First Samurai

Cancelled remake

A revamped version was to be released for the Nintendo 64, with a 3D perspective aimed at exploration, similar to Tomb Raider and one-on-one fights geared towards Tekken. The game was ultimately cancelled.

C64 version

The Commodore 64 version was originally intended for the C64GS, a cartridge-based keyboardless console which was not successful. As Mev Dinc commented some years later "Commodore promised so much but delivered so little, there were many mistakes with the whole thing, compatibility with some games and the lack of decent software all helped its quick demise!". The game was instead adapted to be released on cassette and disk, but was delayed when Mirrorsoft folded shortly after the Amiga version was published. Once Vivid Image had reclaimed the rights to the game it was released by UbiSoft several months later.

Extras

Some game boxes came with a free color poster featuring an enlarged picture of a Samurai and the caption "the power of bushido will be yours..." followed by the company's logo and address.

References

The game's name is a deliberate play on the popular Last Ninja series.

SNES version

In the SNES version several pictures in the intro, a bloody sword on the title screen and burger/coke power ups in the later levels were removed. Additionally all human enemies were replaced with demons. A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

Awards

• Commodore Format
  • July 1993 (Issue 34) - Modern Classics: Arcade Adventure
  • November 1994 (Issue 50) – #36 The All-Time Top 50 C64 Games

Information also contributed by Big John WV and Garcia.