Samurai Spirits Zero Special announced

TOKYO--On its Samurai Spirits Zero Web site, SNK Playmore announced that it is developing a new addition to its Samurai Spirits sword-fighting series, titled Samurai Spirits Zero Special. The series is known as Samurai Shodown in North America.

Samurai Spirits Zero Special will be based on Samurai Spirits Zero, with three additional characters. The historical bosses Amakusa Shirou Tokisada from Samurai Spirits 1 and Minazuki Zankurou from Samurai Spirits 3 are confirmed to be in the game. Considering that Samurai Spirits Zero's boss Gaoh is also listed as an additional character together with Amakusa and Zankurou, it is most likely that the three bosses will be controllable as player characters. It is not known if Mizuki, Samurai Spirits 2's last boss, is in the game. However, the site hints that there are additional characters that are yet to be revealed. Samurai Spirits Zero Special will also have a number of changes in the game's system and character balances, the details of which are not known.

Samurai Spirits Zero is the fifth title in the sword-fighting game series, released in the arcades last summer and later ported to the Neo Geo home console. In addition to the game systems from the previous iterations of the game, Samurai Spirits Zero featured a new "meditation" system that can be used to slow enemies' motions. The game included 24 characters, and a presented a new main hero designed by Nobuhiro Watsuki, author of the Rurouni Kenshin manga series.