Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
The First Samurai began development in July 1990, and was originally scheduled for a September 1991 release for Amiga and Atari ST, with an MS-DOS port stated to be 'unplanned' at the time.
User-friendly controls were a priority in the game's development, and John Twiddy, The First Samurai's map editor, stated that "You have to be able to pick up the joystick and just play the game.
The balance between easy-to-learn controls and allowing the player an array of different attacks was an important factor in The First Samurai's design, and Twiddy stated that "The main thing is to get lots of manoeuvres in there.
More features were incorporated into The First Samurai's map editor over the course of the game's development, and Docherty stated that "Whenever we want a new feature we simply phone John up and ask him to include it.
A level taking place in a sewer was scrapped before release because of memory restrictions, particularly due to the level's 'running water' sprites, stated to take up 'almost as much memory' as the protagonist's sprite.
Computer and Video Games magazine also said the game borrowed heavily from earlier slash 'em up games such as Strider, The Legend of Kage, and Shadow Dancer, but nevertheless gave First Samurai a positive review and called it a "brilliant" game.
The sequel The Second Samurai (1994) was released as Amiga software and was later ported to the Mega Drive as well, but it went unreleased in Japan.
A level taking place in a sewer was scrapped before release because of memory restrictions, particularly due to the level's 'running water' sprites, stated to take up 'almost as much memory' as the protagonist's sprite.
A revival of the game was announced in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, and it entered early planning stages of development, but was cancelled shortly after, and never released in any capacity.
As of 2014, it is the only single she has released since returning to the entertainment world.
The First Samurai's samurai theme was first conceived by graphic artist Paul 'Dokk' Docherty as a 'random thought' while watching the 1954 monster film Them!, and Docherty expresses that "At the time we were in the middle of designing another game, but we weren't very happy with it.
Mev Dinc, The First Samurai's project manager, expressed that programmer Raffaele Cecco was invited to the project "because he's not only a very good programmer, he also comes up with lots of really good ideas.
Game magazinesIn the "Cross Review" of Famitsu it received 6, 6, 6 and 5 for a total of 23 out of 40, and in the "Game Report Card" based on reader voting in Family Computer Magazine it was rated as follows, 17.2 out of 30.
Super Gamer reviewed the Super NES version and have an overall score of 79%, stating: "A novel and pretty platformer, but later levels are disappointing.
The First Samurai was originally released in September 1991 for the Amiga and Atari ST, and was later ported to the Commodore 64 (reduced graphics), MS-DOS (music during gameplay removed) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (significant level-design changes).
The First Samurai began development in July 1990, and was originally scheduled for a September 1991 release for Amiga and Atari ST, with an MS-DOS port stated to be 'unplanned' at the time.
The title comes from The Last Ninja (1987), an action game that was a big hit at the time.
The title comes from The Last Ninja (1987), an action game that was a big hit at the time.
In a December 1990 issue of British gaming magazine The One, The One interviewed team members from Vivid Image for information regarding The First Samurai's development in a pre-release interview.
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