Sengoku | The Most Badass Game Ever

[00:00:00] Aaron, if you were in feudal Japan, who would you be? I would... I'm trying to think of a Japanese man's name. Masahiro Sakurai. Okay, Masahiro Sakurai on Neo Geo Go! Hey everybody, what's up? Hey, fancy meeting you guys here.

[00:00:28] I know, it's crazy. Thank you for joining us again for Neo Geo Go to talk about Sengoku. Sengoku was released on February 12th, 1991, developed and published by SNK. What a surprise. And Sengoku is a time-traveling beat-em-up taking place in both post-apocalyptic modern day as well as feudal Japan at the same time. And if you think that sounds weird, that's because it is.

[00:00:58] This is a really strange game and a very unique game. Maybe the most unique beat-em-up I've ever played, Aaron. This game is a trip. Yeah, it's definitely its own thing. Man, I can't think of any other game that does the shit that we'll talk about here in a minute. But yeah, full disclosure. So back in the old Superpod Saga days, we did a Patreon show called High Score Heroes.

[00:01:26] And a buddy and I talked about this game. And back in the day, I don't know what was happening at the time, but I was like, yeah, Sengoku blows. I didn't really care for it. I don't like it. But consider my mind changed. I'm a changed man. I would have instantly de-Patreoned you if I had heard that. No! I feel like they didn't like Sengoku. You know how when you quit a Patreon, it's like you put the reason or something? It's like, you know, I'll be back later. No, nothing bad happened.

[00:01:56] But I would have just wrote in the comments, he didn't like Sengoku, bitch. Not coming back! Exclamation point! Asking my card carrier for a refund. Taking it that far? Holy shit. For my $4, yeah. But yeah, man, I gotta tell you, back in the day, this game blew me the fuck away. Blew my pants. I was naked coming out of the arcade. It was a crime.

[00:02:24] Because I was like nine years old or something. Man, it was just, that shit blew me away, dude. I legitimately thought it was one of the most badass things I had ever seen. And I think you can understand why. Like, imagine seeing this game at that age. This would have blown your tits off. Dude, one of my favorite parts of this game is when you punch and kick an enemy to death. You pick up like a red orb or whatever, and suddenly you have dual katanas. Yes!

[00:02:52] And you're like, holy shit. And then you do like, super duper slicey dicey moves. And then the enemies, they like burst with like purple blood. Yeah, dude, there's no reason for like, okay, so you get a red orb and all of a sudden you have a sword. Why does that happen? Why? Because like, think about it. Any other beat them up in the world, you're going to pick the weapon up off the ground. The knife, the gun, or whatever. This is just like, okay, now you have a sword.

[00:03:21] And it's just like, okay, I'm rolling with it. Because this game is so fucking weird. So like, here's the thing. Every other beat them up in the world, you have like, what I like to call movement in terms of like the scene and scenario. Think about like final fight. You're in the slums, right? Then you go to the subway. Then you're on the subway. Then you get off the subway. Then you go fight something. Like there's a sort of movement, right? Sengoku throws that all out the window. All the rules are broken.

[00:03:51] So you're in like post-apocalyptic like place on the highway or something. And there's like signs that say, what does that billboard say? Drink wild soda, baby. Drink wild soda, everybody. And then like, so you beat up a few guys there. And all of a sudden, whoosh, you're rushed through like a teleporter up into the heavens or like feudal Japan. And you're fighting like samurai up there and shit. And shogun. And it's like, what the hell is happening?

[00:04:19] So you're fighting like these Asian mythology, like sort of like things up in the clouds of like demons and shit. And all of a sudden, you get whooshed right back down to like the real quote unquote earth or whatever. And you're fighting more stuff there. And it just keeps happening over and over. You just keep getting teleported back and forth as you're going through these levels. Aaron, that's insane. That is really fucking weird, man.

[00:04:44] And like the different kinds of power ups too is fucking insane. Because like sometimes when you kill an enemy, they'll have like an orb appear like above their head or like above where they died or whatever. It'll different colors do different things. I didn't pay attention to what the fuck the colors meant. I think red gives you the swords, as you said. I think blue gives you the fireballs. Oh, okay.

[00:05:13] The Hadoukens and shit. Okay. And then when the old man scans you with his little lightning ray, that gives you like the blasto punches. That shit was really cool. Right. Or yeah, but I think he gives you the power to turn into. Yeah. By the way, this game has transformations at will. And they rock. You can change into other things. You can change into a samurai yourself. You can change into a fucking wolf. The wolf is so good. The wolf is amazing. Like a buzz wheel, like spin attack.

[00:05:43] Yeah. You like screw attack. You do like the metric screw attack. And he does like a howl. Like, whoo, as he does it. It's so badass. And then the ninja never runs, never walks. He only flips front flips and back flips. Yep. Yeah. It's so cool. It's so good. Samurai is so good. He kills everything with one slash. He slashes them one time. And there's like spraying blood. And they're fucking dead, dude. It's so good. Dude, that's what's so cool. Like audio visually.

[00:06:13] No joke. I know this is going to sound like hyperbole to anyone listening, but I swear to God, I mean this. This is one of the coolest games I've ever seen. I'm not joking. Like when you punch and kick anyone, they have this like very satisfying like sound effect, right? And then if you have a weapon, if you have a sword, they have like the big slash, like you said, like the big – and it's like the soul slash, right? Where it's like this white, like whoosh. And then when they die, they sort of like melt into the floor. They have that slash and they just kind of fade out.

[00:06:43] And it was just incredible. And if you're using punches and kicks, when you kill those grunts, they kind of wisp away in that sort of tornado effect. Like whoosh. You know? Oh my god, dude. At every turn, Sengoku gives you the right visual and the right sound effect. They – whoever made this game gave a shit. They really gave a shit. Like oh my god, dude. Every single animation in this game is beautiful.

[00:07:12] And I really like that each – like even when you're transformed, like the forms you transform into, they also get power-ups. Like the ninja guy, if you grab – but then like a blue one, he gets – he can throw ninja stars. Normally he just does punches and kicks and shit like that. But yeah, you level them up – or not level them up. But power him up and you get throwing stars. The samurai, I think if I remember right, his katana just starts him on fire. I don't remember what the fuck that is. Yeah, I don't remember. Yeah.

[00:07:42] I don't think I've ever powered him up. I usually power – I saw the thing with the ninja with the stars, right? But you know what? Those things carry over. So like if you're transformed and you get like the red shit to like give your main character the sword, you don't miss out on that. You still get it. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah, so like because if you – when you transform back, you'll have that shit. Oh my god. Did you get like the broad sword? Not like the dual ones, but like the one big ass sword? Oh, fuck yeah. Oh my god, dude. And you're slicing up motherfuckers.

[00:08:10] Dude, the animations in this game are just incredible. Again, combined with the sound effect of just like the slash sound. Dude, just pure badassery. It is – it's incredible. Honestly, one of the coolest looking games ever in my opinion. No joke. I really like the way enemies will like come onto the screen too because I feel like other beat-em-ups, they'll either, you know, come in through a door or they'll just like walk onto the screen.

[00:08:40] But in this game, a lot of the enemies, they'll be riding on these like ancient Japanese chariots and then they'll hop off and they'll be ready to whoop your ass. Or there'll be like this ghostly like Japanese castle in the distance. It'll fly up and then they'll jump out of it. Or like there'll be these like stone pillars that'll like – they'll come out of the ground and they'll be – the enemies will be standing on them. And then they'll jump from the background into the foreground and then they'll like draw their sword and like – Oh my god, dude.

[00:09:10] It's so cool. It's dope as shit. It's just so – every – I – man, it is the – one of the most ultimate spectacle games. You know me. I love spectacle. I've talked about it a million times. And sometimes that matters more than gameplay. Like the gameplay can be kind of whatever. But if you give me the spectacle, I'm with you. And this game has it. I'm glad you mentioned the intro with the castle. Or rather you didn't mention the intro because like the castle appears in the game too.

[00:09:40] But that's from the intro and that's an iconic like Neo Geo image. Seeing that like floating castle coming up in that intro. But then you play the game and it's like, oh my god, it's in the game. Wow. Dude, remember the part in the first level where like, okay, the castle appears and those two big glowing blue skulls just come – Oh yeah. Come right at the screen. Holy shit. They do that a couple more times too. There's another one where like two red skulls come out.

[00:10:05] And then the fucking blue samurai dudes that kick my ass every time. Oh, they're tough. They'll come out. And the way that – so when you start out and you're in the post-apocalyptic street, the music is like this 90s ass like action rock. I don't know how else to explain it. No, that's what it is. Yeah. But then you go up to like Japan heaven or whatever and it's like traditional Japanese music. Like a complete little instrument.

[00:10:33] Like I don't know the name of Japanese instruments, but it's got like the little like clicky sound and then the drums and then the yo-oh. Like all that shit. Yeah. And like the loot. It's so cool. It's called the loot, right? There we go. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Their little like guitar thing. Loot. Yeah. I think it's called the loot. Yeah. It's awesome. Dude. It's so – yeah. So they had to almost like score for two different – basically two different games at the same time.

[00:10:58] That's like – again, I know I keep saying this, but like it's so important to remember how fresh and new this shit was at the time. And Aaron, you're playing this obviously in retrospect. You didn't play this when it came out. I did. You're having the same reaction I did. This shit is still so fucking cool. And I – there's what? Two more of these games, right? I have no – those two I have not touched yet and I'm excited to see how those go. Me either. Me either. Ooh. I don't know anything about them.

[00:11:28] I've only ever played the first one. So – Fuck yeah. Your guess is as good as mine. So we'll be taking that journey together. So yeah, because I just never saw them. Because I played this original game and I knew there was like more Sengokus. I just never – they were just never at my arcade. So yeah, dude. I'm just as excited as you are to start to dig into those. Fuck yeah. God damn. I can't say enough good things about this game. And here's the thing.

[00:11:55] We haven't talked about really like the gameplay and I don't even really feel like it's that prudent. It almost doesn't matter. Like yeah, it's – okay. Is Final Fight a better like game on a gameplay level? Yes. Is it as fucking badass as Sengoku? No. So like – and that's the whole point. You at the arcade, you don't really care how it plays. There's so many arcade games that were popular. Dude, you know the Konami X-Men beat them up?

[00:12:25] The six-player one? That game fucking sucks. And it's so popular because like it's a big ass cabinet that six kids can get on and bash the buttons. That's why everyone loved it. And you know what? Sometimes that's more important than the gameplay. With that said, I'm not saying the gameplay in Sengoku is bad. But is it like super refined like it is in like the Capcom stuff? Of course not. Right? But that's okay. It really is okay because you're there for other reasons.

[00:12:53] And – but dude, even as a beat-em-up, I feel like Sengoku is like very weird because like the enemies are just like jumping all over the place. There's no wrong. And like you're like meeting them in midair. It's a very aerial game. Most beat-em-ups aren't like that. It's very grounded. Yeah. You know, which is the point. But this is like very all over the screen, which is very unusual. So yeah, man. It's funny.

[00:13:18] Earlier in the show, we covered Ninja Combat, which is another like very unusual beat-em-up. But in a bad way. This is an unusual beat-em-up in a good way. Yeah. This game – like I mentioned earlier, when I first played this game, I thought it was kind of ass. But now I'm like, no, I was so wrong. I don't know what I was smoking at the time. Probably nothing. But yeah. Maybe you just weren't in the mood. Maybe it just hit you wrong at that time.

[00:13:48] And that can happen. That's why I like games that I didn't like back in the day. I still give them another chance. It's like, yeah, maybe, you know, who knows, right? So I'm glad you came around on it. I wrote down A-, but I'm a liar. But you know why? Because as I said from the beginning, these are vibes-based grades we're giving on this show. I'm – fuck it. It's getting an A+. Sengoku gets an A+. Fuck it. Who cares? You know what? I gave it an A.

[00:14:17] Like, the only knocks I have against the game are that you can't run. So sometimes it kind of feels like it takes forever to get to one side of the screen to the other. He does kind of strut. He does kind of strut around, right? It's kind of slow. You can't do the badass strut fast, Aaron, okay? I mean, fuck, that's true. The ninja can't flip fast. You got to see all them flips.

[00:14:39] And then another thing that kind of, like, bugged me, not a lot, but, like, sometimes, like, you have to be, like, perfectly underneath a little power-up dot to get it. Sometimes I wouldn't be perfectly underneath. I would jump up and miss it. Move it to this spot, jump up and miss. And then, yeah. So, I mean – Then they go away and they float into the air away from you if you take too long, yeah. There was, like, a gold – there was a gold orb, too. Do you remember what that did? I don't remember. I don't remember either.

[00:15:09] Yeah. I know the blue ones are points – or the green ones are points. Oh, that's what – I was picking up hella green dots thinking they were health or something, but I was like, why am I still dying? Yeah. No, dude, I don't think anything – maybe blue is health. Maybe blue is health. Dude, they don't give you a lot of health in this game. This game's kind of brutal. This is a quarter munching. You're pumping in quarters into this shit. Sometimes you feel pretty fucking unstoppable, though.

[00:15:36] Like, when you're the samurai and you're just, like, whipping that fucking sword everywhere and nothing can touch you. Or if you're just a dog and you're just buzzsawing through the air constantly, literally nothing can touch you. Yeah. Yeah. Shit is just fun to play. Dude, I love in the feudal Japan areas where it's, like – you remember, like, the group of guys in, like, the traditional kind of, like, Asian hats, you know? And they're kind of – they have, like, the spears and they're coming at you.

[00:16:04] You kind of slice them all up in one go and they all just kind of die together. Yeah, dude. That's so cool. That's so sick. Yeah. Man, I – again, I can't say enough good things about this game. All this is vibes. A plus on vibes. Maybe B minus on gameplay. A plus on vibes. That's what matters here. That's right. Vibes only. Yeah. Okay. What are we playing next time on Neo Geo Go? Next time, King of the Monsters. King of the Monsters.

[00:16:34] See you guys, Ed? Until next time, Neo Geo Go Go Gadget. Eat a butt. No. No. Delete this. I'm going to do a different one. Okay. Until next time, Neo Geo Go to the doctor. No, I did that one. God damn it. Goodbye, everybody.