SNK has announced the upcoming community beta test for Samurai Shodown to test rollback netcode will take place February 10 to 17.. The announcement of rollback netcode for Samurai Shodown took a lot of fighting game fans by surprise when it was first announced during EVO 2022. The game had been using delay-based netcode for online play since its original release in 2019, which many fans took umbrage with. For competitive players, fighting games live or die depending on their online infrastructure.For those unaware, rollback netcode is a feature that helps improve a fighting game's stability during online matches, helping to cut down the amount of delay and latency that a player experiences. Several fighting games in recent years have been built around or have switched over to it, such as Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Guilty Gear Strive, Street Fighter 6, and King of Fighters 15, just to name a few. SNK's announcement of rollback for Samurai Shodown was met with similar praise, and now fans have a date for when it will take place.In a tweet on SNK's official Twitter account, it announced that this will be taking place on the Steam version of the game from February 10-17. Unlike the previous announcement about the beta for Samurai Shodown, this is not an Open Beta Test, meaning this beta test for rollback is only available for those who already own a copy of the game. This beta test, however, will allow the usage of the game's DLC characters, even if the player hasn't purchased them yet.
Code Mythics, the team behind the implementation of rollback for this game, asked fans for their support in testing every corner of the netcode, wishing to help give the game the best online experience. The developer notes if something sticks out during the online play, the player should report it so that it is brought to the team's attention. The developer notes that the best way to provide feedback during this period of testing would be through the Steam forums, allowing for ease-of-access and organization. Code Mythics was responsible previously for implementing rollback netcode for SNK's King of Fighters 15.
Rollback netcode is coming to Samurai Shodown's PS4, PC, and Xbox versions of the game, while omitting the Switch and Stadia versions that were released later in its life cycle. The Stadia version was a given, since Google had shut down Stadia earlier this month, while the Switch version likely has less competitive players on it.
Samurai Shodown is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
