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Tear Jerker / Samurai Shodown

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  • If Galford is hit with a fatal blow, his Canine Companion Poppy will let out a mournful howl, even shedding a tear for her slain master. The 2019 reboot makes things even worse: she is shown visibly panicking and looking very distraught over Galford's defeat/death.
  • Nakoruru's Heroic Sacrifice and her post-mortem goodbye to Galford, the McNinja who was in love with her in the second game. It's so heartbreaking that it's known to bring tears even from the most hardened gamers.
    • It's not much better in her own ending, where we see her grandparents and Rimururu mourning her and her soul also begs them to not grieve. It then goes to happy tears as Rimururu clutches her sister's sword and says "I understand...", meaning this is the moment where she decided to fight on.
    • Ukyo's ending doesn't help matters. Retconned or not, it's still not easy to see Kei mourning him both as a girl and as an old woman.
  • The end of the Nakoruru OVA. Specially when Nakoruru speaks to her mother and asks her if she's crying.
    • As if the main series wasn't enough, Yantamu also has a heartbreaking moment with Nakoruru making a Heroic Sacrifice to try to save her, in vane because she dies too, later becoming a fairy and aid Mikoto to slay Mizuki.
  • Mikoto's ending in Warriors Rage, when she reunites with her parents, Shiki and Asura... in a vision.
  • Shizumaru's possesion. The poor boy keeps trying to warn others about the demon inside him, so he only fights when needed to and apologizes after defeating the oponent. However, in his finishing move, he gets completely taken over by his Superpowered Evil Side and proceeds to cut the oponent in half. When he comes back to his senses and sees the oponent dead, he breaks down in horrified tears.
  • Really, Mina's entire existence qualifies. She grew up isolated and feared because of her abilities, she had only one friend, her entire village was razed, and Chample, the only friend she ever had, turned out to be the one responsible for the destruction. After she killed Chample as an act of revenge, it dawned on her that she was truly alone with him gone, heavily implying she became suicidal afterward. It's little wonder why she's considered the premiere Woobie of Samurai Shodown. Fortunately, she will be returning in Samurai Shodown 2019, averting her implied tragic fate, even if she has to lose an eye for it.
  • Yashamaru's story in general. His father was executed on false charges by the shogunate. Embittered, he ended up becoming the phantom thief Karasu-Tengu to exact revenge and expose the corruption within the system. His rival cutscene and post-match winquote with Yoshitora not only reflects just how much he hates the Tokugawas, but how much suffering Yoshitora could have prevented if he hadn't shirked his responsibilities. With a character like Yashamaru, is it any wonder why Gaoh started a rebellion?
  • Shizuka Gozen is portrayed as a Tragic Monster whose soul was plucked from the afterlife and manipulated by an evil force to be used as a vessel. She is merely being controlled, most likely by the demon god Ambrosia, having negative emotions forced upon her and begging for the opponent to put her out of her misery. Much of the cast takes note of how much she's suffering.
  • Yoshitora's ending in 2019, while optimistic, contains a tender moment where he remembers "a promise he made to an old friend". Although not mentioned by name, it's very obvious that the text is referring to Gaoh, his former mentor, who Yoshitora was forced to kill for betraying the shogunate. This is also doubly sad because of the Reality Subtext of it being a tribute to Gaoh's voice actor, Kenji Utsumi, who passed away in 2011.
  • Shiki's ending in 2019 is the textbook definition of Hope Spot. After Shizuka is defeated, her mind begins to achieve clarity, but just as quickly as her emotions return to her, a sudden pain knocks her unconscious once more. Yuga suddenly appears from out of the shadows, revealing himself as the voice who was calling to her and the one who returned her to an unconscious state. He restores Shiki's brainwashing and returns her to the darkness of Mt. Osore, where she has been cursed to sleep until the actual time for her awakening comes. The memories she had from the story mode have also been erased from her mind by Yuga, leaving her a Blank Slate once more.
  • Basara's ending in 2019. Depressed after seeing his beloved Kagaribi cry over Shizuka's similar circumstances to her, and overcome with guilt about being the one responsible for Kagaribi's death, Basara tries to kill himself...only to fail due to Kagaribi's intervention. Basara is left with a broken expression of despair on his face as he wonders why Kagaribi still won't forgive him and let him die. Kagaribi then ominously declares that she bears a grudge against him for murdering her, and will never let his soul rest until she deems him worthy of being forgiven, condemning him to suffer as a Revenant Zombie.
  • Just like in her home game, you can break Hibiki's spirit and turn her into a psychopath by killing your opponents in Story Mode.
  • The fact that Baiken fits in so well with the world of Samurai Shodown. One of the most immediately noticeable things about her demeanor in 2019 is that, unlike her home series, she smiles more often and is generally more cheerful. Then it hits you: she's happy because she's able to live in her homeland again during what she would consider to be its prime: the final years before the age of the sword came to an end. In the era Baiken is from, Japan has been completely obliterated and the survivors were forced to live in a Gilded Cage because of their rare affinity for ki manipulation, and it's later revealed that they were rounded up and imprisoned within the colony for far worse ulterior motives: to be used as living bombs by an Eldritch Abomination who wanted to destroy all of humanity.
    • Her ending is also quite tragic. Although she greatly enjoyed her little side adventure and got to fight against some of the greatest warriors of the age, Baiken ultimately chooses to leave what is essentially her dream life behind and return to her own timeline in order to finally get her revenge on That Man.

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