Despite problems with its netcode preventing Samurai Shodown from having many major tournament appearances since the pandemic started, SNK is still churning out content to the delight of fans of its slow, methodical, footsie-based combat. Last year, we heard that a Guilty Gear character would be joining the cast of Samurai Shodown at some point, and we all guessed that it was going to be the only samurai in the Guilty Gear cast: Baiken. Sure enough, we were right.
Samurai Shodown is a much slower game than Guilty Gear, so many wondered how Baiken would fit in a system without crazy air-dashes, bursts, and combos. The answer? Pretty well!
Baiken seems based on her Guilty Gear Xrd Rev2 appearance, and many of her normals and specials seem to be intact. She doesn’t have the gatlings that we might see in a Guilty Gear game, but the trailer does show her using things such as her tatami mat, grappling hook, and her special gimmick, which is specials out of blockstun. She has even had a super converted into a weapon-flipping technique.
Baiken will release on August 19 on all platforms. She also comes with a heavy-metal-styled background track.
Note, that Baiken has also been theorized to be a DLC character in the first season of Guilty Gear -Strive- due to a datamine, and this would make a lot of sense given this cross promotion. This also marks the final character in SamSho Season 3, and possibly the final character in the SamSho roster, as SNK begins to focus its efforts on the upcoming King of Fighters XV.
