Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi

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Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Mega-Tech, Virtual Console, Steam
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega R&D 9 M2
Distributor: Tec Toy (BR)
Sound driver: SMPS 68000
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-12-01 ¥6,0006,000 G-4043 US 1990-12 $49.9549.95 1114 US (Classic) 1992 1114C US ▼ (Sega Channel) 199x SUBsub EU 1991-05 1114 BX 199x PT 199x UK 1991-05 £39.9939.99 1114 AU 199x CA 1991 BR 1991-06 UK 199x £? ? JP ▼ 2006-12-02 600pts600 US ▼ 2010-01-18 800pts800 EU ▼ 2010-01-08 800pts800 US ▼ 2010-06-01 $2.992.99 34282 EU ▼ 2010-06-01 €2.492.49 34282 UK ▼ 2010-06-01 £1.991.99 34282 AU ▼ 2010-06-01 $3.493.49 34282 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 34282 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34282 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 34282 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 34282 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 34282 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34282 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 34282 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 34282
ESRA

Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (シャドーダンサー ザ・シークレット・オブ・シノビ) is a Sega Mega Drive action game developed by Sega R&D 2 and published by Sega. First released in Japan in December 1990, the game is an expanded reworking of the 1989 arcade game Shadow Dancer, featuring improved controls and more refined gameplay exclusive to this Mega Drive version.

Story

“	A.D 1997, New York City Having vanquished the evil crime empire Neo Zeed, Shinobi was not heard from again. His combat ninja skills were not needed in a peaceful world. But a new threat arose. In a reptilian form that lived on vicious instinct alone. The colossal monster moved slowly and quietly, and its attack was relentless. The souls unfortunate enough to live became 'hostages' mass panic swept the streets. It remained only for Shinobi to take action. The ninja of the shadows. His weapons were stealth and quickness of attack. His only allies when facing over whelming force. Relying on ninja weapons and magic, Shinobi fought on. Assisted by his faithful dog. This is the story of their defiance..	„
— Introduction

The story according to the US manual adds the extra detail that Joe Musashi (following the events of The Revenge of Shinobi) decided to visit his student, Kato in New York. Shortly after Joe left, Kato learned of the Union Lizard's takeover of an elementary school, and he decided to assist in the rescuing of the hostages. However, Kato was fatally wounded by a subordinate of Union Lizard, and when Joe raced back in to the US, it was too late — Kato died from his wounds. After this, Joe swore to Kato's mother that he and Yamato (Kato's pet dog) would avenge Kato.

The Japanese version of the backstory differs from the overseas releases. The protagonist is not Joe Musashi, but his estranged son Hayate, who was born in 1977 and raised in the United States after being separated from his true parents. Kato (whose full name is Dick C. Kato) was Hayate's foster father in this version and the man who trained him in the ways of ninjutsu. This backstory implies that the events of The Super Shinobi took place sometime before 1977, although there is nothing in the original game to suggest this was meant to be the case.

Gameplay

The game is a side-scrolling action platformer. It more closely resembles its arcade progenitors than the other Mega Drive Shinobi titles do. Shinobi can be moved with or and can crouch with . He can move while crouching with and . Shinobi is armed with a sword, can throw shurikens, and can kick enemies, all performed with depending on his proximity to the target. He has an unlimited number of shurikens. He can jump with . + jumps off platforms and + jumps up to higher platforms; these button combinations are also used for jumping over a fence to the background and back to the foreground in one stage. Shinobi also has a special ninjutsu ability that can be used once per stage with to eliminate all enemies on screen.

The goal of most stages is to rescue all the hostages and reach the exit. Shinobi can only take one hit before losing a life in this game, so the player is forced to engage enemies cautiously. Shinobi takes a hit when he touches an enemy weapon; other contact with the enemy knocks him back instead, potentially leaving him vulnerable to a fatal hit. The player has a limited number of lives (but can collect more over the course of the game). If the player runs out of lives, the game ends, but the player can choose to continue the game at the start of the current round if there are continues remaining.

Rescuing male hostages awards bonus points and occasionally an extra life. Extra lives can also be earned in the bonus rounds that appear in between each round or are occasionally dropped by enemies. Rescuing female hostages give Shinobi enhanced attacks for the rest of the stage (or until he loses a life).

Assisting Shinobi is his loyal companion Yamato. When Yamato finds an enemy, he barks at him; he can be ordered to attack by holding , which charges his meter at the bottom of the screen, and releasing when his meter is full. If the enemy is on the same floor and not blocking the attack, Yamato darts over to him and stuns him, allowing Shinobi to finish him off. The enemy can parry Yamato's attack and hurt him, which causes him to shrink to a puppy and become unable to attack temporarily.

There are three difficulty levels. Changing the difficulty level significantly influences enemy placements and their number (unlike Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi III, where only health and lives are reduced). Bosses remain unchanged aside from a boost in health. The game gives bonuses for not using shurikens or ninjutsu spells during the stages before the boss. The game also has some secret score opportunities, such as defeating a boss with only one second on the timer remaining (using ninjutsu). There is also a "Non-Shuriken" mode where the player does not have access to shurikens at all and must engage foes in melee range. Shinobi can still use shurikens against bosses and during the bonus stages.

Ninjutsu spells

Each stage gives the player a predetermined ninjutsu spell that can be cast once to eliminate all opponents on screen (as well as enemy projectiles).

	Fire Columns (火炎の術)
	Conjures pillars of flame.
	Tornadoes (風神の術)
	Summons two tornadoes.
	Meteorites (飛岩の術)
	Meteorites rain from the sky.

Items

	Union Lizard Coin
	Dropped by some enemies. Gives the player one or two extra lives.

Rounds

	Burning Downtown
	Battle on the Bridge
	Statue of Liberty
	In the Darkness
	Union Lizard
	The first stage of this round consists of five rooms, each dedicated to a particular enemy from the prior rounds, forcing the player to demonstrate mastery over the enemy. This is the only stage without a time limit. Players can exploit the respawning ninjas in rooms 4 and 5 to augment their score.

Bonus rounds

A bonus round is played in between each round. Shinobi jumps off a skyscraper and throws shurikens at ninjas that are flying toward him. There are fifty ninjas total in each bonus round. The game gives rewards for certain results:

Ninjas Eliminated	Award
50	3-Up
49	2-Up
48	1-Up
1-47	bonus points
0	1-Up

Curiously, the game awards the player an extra life for hitting no ninjas.

Bonus Round 1

Bonus Round 2

Bonus Round 3

Bonus Round 4

History

Release

The game was was banned from sale in Germany, and still classified to be unsuitable for younger audiences in Germany. Therefore, it is missing from the Sega Mega Drive Collection in PAL regions.

Legacy

The game was included on the Sega Mega Drive Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. The game has also been re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console service and on Steam.

It was included as part of the North American and European versions of the Mega Drive Mini 2 in 2022.

Versions

There are no known differences (the Japanese release also displays English text), same ROM is used for all regions. Only music is optimized for PAL system, the gameplay is slower than intended.

Production credits

Main article: Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi/Production credits.

Digital manuals

PDF

Steam manual

PDF

Mega Drive Mini 2 EU manual

PDF

Mega Drive Mini 2 US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in (JP) #1990-12: "December 1990" (1990-11-08)

Print advert in (JP) #1991-01: "January 1991" (1990-12-08)

Artwork

• 

  Japanese cover art

• 

  International cover art

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score (RU) 70 (UK) 78 (JP) NTSC-J 73 (UK) 62 (UK) PAL 89 (RU) 70 (UK) 63 (US) NTSC-U 80 (RU) 70 (RU) 60 (UK) 59 (JP) NTSC-J 58 (US) NTSC-U 80 (IT) 89 (FR) 82 (JP) NTSC-J 80 (ES) 90 (FR) 90 (UK) 84 (UK) PAL 84 (JP) NTSC-J 77 (US) NTSC-U 80 (UK) 59 (ES) 60 (UK) 59 (FR) 90 (DE) 79 (UK) 82 (UK) PAL 90 (UK) PAL 75 (UK) 89 (UK) PAL 83 (JP) NTSC-J 68 (FR) 90 (RU) 74 (US) NTSC-U 80 (DE) 75 (UK) 78

	76
Based on 38 reviews

Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US (Sega Classic)
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, FR
Manual

Mega Drive, IT (US import, Italian Manual)

Mega Drive, PT

Mega Drive, BX†
Cover

Mega Drive, AU (Horizontal manual)
Cover

Mega Drive, AU (Vertical manual)

Mega Drive, BR (cardboard)

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, CA
Cover

Mega-Tech version

Mega-Tech,
Cart

Technical information

Main article: Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 ebe9ad10 MD5 1f2a9f322e770be0a3cc2aabdf8bc575 SHA-1 c5f096b08470a564a737140b71247748608c32b6	512kB	1990-12	Cartridge
✔	CRC32 5cd3e295 MD5 4bbe8b456f87a22062a98a0d50e41cd5 SHA-1 a3a1c2cb8bd202c5e1b9745b35b2ffb12b2b90f5	512kB	1990-12	Sega Mega Drive Classics	World Trade Center censored
?	CRC32 8497cd8d MD5 dc0b31209961d401f453918604d7dbc6 SHA-1 37d5dcf8052d523efa395be00df566d99eaaa03f	512kB	1990-10-02	CD-R disc				Page

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US
• Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi on Steam

References

Games in the Shinobi series
	Shinobi (1987) | Shadow Dancer (1989)
	Shinobi (1988) | The Cyber Shinobi (1990) | Shadow Dancer (1991)
	Shinobi (1989)
	The Revenge of Shinobi (1989) | Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (1990) | Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (1993)
	The GG Shinobi (1991) | The GG Shinobi II: The Silent Fury (1992)
	Shinobi Legions (1995)
	The Revenge of Shinobi (2002)
	Shinobi (2002) | Nightshade (2003)
	Shinobi 3D (2011) | 3D Shinobi III (2013)
	Sega Ages Shinobi (2019)
Shinobi related media
	(1989) | (2002) | (2009) | (2012) | (2014) | (2015) | (2016) | (2022)
	(1994) | (1995) | (2002) | (2002) | (2002) | (2003) | (2003) | (2004)