Despite the fact that DotEMU did yet ANOTHER BAD PORT JOB, HOW DO YOU GUYS KEEP GETTING WORK, The Last Blade on Steam is something I've been asking for ever since the first wave of SNK arcade classics getting re-released.

Yes, the game is available for free on FightCade.
Yes, The Last Blade 2 is overall a much better fighting game (despite no character specific stages and just how strong Zantetsu, Moriya, Washizuka, and Mukuro are at high levels).

But being able to support this game and vote with money to tell SNK to make a Last Blade 3? ♥♥♥♥ yeah, I'll do it.

I've been on this series for over a decade and I've been trying to get people into it for a very long time. I'm just glad it could maybe find an audience again, despite the bad port job.

Seriously, Moriya teleporting can cause the screen to freeze.
And the screen freezes on its own on Shikiyo's stage.


Edit; Got boss code to work, I just had to mash it way faster than usual. Character select; C 6 times, B 3, C 4. Unlocks Musashi.

Disclosure: I was given a review-copy for the purposes of review supplied by a formerly associated review-group I fell out of touch with under the user, Redhill.

If you grew up during the late '90s and the start of the new millennium, then the name SNK has little to no bearing on you as much as other fighting-games, and that’s a shame. History has often forgotten games not because they lacked quality but they were behind the times, and The Last Blade was most certainly an aging, though as strong now as it was back in the past, relic of arcade fighters.

Beneath the quarter-eating exterior that we may liken to modern microtransactions without the nostalgia of their novelty, these games provided short, worthwhile experiences that could not be done on consoles or PC hardware at the time. The Last Blade was one of those unexpected gems that has the distilled greatness of SNK like Shock Troopers, King of Fighters and Metal Slug with its own unique take on fighting games as well as 2D pixel-art presentation.

Now on Steam, you can replay this forgotten gem without the constant gouging of your wallet for your failures, though you certainly are getting what you paid for as with every other SNK game PC Port developed by DotEmu.


This is an emulator job of a game from arcade cabinets instead of remastering the classic or offering new content for both casuals and hard-core fans, which is a shame the sequel is not packaged along with it to justify its asking price for fighting-game enthusiasts. The game has only two main-modes: The Arcade/Campaign mode where you fight all the fighters and a final boss designed to be brutally difficult well as a timed horde mode to defeat as many fighters as possible. Versus is strictly player-vs.-player mode, no bot-matches or a 1:1 fighting mode. Unfortunately, my experience has shown that the online capabilities are not playable enough to warrant purchasing it for nostalgia fans, so local-only games are your only other means of replayability. As a result, unless you really want to replay a forgotten SNK fighter because you are curious enough to try one or have friends around you who would be interested, this game does not warrant a full-asking price.

However, if you are a seasoned fighting game player who has never played a SNK game or if you are a fan of other SNK classics like King of Fighters, then The Last Blade can be a pleasure to behold. Unlike the archaic lane-switching mechanics of Fatal Fury and Samurai Showdown, The Last Blade incorporates many modern fighting game mechanics such as balancing offensive-and-defensive play with parries, rolls and characters on the roster balancing one-another. Something oddly unique to The Last Blade is a Speed/Power playstyle option humorously referred to as “Orgy Mode”, which is more of two specializations of playstyles. This classic also understands a major appeal of fighting-games is the importance of character and style not only as a visual spectacle but also in the unseen complexity within a fighting game tiself.

Each fighter controls slightly differently with different types of combos, special moves, speed, offensive and defensive capabilities that is countered by a rival character. It's difficult to go into details without becoming too technical but the important take-away is that you can feel the changes in-battle, and it's mastering this self-imposed challenge that is the core appeal of SNK. The simplicity of the four-button design undersells the polish and the depth of a game you can discover.

This polish is what leads to the greatest quality of TLB; it oozes style with all its substance, and that alone may be worth the admission price. Characters' animations are highly detailed, even in stagger animations or the "cutscenes" that play in-between battles that establishes the darker tone of the game. (I only wish there were subtitles or English voice-overs to let the banter add to the spectacle.) The visceral nature of the battles is emphasized when the final blow is struck, the game literally cutting the music with the final blow in a silencing red-flash. The synesthesia rush of gameplay, music and visuals all come together in this one distilled game of SNK greatness, which is only marred by its current developers.


It's no secret that DotEmu spent as little as much on polishing up this game for a Steam release with the 24 SNK bundle from HumbleBundle. Coupled with monitor frame-rate issues, graphical glitches and other technical details. TLB is no different than other SNK games available on Steam as well, along with the health issues common to '90s games (flashing lights and colors).

However, in DotEmu's defense, the game has fully configurable control schemes for two players that work with controllers (at least with X-Input devices), and other than a few strange quirks and blemishes on an otherwise flawless classic, the technical issues should not discourage you. These are blemishes when it does impede on the overall experience, although I found it hilarious that the developers wrote the cheat-codes on the Steam store-front page to unlock the hidden characters. As previously mentioned, the multiplayer lobby system is so broken that if it was even possible to establish a fighting-game scene for this game the developers ruined whatever possibility for enthusiasts to get together every now and then to reminisce on gaming from the past.

As the Shogun from Total War would say, “A shameful display!”


Sometimes games are entertaining for their gameplay, narrative and the like, but sometimes the historical and artistic value alone is all that is needed to play a game. SNK classics, such as The Last Blade, manage to hold up because they are mechanically competent as they are beautiful. One can only hope that the popularity of SNK games from the past as well as bringing back King of Fighters to new audiences will also encourage SNK to revitalize series like The Last Blade. Until then, The Last Blade is a bit of history that shows less of its wear than its greatness from another time and the possibility of a future built upon its legacy. .

Fun, different and no stranger to some hilarious translation errors. Do not ask me why this game was chosen over the much more popular and overall superior The Last Blade 2. Still it is nice to see the first game get some appreciation.
Expect the usual DotEmu port problems but I will recommend this because it is very functional and never gave me bad frame rates in the couple of hours I played and it is a game. I apologize once again for lack of experience with online play but given the usual folks working on this port you can expect a functional but pretty bad time where as local play and arcade work just fine and if you are into fighting games mostly likely you are fine with local play anyway. If not well I guess I cannot recommend this. Now I like giving SNK my dough but for the asking price of a game that is not hard at all to play by maybe-not-legal means and is less popular than it's sequel maybe the other form of critism I have for this game is they can tone the price down to 5-6 units of your local money as opposed to 10. That's all I have. Big SNK fan and this game works even if not my preference.

Hello again friends! My writing is pretty rusty since I haven't done any reviews for a while. This time I'm bringing you The Last Blade, a Fighting 2D game from the Neo Geo era... If I were to bring back then gather all the cents I put in the Arcade machine of this game back in the day, I'd quite frankly be a millionnaire by now.

Anyways, the plot goes like you'd expect: Rich guy gets a hold of an artifact, uses it to invoke a demon possessed samurai who'll wreak havoc on the world with all his rage... Rich guy gets ganked by a bunch of champions from Japan who are all, ahem... adepts of the blade. In other words they're all Samurais, Ninjas, Swordweavers etc...

The artstyle is really the only reason why we'd plug in cent after cent into the Arcade machine without regret, and without hesitation... The slashing animations, the characters, they were all way ahead of their time! I'd like to think of The Last Blade as a Garou:MOTW upgrade to Samurai Shodown... You'd only understand this if you've played all of those games. You get Slashing, Kicking moves, and as usual, combos really take the fighting to a whole new level entirely.

One thing that I'll hold against this game is that the transition from Neo Geo to Steam really didn't deal with a very old issue with the game... a character so broken, that he recovers from heavy attacks instantly, and his overheads can go through even the most difficult combos to perform. I'll not spoil it for you, but a couple of games playing against the highest difficulty CPU and you'd understand the character is VERY broken.

All in all, The Last Blade is what Samurai Shodown should've been, minus the "Sword-Play" mechanics. The Last Blade actually has got combos and super moves, it's like Garou:MOTW but with swords. 8/10

Decided to pick this up after seeing the gameplay. I'm glad that the gameplay itself lived up to my expectations. The game is very fun and accessible for newbies to fighting games like me, and nothing is too complex but I can tell there's a LOT to master.

As for the port, it's honestly bad. UI is ugly, it's a little annoying to have to look for your character every time you go to the commands list, and there's some bugs and crashes. Fingers crossed that they'll address the issues, but even if they don't this game is worth supporting if you want more SNK games on Steam!

The Last Blade is surprisingly understated for a fighting game, with a moody soundtrack and battles that sometimes forego background music entirely. The combat is fairly basic as far as 90s arcade fighters go, but it's quite satisfying, especially the repel mechanic. It makes for a very tonally distinct fighting game experience.

However, the port job here isn't great. Although it does have its fair share of bells and whistles (multiple difficulty options, training, online multiplayer, etc.), the game only gives you 9 credits per player per playthrough, and there are no save states. The emulation has its problems, too, notably with the responsiveness of the controls. It's not a dealbreaker, but this game deserves better.

The only thing better than this game is its sequel.

This is not just a game. It is a work of art!

If you want to find the nostagic feelings when playing arcade fighting games, this is definitely the game you should buy. Just purchase today, ans I'm pleased with it. though, I hope the game can run a little bit smoother like KOF 2002 UM. Hopefully they will come up with the update patch soon. Waiting for Last Blade 2 and Garou to be released soon.

My dad had a NEO GEO and this on here really brings me back. Still one of my personal favorites, over Samurai Showdown at this point for me.