Samurai Shodown, known in Japan as Samurai Spirits, is a fighting game developed and published by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home platform. Released in 1993, it is the first installment in the Samurai Shodown series. In contrast to most fighting games at the time, which were set in the modern age and focused primarily on hand-to-hand combat, Samurai Shodown takes place in feudal-era Japan (similar to Kaneko's Shogun Warriors that was released the year prior). It was SNK's first arcade fighting game to focus primarily on weapon-based combat.

Samurai Shodown was a commercial success, becoming Japan's sixth highest-grossing arcade game of 1993 and one of America's top five highest-grossing arcade conversion kits of 1994. It won several Game of the Year awards from Gamest, Electronic Gaming Monthly and the European Computer Trade Show. Samurai Showdown then appeared on other platforms, including the Takara-published Super NES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy and Game Gear versions in 1994. It has since been re-released for various modern platforms as part of the SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 (2008), Samurai Shodown Anthology (2008) and Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection (2020) compilations, the ACA Neo Geo series, and on the Wii Virtual Console.

The game is set in the late 1780s, and all the characters wield weapons. The game uses music from the time period, with sounds of traditional Japanese instruments, such as the shakuhachi and shamisen. A refined version of the camera zoom first found in Art of Fighting is used in Samurai Shodown. The game includes the portrayal of blood.

The game became renowned for its fast pace. Focusing more on quick, powerful strikes than combos, the slow motion was added to intensify the damage dealt from hard hits. During a match, a referee holds flags representing each player (Player 1 is white; Player 2 is red). When a player lands a successful hit, the referee lifts the corresponding flag, indicating who dealt the blow.

A delivery man occasionally appears in the background and throws items such as bombs or health-restoring chicken, which can change the outcome.

Shiro Tokisada Amakusa, slain in Japan of 1638 by the forces of the Tokugawa Shogunate for his part in the Shimabara Rebellion, was resurrected in 1787 as an akuma from making a deal with the dark god Ambrosia by bringing the evil entity into the world with the Palenke stone and its energy. Driven by hatred for the Shogunate and having a nihilistic streak towards the world, he unleashes his dark powers to bring chaos to all of existence in 1788. A variety of warriors—some historic, some fictional—converge upon the source of the chaos, each driven by their own reasons.

Non playable characters that appear are Kuroko; a man dressed in all black who judges each match during the game and Hikyaku; a delivery man working for Amakusa who disrupts fights.

Samurai Shodown evolved from what was originally planned to be a traditional side-scrolling beat 'em up, featuring monsters as the dark heroes (similar to Data East's Night Slashers). However, after considering what would sell to a global audience, series-creator and director Yasushi Adachi decided that a fighting game with distinctly Japanese characters, such as samurai and ninjas, would do better. The only hold-over from the original concept was Genan Shiranui, the hunchbacked claw-handed creature that was inspired by Adachi's interest in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands.