Shadow Dancer

For the Sega Mega Drive game, see Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi.

n/a

Shadow Dancer
System(s): Sega System 18, Sega Master System, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
Publisher: Sega U.S. Gold
Developer: Sega R&D 1 Images
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1989-11 ¥? ? US 1989 $? ? EU 1991-11 9009 AU 199x BR 1991-06 KR 199x GB4010JG ES 199x UK 1991-06 £24.9924.99 UK (Kixx) 199x UK 1991-06 £24.9924.99 ES (Cassette) 1991 ES (Disk) 1991 UK (Cassette) 1991-03 £10.9910.99 UK (Disk) 1991 UK (Kixx) 199x UK (Cassette) 1991-03 £10.9910.99 UK (Kixx) 199x ES (Cassette) 1991 UK (Cassette) 1991-03 £10.9910.99 UK (Kixx) 199x

Shadow Dancer (シャドー・ダンサー), known as Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi on Master System covers, is an action platform game developed by Sega for the Sega System 18 arcade system in 1989. A port of the game was published by Sega for the Sega Master System, and ports to several home computers were published by U.S. Gold. Alongside The Revenge of Shinobi, this game was the first sequel to Shinobi.

A similar game titled Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi was released for the Sega Mega Drive, which features an entirely different set of levels.

Story

“	忍法の修行に励む若者のもとには、忠実なる一頭の忍犬がいた。 一方、都市の中心では、テロ集団が暴虐の限りをつくし、 あろうことか街のいたる所に時限爆弾を仕掛け始めたのであった。 若き忍者とその相棒の忍犬は、仕掛けられたすべての爆弾を回収するとともに、テロ集団をあやつる悪の組織を壊滅するため、果敢にも行動を開始した。	„

“	The young Ninja battles together with his faithful pet dog. In the center of the city, a group of terrorists are committing known to man, including the planting of time bombs throughout the metropolis. Our youthful hero and his canine companion courageously set out to gather all the explosives placed by the evil gang and annihilate the syndicate that manipulates them.	„

In the Master System version, main character is named Takeshi in manual and Fuma in the attract sequence (no relationship to Joe Musashi is mentioned in either case) and tasked with preventing a terrorist organization (named "Asian Dawn" in the manual) from taking control of an orbital space weapon system.

At the time of release, Shadow Dancer was not strictly affiliated with Shinobi in terms of plot, though the set-up is very similar to the original arcade game. The naming of the characters varies between home versions of the game, as do their motives.

Gameplay

Shadow Dancer expands on the gameplay seen in Shinobi, being a side-scrolling action game inspired by the likes of Namco's Rolling Thunder. The original game's moveset remains in-tact, however rather than saving children, the task is to defuse bombs. All bombs in the level must be defused to get to the next level.

Players' main method of attack is throwing shurikens. If too close to the enemy, player will either slash the enemy with sword or kick or punch them. Touching an enemy who is not attacking will push the player back. Certain defused bombs will turn shurikens to burning shurikens, causing double damage.

There is no energy level and player will lose a life is he is hit by enemy projectiles or melee attacks and will be forced to start the level from the beginning.

Most notably, Shadow Dancer adds an AI-controlled white dog (named "Yamato") which can be used to take down enemies. By crouching, dog will start barking and by pressing the attack button, dog will attack the nearest enemy and hold him until player can kill the target. However, if player takes too long, enemy will simply push back the dog. If damaged, dog will shrink and won't be able to assist the player until he grows back to normal size. Certain enemies, such as guys with green shields and ninjas armed with swords are immune to dog attacks.

Player can use ninja magic during battle which will kill all regular enemies or seriously damage the boss. Player can use Tatsumaki (Whirlwind), Fire Dog or Butsuzo (Buddha) magic. Beside the different attack animation, all magic cause same damage. Game randomly assigns a magic to player at the beginning of each level.

Gameplay

Missions

	Mission 1 : Airport
	Takes place in an airport. After securing the main building, players will have to eliminate the terrorists in the apron and then fight the boss inside an airplane. Boss of the level is a large enemy who wears a samurai armor who is believed to be a robot. He attacks using bouncing fireballs and can only be hurt by attacking his arms when he raises it to throw fireballs. This is the same boss from the Mega Drive version.
	Mission 2 : Train Yard
	Takes place inside a train yard and later on a moving train. Players will face a armed locomotive which fires energy bolts. This boss can only be hurt by hitting the flashing optic sensor which goes up and down across the locomotive's front armor.
	Mission 3 : Sewers
	Starts in a ruined building and later continues in a alligator infested sewer. Boss of the level is a tall, leotard wearing woman who attacks the player with steel slabs. She can only be hurt when she is throwing the slabs, which she will have to deactivate the shield protecting her. Might be the same boss from the third level of the Mega Drive version of Shadow Dancer, only with different attacks and slightly different clothing.
	Mission 4 : Launch Facility
	Takes place inside a spaceport. Boss of the level is a woman(?) carrying a naginata. She can only be hurt after she swipes her weapon, which will make her vulnerable for a second.

Versions

Master System version

Shadow Dancer on the Master System retains a lot of the arcade game's content, but simplifies the graphics and sound to better suit the hardware. Level layouts are slightly different, and the decision to use sprites similar in size to the arcade version means that fewer enemies can appear on screen at any one time. Sprite flicker is a common sight, and entire sections of levels are removed to save space. Unlike the arcade version, players cannot backtrack during either side scrolling or boss sections, limiting player to a very small section of the screen during the boss fights.

The most striking omission in the Master System version of Shadow Dancer is the dog as an active character, but it is still available as a game mechanic. When a valid target is onscreen, the player must crouch. While crouched, the ninja magic icon will slowly transform into a a dog head. When the icon is completely full, it will move to the target enemy's location. Pressing attack will cause the dog to appear out of nowhere and attack the enemy. If no valid target exists, the icon will not move and pressing attack while crouched will perform a normal attack. Dog can be called only three times each level.

Master System version retains the first person shuriken throwing bonus rounds but the one between the second and third level is the same bonus round used by the Mega Drive version, which makes player to jump from a tall building and attack ninjas in a downward shoot 'em up fashion.

Just like the Master System version of Shinobi, Ninja magic cannot be used during boss fights. In addition to the previously mentioned problem of being confined to the small section of the screen makes the boss fights even more difficult than the arcade version.

A small oddity, in the Master System version, player always bows to boss before the boss battle.

Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum versions

The Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum versions of Shadow Dancer share similar cutbacks and are likely based on the same code. Both versions opt for a more zoomed-in look than is perhaps ideal, introducing extra vertical scrolling. Music is nonexistent (save for the title screen if running on a 128kB Spectrum) and sound effects are limited. Both also omit some backgrounds, presumably to save space.

The Amstrad uses more colours but the Spectrum runs in a higher screen resolution.

Commodore 64 version

On the Commodore 64, Shadow Dancer has no in-game music. While the backgrounds are simplified considerably on the C64, an attempt was made to retain the parallax scrolling, which is missing in most home versions of the game.

Amiga and Atari ST versions

Climax ( under the name of Images Software Ltd) created the Amiga and Atari ST versions simultaneously, targeting the ST first and then porting the game's contents to the Amiga, where minor improvements would be added. Sega did not give the team access to the game's source code, so sprites were copied from a video of the game and touched up in the Atari ST version of OCP Art Studio.

As was to be expected, the two versions are very similar, however the Atari ST omits the introduction sequence to save space. Parallax scrolling is missing in both versions, as are the intermission screens.

Production credits

System 18 version

• Yoshiki Ooka

Master System version

• Graphic: Yatsute Miro, Gaga
• Program: M.Wakayama
• Sound: K.T.
• Manual: May
• Special: Hagi Chan, H.Sekiguchi

Amstrad CPC version

• Coding: Dave Semmens
• Graphics: Doug Townsley
• Software House: Images

Magazine articles

Main article: Shadow Dancer/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

System 18 US flyer

System 18 JP flyer

Home computers IT print advert

Home computers print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #115: "June 1991" (1991-05-11)
also published in:

• Computer & Video Games (UK) #116: "July 1991" (1991-06-15)

Physical scans

System 18 version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Commodore User (UK) 73 Svet Kompjutera (YU) 75

	74
Based on 2 reviews

Shadow Dancer

System 18, US
Manual

System 18, JP
Instuction card(s)

Master System version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score Consoles + (FR) 21 Console XS (UK) PAL 69 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) PAL 71 Gamers (DE) PAL 53 Hobby Consolas (ES) PAL 73 Joypad (FR) 89 Joystick (FR) PAL 78 Mega Force (FR) PAL 70 Mean Machines (UK) PAL 71 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 71 Player One (FR) PAL 84 Play Time (DE) PAL 19 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 69 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 69 Sega Force (UK) PAL 62 Video Games (DE) 27

	62
Based on 16 reviews

Shadow Dancer

Master System, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System, AU

Master System, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System, KR
Cover
Cart

Amiga version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score ACE (UK) 74 Amiga Power (UK) 63 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 40 Games-X (UK) 80 Joystick (FR) 90 Megazone (AU) 84 Power Play (DE) 68 Raze (UK) 82 Zzap!64 (UK) 83

	74
Based on 9 reviews

Shadow Dancer

Amiga, UK
Disk

Amiga, UK (Kixx)
Cover
Disk

Amiga, ES

Amstrad CPC version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Joystick (FR) 85

	85
Based on 1 review

Shadow Dancer

Amstrad CPC, UK (cassette)

Amstrad CPC, UK (disk)

Amstrad CPC, UK (Kixx)
Cover

Amstrad CPC, ES (cassette)

Amstrad CPC, ES (disk)

Atari ST version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 37 Games-X (UK) 100 Joystick (FR) 85 ST Action (UK) 78 ST Format (UK) 67

	73
Based on 5 reviews

Shadow Dancer

Atari ST, UK

Commodore 64 version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 28 Commodore Force (UK) 82 Commodore Format (UK) 89 Power Play (DE) 46 Zzap!64 (UK) 83 Zzap! (IT) 83

	69
Based on 6 reviews

Shadow Dancer

Commodore 64, UK

Commodore 64, UK (Kixx)

ZX Spectrum version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Games-X (UK) 100 Sinclair User (UK) 85

	93
Based on 2 reviews

Shadow Dancer

ZX Spectrum, UK

ZX Spectrum, UK (Kixx)
Cover

ZX Spectrum, ES

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 3793c01a MD5 c2055d5c66dd3944b99642c18032ebc4 SHA-1 99a5995f31dcf6fbbef56d3ea0d2094ef039479f	512kB		Cartridge (EU)