Leader: Gaoh, since in the end he is possessed by Dark Emperor.
 * Glory Seeker: Galford.
 * A God Am I: Suija.
 * God of Evil: Ambrosia.
 * God Save Us From the Queen: Queen Victoria in Samurai Shodown RPG,.
 * Also the queen in Charlotte's Samurai Shodown I intro (exclusive to portable version of game)....
 * Gone to the Future: Asura (as Yuda).
 * Gonk: Genan Shiranu is so terrifically ugly that it is impossible to even tell his species (he's not a tengu, and he's not an oni, but he definitely isn't human...), who somehow managed to get a hot wife. There's also obese Texan ninja Earthquake, and then there's Kusaregedo, a literal Complete Monster who's uglier than Genan and Earthquake combined (that's while his design was based on aforementioned two characters).
 * Mai Shiranui sometimes is named as Genan's descendant, but according to SNK, they just share family name and are not related. Additionally, Mai kills Genan in his Samurai Shodown I ending.
 * Good Bad Translation: Samurai Shodown series never got around to fixing the title either. Considering SNK's track record on weird translations, whether or not this was intentional from the second game onwards is anyone's guess.
 * Speaking of Samurai Shodown, who could forget this classic from the fourth game in that series: "VICTOLY!"
 * Absolutely ridiculous translations. That's SNK. And don't forget it, dweebenheimer!
 * The original US title of the game was actually supposed to be Shogun Shodown. The name was changed before release, but the intentional misspelling was kept.
 * Good Wings, Evil Wings: Asura is an anti-hero, who is shown having 8 black feathered wings (although he only had 2 in OVA). Hanmen no Asura is an anti-villain with 4 white feathered wings. Yuga is a villain with 2 small demon wings that can grow to form bigger, insect-like wings. Mikoto is shown having one white and one black wing, which represent good and evil halves of her personality (the latter being a result of Yuga possession). Yuda is an anti-hero who is show having single black feathered wing... that happened after he lost 7 Ancient Weapons (and 7 out of 8 wings) as Asura. Also, his weapons happen to be the seven demon lords, that show in humanoid forms in his ending, each having single black feathered wing as well.
 * Gory Discretion Shot: While Samurai Shodown usually averts this, a couple of characters use this for particularly gruesome finishing moves. Kusaregedo for example, hauls the enemy offscreen before devouring them. He then lumbers back onscreen and coughs up their skull. Suija lifts his enemy offscreen, crushes and liquefies him/her and let their blood rain down on him!
 * The Gunslinger: Jushiro, Andrew and Draco.
 * Hair of Gold: Galford, Charlotte, Enja.Kazuki, Saya, Enja, Suzuhime, Claude.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Mikoto.
 * Half the Man He Used To Be: A longtime feature of the Samurai Shodown series is being able to slice your opponent in half if you hit them hard enough. This is usually either at the waist or a Diagonal Cut. Vertical cut is present in Samurai Shodown IV fatalities and in Samurai Shodown V Special as one of generic finishers.
 * Handsome Lech: Yoshitora Tokugawa... who can actually run away from the middle of a fight if a girl calls his name. Oh, and he's also the heir to the friggin' Tokugawa shogunate. Also subverted by Ukyo, who has the 'handsome' part, but not the 'lech'.
 * Hattori Hanzo
 * Haunted Heroine: Shiki and Mikoto are haunted by Yuga.
 * Having a Heart: Samurai Shodown IV has a variation of this in a post-battle-quote for Jubei: "You've got guts. Now pick them up!"
 * Headless Horseman: Decapitated Rasetsumaru remains alive and well, and still can talk.
 * Healing Factor: Yuga and Hanmen no Asura can heal on their own.
 * In Samurai Shodown IV and Asura Zanmaden, all characters can recover a part of life while they delay their get up from ground. Samurai Shodown VI offers this only for console-version exclusive "Animal Spirit" groove.
 * The Heartless: Ambrosia (according to Samurai Shodown RPG).
 * Heartwarming Orphan: Shizumaru and Rinka.
 * Heel: Rasetsu version of a character in series.
 * Heel Face Turn: Shiro Amakusa Tokisada from Samurai Shodown turns into a good spirit, since evil half of his soul got separated from him (Samurai Shodown IV). He then sacrifices himself to protect the heroes in Samurai Shodown II.
 * Hell-Bent for Leather: Asura.
 * Hellish Pupils: Asura has unhuman, snake-like pupils.
 * Helpful Mook: Mario (NPC, one of Mikoto's servants) in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Henchmen Race: Deku and Gandaras produced en masse during Asura Zanmaden (you can even see a Gandara plant in one of game's stages). They were a kind of Elite Mooks in previous game.
 * Hero Antagonist: Haohmaru in Warriors Rage (PS)..
 * Heroes Love Dogs: Galford, the All-American hero from Samurai Shodown has his loyal pet dog as a combat gimmick.
 * He Who Fights Monsters: Basara.
 * Hide Your Children: Averted: in all but one game (and there only by accident), the finishing moves are useable on everyone, regardless of age.
 * A literal use comes into play with one of the installments: a couple of kids attempt to play in the streets of a largely abandoned village complete with the Samurai Shodown III/Samurai Shodown IV Empathic Environment right before a match. A lady (presumably their mother) quickly comes in and gets them to run off. Good move.
 * High-Pressure Blood: Kill any opponent with a blade attack while they are on the ground and you might see them eject their entire circulatory system before they slump to the ground, obviously dead from exsanguination. Occasionally sprayed all over the winner in some of the games.
 * Highly-Visible Ninja: Galford (doesn't cover his head, he wears blue, and he fights with his dog who follows him even when he is invisible) and Earthquake. Good god, Earthquake.
 * Hijacked by Ganon: Zankuro in Samurai Shodown IV.
 * Ma Gaoh in Samurai Shodown VI isnt technically new character as well.
 * Hime Cut: Nakoruru, Suzuhime, and several NPC (such as Yukihime) from Samurai Shodown have such haircut.
 * Hiro Yuki: voiced Yoshitora in Samurai Shodown V and Samurai Shodown V Special.
 * Historical Domain Character: Plenty. Haohmaru is basically Musashi, Ukyo is basically Sasaki Kojiro, and Jubei is basically... well, Jubei; and so is Hanzo. Andrew is a bit of a cross between George Washington (Virginian, cherry trees, bayonet) and Andrew Jackson (glasses, hair, gaunt-but-imposing physique), and certainly is portrayed as a bishonen version of the latter (he's named after him, duh). Andrew's level is even in front of the White House, still under construction. Amakusa is based on Christian samurai Masuda Shiro Tokisada a.k.a. Amakusa Shirou. There's also Gaoh, who is based on Oda Nobunaga. And Yumeji possibly being based on his page Mori Ranmaru (right down to the confusing gender).
 * Hitbox Dissonance: Hattori Hanzo's super in Samurai Shodown III had a hitbox that stuck around nearly a second after the actual explosion. Worse, it did not combo with the rest of the attack, meaning that a person who blocked the attack could let off the block a moment too early, and end up taking the full brunt of it anyway. Most of hitboxes in that game heavily suffered from lack of testing.
 * Hitman with a Heart: Saya.
 * Hobos: Daruma is one.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: In Samurai Shodown V Special, demon characters have unique effects if subjected to Basara's decapitating fatality. Enja's (fire demon) head will explode, Suija's (water demon) head will collapse into puddle of water, and Kusaregedo's (flesh-eating demon) head will melt into a fleshy mess.
 * Homicide Machines: Karakuri Hanma.
 * Horny Vikings: Garros from Edge of Destiny.
 * Hot-Blooded: Haohmaru; then, to bigger degree, Kazuki. And Enja... to max degree, as he has fastest Raging rate in games he appeared in.
 * Hot Chick with a Sword: Charlotte, Shiki and Iroha. Saya is not included as she uses kama in battle.
 * Howl of Sorrow: Galfor's dog Poppy does this when he's defeated.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Sieger and Princess Elisabeth. Haohmaru and Oshizu.
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: This is what led Mizuki to The Dark Side.
 * Ill Girl: Subverted: Ukyo Tachibana has tuberculosis (Incurable Cough of Death and Blood From the Mouth inclued), but he remains a quite Badass fighter. It seems Haito is a subject of this trope as well.
 * Image Song: Some image songs for Samurai Shodown exist, at least for Nakoruru and Rimururu (like Egao de Iru for the latter).
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Kusaregedo is a huge, deformed, demonic creature who got to be that way by eating people, and his goal in entering the tournament is to track down and eat one of the other fighters..
 * Immune to Fate: Basara in SNK Playmore timeline (they gave him Time Travel abilities).
 * Implacable Man: Gandara. He is in full-fledge superarmor mode all the time.
 * Important Haircut: Charlotte Christine Colde grew her blond hair long in Samurai Shodown II. When she saw her crush (Haohmaru) was already spoken for (by Oshizu), she decides to not pine away for him and cuts her hair short with her rapier.
 * In his Samurai Shodown V ending, instead of killing Yumeji, Ukyo just cuts off the ponytail.
 * Impossibly Cool Weapon: Azure and Crimson Flash swords (wielded by Seishiro and Tohma) have transparent, crystallic blades. Asura's and Hanmen no Asura's weapons are also subjects of this trope.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Wan Fu (stone pillar, but only in the second game; in the first he used a broadsword), Neinhalt Sieger (giant gauntlet with built-in cannon), Kafuin Gaira (prayer beads), Hanma and Karakuri Hanma (gauntlets with built-in cannons), Morozumi Taizan (giant calligraphy brush), Hisame Shizumaru (umbrella). One of Asura's Seven Ancient Weapons is a shield, that attacks opponent with spikes. Honourable mention for Cham Cham, who uses a sharpened boomerang as a melee weapon.
 * Storyline-wise, Hanma created his weapon based on Sieger's.
 * Giant prayer beads like Gaira's were developed specifically for use as weapons when carrying conventional ones like swords was made illegal in ancient China.
 * Incurable Cough of Death: Subverted by Ukyo Tachibana, who was designed with the apparent intention of being killed off by illness, but (with the exception of an obscure and unpopular side game) never has been, due to his popularity among the gamers.
 * Inherited Illiteracy Title: Though it might just be the fault of the Blind Idiot Translation.
 * Supposedly, this is because its originally planned title was Shogun Shodown, with "Shogun" changed to "Samurai" at the last minute.
 * In Love with Your Carnage: Amakusa to Haohmaru (even mentioned in his Samurai Shodown I info tab)... later led to Amakusa's creation of Rasetsumaru.
 * Innocent Inaccurate: Shizumaru's memories of "the Demon".
 * Instant Ice, Just Add Cold: Rimururu can produce large amounts of ice instantly and out of pretty much nowhere.
 * Instant Runes: Amakusa (from the 3rd game onwards) and Mizuki can make rune-like images to attack. Asura also has own rune-like font, which is used for inscriptions on his weapons, as well as in game's intro and in OVA when he names his attacks.
 * Interface Screw: Caffeine Nicotine had a move like this in Samurai Shodown II; so did unplayable boss Mizuki. In Mizuki's case, being hit by the attack while suffering from it reverses the reversal. Shiki and Taizan also possess such powers.
 * Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Was the part of Yuga's grand scheme. Children were returned later, after being properly adjusted.
 * It's Not You, It's Me/It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Haohmaru tells any of these phrases to Oshizu in some of his endings.
 * Japanese Ranguage: Samurai Shodown IV congratulated the battle winner with a message of "VICTOLY!".
 * Don't forget "FATARITY".
 * Jeanne D'Archetype: Charlotte.
 * Jerk Jock: Brutes in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Joke Character: Kuroko, the fight referee, is playable in some games. Poppy, Galford's dog companion, is playable in Samurai Shodown V. Samurai Shodown VI adds Sugoroku.
 * Characters like Genan, Earthquake, Hanma, Karakuri Hanma, Minto, Tashonmao and Kusaregedo are clearly series' fun factor fodder.
 * In Samurai Shodown II and possibly some others, Kuroko is in fact a Game Breaker (playable in the home versions), just as strong or maybe stronger than the final boss: partly because of his large arsenal of attack Shout Outs to other SNK fighters and weird attacks other characters have trouble countering, including a ranged attack that pulls in the opponent and stuns them which can be repeated for an infinite combo, the ability to split in 2 horizonally when hit by the opponent's attack and have one half of him blow up, and an extremely powerful and quick Desperation Attack that takes out roughly 90% of the opponent's health if it connects.
 * The Juggernaut: Gandara.
 * Jungle Princess: Azami (Genan's wife) looks like one.
 * Just Between You and Me: Boss dialogues in Samurai Shodown games starting from Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Justice Will Prevail: Galford's motto... somewhat.
 * Just Like Robin Hood: Garyo the Whirlwind.
 * Kenji Utsumi: Voiced Gaoh in Samurai Shodown V and Samurai Shodown V Special.
 * Ki Attacks: An explanation to a number of special moves, as probably in every fighting game. Particularly, Yunfei specializes in channeling his ki through the air to create a cutting wind, and also can drain ki from opponent's body.
 * Kick Them While They Are Down: Ground Pursuit (of a downed opponent) is a gameplay element starting from Samurai Shodown IV. In Asura Zanmaden, some special moves get this function too. And if you were knocked down during boss fight vs Yuga, she would spam so much spells that you probably wont get up alive.
 * Kid Hero: Out of series' main heroes: Shizumaru is experienced (in killing people) 14-years old swordsman; Seishiro is basically a 17 years old Master Swordsman, and Suzuhime is a 14-years old princess that wields a giant sword, can lift a person with it and spin them overhead.
 * Kid Sidekick: Shizumaru and Takechiyo to Haohmaru, somewhat. They were his disciples for short periods of time.
 * Kill It with Fire: Abundance of fire-based attacks in series. ESPECIALLY in Samurai Shodown II.
 * Kiyoshi Kobayashi: Voiced Yagyu Jubei.
 * Knight in Shining Armor: Sieger and Walter.
 * Knight of Cerebus: Hanmen no Asura. Tohma fits this trope as well.
 * Knight Templar: Gaoh, he even has a winquote "A greater good my evil serves."
 * Lack of Empathy: Asura and Yuda lack emotions. Curiously, all of Yuda's attacks are named after various emotions instead.
 * Lady of War: Charlotte Christine Colde. She was a hero of the Revolution, after all...
 * Large Ham: Kyoshiro's acting is frequently hinted to be very over the top, making him a perfect fit for the kabuki stage.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: Shizumaru and Yuda have it.
 * Laser Blade: Asura's sword uses lightsaber sound effects.
 * Han-In to nari shi Shiki is barehanded but not unarmed, since she can summon Psychic Power-fueled energy blades from her hands.
 * Laser Guided Tykebomb: Hanmen no Asura.
 * Laughably Evil: Genan, Earthquake and Sankuro.
 * Laughing Mad: Basara, all the time.
 * Leather Man: Asura wears exclusively leather. And chains.
 * Legacy Character: Hanzo.
 * Les Collaborateurs: Genan, Earthquake and Genjuro to Mizuki in Samurai Shodown II; Genan and Earthquake to Amakusa in first OVA.
 * Like a Badass Out of Hell: Samurai Shodown VI boss Ma Gaoh (Ma stands for Makai no Suberubeshi: oppressor of demon world). A demon-possessed version of Gaoh, who managed to take over Hell by abusing power of Dark Emperor (who possessed him in first place), and riding him like own horse (!). And if thats not enough, the first picture that greets you before fighting Ma Gaoh is him stomping the head of Lucifer.
 * Little Miss Con Artist: Minto.
 * Living Shadow: Basara; also Hanmen no Asura during his super.
 * Living Weapon: Asura's Seven Ancient Weapons are the forms taken by seven demon lords under his command. They show living traits in weapon forms too, such as moving the eyes inscribed on weapons to look at the opponent, and turning red when they become raged.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Currently, series have around hundred of characters (without counting lots of NPC that get mentioned here and there).
 * Loony Fan: Fuyo to Sankuro. He also expressed desire to sell her into a brothel, should he become short on money.
 * Louis Cypher:.
 * Loveable Rogue: Garyo the Whirlwind.
 * Love Makes You Evil: The only reason Basara's still "alive" is because of his love for his wife Kagaribi.
 * Made of Iron: Characters hit each other with swords and big blunt objects but cause no visible wounds. Somewhat needed, though, otherwise these games could be very, very short (as was seen in case of Samurai Shodown III where matches could end in 3 hits).
 * Made of Plasticine: A single sword strike, at the very end of the match, can split a character in half.
 * Magnet Hands: Characters can drop their weapons only after being hit by certain moves, although they are just stuck in the ground and can be picked up quickly. however the fast paced, high-damage nature of the game means that if this happens, only a skilled player will be able to escape painful. In most of 3D titles, characters cant drop their weapons at all.
 * Making a Splash: Sogetsu, Suija and their fusion Suija.Sogetsu
 * The Man Behind the Man: Ambrosia behind Amakusa and Mizuki, Jigen Taishi behind Oboro, Dark Emperor behind Gaoh.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Golba, succeeded to manipulate several countries into waging a war, and caused all kinds of political turmoil around the world, so his own country would come out stronger compared to others.
 * Market-Based Title: Samurai Spirits is known as Samurai Shodown outside Japan: an odd case considering the international title actually misspells the replacement word ("Showdown").
 * Mask Power: Tam-Tam, to the point that he was brought back to life by having his mask returned to him.
 * Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and Card Fighters series. To lesser degree, SNK vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK games.
 * Master of Illusion: Basara Kubikiri, with his huge variety of shadow illusions that confuse opponent.
 * Master Swordsman: Haohmaru, Daruma, Kuki (Seishiro's father).
 * Also Zankuro, Ukyo and Kuno Seishiro.
 * McNinja: Galford, the ninja who's Californian before California existed. Same for the Texan Earthquake, who, like Galford, would actually be Mexican.
 * Meaningful Name: Neinhalt Sieger means "Endless Victory".
 * Meido: Iroha. Just look at her fighting attire.
 * Meteor Move: Hanzo Hattori and Galford from Samurai Shodown also have a "grab your opponent, leap up and slam his head into the ground" move. Unusual because, at least in the first game, the Mighty Glacier types didn't have any throws or grabs outside the basic ones, but these two lightweight Ninja did. And could leap into the air with all but the biggest one of them.
 * Kusaregedo has own version of such grab, where he jumps with opponent in air, and then falls knee pressing their head against the ground. This is the most damaging command grab amongst 2D titles, and deals 40% damage.
 * Garyo the Whirlwind would be fitting for this trope (at least visually), had he not earned the "Whirlwind" nickname based on his movement speed.
 * Mighty Glacier: Earthquake, who somewhat subverts the trope by being a half-ton ninja, as well as Wan-Fu, Gaira, Hanma and Karakuri Hanma.
 * Mikako Takahashi: Voice of Nakoruru in Samurai Shodown VI.
 * Miko: Nakoruru, Rimururu, Bizuki, Mikato, Mina.
 * Mizuki is a rare villainous version..
 * Miles Gloriosus: Sankuro.
 * Mind Over Matter: All of Yuga's melee attacks directly attack the opponent by transcending space, similarly to telekinesis. Mikoto (who is possessed by Yuga) can telekinetically toss her weapon in various trajectories across the stage. Suija seemingly uses telekinesis in his fatality, although this can be explained by his water powers used to manipulate opponent's body water.
 * Mirror Match: In different games of series, some characters have special pre-battle dialogue when entered in a Mirror Match; for example, Ukyo Tachibana remarks "Cutting same face... feels bad...".
 * Misanthrope Supreme: Oboro.
 * Mismatched Eyes: Shiki. Although her eyes are naturally blue, one of them becomes red when she is parially under Yuga's control.
 * Miyamoto Musashi: Haohmaru is a direct Shout-Out to Musashi, just like Ukyo Tachibana is one to his rival Kojiro. Takechiyo is too, with his (younger) version of Musashi design being ripped directly from beginning of Vagabond manga.
 * Monster Sob Story: Amakusa, Tohma, Gaoh (and Ma Gaoh), Golba.
 * Mooks: Oboro's Amazons.
 * More Dakka: Jushiro's ''machine gun sword'. Karakuri Hanma's "Machine Gun" super move.
 * Motor Mouth: Garyo, who is both fast and loud talker.
 * Mouthy Kid: Ran Po and Minto.
 * This also the main occupation of Champuru, subverted by the fact that he isnt human.
 * The Muse: Kei Odagiri to Ukyo.
 * My Master, Right or Wrong: Hanmen no Asura and his master, Yuga.
 * My Name Is ???: Kuroko's name card in the non-continue game credits for Samurai Shodown II is obscured and "????" is read below, regardless if you fought him or not. Suppossedly what's obscured is his real name (Kuroko is an alias).
 * Named Weapons: Everyone has them... except Sen characters.
 * Narcissist: Amakusa and Suija.
 * Tohma (who only thinks how his swordsmanship has no equal and only cares about himself) may be a subject of this trope as well.
 * Nature Hero: Nakoruru and her sister Rimururu in Samurai Shodown. Subverted that although they are very much aware that they fight for the preservation of nature, they are much more intelligent and aware of the outside world.
 * Nature Spirit: Any game after Samurai Shodown II chronologically, Nakoruru.
 * Probably her adoptive (post-Samurai Shodown V retcon) sister Rimururu, too (weird she dosn't age in the 20 years between Samurai Shodown 64-2 and Warrior's Rage (the PS game)).
 * She haven't aged because she was sealed by Oboro and surrounded by protective ice for those years. This is evident by the fact that she acts very surpirsed seeing Haohmaru being old and wearing a beard.
 * Necessarily Evil: Gaoh. Other cases may include Amakusa and Golba.
 * Neo Geo: Platform on which most of series' games was released on.
 * Never the Selves Shall Meet: Asura and Hanmen no Asura. Yuga ignored it and got screwed.
 * Nice Hat: Caffeine Nicotine wears a nice-sized one. When armed, he swings it as his weak slash/punch. When unarmed, he just swings it for all side moves. And if he does a dive roll, the hat itself is what's seen as rolling along its brim. Ushiwakahime from Samurai Shodown RPG uses her hat as her main weapon. Later we got Daruma, who had a hat that could probably cover him whole, had an angry red face on it, and in one of endings he uses it as a boat(!).
 * The Nicknamer: Minto. She even affected names of Mugenji's special moves.
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: Mugenji is an Ax Crazy example of this.
 * Ninja: Hanzo and his relatives and clan, Galford, Earthquake, Kazuki and Sogetsu and their relatives and clan.
 * Ninja Log: Hanzo and Galford use the classic log to avoid the enemy attack and counter from unexpected directions. Kazuki uses explosive teleport for this, leaving his burning pants behind.
 * Ninja Maid: Iroha is the embodiment of this.
 * Noble Demon: Look Genan's Samurai Shodown VI ending.
 * Noblewoman's Laugh: Charlotte, Yuga, Aku Mikoto, and, disturbingly to a greater extent, Amakusa.
 * Non-Action Guy: Samurai from Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Non-Human Sidekick: Mamahaha to Nakoruru, Shikuru to Purple Nakoruru/Rera, Poppy to Galford, Paku Paku to Cham Cham, unnamed frog to Genjuro, Maju to Mizuki, Haon to Mizuki & Bizuki, Konru to Rimururu, Tetsunosuke to Rinka, Champuru to Mina. Most of those animals are even playable separately, in latter games.
 * Kagaribi to Basara, in a way (since she is a ghost that accompanies him).
 * Non-Linear Sequel: Every 2D Samurai Shodown has been a non-linear sequel since Samurai Shodown II. Samurai Shodown III and Samurai Shodown IV are set after the original game but before Samurai Shodown II, while Samurai Shodown V and Samurai Shodown VI are prequels to the first game. Oddly enough, the 3D games are all true sequels to Samurai Shodown II, although the PS version of Warriors' Edge (which is a different game from the arcade version) takes place in the distant future of the other games.
 * Norio Wakamoto: Voiced Golba in Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny.
 * Not Blood Siblings: Nakoruru and Rimururu (post-Samurai Shodown V retcon).
 * Not So Invincible After All: Ukyo Tachibana was set up for this with his tuberculosis, but due to his popularity, SNK has never followed through, except in the (canonically happening near end of series) Samurai Spirits Asura Zanmaden (Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage). This was retconned seeing how he is alive and well in Edge of Destiny which happens few years after Asura Zanmaden.
 * Numbered Sequels: All seven of the 2D Samurai Shodown games received consecutive numbers from Samurai Shodown II to Samurai Shodown VI (plus Samurai Shodown V Special) for their English-language releases. The original Japanese releases of each game had a variation of the original Samurai Spirits title and some were prequels. Still, Samurai Shodown V is known in Japan as Samurai Spirits Zero. The fictional chronology of the 2D titles goes like this: Samurai Shodown V, Samurai Shodown I, Samurai Shodown III, Samurai Shodown IV and Samurai Shodown II; with Samurai Shodown VI being set in an alternate universe with all the characters from the previous games. Thus, all the numbered sequels after Samurai Shodown II were really prequels in terms of plot.
 * The Obi-Wan: Yunfei is the embodiment of this trope. Also old Haohmaru in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Obliviously Evil: Tashonmao's way of "protecting" Nakoruru.
 * Obviously Evil: Ambrosia in Samurai Shodown RPG.
 * Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: In Japan, Samurai Spirits Shinsho (PS game) is a sequel to Samurai Spirits: Asura Zanmaden (arcade game). English titles of both versions named them Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage, fooling many people into believing that the PS game was a port of said arcade game.
 * Older and Wiser: Haohmaru becomes this in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Older Than They Look: Enja, Suija, Nicotine and Yunfei (the first two show their actual age during their suicide moves... they turn into skeletons and then into dust). Shockingly, Nicotine is the youngest of four.
 * Amakusa is quite old as well, but it doesnt counts since he is an undead. Asura is ancient, but he doesnt looks quite human, too.
 * Old Master: Haohmaru's master, Caffeine Nicotine (yes, that's his name). Also Yunfei (master of Enja and Suija) is a Very Old Master, being more that 1000 years old. Old Haohmaru and Daruma from Warriors Rage (PS) are variations of this trope, as well.
 * One-Dimensional Thinking: Samurai Shodown II is the first and probably only Fighting Game in which you can just lie down on the floor in order to dodge a horizontal swipe or a projectile.
 * This maneuver is also available in Samurai Shodown V, Samurai Shodown V Special and Samurai Shodown VI.
 * One-Hit Kill: Zankuro's Desperation Attack in the fourth game, but only if he hits you mid-air, for some reason. Samurai Shodown V Special had the "Zetsumei Ougi or Overkill", which would kill the opponent (if a round had been already won, though), ending the match in a very gory fatality.
 * One-Winged Angel: Literally... Yuda's design. Like Sephiroth, he has single black wing over his shoulder (when it's not visible, he has black wing tattoo there instead), has similar design of shoulder pads on straps, he also has very long sword, and . Also, inscription on his official artwork reads "Angel of Death - One-Winged Death God - Yuda" (?????????????, Shi no Tenshi ? Katayoku no Shinigami ? Yuda), which is a throwback to Sephiroth's music theme "One-Winged Angel (?????, Katayoku no Tenshi), which is a trope namer.
 * Each of the seven demon lords that serve him (as Seven Ancient Weapons) also has a single black wing.
 * Asura's design also shares few throwbacks to Sephiroth, being tall, long-haired man in a black leather outfit, wielding very long sword, and although his hair is black, it turns white in rage.
 * Regarding actual application of this trope (final forms of bosses), Yuga has 2nd and 3rd form in Asura Zanmaden, while Gaoh can transform into Dark Emperor in Samurai Shodown V.
 * The One Guy: Yoshitora.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Genjuro to Haohmaru.
 * Onmyodo: Practioners of it (onmyouji) include Nicotine, Taizan and Ochamaro's unnamed creator. Nicotine uses O-fuda cards for spells and summons (including Shikigami summons), while Taizan uses Five Elements seals. Of course, both have exorcist practice. Ochamaro is basically a mechanic onmyouji and was created to seal demons.
 * Organic Technology: Yuga has a preference for it while creating various monstrosities.
 * Our Elves Are Better: Most characters in series that originate from Makai (Demon World) seem to have pointy ears... that includes Asura, Hanmen no Asura, Yuga, Yuda, and, in some depictions, Enja and Suija. Hanmen no Asura and Han-In to nari shi Shiki have alternative palettes which make them look like High Elves. Moreso in their primary palettes their (as well as Asura's, Yuga's and Yuda's) skin is grey and also Han-In to nari shi Shiki's hair is white, similarly to Dark Elves.
 * Ouroboros: One of Yuga's symbols depicts an Alien-based serpent eating his own tail (actually one of two tails) to form 8-like shape. Warriors Rage (PS) has another throwback to this, with characters referring to Yuga as to "Serpent of Time".
 * Our Vampires Are Different: Shiki and Mikoto can drain opponent's life energy to heal themselves.
 * Outlaw: There are lots of those, including but not limited to: Earthquake, Genjuro, Zankuro, Sankuro, and many members of Samurai Spirits Shinsho.
 * Out of Focus: Cham Cham, although popular, has only appeared in a few games. Also. Earthquake and Gen-an, followed by other "lost after Samurai Shodown II" characters such as Wan-fu, Sieger and Nicotine.
 * Asura appeared in only one game of series, and got a cult following... the demand for him was so high thar developers were forced to include him to Neo Geo Battle Coliseum. Also true for Shiki, but she managed to appear in several more games before that.
 * Palette Swap: Used in 2D games of series as a way to gradually change skin color as characters Rage more.
 * Another famous example of the skin-color aspect of this trope is Nakoruru. Her 2nd player palette made her look like her own Evil Twin. The idea was developed on with subsequent games, and evolved into body-sharing character Purple Nakoruru/Evil Nakoruru, and later in separate character, Rera
 * In same fashion Kim Ung Che was created as "separate" character from Gaira in Samurai Shodown VI.
 * Panty Shot: In Samurai Shodown V, Mina Majikina became the first to grace the series with these: her skirt flaps up to expose her white panties when she does almost anything. Especially notable when she is killed, as her body would fall through the air with her crotch facing the screen, her white panty-clad buttocks visible. Edge of Destiny featured this with several character redesigns (Nakoruru now wears a knee-length skirt, and Rimururu's shorts have rather large leg-holes) as well as new female character Suzu, who wears a short pink kimono dress. The girls exposed their panties fairly often in combat, and almost always when they were killed, as their dead bodies tended to sprawl on the ground with their legs spread apart.
 * Paper Fan of Doom: In the first two games, Kyoshiro's projectile is a burning folding fan; he also uses fans to hit his opponents at close range.
 * Also, Ochamaro's weapon of choice is a pair of fans, albeit metal ones.
 * Parasol of Pain: Shizumaru Hisame. He does have a concealed sword, but the umbrella is his primary weapon.
 * Path of Inspiration: Yuga's puppet show is a variation of this.
 * People Puppets: Yuga turns many people (including Shiki) into these. Han-In to nari shi Shiki later gains a move that forces the opponent to act like her puppet.
 * Perpetual Frowner: Sieger claims he can't smile to save his life.
 * Subverted by Hanma Yagyu, who always smiles since his facial nerves were damaged.
 * Perverse Puppet: It seems the actions of Karakuri Hanma are limited to running around and/or mindlessly attacking everyone in sight.
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Nicotine Caffeine, Daruma, Ran Po.
 * Pirate: Garros from Edge of Destiny. There also was a pirate stage in Samurai Shodown VI.
 * Pistol-Whipping: Draco from Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny takes this to its logical extreme, using a shotgun primarily as a melee weapon. Actually makes a certain amount of sense, considering all the playable characters use standard melee weapons... and while he does actually shoot with his gun, it doesn't kill or incapacitate instantly, and he has to reload after two shots.
 * Andrew is much the same, primarily using a bayonet on the end of his rifle.
 * Jushiro subverts the trope by having gun built inside his sword's hilt, with sheathing resulting in machine gun mode.
 * Planet Eater: Figuratively - one of Mizuki's famous catchphrases is that she will "eat the world whole".
 * Playing with Fire: Kazuki, Enja and their fusion Enja.Kazuki. Miscellaneous fire users include Kyoshiro, Tam Tam, Wan-fu, Sieger, Nicotine and Karakuri Hanma.
 * Portal to the Past: The one in Samurai Shodown RPG.
 * Power Fist: Sieger's really big gauntlet weapon.
 * Less prominent examples include Genan, Hanma, Karakuri Hanma and Tashonmao.
 * Power Limiter: Asura's bondage gear which is infused with Yuga's power, and so he cant take it off while Yuga is alive. Also the whole deal of Ambrosia and Yuga being very powerful yet unable to get out of Makai (Demon World) unless they come into possession of certain artifact. And when Yuga later possesses Mikoto, she is unable to fully overpower her and use body as her own.
 * Power Tattoo: Shiki, Deku, Gandara, Yuga, Asura, Han-In to nari shi Shiki, Enja.Kazuki, Suija.Sogetsu, Yuda, Enja, Suija. All those are interwined with various magical powers. Enja displays those only during fatality and Suija only during winpose though.
 * Earthquake too posesses a tattoo (over his face), but it was done solely to improve his looks. Tashonmao's facial tattoo is a ceremonial one, apparently done accordingly to his temple's traditions.
 * Precision-Guided Boomerang: Cham Cham has one of these as her primary melee weapon (her heavy slash is basically to toss it about a metre in front of her). This actually makes it one of the best projectiles in the game, since it will plow through and disrupt all but a few other projectiles in the game: it can't destroy other melee weapons, and some projectiles escape just by not being where the boomerang goes. And it always returns, even while she's being grappled and pummelled. "Oh! How dangerous a boomerang is!"
 * Shizumaru can do the same with his umbrella, and such "physical" projectile destroys other projectiles it encounters in same fashion as Cham Cham's. Mikoto can do the same with her pudao-like weapon.
 * Magic sphere which appears in Mizuki's super move, moves in a boomerang fashion as well.
 * Promethean Punishment: In the past, god Ambrosia had its body destroyed and its spiritual form banished to demon realm of Makai. Led to Ambrosia becoming the Dark God of Makai, ruling over demons and drawing strength from humans' negative enrgy. Also its body could be resurrected with the help of Palenke and Tangil stones, serving as source of Ambrosia's evil plots.
 * Promoted to Unlockable
 * Prophecies Are Always Right: Jigen Taishi's rebellion scheme was postponed to the moment when "two misfortune dragons appear" (according to his prophecy) and so Oboro was left waiting for the two strangers who would be his future companions (Tohma and Mikoto). They eventually appeared, starting the events of Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy: Tam-Tam.
 * Psycho for Hire: Genjuro, Yaci, Haito and Draco.
 * Public Domain Soundtrack: Samurai Shodown VI uses Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" as a background theme for the USA stage, rearranged as a military march.
 * And the arranged version adds the National Anthem (Star-Spangled Banner) in the beginning, then goes into a rock version of Stars and Stripes Forever.
 * Put Them All Out of My Misery: Amakusa, who wants to avenge his slain comrades and is often seen carrying skull of woman he loved.
 * Quest for Identity: Shizumaru and Yuda happen to be in such situation. Its not like Yuda cares much about this, since he seems to lack emotions.
 * Rage Against the Heavens: Sorta, since Ambrosia and Yuga call themselves gods.
 * Rain of Arrows: Mina and her endless arrow supply. Thats while Asura can shoot max 3 arrows at once.
 * Rain of Blood: During Suija's Impartial and Divine Judgement fatality in the non-violent Samurai Shodown V Special. In the non-violent Samurai Shodown VI, same animation was reused in his ending only to summon the water rain. Then, image of him summoning water rain became his card in Card Fighters DS. Talk about Badass Decay (even more so if you consider that in censored version of game, the rain was white).
 * Asura stands under rain of blood in one of the official Asura Zanmaden artworks.
 * Razor Wind: Yunfei is a master of this. Also is used in projectiles of Ukyo, Yumeji and Zankuro.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Asura, Yuga and Ambrosia are all ancient beings.
 * Although Enja, Suija and Yunfei all are over 1000 years old as well, part of those years was passed in suspended animation, so they may or may not qualify for this trope. By the way, Enja and Suija show their actual age during their suicide moves... they turn into skeletons and then to dust.
 * Recruiting the Criminal: Sometimes shogunate uses services of Genjuro - a famous hitokiri (killer for hire) with the love for dirty work (because it allows him to kill more people) - just because he is effective. Yet technically, he is still an Outlaw.
 * Recycled Title: Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage was used as overseas title for both Samurai Spirits Asura Zanmaden, and its sequel Samurai Spirits Shinsho. This led to big confusion amongst non-Japanese fans.
 * In addition, there were two Samurai Shodown games for Neo Geo Pocket called Samurai Shodown! and Samurai Shodown! II. The first two arcade games were also called that, minus the exclamation marks.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Asura's eyes become red when he is raged. One of Shiki's eyes becomes red when she is partially under Yuga's control, and when she becomes Han-In to nari shi Shiki (full Yuga's control) both of her eyes become red. Yuda, Mikoto, Tohma and Oboro are permanently red-eyed.
 * Redheaded Hero: Shizumaru in Samurai Shodown III, Kazuki in Samurai Shodown IV.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: In order of appearance: Kazuki and Sogetsu, Enja.Kazuki and Suija.Sogetsu, Seishiro and Tohma, Enja and Suija.
 * Red Right Hand: Asura's demon-controlling gauntlet, which becomes red should he get raged.
 * Regularly-Scheduled Evil: Zankuro's killing spree.
 * Also Mugenji, who apparently kills people in Ritenkyo every night.
 * Religion Is Magic: Amakusa is the living (or should we say undead?) proof.
 * Religion of Evil: The religion Amakusa was preaching after his death and resurrection as Ambrosia servant. Ironically, the classic christianity he preached before death was regarded in same fashion by the government.
 * Retired Badass: Daruma.
 * Reverse Grip: Nakoruru/Rimururu/Rera use this often. Also Cham Cham and her boomerang. Shiki also holds one of her two swords in reverse grip.
 * Rewriting Reality: Words written with Taizan's brush, come to reality moments later. For example, should he write kanji for "thunder", opponent will be struck by lightning moments after.
 * The Right Hand of Doom: Neinhalt Sieger's giant gauntlet with a glowing hand. Also, Asura's demon-controlling gauntlet (albeit normal-sized) is considered dramatically powerful.
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Happens after the Time Travel in Samurai Shodown RPG.
 * Rival Turned Evil: Genjuro to Haohmaru. In Samurai Shodown RPG, it was because his candidature as servant of evil was rejected by Amakusa in Haohmaru's favour. Haohmaru refused, of course.
 * Rocket Punch: Karakuri Hanma can shoot one or both of its fists at opponent, afterwards returning fists back via a rope connecting each fist/arm pair.
 * Royal Rapier: Charlotte's weapon of choice.
 * Rule of Two: Played in Oboro's dialogue with Kuno Seishiro in Shinsho/Warriors Rage, and later in Sankuro's dialogue with Genjuro in Samurai Shodown V.
 * The Runaway: Mikoto and Suzuhime.
 * Rurouni Kenshin: Character homages circulate both ways (quick example: Shishio Makoto's initial appearance was based on Genjuro, while Izurugi Raijuta served as basis for Zankuro). This also resulted in Last Blade series having more homages to Rurouni Kenshin characters. Later its creator (and avid Samurai Shodown fan), Nobuhiro Watsuki designed new characters for Samurai Shodown V; some of which were (again) homages to Rurouni Kenshin characters.
 * Ryu and Ken: Aside of Shura/Rasetsu character mode pairings, there are 3 distinct examples:
 * Nakoruru and Rimururu with the latter starting as a headswap of the former.
 * Questionable at best, since Nakoruru hails from the first game, while Rimururu doesn't even appear until Samurai Shodown III. You can be the judge. Their Samurai Shodown III sprites are in the top center.
 * Hanzo and Galford. They are headswaps of each other and share a good deal of their movesets.
 * Haohmaru and Genjuro, played up as rivals canonically. Both have fireballs, anti-airs, and body projectile moves, but do not play identically.
 * Samurai: Yagyu Jubei is technically the only actual samurai in the game, until Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage for the PS, which featured members of Oniwabanshu.
 * Since the PS game is the last in series storyline-wise, it could be said that was until Edge of Destiny's Sugamata Jinbei.
 * Said PS game also had generic characters named "Samurai".
 * Samus Is a Girl: Shippu no Reon.
 * Yuga is also a subject of this trope, using remotely-controlled male body first, then appearing in her own body later.
 * Satsuki Yukino: voiced Mina in Samurai Shodown V.
 * Scarf of Asskicking: Both Hanzo and Galford of Samurai Shodown wear scarves. The scarves were short in the first two games, but when SNK redrew their sprites for Samurai Shodown III, they became long tripping hazards. In 3D games, Galford's normal model lacks scarf though, and in Samurai Spirits Asura Zanmaden, Rasetsu Galford has short scarf again (possibly to show that Hanzo is the more experienced ninja). In same fashion, Hanzo's sons wear short scarves in his Samurai Shodown VI ending, while he wears a long one. Talking about scarf hierarchy right here.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Taizan, Samurai (from PS game), Andrew and Jinbei wear glasses.
 * Screaming Warrior: Enja.Kazuki, Enja and Gandara. Also, most characters have Rage scream while activating Rage Explosion (for example Suija screams that his opponent will suffer a thousand deaths).
 * Garyo gets honorable mention as series' loudest talker, who likes to end his sentences with loud "Ooooww!".
 * Screw Destiny: Basara's Samurai Shodown VI ending.
 * Sdrawkcab Name: Names of all the attacks of Asura and Hanmen no Asura. This is because their powers bear names of demons and angels, and reading those in reverse to summon their powers is a common occult practice. This backwards writing is also true for all words in the intro of game those two characters appear in.
 * Sealed Badass in a Can: (Ma)Gaoh in Demon World. Until he decided to went Like a Badass Out of Hell.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: At least at some point in storyline: Ambrosia, Amakusa, Mizuki, Zankuro, Yuga, Asura, Dark Emperor, Enja, Suija.
 * Sealed Good in a Can: Rimururu for about 20 years and Yunfei for 1000 years.
 * Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Dark Emperor inside Yunfei.
 * Secret Circle of Secrets: Servants of Ambrosia and Yuga fall into this category.
 * Seeker Archetype: Ukyo, whose objective in most games is to find the Ultimate Flower to present to his beloved Kei.
 * Self-Made Man: Its written on the back of old Haohmaru in Warriors Rage (PS). Aside of Haohmaru, Genjuro is another character fitting this trope.
 * Self-Made Orphan: Genjuro. It was self-defense though.
 * Serial Killer: Zankuro, Mugenji and Rasetsumaru.
 * Serious Business: Kyoshiro takes acting so seriously he will kill you and act like it's a play. He literally describes his work as "a method of acting that is a matter of life or death."
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Basara's Samurai Shodown VI ending.
 * Seven Deadly Sins: Personified in Asura's Seven Ancient Weapons. Each weapon is a form taken by demon lord who rules over particular sin: Asmodeus (lust) - bow, Belphegor (sloth) - pike, Leviathan (envy) - scythe, Lucifier (pride) - sword, Mammon (greed) - shield, Beelzebub (gluttony) - battle axe, Satanas (wrath) - staff.
 * Sexy Backless Outfit: Shiki wears a backless tight dress and her back sports a massive snake tattoo and a Yuga symbol.
 * Shape Shifter: Yumeji in Samurai Shodown V can morph into other characters to perform their signature moves.
 * Shapeshifter Weapon: Yuga's female form can form various weapons (axes, spears, swords, bows, etc) by shapeshifting own arms. Also, swords of Deku and Hanmen no Asura too have ability to grow in size and length.
 * Shapeshifting Lover: The basis of Iroha's Backstory in Samurai Shodown VI. During one of her super moves, during which she disrobes and attacks the opponent behind a screen, her silhouette briefly flickers into that of a crane's.
 * Shaping Your Attacks: Many characters, including Amakusa (ghost-shaped blast), Ukyo (swallow-shaped slash) and Gaira (Asura-shaped flash).
 * Shizuka Ito: Voiced Mizuki Rashoujin in Samurai Shodown V Special.
 * Shock and Awe: Galford can access lightning powers via ninjutsu, while Nicotine, Taizan and Yuga do this via spells. Since Hanmen no Asura is more Badass, he calls on powers of anger of thunder Ramiel instead.
 * Shoo Out the Clowns: When Samurai Shodown III came around, SNK decided they wanted a "darker" atmosphere. This resulted in drastic redesigns for most of the characters (Large Ham Kabuki actor Senryo Kyoshiro apparently Took a Level in Badass), and the removal of the more light-hearted characters, including Genan, Cham Cham and her brother Tam Tam, Caffeine Nicotine, Yagyu Jubei (?!) and Charlotte. Samurai Shodown IV came around and added some of them back in, and by Samurai Shodown VI, the entire cast of 2D games has been reunited.
 * Shoryuken: Part of characters has such anti-air moves, for example Ryu and Ken style Haohmaru's and Genjuro's anti air moves... while Wan-fu had one that set opponent on fire.
 * Shotoclone: Haohmaru's Senpuuretsuzan and Kougetsuzan moves.
 * Although its Charlotte whose moveset allows for classic "slow hadouken, fast hadouken" trap.
 * Shout-Out:
 * The alien of the Alien franchise can be found being cooked in a pot in Gen-An's Samurai Shodown II stage. Apparently, creators thought it was not enough, and used him as main mascot of Yuga - who has some alien-based symbolics (can be found on her 1st boss form clothes and on some arenas), and in her second and third boss forms she has an Alien growing out of her back (with his head growing from the back of Yuga's humanoid head and their mouth movements being synchronized).
 * Earthquake bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Heart from Fist of the North Star.
 * Basara the Executioner's appearance is very similar to that of Eric Draven, as is his backstory.
 * The King of Prussia in Sieger's stage watches the fight while being flanked by a pair of Imperial Royal Guards.
 * Ukyo is based off Sasaki Kojiro, but details from his fashion sense to weapon of choice seem more inspired by Ishikawa Goemon.
 * The opening line for a few of the games (“Bushido to wa shinu koto to mitsuketari”) originates from Hagakure. What follows appears to be pseudophilosophy or something about shura and rasetsu (oh, and it's a little different between some of the games).
 * Some of the character designers from Ninja Scroll also worked on Samurai Shodown, and it shows:
 * Dakuan could be easily confused for Caffeine Nicotine.
 * Kibagami Jubei's name comes from Kibagami Genjuro and Yagyu Jubei.
 * Mujuro is reminiscient of Tachibana Ukyo and of course has the same gimmick as Zatoichi.
 * Benisato shares similarities with Shiki from Samurai Shodown 64.
 * Yurimaru is sorta similar to Amakusa in a way.
 * Shijima = Basara, although he didn't appear until Samurai Shodown II years later in Samurai Shodown III.
 * Genma, whose mechanical arm makes him a clear predecessor to Sieger.
 * Shrinking Violet: Shizumaru Hisame.
 * Shrouded in Myth: Ambrosia, Asura and Yuga.
 * Sickening Crunch: Hanzou's fatality consists of him swiftly breaking the arm, leg, ribs and then skull of his victim, all with audible cracks and shots of the broken bones inside.
 * Sickly Green Glow: Zankuro glows green when first introduced in the third game; also, several of his attacks have a green glow or make him glow green.
 * Also, green-flamed Dark Emperor in Samurai Shodown V (complete with his background).
 * Signature Sound Effect: When Asura swings his sword, it uses "Zzzzmmm" lightsaber sound effects.
 * Single-Stroke Battle: Zankuro (raged) versus Mina in Samurai Shodown V Special. She dies in one stroke.
 * Sinister Minister: Jigen Taishi, who (aside of being Big Bad) is a respectable priest with ties to shogunate.
 * Sinister Scythe: One of Asura's weapons is giant Leviathan scythe, which makes him look like The Grim Reaper.
 * If we're letting kusari-gama in, then Earthquake's rig belongs here too. Of course, a sickle for him is about scythe-sized for the rest of the cast. Even doubly odd, his seems to be sharpened on the outside of the curve, given the animation of his heavy slashes.
 * Sissy Villain: Amakusa's appearance, although he isnt gay.
 * The Slacker: Normal behaviour of Jushiro and Yoshitora.
 * Slasher Smile: Rasetsumaru has this.
 * Slave Mooks: Yuga's brainwashed puppets.
 * Slice-and-Dice Swordsmanship: Charlotte would often stab with her rapier, but her heavy slashes featured her swinging it... sort of. It's generally shown as slashing in a very distinct triangle pattern which is still a lethal hit if the enemy walks into the bit she drew.
 * Smoke Out: Used in teleports of Hanzo, Galford, Earthquake ...and Kuroko (during staff roll).
 * Smug Snake: Yaci and Sankuro.
 * SNK: Obviously.
 * SNK Boss: Most bosses, specifically Zankuro Minazuki, Gaoh and Yuga.
 * Amakusa in Samurai Shodown I likes to bitchslap you into a corner and keep you there for an easy infinite. He also has 2 fireballs (one being unblockable), and he teleports like crazy and throws you as soon as he gets out of it. If you beat him in Round 1, a cutscene occurs where he powers up and unleashes the powers of his dark god to make him stronger and also harder.
 * Then came Mizuki in Samurai Shodown II, who had several moves that caused Interface Screw, in addition to using several of Amakusa's previous tactics.
 * Zankuro in Samurai Shodown III could literally kill you in 3 hits, and you need to win 3 rounds to defeat him while he only needs to win 2 to defeat you.
 * Samurai Shodown IV has you fight not one, nor two, but three bosses in sequence. The first is Aku Amakusa, a purple-skinned CPU-only version of Amakusa, which is NOT the SNK boss of the game, however, as he's the same as the player version. Upon beating him, you fight the real SNK boss, Zankuro, for the second time in the series. He's more intelligent this time around, and his Heavy Slash cuts off half of your health bar, and he also can kill you from one hit if his super move hits you in the air. Afterwards, it's a cakewalk when you fight your rival in one final battle.
 * Samurai Shodown 64: Yuga uses levitation, has own slashes and unblockable grabs teleporting directly on opponent from any distance, has access to time stop, healing, teleportation, and few annoying projectiles. Before Yuga, you fight Deku, the catch is that Deku-Yuga team needs to win 2 rounds to defeat you, while you should win a total of 3 rounds to defeat them (you should defeat Deku once to face Yuga). If you are defeated by Yuga and continue, you are going back to fighting Deku.
 * Samurai Shodown 64 2 (Asura Zanmaden): in this game, Yuga's first form again has levitation, teleporting slashes, projectiles, ability to snag opponent's soul out of his body, and energy shield. Her second form has ability to turn her arms into weapons and stretch them via entire screen, has access to all kinds of projectiles, beams and fire waves, ability to slow opponent's movement, and her super involves dropping an energy sphere which results in nuke-comparable unblockable explosion, shockwave from which covers almost entire screen for major damage.
 * Warriors Rage (PS): main boss Oboro has no body you can attack, since you fight his giant levitating weapons instead. Those weapons are the only "character" in game which takes full advantage of 3D space flying here and there and attacking from various directions... while their own hitboxes (which you should attack to damage Oboro) are almost nonexistent.
 * Samurai Shodown V and its mid boss Sankuro carry on the proud tradition of SNK Boss cheapness: first off, his takes way less damage from attacks, plus his special attacks involve calling in annoying helpers (the sliding girl isn't so bad, but the guy coming down from the sky does a sick amount of damage, and the grabbing guy from behind is unblockable and usually coupled with a healing move that restores almost a quarter of Sankuro's life bar). Add to it that his super is a fullscreen unblockable shot that he can spam until it connects. Add to it the fact that Sankuro is only the MID-BOSS... yeah, Samurai Shodown has a bunch of SNK bosses.
 * Don't forget the final boss Gaoh. Once you damage him enough he transforms into Dark Emperor (a giant suit of armor), which is fully invincible and capable of killing you less than four hits. He then proceeds to charge at you constantly like a rhino, and you have to wait until his Rage meter empties. Afterwards, when he becomes Raged again, he turns into Dark Emperor AGAIN and so on...
 * And then, rounding out the previous two examples is Yumeji, Gaoh's Dragon, who is essentially Rasetsu/Bust Mode Ukyo on steroids. Has high damage output and ability to transform into other characters and use their signature moves.
 * Samurai Shodown V Special has you fight Amakusa, Zankuro, Gaoh and Mizuki in sequence (which will be initiated only if each previous boss was killed with Issen/Death Ougi for which you only have 1 attempt per whole fight). Although Amakusa's AI was rather retarded, Zankuro is even more intelligent that in Samurai Shodown IV (despite being balanced somewhat), and he has new reversal move he abuses EVERY TIME YOU USE A PHYSICAL ATTACK. If you attack him, it gets reversed; if you dont, he attacks you; if you block, he throws you; and if you jump, be ready to get nailed on his giant sword. Next comes Gaoh, who, despite being heavily nerfed, is tricky to beat correctly, since is the only boss who starts blocking once you attempt Issen/Death Ougi - then you most likely waste your Issen/Death Ougi attempt - which nullifies your chances to get to Mizuki (unless you let Gaoh defeat you and then retry). Battle with Mizuki isnt a piece of cake too, but at least she lost her Interface Screw moves, and you can kill her any way you like.
 * Samurai Shodown VI has Ma Gaoh (Demon Gaoh), who seemingly has answer for everything you throw at him, spams screen-filling fire waves that will chip damage you if blocked even after Ma Gaoh recovered to spam another one, and if you got hit by fire wave, used slow attack or simply jumped in air, Ma Gaoh will initiate his super (freezes time, hops off screen and then does rams you while riding Dark Emperor... which again fills whole screen and does lots of chip damage if blocked).
 * Averted by Golba (boss of Samurai Shodown Sen/Edge of Destiny), who fights with generic rapier attacks and seemingly lacks special moves.
 * Some Dexterity Required: Some nearly-impossible super move motions in Samurai Shodown II, Samurai Shodown III, Warriors Rage (PS), and then for secret moves in Samurai Shodown V, Samurai Shodown V Special and Samurai Shodown VI.
 * Something About a Rose: Charlotte design is borrowed from the Rose of Versailles series. She is quite fond of roses, even catching them after winning when someone drops one from above for it, and mentioning how she is "A rose with thorns" in her win quotes. Coincidentally, she tends to stab people a lot in the games.
 * The Soulless: Asura and Yuda seem to lack emotions and act like this. Curiously, Hanmen no Asura seems to play the role of "soul" for both of them.
 * Also, Karakuri Hanma (obviously).
 * Spam Attack: In close quarters, multi-hitting moves like Ukyo's "Snowfall", Jubei's "Eight Aspects Blast", Charlotte's "Splash Fount", Rimururu's "Blizzard Spear", Haito's "Rending Wind Blade" and Daruma's "Blowing Sakura of Pontocho"... the latter two do like a hundred of hits. Amakusa and Mizuki also had multi-hitting slaps (later they gained multi-slap and multi-claw swipe moves respectively). Kyoshiro's "Eight-Headed Serpent" move bombards opponent with multiple fiery projectiles range of which generally expands with each next projectile. Regarding long-range spam, we should mention Jushiro with his machine gun sword, and Mina with her endless arrows supply. And lets dont even get started on Yuga's 2nd and 3rd forms which are the walking embodiment of this trope.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Genjuro as "Genjyuro" in SNK vs. Capcom and Neo Geo Battle Colosseum''. Other materials also have Rimururu as "Rimnerel", Haohmaru as "Haohmal", Konru as "Konril" and Champuru as "Chample" or "Ceasar".
 * Spirit Advisor: Kagaribi to Basara. Tenhime to Amakusa in the end of Samurai Spirits RPG. Hanmen no Asura to Yuda, and Nakoruru to most of cast in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Spirited Competitor: Haohmaru qualifies to this when he gets older. Before, he was a Blood Knight.
 * Split Personality/Super-Powered Evil Side: The whole Shura/Rasetsu (Slash/Bust) split character concept present in series. Also, Enja.Kazuki to Kazuki. Suija.Sogetsu to Sogetsu. Aku Mikoto (Yuga) to Mikoto. Rera is basically Nakoruru's long-time repressed angsty side created partly by her . Not evil per se, but really pissed off.
 * Somewhat subverted by Rasetsumaru. While he is based on concept of evil Haohmaru, he is a separate entity, rather than part of Haohmaru's sub-consciousness. Storyline-wise he was Amakusa's attempt to create his version of Haohmaru, but since Amakusa wields demonic powers we all know how it ended.
 * Amakusa has this as well in Samurai Shodown IV. The evil side, dubbed "Aku Amakusa" by fans, is the first of 3 bosses you face. His Shura/Rasetsu (Slash/Bust) mode always opposes the mode of player's character. He has different, darker move graphics, his voice is more evil and warped, and his skin is purple. He also has some slightly different winposes. Storyline-wise he is a lost evil half of Amakusa, which got separated after his defeat in original Samurai Shodown.
 * Spoiler Opening: The Samurai Shodown II intro briefly shows the secret character Kuroko.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Shiki subverts this trope by stalking Haohmaru due to Yuga's bidding. Nevertheless according to plan they should have sexual intercourse.
 * Stock Ninja Weaponry: Both Hanzo and Galford wield Ninjato and can throw shuriken or kunai, while Earthquake uses a massive Kusarigama.
 * The Stoic: Sieger, who never smiles.
 * Stout Strength: Earthquake; if he were real, he would have troubles even standing up, let alone doing a triangle jump.
 * Strange Girl: Shiki, Han-In to nari shi Shiki and Mikoto.
 * Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Both Kagaribi and Basara are variations of this trope (its Basara who is string haired).
 * Stripperiffic: Mina, who fights in bikini (yet her intro pose shows her in the full-body priestess dress and large hat, which she tosses away before battle). Apparently fighting semi-naked is yet another of her weapons.
 * Stronger Sibling: Sogetsu to Kazuki (although it was mentioned that Kazuki has hidden potential); and undeniably, Seishiro to Tohma.
 * Super-Deformed: A special move (unique for each character) lets you turn your fighter into one of these in Samurai Showown II and Samurai Shodown VI. Also, all characters look like this in portable versions of games (Gameboy and Neo-Geo Pocket Color titles).
 * Super-Persistent Predator: Rasetsumaru, even when he is in decapitated condition. Also Kusaregedo, although.
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: Enja.Kazuki, Suija.Sogetsu, Aku Amakusa, Aku Mikoto (Yuga), Rera to Nakoruru, and Dark Emperor to Yunfei and later to Gaoh.
 * Super Move Portrait Attack: Big character portraits appear during several attacks in Samurai Shodown 64. Samurai Shodown V and Samurai Shodown V Special had a variation too, although portraits appeared when they activated State of Nothingness mode instead of appearing during some kind of super attack.
 * Supernatural Martial Arts: Enja.Kazuki and Suija.Sogetsu have elemental-enhanced barehanded fighting styles.
 * Partially true for Galford and Yunfei too, but those two mostly rely on their bladed weapons though.
 * Super Title 64 Advance: The Hyper Neo Geo 64 was an attempt to update the Neo Geo, but it didn't work. They still got Samurai Shodown 64, though.
 * Sweet Polly Oliver: Shippu no Reon.
 * Yuga is also a subject of this trope, using remotely-controlled male body first, then appearing in her own body later.
 * Swiss Army Weapon: Technically, Asura gauntlet's ability to summon different weapons, which looks as decomposing and recomposing them from dark energy wielded by gauntlet. Also, Jushiro's katana has a gun hidden in its hilt, and additionally can enter machine gun mode... upon sheathing.
 * Sword Drag: Jubei and Zankuro both have dash-while-dragging-sword-along-ground special moves. Those consist from shoulder charge chained into sword attack.
 * Sword Lines: Slash trails in games remain on screen (and sometimes remain lethal) even well past when they were 'drawn' by the tip of her sword.
 * Synchronization: Of movements of both of Yuga's "faces". Yes, I talk about the one growing from the back of her head. Hanmen no Asura is also a subject of this trope, as his life energy is based on Yuga's and once Yuga dies, his life will vanish as well.
 * Takashi Nishiyama: Executive producer of Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage.
 * Take a Third Option: The most obvious options involved when fighting Mizuki at the end of the second game are Kill or Be Killed..
 * Talking to Herself: Harumi Ikoma is Charlotte, Nakoruru, Rera and used to be Mizuki. And you'd probably have to be told to know.
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome: Asura and Yuda.
 * Tattooed Crook: Since tattoos are assotiated with criminals in Japanese culture, they were used to add some characters a certain flavour. Examples include: Shiki, Haito, Brutes and Mugenji.
 * The Tease: Shiki's moveset, Saya's behaviour, and Iroha's whole character point.
 * Technical Pacifist: Nakoruru really dislikes fighting. This pisses Rera off.
 * Temporal Paradox: Yuda, who crossed 20-years gap between games via temporal rift.
 * Terrible Trio: Laura, Bobon and Gororo (antagonists in Cham Cham pachinko game) are the classic application of this trope.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Defeating the foe with the right move (usually the strongest slash a character has but there are some exceptions) will cause them to be bisected and golden charms to fall out, leaving only their weapon in the ground.
 * Then Samurai Shodown IV introduced "Agony Ougi" which were effectively character-specific fatalities which left opponents sliced in pieces with blood graphically spurting out.
 * Asura Zanmaden game also added ability to cut off opponent's arm.
 * It gets even worse: in the original version of Samurai Shodown V Special, you could, under certain conditions, perform a (very violent and graphic) move called the "Death Ougi" which would actually kill your opponent (thus ending the match); the relevant part is that, for a number of characters it went beyond just cutting the opponent up: some of them would literally destroy the opponent's body leaving nothing behind, save perhaps a head, a skull or a rain of blood. Thats aside of plethora of generic "cut/stab/smash" finishers initiated at the end of the match if opponent was killed by normal attack
 * Samurai Shodown Sen/Edge of Destiny features ability to cut opponent in half; stab him for the fountain of blood, cut his arm off; decapitate him; or impale him and leave the weapon in his body.
 * Timed Mission: The arcade mode of Samurai Shodown IV has a time limit, and the ending of any given character can only be seen if the game is completed within the limit.
 * Time Master: Yuga and Mikoto.
 * State of Nothingness (time slow mode) in Samurai Shodown V, Samurai Shodown V Special and Samurai Shodown VI resembles this, although it's meant to show fastened reaction/reflexes of the character who activated it.
 * Time Stands Still: Yuga's ability in Samurai Shodown 64. Mikoto has such one as well, but hers only stops the game's timer and not the opponent.
 * Time Travel: Hero and his party going 200 years back at one point the second chapter in Samurai Shodown RPG. Also, Yuda crossing 20 years arriving to times of Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Basara also got time-travelling abilities that allowed him to appear in Samurai Shodown V, and also serve as basis of his endings in Samurai Shodown V and Samurai Shodown VI.
 * Token Loli: Rimururu, Suzuhime and probably Minto (although she's not nearly as popular as previous two).
 * Token Motivational Nemesis: Draco may very well be this to Galford,.
 * Also Seishiro to Tohma; Hanzo Hattori to Oboro; Oboro to Jushiro and Saya.
 * Tomboy: Cham Cham, Rimururu, Minto.
 * Too Powerful to Live: Ambrosia, Yuga, Asura and Dark Emperor. Subverted by each of them having some form of Power Limiter (unability to leave demon world, sealed powers, or in Dark Emperor's case, limited screentime).
 * Tragic Hero: Shizumaru is a seriously depressing character.
 * Tragic Villain: Amakusa and Gaoh.
 * The Tramp: Daruma.
 * Transforming Mecha: Ochamaro, can mechanically transform his body into dragon-faced monster during his super move.
 * Trigger Happy: Draco and his winchester rifle.
 * Mina is a subversion of this trope since she uses bow and arrows.
 * Tunnel King: Karakuri Hanma is able to burrow underground.
 * Turned Against Their Masters: Karakuri Hanma against Hanma, and.
 * Turns Red: Yuga's secondary boss forms, also Gaoh's transformation into Dark Emperor.
 * Literally, Gandara in Samurai Shodown 64, who turns bright red like a tomato when raged. He gets better in Asura Zanmaden though.
 * Also everyone else, once their Rage meters are full.
 * Twinkle Toes Samurai: The way every ninja but Earthquake runs.
 * Tyke Bomb: Hanmen no Asura is a subversion of this trope (since he isnt a young child).
 * Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Genan Shiranui is one of the ugliest Fighting Game characters in history. His wife resembles a Jungle Princess. One of his win quotes is even "No one calls me a freak and lives! ...except my wife, that is."
 * The Undead: Amakusa, Mizuki, Basara, Kagaribi, Kusaregedo.
 * Storyline-wise, Genan was killed in first game and resurrected by evil forces in second, however he gained no undead atributes whatsoever.
 * Unhand Them, Villain!: Hazuki Kazam was taken hostage by Aku Amakusa in Samurai Shodown IV, then by Yuga in Asura Zanmaden, then by Enja and Suija in Samurai Shodown VI.
 * Universal Poison: Shiki, Yuda, Yaci and Mugenji all can poison their opponent.
 * Although Gen-An has poison breath and Earthquake had poison gas bomb in Samurai Shodown II, those don't activate poison status which deals damage over time.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Rage System is the central gameplay element. Damage taken by characters adds energy to their Rage Gauge, and when its filled they enter Raged state - which grants stronger attacks, ability to use super moves (like Weapon Flipper) and enhanced special moves. Later games also add Rage Explosion, which removes character's Rage Gauge but for the short period of time grants character a big power boost and ability to use few devastating attacks.
 * Kazuki and Enja are the subjects of this trope. Enja also sports the fastest Raging rate in all games he appeared in.
 * Unusual Eyebrows: Asura lacks eyebrows. This is compensated by black eye shadow and few tattoos under his eyes.
 * Updated Rerelease: Samurai Shodown V Special introduces new backdrops, a new interface, various character and mechanic rebalances, a different roster, re-added death scenes and introduced the infamous Zetsumei Ougi to counterbalance a certain game-breaking mechanic in the original Samurai Shodown V.
 * The Usual Adversaries: Behaviour of Rasetsumaru and Genan.
 * Utopia Justifies the Means: Amakusa's and Yuga's motto.
 * The Vamp: Mizuki, Han-In to nari shi Shiki, Aku Mikoto.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: In all the games in the series, it is possible to "accidentally" kill an enemy by using the right attack on the right part of their sprite as a finisher, usually cutting them cleanly in half. Samurai Shodown IV introduced actual fatalities which were messier. In most games in the series, Nakoruru (the Nature-Loving Girl) and Rimururu (her younger sister) were immune to any death effects. In Samurai Shodown V Special, however, not only was it easier to kill an opponent, but these two characters were no longer death-exempt. There is something disturbing about chopping the twelve-year-old in half or making her cute sister explode in a shower of blood and body parts.
 * Video Game Historical Revisionism: The games are set in 1788-1811. Texas and San Francisco are part of the United States, Amakusa Shiro (1621-1638) and Hattori Hanzo (1542-1596) are both alive, Prussia is a feudal kingdom with castles, armored knights, and an Arthurian king, the White House has its modern appearance, and there are robots.
 * Because of the time frame, those are explained as mechanical puppet constructs, so-called Karakuri. Karakuri Hanma has no personality, and Karakuri Ochamaro has personality infused by the means of magic, since this puppet was created by a sorcerer.
 * Don't forget Yagyu Jubei (1607-1650). Don't understand why SNK didn't invent some equivalents; didn't seem to have a problem with this for Axel Hawk or Terry Rogers (Amakusa, at least, has an in-game explanation, that he made a deal with Ambrosia to return from the dead). As for the seaport and southern wilderness locations needed for Galford and Earthquake's stages, any Northeaster port town (like Boston) and Atlanta would've worked fine. Puzzling.
 * Villain Opening Scene: Prefaces of all the games (published on official sites) often go into details describing the plot of Big Bad.
 * Villainous Crossdresser: Mainstream perception of Amakusa (although he wears elongated sorcerer robe which isnt exactly feminine, and makeup is just his hobby, an he just happens to have somewhat high pitched voice... although at this point no one cares about that).
 * Villainous Glutton: Earthquake from Samurai Shodown is a tremendously large and fat ninja, who is actually rather agile. Kusaregedo is even bigger and fatter Youkai.
 * Villain Protagonist: Asura, who is basically an emotionless killing machine and Hell's strongest warrior, and just happens to oppose the same villain that heroes do - Yuga - to avenge his past defeat and apparently to wrestle back the control over Hell.
 * In the sequel, where he stars as Yuda, demon lords that serve him eventually state his position as "The Demon King".
 * Villains Out Shopping: Shiki and Mikoto when not under Yuga's controls. Between Samurai Shodown 64 and Asura Zanmaden, Shiki lost memories of being Yuga's servant and lived on as a normal woman named Kanae.
 * Villain Team-Up: Three Blades of Domination (Oboro, Tohma and Mikoto).
 * Villain with Good Publicity: Jigen Taishi. Being a celebrated priest, his presence in Ritenkyo made it difficult for the shogun to take direct action since it would cause civil dispute with one's faith. It was eventually decided that the government would send a handful of their most loyal retainers in the secret service to deal with the threat.
 * Visionary Villain: Amakusa, Mizuki and Yuga all wanted to resurrect the Dark God, while Oboro wants to create a martial society in the place of current one.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: Basara can turn into shadow and into one or several bats; Hanmen no Asura can turn into shadow sphere and Han-In to nari shi Shiki into energy sphere. Asura's Seven Ancient Weapons are demon lords that shapeshifted into weapon forms. Finally, Yuga can shapeshift own body from male form into female form.
 * Wall Jump: Many characters are capable of a 'triangle jump', bouncing off the edge of the screen. This includes the ninjas. Even the ones who weigh over 500 pounds.
 * Warrior Poet: Ukyo Tachibana, who composes haiku and frequently uses them as winquotes. He also recites haiku poem during one of his supers.
 * Weak but Skilled: Nicotine Caffeine and Daruma.
 * Weapons Kitchen Sink: Unless you can tell me how a rapier is going to parry a longsword, bastard sword, greatsword, kusarigama, naginata, and HUGE STONE PILLAR, it fits. Or perhaps you'd like to watch Andrew Jackson block a shot from a sledgehammer with his rifle? Or maybe a Catgirl using a boomerang to block a polearm is more your flavour. Run (your opponent through with) what you brung.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Rera a.k.a. Nakoruru on a bad day.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Kyoshiro hopes to one day surpass his own father in Kabuki acting. Despite his success, he doesn't think he's even close.
 * What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: This is Rinka's prefight quote.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Asura's hair turns white when he is raged.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Namino.
 * Technically, Yumeji too if you consider her a woman in first place.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: Yunfei, whose longevity revolves around his wife, a demon called Dark Emperor (looks like a piece of evil armour), being possessed by said demon and killing his wife. An epic battle with his mentor and his pupils sealed him and the demon to stop him.
 * Wild Card: Genjuro. Even though he can be hired, but ends up killing anyone who "pisses him off", which may or may not include his employer. He is known as "Wild Blade" because of this.
 * Wild Man: Tam-Tam, again. Cham-Cham fits in as well, as a rare Catgirl who worries about fleas... and deals with them..
 * Winged Humanoid: Asura, Hanmen no Asura, Yuga, Mikoto and Yuda.
 * Womb Level: Ambrosia's stage in Samurai Shodown RPG. Hanmen no Asura's stage in Asura Zanmaden.
 * The Wonka: Tashonmao.
 * Worthy Opponent: Genjuro to Haohmaru, Kazuki to Sogetsu, Jushiro to Jin-Emon, Gaoh to Yoshitora.
 * Wrecked Weapon: Samurai Shodown II and Samurai Shodown VI have Weapon Breaker moves that break opponent's weapon as opposed to simply flipping it out of hands. And is Samurai Shodown I, weapons could break if they stroke each other (but not the characters) several times.
 * Yagyu Jubei: Obviously... he is one of the playable characters ever since the first game, as a middle-aged samurai who fight with his daisho. He's depicted as an agent of the Tokugawa regime who happens to be an associate of another historical Japanese figure, the ninja Hattori Hanzo. According to his bio, the person he respected the most is Yagyu Munenori, which means although he doesn't appear on screen, SNK certainly averts the usual treatment of Munenori as a bastard.
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Galford's preference for these (and, conversely, Kyoshiro's desire for Foreign Fanservice) is All There in the Manual (Haohmaru and Ukyo like these too! Haohmaru's girlfriend Oshizu and Ukyou's lady of liege Kei Odagiri hit every single part of the trope). And among the female characters, the closest to a Yamato Nadeshiko would be Nakoruru, in a Cute Bruiser/The Beast Master way (and guess what, she's the girl Galford REALLY fell for). Ochamaro is a clockwork robot Yamato Nadeshiko, as well... albeit a rather nightmarish one, considering the enormous framework of wood and saw blades behind her.
 * Actually, Ochamaro has no gender (being a mechanical doll), just its voice is high-pitched. Ochamaro's clothes arent feminine either... they are onmyouji clothes (since Ochamaro was created by onmyouji).
 * You Can't Fight Fate: Ukyo's and Genjuro's endings in Asura Zanmaden; Tohma's ending in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * This trope is subverted by Basara's and Zankuro's Samurai Shodown VI endings.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Series feature a plethora of characters with hair colors all out the rainbow:
 * Ukyo, Hion, Suija.Sogetsu and Suija have blue hair.
 * Basara, Kagaribi and Sogetsu have dark blue hair.
 * Kyoshiro, Amakusa, Kazuki and Reon have red hair.
 * Genjuro has purple hair.
 * Cham Cham and Hazuki have green hair.
 * Enja.Kazuki and Enja have yellow-fire colored hair that turns into red-colored when raged.
 * Ushiwakahime and Zankuro have white hair. Asura has white hair when raged hair.
 * Han-In to nari shi Shiki, Mikoto, Mina and Andrew have white hair with a shade of violet hair.
 * Ran Po has part-blue part-violet hair.
 * Minto has part-teal part-pink hair.
 * Yantamu has teal hair.
 * Rera, Sankuro and Genshinsai have violet hair.
 * Ukyo's female followers come in variety of hair colors mentioned above.
 * Youkai: Youkai Kusaregedo obviously. Genan, Basara and Champuru seem to be too. Basara is a yurei (vengeful ghost) which is a subclass of youkai.
 * You Killed My Father: The reason Galford and Black Hawk seek vengeance against Edge of Destiny's sub-boss Draco.
 * Your Soul Is Mine: "Your soul is my power" is of Amakusa's winquotes. Mizuki also frequently expresses her desire to consume opponent's soul. In Asura Zanmaden, Yuga has ability to snatch opponent's soul out of his body, and Yunfei does the same in his Samurai Shodown V Special fatality, then proceeding to cut the soul in two, killing the opponent.
 * You Shall Not Pass: Subverted by Sword Demon Haohmaru who is guarding the entrance to Yuga's lair. His catchphrase there is "You had nowhere to go but here...".
 * Yumi Kakazu: Voiced Mikoto in Warriors Rage (PS).
 * Zigzag Paper Tassel: Is found on Mizuki's weapon, as well as on Nicotine's Samurai Shodown II stage and Haohmaru's Asura Zanmaden stage.