Play The First Samurai Online

Game Overview

Ever played one of those old-school platformers where you die a lot but keep coming back? The First Samurai is exactly that—a tough-as-nails MS-DOS gem where you play as a lone warrior slicing through enemies in feudal Japan. At first, it feels like any other side-scroller, but then you realize you can summon lightning or throw shurikens, and suddenly it clicks.

The levels are packed with traps, archers hiding in the background, and jumps that’ll make you sweat. I remember getting stuck on this one bamboo bridge section for ages because some sneaky ninja kept knocking me into spikes. The pixel art still holds up, too—those cherry blossom backgrounds and flickering lanterns give it way more atmosphere than most games from that era.

It’s not just mindless slashing, either. You’ve got to time your strikes, pick the right weapon for each enemy, and sometimes just run like hell. If you’re into retro games that don’t hold your hand, this one’s a brutal but satisfying ride.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".