Shadow Blasters

n/a

NTSC-U NTSC-J
Shadow Blasters
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sigma Enterprises (Japan), Sage's Creation (US)
Developer: Sigma Pro-Tech
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-08-10 ¥6,200 (6,386)6,200e T-26023 US 1990-12 $49.9549.95 47016

Shiten Myouou (四天明王 lit. 4 Dawning Kings), known in the United States as Shadow Blasters, is a Sega Mega Drive action platform game developed by Sigma Pro-Tech. First published in Japan by Sigma Enterprises in August 1990, it was later localized and brought to the United States by Sage's Creation later that year.

Story

The evil god Ashura has unleashed hordes of monsters and demons onto Earth, hoping to take control of the planet as well as the hearts of men. The good god Hyperion has recruited four of Earth's most powerful warriors and assembled them into a team to fight the encroaching darkness and defeat Ashura: the ninja warriors named Kotarou and Ayame, a Buddhist fighting monk named Kidenbou, and a fencer named Senshirou. In the game's English localization, their names were changed to Horatio, Tiffany, Marco, and Leo, respectively.

Gameplay

Shadow Blasters is a side-scrolling platform game. There are four characters. Each character is able to walk with and , jump with , kneel with , and jump off platforms with +. The player can fire a projectile weapon unique to the selected character with . For the most part, the player is free to move forward and backward through a given level as desired. As the player progresses, characters become more powerful by picking up power-ups for the attributes of speed, jump, and power. Power-ups are specific to each character. If a character is already at the maximum level for an attribute, collecting its power-up has no effect.

At the beginning of each stage, the player can choose from a pool of four characters. The player can switch characters at any point during game play by pressing  START  and choosing a different character from the selection screen. This screen also shows each character's attribute levels. Each character has a life bar with nine segments. Life bar segments are lost when the character takes damage from an enemy, but there are items that restore the life bar. Once a character dies, he or she cannot be revived. The game is over when all four characters have died. The player can continue as many times as desired but loses all character upgrades in doing so.

Each character's weapon has nine levels, represented by segments on their power bar, with four distinct stages, reached at every third level. Holding charges the weapon to a higher level for a single shot. Projectiles can be fired while jumping or kneeling or fired directly up with +. There is also a special attack that destroys all enemies on the screen with . Each character can use this attack once per stage.

There is also a cooperative 2-player mode where two players fight through the stages together.

Characters

	Horatio
	A ninja with the power of fire. His base attack throws shurikens straight ahead. At level 3, he throws small fireballs. At level 6, he throws larger fireballs. At level 9, he unleashes a fire dragon.
	Tiffany
	A ninja with the power of wind. Her base attack throws bombs, which arc in front of her and land on the ground. At level 3, she shoots wind blasts at an upward angle. At level 6, she shoots two wind blasts at upward and downward angles, forming a conical shape. At level 9, she hurls a tornado.
	Marco
	A Buddhist monk with the power of lightning. His base attack shoots energy balls that bow upward. At level 3, he shoots short energy bolts straight ahead. At level 6, he shoots long lightning bolts. At level 9, he shoots three stacked lightning bolts.
	Leo
	A master fencer. His base attack throws knives directly in front of him. At level 3, he shoots boomerangs that return to him, damaging enemies coming and going. At level 6, he shoots two boomerangs at once. At level 9, he shoots a single large boomerang that shoots again after returning once.

Stages

The first six stages can be played in any order. The remaining three stages are played in sequence after the first six have been completed.

	Mountain
	Street
	Glen
	Harbor
	Forest
	Future
	Wicked World
	Heavenly Sky
	Space
	The last stage is played as Hyperion against Ashura.

Items

	Red Emblem
	Increases the selected character's speed, up to a maximum of 4. The current level is indicated by the "S" value on the character select screen.
	Blue Emblem
	Increases the selected character's jumping ability, up to a maximum of 4. The current level is indicated by the "J" value on the character select screen.
	White Emblem
	Increases the selected character's power, up to a maximum of 9. The current level is indicated by the number of red segments on the character's power bar when not charged.
	Crimson Emblem
	Heals the selected character for one hit point.
	Explosive Emblem
	Heals the selected character's complete life bar.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	Shadow Blasters	Shadow Blasters
Japanese	四天明王	Shiten Myouou

Production credits

• Game Designer: T.Mura
• Character Designer: Suttako‑Tetsu
• Scroll Designer: Goro Tama, TS‑25
• Programmer: X Y Z, Hiroshi Sato
• Sound Programmer: M.Takayama
• Sound Composer: Songdong Kim
• Thanks...: Zerozero X, Garam, Katsu, Angela, Mr. Ogulin

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Shadow Blasters/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #2: "October/November 1990" (1990-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Game Players Sega Guide! (US) #0101: "Vol. 1, No. 1: Fall 1990" (1990-10-xx)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-06: "June 1990" (1990-05-08)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) NTSC-U 40 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 53 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 58 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 58 Joystick (FR) 79 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-U 34 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 60 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 40 Power Play (DE) 38 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 25 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U 46 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 39 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 65 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U 70

	50
Based on 14 reviews

Shadow Blasters

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 713d377b MD5 3593e0995aa5ac87bf54e54da56e4631 SHA-1 8485453264fd67ff8e4549a9db50b4f314a6fcb5	512kB	1990-08	Cartridge (US)
✔	CRC32 7e729693 MD5 db917818b7f82a0bf6dd5aeee7bf5a1a SHA-1 7bc3be0753b4ba8bbab2f5096e0efa0c0884dd98	512kB	1990-06	Cartridge (JP)