Shogun Showdown is a game that is themed around Japanese martial arts and the great warriors that this country had in the past. Focusing on the shoguns, the leaders of the Japanese and their nobility, this slot is about war in those times, about the warriors that took part and about some of the weapons that were used. The action takes place near some of the castles of the Shogun, where preparations for an upcoming war are being made.
With wild symbols, free spins, scatters and bonus games, Shogun Showdown offers enough features to keep most players happy. You will find up to 50 paylines on the 5 reels of this Amaya slot machine. The prizes are decent enough, with the $31,250 top payout available being a good motivator.
Features of Shogun Showdown
You shouldn’t miss any of the major features in Shogun Showdown, as it appears to have a little bit of everything. It’s not going to invest a lot in either of those features, but at least it has them all.
To start with, the wild symbol’s representative is a Blue colored monster of some kind, with horns and long tusks. It’s the symbol that can substitute for others and in the long run it should give you a lot more paying combinations, increasing the profitability of the slot. It will not substitute for the symbols with special roles, meaning the ones marked Bonus or Shogun.
The Shogun symbol is an interesting one, since it is capable of changing into any other symbol, with the exception of the wild or scatter. This doesn’t mean that it substitutes for them, just that it turns into another symbol when it appears, chosen at random. The only time when this doesn’t happen is when the 3rd reel is occupied fully by four Shogun symbols. The bonus game will start when these requirements are met. While these bonus games are used, any Shogun symbols that appear are held in place and at the end all of them turn into one random symbol (the same one).
Free Games Feature
The warrior symbol, marked Bonus, is the scatter symbol that gets you access to free spins. It is going to appear only on the reels 1, 3 and 5. Get the Bonus on the three reels at the same time, and your reward will be a payout worth 2x the bet plus a round of 10 free games. The free spins can be retriggered, with the same 3 scatter symbols marked Bonus.
Betting options and jackpots
Shogun Showdown is no cheap slot, though it can use bets as small as $0.02. At its highest bet settings, it will ask for up to $1,250 for a single game spin, a huge amount that few can afford to wager. It gets to that kind of value by using 50 paylines, each one with 5 coins with values of $5. There are a lot of chances to win with 50 lines though, so it might just be worth it.
That huge investment you have to make for every spin can result in prizes that go as high as 6,250 coins, meaning $31,250 cash for you. Compare it with the 250 coins investment, and it doesn’t sound like a bad deal.
Design and symbols
The theme is Japanese inspired, so let’s see if the game does well by them. The design style is spot on I’d say, with Japanese characters, with their weapons and their castles all included. The style is Japanese in each case and even the drawing style looks inspired by the Manga comics. Playing cards each come with some kind of ninja warrior hidden behind them, with the letter style looking inspired by Asian writing.
Symbols: Blue Warrior (wild), Shogun (random symbol), Samurai (scatter, 2x the bet), Throwing Star (250x), Sickle (200x), Warrior Helmet (100x), Nunchacku (100x), Ace (90x), King (90x) and Queen (80x).
Is It Worth Playing?
This game should be a hit with both fans of the Japanese Medieval era and of martial arts in general. Few will be able to afford the kind of investment that this game requires though, so the payouts will be quite small for most of them.
You will find Shogun Showdown at any online casino which chooses to use software from Amaya, playable either for free or for real money.
