Second Samurai

Second Samurai is a beat-'em-up for two players developed by Vivid Image and published by Psygnosis in 1993 for the Amiga. There was also an AGA version released in 1994.

It's the sequel to The First Samurai, released two years before. The game was programmed and co-designed by Raffaele Cecco (also known for Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine and Deliverance: Stormlord II). Cecco started developing on the XZ Spectrum, but he delivered two of the most exciting and enjoyable hack 'n slash platformers ever created for the Amiga with the Samurai series.

Starting with no weapons, you will have to use flying kicks and punches, but soon you will collect your katana. This will be useful because you have to survive ten levels full of enemies, split into sub-levels, with a boss at the end of each one. The settings are just brilliant, with a mix of Ancient Japan and futuristic scenarios. You will fight against demons of Asian folklore as well as robots and laser turrets.

Music and graphics are great, even if the AGA chipset could have been used a bit better. The animation of our hero, showing off martial arts and attacks with his sword, is gorgeous. The gameplay offers the right balance between fighting and puzzles, and if you think the game is too hard, you can adjust the difficulty level. There are also some different mini-games, such as the shooter stage, where your samurai is flying with a jetpack.

But the best feature of Second Samurai is the two players mode: fighting with a friend is much more fun. Considering that the Amiga port of Golden Axe was terrible, I would say that Second Samurai competes with Double Dragon II: The Revenge when you have to decide the best co-op beat-'em-up for the Amiga even if there are differences because don't forget that Second Samurai is also a platformer.

By the way, Second Samurai for the SEGA Megadrive/Genesis is a completely different game.