During SNK Corporation's live stream, some information was dropped regarding the much anticipated return of the company's weapons-based franchise, Samurai Spirits, or known in the west as Samurai Shodown. It has been ten years since the series' last effort, Samurai Shodown Sen, released on the Xbox 360 in 2009 (2008 in Japan) and it was overall regarded with being less than mediocre. While the stream was entirely in Japanese, the roster as of press time has been revealed. 

Returning Characters:

- Haohmaru, the franchise's protagonist

- Nakoruru, accompanied by her bird Mamahaha. 

- Charlotte

- Jubei Yagyu

- Earthquake

- Ukyo Tachibana

- Genjuro Kibagami

- Tam Tam

- Shiki, a popular character from Samurai Shodown 64

- Galford

- Hanzo Hattori

- Kyoshiro Senryo

- Yoshitora Tokugawa

The three new characters debuting:

- Darli Dagger, a Caribbean pirate

- Yashamaru Kurama, a Shinobi, and perhaps the main protagonist of this game

- Wu-Ruixiang, a servant of the Chinese empire

Through digital distributions of their Neo Geo arcade archives on the Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One, along with the surprisingly successful SNK Heroines a simplistic, but entertaining fighter featuring the ladies of King of Fighters, World Heroes, and some fun guests. Imagine Street Fighter Alpha with Smash Brothers controls) SNK Corporation has spent the last several years rebounding from almost two decades of financial turmoil, mismanagement, and near bankruptcy and liquidation to return to video game development. Throughout the early 90's they were looked at as a rival to Capcom's fighters, but were passed by and nearly regulated into obscurity. SNK has always been my favorite video game company growing up, and it's great to see them back again. 

Samurai Shodown is set to release June 27th, 2019, and will be available for Windows, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and the XBox One. It also will be a part of this year's EVO tournament event on August 2nd, 2019.