Developer - Sega   Catalogue No. - G-4043

Type - Platform Action

Shadow Dancer was really slagged back in it’s day simply because it wasn’t as good as Super Shinobi (Revenge of Shinobi). What has Super Shinobi got to do with Shadow Dancer you may be asking. Well, Shadow Dancer was sort of the unofficial sequel to Super Shinobi or at least that’s what western magazines told us due to the sub-title, “The Secret of Shinobi” I have no idea if this was classes as a sequel in Japan. Anyway, forget about it having any connection to the original Shinobi and you’ll find that it’s not all that bad.

You may or may not know that there is an arcade version of Shadow Dancer yet this Mega Drive version shares no resemblance to it apart from the use of the dog. The game starts off with you playing as the ninja in a burning downtown. You must rescue the poor souls who have been captured by the evil henchmen by either your shrunken (Ninja Star) or by setting your dog upon them. It all sounds quite easy until you find out that you’re dead after one hit. This can make the game a little frustrating at times but at least you won’t be walking right through it in one sitting.

Overall Shadow Dancer isn’t all that bad. Certainly worth checking out if you can find it cheap enough.