Seppuku the offender's family of the crime. Depending on the severity of the crime, all or part of the property of the condemned could be confiscated, and the family would be punished by being stripped of rank, sold into long-term servitude, or execution. Seppuku was considered the most honorable capital punishment apportioned to Samurai. Zanshu (斬首) and Sarashikubi (晒し首), decapitation followed by a display of the head, was considered harsher, and reserved for samurai who committed greater crimes. The harshest punishments, usually involving death by torturous methods like Kamayude (釜茹で), death by boiling, were reserved for commoner offenders. The first recorded
Samurai Shodown III the overall story is smaller in scope. The returning characters from the previous game are: New warriors added to the series included the following: The first part of a two-chapter story that is chronologically set between the events of "Samurai Shodown" and "Samurai Shodown II", "Samurai Shodown III" follows the journey of a young semi-amnesic boy named Shizumaru Hisame as he and many other warriors seek out a powerful and dangerous swordsman named Zankuro Minazuki for their own personal reasons. Like "Samurai Shodown", "Samurai Shodown III" was released on multiple consoles other than the Neo Geo and Neo Geo CD