熱闘 サムライ スピリッツ
Sprite Figures (Gen-an, Galford & Poppy, Haohmaru, Ukyo, Charlotte, Tam Tam,
Earthquake, Nakoruru & Mamahaha, Wan-fu, Jubei, Hanzo, Kyoshiro,
Kuroko, Hikyaku, and Amakusa)
This was a relatively simple little project: papercraft sprite figures of all fifteen of the playable characters from Takara's 1994 Super Gameboy video game 熱闘 サムライスピリッツ, which romanizes as Nettou Samurai Supiritsu, and that translates to Fierce Fighting: Samurai Spirits. It's a cutesy, super-deformed port of SNK's original 1993 Samurai Shodown arcade/Neo・Geo fighting game.
Jubei vs. Nakoruru at her Grandparents' wintery home on the island of Hokkaido.
While these figurines weren't difficult to make, they were tedious. All they are is two pieces of cardboard, sandwiched together, with computer printed game graphics glued onto either side, mounted on transparent plastic stands. Repeatedly cutting out tiny little objects with scissors tends to make your fingers and thumb pretty sore after a while, so, I could only handle doing 2-4 of these at a time (and I was also working on Fatal Fury 2 sprite figures and several papercraft dioramas too), which is why it took me several days to get all fifteen finished.
The Samurai Spirits Tabletop Combat Game!
(Created/designed by me)
Rules:
For two players.
Each player starts with twenty hit points. You can use small objects (coins, buttons, etc.) to represent them, or just write them down on a piece of paper. Whomever runs out of hit points first loses the duel.
Combat is waged on a round-to-round basis, with two six-sided dice (one for each player). Ideally, each player should have a different colored or sized die to avoid confusion. For each round of combat, both players roll at the same time, whomever gets the highest number wins the round and deals damage equal to the difference between the two values. For example, if I rolled a two, and you rolled a six, you'd win the round and deal me four hit points worth of damage (six minus two is four).
If both players roll the same number, no damage is dealt, as their blades have become locked! Roll again to see who wins the struggle. The victor retains their weapon, while the loser is disarmed (again, no damage is dealt this round). If both players rolled identical numbers again, then they both lose their weapons. An unarmed player suffers a -1 penalty to all their future attack rolls until they reclaim their blade. For example, a disarmed player who rolls a six must subtract one, resulting in a five. To pick up your lost weapon, you have to roll doubles. When you're unarmed, at the beginning of each round of combat, prior to the actual fight, you may roll your die twice, if you get the same number both times, you've successfully reclaimed your weapon and return to full attack power, if not, then the -1 penalty to your attack rolls continues. You may only make one attempt to pick up your blade at the beginning of each round of combat, but you may continue to do so every round until you succeed. If an armed and an unarmed player arrive at the same number during combat, after penalties/bonuses have been applied, then the armed player deals one point of damage to the unarmed player--no locking of blades occurs. If two disarmed players roll the same number during combat, nothing happens and no damage is dealt.
When any player is reduced to five, or fewer, hit points, their "rage gauge" fills and they become more dangerous! All their combat die rolls gain a +1 bonus until the end of the duel, or their hit point total rises above five again by consuming food. For example, if you roll a six, it becomes a seven while you're enraged and armed! If you've been disarmed, the enraged bonus effectively returns you to full power, even without a weapon.
Every three turns (rounds 3, 6, 9, and so forth), Courier Man Hikyaku suddenly appears and throws a surprise into your midst: a coin, food, or a bomb! One of the players (it doesn't matter which) rolls a die to see what Hikyaku has lobbed between the two of you: 1 or 2 is a coin, 3 or 4 is food, and 5 or 6 is a bomb. Note that the effects, if any, of Courier Man's gift take place immediately, before the round's normal combat occurs. As such, a coin or food might turn the tide for a losing player, while an explosive bomb could cheat you of victory!
- Coins can be "saved" or used immediately. Each coin gives the player one chance to re-do one of their die rolls, providing the opportunity to change fate. For example, if you're down to your last two hit points, and you rolled a three, and your opponent rolled a five, you can spend your coin to try one more time to get a better result. Note that if your new roll is worse than the original, you can still use your first results (for example, if you rolled a three, spent a coin, and got a one, you can still use your original number instead of the new, lower value). When it appears, both players roll their die in an attempt to grab the coin, the highest number claims the money, if it's a draw, nobody gets it and the coin disappears. There is no limit to the number of coins that you can collect, or spend, but each one is only worth one re-roll.
- Food restores hit points equal to the roll of one die, plus one. For example, if you get the food, and roll a four, you get five hit points back. Please note that your hit point total cannot exceed the starting twenty. If you have eighteen hit points, and regain six of them through the consumption of food, you only go back up to twenty, not twenty four--those extra four hit points are "lost". Food must be eaten immediately, you can't "save" it for later use. When it appears, both players roll their die in an attempt to snatch the food, the player with the highest number gobbles it up, if it's a draw, nobody gets to feast and the food is lost.
- Bombs instantly deal one-to-six hit points worth of damage to one, or both, players. Roll a die to determine the amount of damage inflicted, then roll it again to find out who got caught in the explosion: 1 or 2, player on the left is damaged, 3 or 4, player on the right is injured, 5 or 6, both players are caught in the blast. Curse you, Hikyaku!
Have fun dueling!
Materials:
Cardboard, game graphics printed out on white paper, white glue, lined white notebook paper,
permanent marker, and transparent plastic (figure stands only).
Dimensions:
Varies from figure-to-figure (I'm not measuring all fifteen of them!),
but the "normal" sized characters are roughly 1.0 cm (0.4") wide x 1.7 cm (0.7") tall.
Time:
Six days: June 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, and 29, 2014.
REFERENCES:
Hardcore Gaming 101 Samurai Shodown article.
Samurai Shodown Nintendo Super Gameboy video game.
« Return to my SNK Video Game Fan Art Gallery Index
This is a nonprofit web site.
Any and all copyrighted imagery, terminology, etc., depicted on this page belongs to its respective holders/owners, namely SNK and Takara.
The repeating background graphics are the Japanese kanji for "Samurai Spirit", 侍魂, which romanizes as "Samurai Tamashii", from the game's introduction sequence.
The midi music playing is Charlotte's theme from Samurai Shodown.
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