Sengoku series (Neo Geo) - which is best?

[Ed Oscuro]

I've had this one on my mind for about a week now. It's definitely strange, as is the current selection for the Monday Morning MAME Club, but a different sort of strange. For those unacquainted with the series, Sengoku represents the best damn martial arts/swordsmanship beat-em-ups ever, in terms of style at least. You've got "spirit helpers" who you can summon to take your place (but who aren't really substantially more powerful than your default player), lots of swords (or two sword attacks, depending on the game), and you shift through planes of reality - both modern-age and areas filled with traditional Japanese mythical creatures - so fast you might start getting fatigued!

Pros of the two main games:

Sengoku has arguably better ambience, and the spirit helpers look more natural than Sengoku 2's. Plus it doesn't have any funny looking soldiers. Don't forget the nighttime beachside fight (remind anybody of an iconic Samurai Shodown locale) with the second to last boss!

Sengoku 2 doesn't have the variety of swords the original has, but its high and low cut attacks are arguably more useful. It's also much easier than Sengoku, which was so incredibly hard that a whole team of practicing Neo Geo ascetics lost half their number to fatigue, starvation, and severe emotional trauma before they finished.

Sengoku 3, the 2001 "sequel," really isn't worth anybody's time, but I'll include it anyway.

It's a poll, so sound off!

[Gamereviewgod]

I like three. The first two sucked, but especially the first one. 2 is a bit more tolerable, but three is a more traditional BEU and infinitely more playable.

[-hellvin-]

Ahhh man, I love sengoku 2. The first one does nothing for me at all, but the second one is one of my favorite hack n slash neo geo games. Good times.

[Hovoc]

i voted for 1, when my mom used to take us to the camp ground, they had it, and king of monsters in a cabinet along with 2 other game,s and those two just really stuck out for me

[Ed Oscuro]

Apparently I was wrong about Sengoku III - I guess that means I'll have less competition picking up the first two games on AES, then!

[Geddon_jt]

2 is by far the best. In fact, I think it's the best beatemup on the system.
Can't beat the stage where you are going 100mph on horseback, decapitating samurai on your right and left...
Lots of upside down pentagrams too.

And I agree... 3 is bad. Super repetitive and boring.

[jaydubnb]

I like Sengoku 3. Yeah its repetitve , but hey, most games in this genre are. The graphics are pretty damned nice and trying to keep those huge combos going gives it a bitof muscle.

I hate Sengoku 1. Just feels stiff as hell. Never played 2, though.