The indulgence with which this product has been treated is immediately evident. Not only technically and aesthetically; starting to play it is to succumb immediately to its spell thanks to its ease of handling and magnificent response. But yeah, soon you discover the enormous depth of its mechanics; the chosen combat mode radically transforms the way your character responds, while the possibility to execute all kinds of combos and the enormous repertory of specials (with their countless ways of following them up, in many cases), without forgetting about the rival attack rejection system, open up the way to a combat system as technical and complex as anyone is capable of developing. Even with a somewhat sparse number of characters, Gekka no Kenshi condensates in its template all of the combat styles typical of two-dimensional fighting: from the basic and aggressive ones to the grapplers and non-conformist ones. The balance between all of them is, in fact, meticulously studied. Each character has his own story and ending (which are narrated, as is usual in this company's titles, with brief punctual cinemas), which, bound to a wisely adjusted difficulty level (with a hard final boss, but, for once, not unbeatable), turn the one-player mode into an experience as much fun as the two-player game. Or almost.

  

Without relinquishing its roots, SNK has drawn away a little from itself. Far from the ancient characters from the King of Fighters or Real Bout's soulless stages, Gekka no Kenshi shows that the anime style is not the private reserve of Capcom. The characters' amazing animation along with their impeccable design with half-plain colors and based on the premises of the commercial Japanese comic are more reminiscent of their rival company's titles than of any other game from the Neo-Geo's catalogue. Even the very mechanics have more common ground with Street Fighter III than with Samurai Spirits. The SNK trademarks, in any case, remain present: zoom-outs that allow combat at great distances, maximum level supers when a low life bar and full super gauge coincide, worked-out plot, superb vocal performances and, above all, a spectacularity without equal.

It is difficult to imagine the results SNK's programmers would have obtained had they used more powerful hardware, but one gets the feeling that the Neo-Geo system has touched the ceiling with this title. It's not another fighting game, it is the union of perfectly polished mechanics and a plastic beauty capable of captivating even the biggest detractor of the samurai aesthetic. That's really something.

   

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