| Aka: | Samurai Shodown |
| Console: | Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) |
| TV Standard: | Other |
| Developer(s): | SNK |
| Publisher(s): | Nintendo |
| Release Date: | 1993-07-07 |
| Players: | 2 |
| Co-op: | No |
| ESRB: | T - Teen |
| Type: | Action, Fighting, Unofficial |
Samurai Shodown, known in Japan as Samurai Spirits, is a competitive fighting game developed and published by SNK for their Neo Geo arcade and home platform. Released in 1993, it is the first installment in the Samurai Shodown series. In contrast to other fighting games at the time, which were set in modern times and focused primarily on hand-to-hand combat, Samurai Shodown is set in feudal-era Japan (similar to Kaneko's Shogun Warriors which was released the year prior) and was SNK's first arcade fighting game to focus primarily on weapon-based combat.
