Shadow Dancer

"It would seem that the 'Secret of Shinobi' was that Joe Musashi was in a really, really crap game"

Shinobi was always a hot license for Sega. After Joe Musashi's initial appearance in the Arcades in 1986, everyone wanted a piece of him. Shinobi was released on almost all of the major formats, and sold like hotcakes. Shinobi made his Megadrive debut in 1989 with the Revenge of Shinobi, which, in terms of Shinobi games, was pretty good (especially compared to that god awful mess that was Cyber Shinobi).

And then Sega tarnished the name of Shinobi again. Poor Joe Musashi is being tossed around like a rag doll, and now he has been tossed into a large pile of turds. Which is exactly what Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi is...nothing but a big, fat, steaming, stinky pile of turds. This game reeks. Get it away. It is a stain on what would have been a great Megadrive game collection (mine that is, don't let it stain yours).

I once suffered the curse of being an impulse buyer. Whenever I had money, I'd buy a game, I didn't care what game it was, as long as it was a new game. I bought this heap of turds for $29 at some Big W sale. Of course, once I got home, I was immediately in denial over whether it was crap or not, and I knew that Big W don't take games back if you think they suck, so I was in a rut. Shadow Dancer is the runt of the series. It's easy as hell, and it sucks to play. The Secret of Shinobi was that Joe Musashi was in a really, really crap game.

It makes Cyber Shinobi seem good.

Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi is a bit of a graphical mess. It doesn't look as good as Revenge of Shinobi, which came out a whole year earlier, yet, it uses a lot more colour. Joe himself looks stupid now, more like the Stay Puft marshmallow man than the ninja he was in Revenge. Enemies are ugly and generic, no imagination put to work here at all. Backgrounds are nice and colourful, which is a bonus, except for the fact you don't want to play the game for more than 20 minutes. The game does, however, run a little smoother than it's older brother. A complete shame.

The soundtrack of Shadow Dancer isn't too shabby, being compiled of techno-ish toons which are easy on the ears, but then again, it's nothing memorable. Sound effects are bland and outright disgusting. To make things worse, they are limited too, so you'll be hearing the same awful sounds over and over and over again.

'So what is this supposed stinking heap of turds all about, stoney?' I hear you cry. Well, for starters, Musashi doesn't really have any big secrets. All the game is really about is a rather angry lizardman creature taking over New York City, and taking various citizens of the Big Apple captive. Seeing Joe is the hero sort, he decides to rid the streets of the ninja scum, and be praised and such. Nothing to write home about.

The gameplay reeks of arse. Plain and simple. Before you go accusing me of what I did for Megaman (i.e. 30 minutes of play and a rushed review) I have played this game at length, and have finished it. There are no real redeeming features of this game at all, and the only real new thing is a novelty. The game is simply just a platformer. Scroll from left to right, saving the hostages, killing the bad guys, and avoid being hit. Shadow Dancer screws part of the Shinobi formula up...you can only take one hit. In a cheap attempt to give the game higher difficulty, all Sega have done is increase the frustration level. So here we have Joe, who has obviously been weakened by staring in a bad game, taking on the bad ass ninjas of NYC. He has the edge over the average ninja these days...he has a dog. This white pooch is quite handy, but as weak as piss....well...just as weak as Joe, one hit, and you're canine friend is turned back into a lovable white puppy. Joe still has his stock standard magical powers, but now, he can only handle one at a time, and you'd better not waste it. Nothing redeemable at all.

Control is same old stuff. A is your magic, B is your attack and C is your jump, with the D-Pad moving poor old Joe around the screen. It's fairly responsive, and the game, thankfully, doesn't suffer from any collision detection errors.

Don't expect this one to last you long folks. Apart from the fact that it plays quite horrendously, it's also a pretty short, and easy game. The cheap arse system of only letting you have one hit won't worry you too much after long. After you finish it, I guess you can always try to get 100% on the bonus stages, but why you would want to play through again is beyond me.

Breakdown, shake down, your busted...(apologies people, just couldn't think of a good way to introduce the breakdown)

Graphics: 6.2

Joe Musashi goes from looking like a credible ninja master, to looking like the Stay Puft marshmallow man with pinkeye. More colour, less detail, than it's brother. I don't see how it's plausible for things to take a step backwards, but somehow Sega did it.

Sound: 5.3

Soundtrack is in no way memorable, but it is bearable. The effects are just outright awful, and they're limited.

Story: 4.8

Thanks for the misleading title, Sega. Ninjas take over New York, and it's up to the Ninja master to save the day. Simple. Boring. zzzzz.

Gameplay: 4.5

Cheap tactics to heighten the difficulty cheapen the gameplay. Standard platform fare is usually acceptable with me, except when it becomes cheap. Rescue the hostages, kill the enemies, beat the boss, lather, rinse, repeat. The dog was a nice feature, but is basically useless. No issues with the control.

Lastability: 3.3

Nothing much here. It's pretty easy, and really short. Add that to the fact the game sucks in the first place, and I guarentee you will be done with the game after a day, maximum.

Pro's

- Game runs at a decent pace
- The dog is nice

Con's

- Yuck graphics
- Awful sound
- Unimaginative story
- Game plays like a dog
- Short and easy

Does it belong in my collection? Heck no.

I don't think this section was necessary in this review. Only for absolute die hard fans of Shinobi. And I mean that.

Overall: 3.3 (Adjusted to 3 for GameFAQs and 3.5 for FBGames, due to limitation of the review systems used)

Avoid it in any way you can. There is absolutely nothing redeemable about this game. It drags the name of Shinobi through dirt, and then hangs it out to dry. Even Cyber Shinobi was better, and it was pretty damn bad.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/01, Updated 08/04/01