Samurai Shodown V

Following the revitalization of SNK after its collapse in 2001, the company decided that it would be worthwhile to create another game in the largely-defunct Samurai Shodown series. As part of their reorganization, development duties were given over to the relatively-unknown Yuki Enterprise, which had mainly only created simulation and board games for the Simple 2000 series of PlayStation 2 games in Japan, and had no experience in developing fighting games. This announcement caused considerable unease among series fans. In spite of this, SNK managed to raise excitement by announcing that Nobuhiro Watsuki, the creator and author of the Rurouni Kenshin manga and anime series, was hired to design some of the new characters, and they were gradually revealed by way of silhouettes on the official website, and slowly showing the official artwork. Word finally got out that the game was to be a true prequel to the rest of the series, taking place two years before Samurai Shodown. This created its own issues with the series timeline. The gameplay was sped up slightly from Samurai Shodown IV, and the button layout was changed again. The Slash/Bust system of the last few games was done away with, and each character now only had one version, though in several cases, the Bust mode was replaced by a new character of very similar setup.

Seven years after the release of Samurai Shodown IV, the storyline of this game is a prequel for the rest of the series, two years before the events of the original Samurai Shodown, focusing on a new protagonist named Yoshitora Tokugawa as he and many other warriors must face the rebellion of Yoshitora's former mentor, Gaoh Kyogoku Hinowanokami who intends on conquering and unifying all of Japan under his rule.

SNK Playmore hired Yuki Enterprise (later became Examu) to develop a new Samurai Shodown installment, where project lead Koji Takaya was a former SNK employee and worked on the main titles of the series. Takaya and the team developed the title based on decompiled ROM of Samurai Shodown IV with their own development tools.

An Xbox version was announced for Europe by Ignition Entertainment in June 2005 for a September 2005 release with a retail price of £19.99. The game did not release on Xbox in the PAL region. It instead released exclusively in North America in January 2006.