Rating: 4.6/5
Bakumatsu Roman Daini Maku Gekka no Kenshi Tsuki ni Saku Hana Chiri Yuku Hana (known in the West as Last Blade 2) is a 2D fighting game similar to SNK's Samurai Shodown series as the game focuses on sword play. There are four attack buttons that act as weak, medium, heavy, and deflect. Players can choose from sixteen characters that can be played in either "speed" or "power" styles. Speed Style enables players to perform chain attacks similar to most anime fighters and also perform Speed Combos. Power Style gives you access to super cancels (canceling supers into other supers) and a Super Desperation Move; an even stronger version of your super. Super meter is handled in a more traditional way than in the Samurai Shodown series making it similar to meter in the Street Fighter series. The deflect button acts somewhat as a parry making it a 2D fighter equivalent to something like guard impact in the Soul Calibur series. The Last Blade 2 is a great game for fighting game players looking for a balance of spacing, timing, reads, and combo potential in a fighting game. It is well worth the time to play.
You also need an emulator to run this game. To grab one quickly, please check out our NeoGeo CD emulators section.