Before SNK became famous for fighting games, it was conquering arcades with on-screen brawling. Sengoku is one of the early beat 'em up titles for the Neo Geo, and right from the start it makes clear that this won't be your ordinary street-thug bashing. Its heroes slip between past and present and face down an army of the ghosts of ancient warriors.
The basic premise is pure genre: you advance left to right, clear the screen of enemies, and use combinations of punches and kicks. But Sengoku adds its own twist in the form of transformations. On the fly, the player can change their character into different fighters — for example a swordsman or a dog-like companion — each with different abilities and reach. This mechanic gives the otherwise straightforward action a tactical layer and sets the game apart from the competition.
Visually and thematically, Sengoku blends a modern city with the ghostly scenery of feudal Japan, which lends it a distinctive, slightly bizarre atmosphere. On the early Neo Geo hardware it delivers solid sprite presentation and the brisk pace you'd expect from an arcade beat 'em up. The difficulty is traditionally arcade — that is, uncompromising, counting on you to feed another coin into the machine.
The game kicked off a small series and got a sequel, confirming there was appetite for genre action on the Neo Geo. In the context of its time it was one of the titles that helped build the library of SNK's new and expensive system, back when beat 'em ups enjoyed great popularity.
Today Sengoku is more a matter for enthusiasts and collectors than for the general public, but that's exactly where its charm lies. It's a piece of early SNK history that shows the studio before it turned its focus to fighting games.
Why play: A distinctive arcade beat 'em up with a character-transformation mechanic and an unconventional clash between the modern world and the ghosts of feudal Japan.
Game 18 of 35 for SNK Neo Geo
