Shadow Dancer

[SEGA-Jorge]

What's really weird is how all the Shinobi games, for the most part, while trying new things, did so with surprising success. The arcade-style games were all great, the slower paced stuff like Revenge of Shinobi was great. The consolized arcade experience with Shinobi 3 and Shinobi Legions were really fun. And the fast-paced action of the ps2 Shinobi and Nightshade games were really interesting. Last but certainly not least, the Game Gear Shinobi games and the latest 3DS Shinobi game were really fun.

I really hope Sega keeps trying new things, and hopefully, making more Shinobi games.

[loempiavreter]

I've been thinking about Shadow Dancer Megadrive, it might be a bit blasphemous what I'm about to say, but I think the reason why I don't like it is that the stage design feel a tad bit uninspired. It feels like a map with some random hostage drops. Therefore the pacing and thrills is not there (kind of like why the metroidvania type game don't feature thrilling stage design). A game that uses the same philosophy, but feature more thrilling stage design is Ninja Cop/Ninja Five-O. Hostages that needs to be saved, but I feel the stages offer more thrills and better overall design (it does help that the grappling hook give the game a big advantage over shadow dancer when it comes to platforming thrills).

That being said... I really hope SEGA returns to the Shinobi series someday. It's a shame that Shinobi 3DS didn't ignite a new life for the franchise. I guess that if SEGA itself was more involved and delivered the US team with assets that in the end product proved it's weak points (as in the music, art from Japanese non-manga artists, as well as some of the lore... wasn't too thrilled with the 'ninja-from-the-past-blasted-into-the-future-time-travel' story and it's naming conventions, like fighting a boss named 'Super Soldier'... despite that I do like the boss character designs, just the art). I'm sure it would have fared much better.

I would definately play a Platinum Games-developed Shinobi game, that picks up where The Super Shinobi 2 left us (maybe with added ninja dog, just to nod Shadow Dancer)

[c0nn0r]

I just got finished beating Shadow Dancer. Excellent game. Very cool ninja atmosphere - special thanks to the great music for that. I first Saw Shadow Dancer in the arcade when I was a kid and was really drawn to it. I was always a Shinobi fan, thanks to my introduction to the series being Revenge of Shinobi. Shinobi always just occupied a spot in my mind as some sort of grail game. I'm an adult now and own Shinobi PCB, and hope to someday own Shadow Dancer.

My journey with the Genesis version of Shadow dancer is so late because I was quite disappointed when I was a kid to see that Shadow Dancer for the Genesis did not follow the arcade. I took me until now to finally get over that disappointment and to play the game. So dang good! I must have been an idiot when I was a kid. There, I said it.

[GameUser-16-32-128]

I like the game, but when I first got it back in the day, I was disappointed with how it differs greatly from the arcade version. Once I started playing it, I started to like it more. My only gripes are how easy the bonus stages are (move to the left or right edge and blast away!) and the terrible colors (TROS and SIII look way better in comparison).

[Bottino]

Sega made the right choice when adapted Shadow Dancer for the MD by not trying to mimic the Arcade original, instead taking the original concept of the game and then better adjusting it for the MD hardware and a 4mbit cartridge.

IMO the result ended being much better this way and I much prefer the MD version ( for the better pacing, stages and music ) than it's Arcade counterpart, which by no means represented Sega at their best game, being certainly inferior to the original Shinobi and Super Shinobi.

Regarding SD level design, there's a fundamental reason why it's different from the likes of Ninja Cop: the game features one-hit deaths, so obviously it's level design has to be adjusted accordingly to that premise. SD excels in that field as it manages to be challenging without having to resort to cheap hits/deaths ( like Ninja Gaiden ), while still maintaining a good action pace.

Ninja Cop also came out a decade later, so it had a chance to expand on the master work of such games as Shinobi and Bionic Commando.

terrible colors

Honestly, this doesn't make much sense. Considering the art style of the game and the time of it's release, the visuals are certainly excellent.

[QuickSciFi]

^Agreed.

It is an art style of its own. It's that early 16-bit art style with skinnier sprites that almost look 8-bit-ish, just more detailed. This wasn't long-lived, or even in every game, but it was there for about the first half of the 4th gen. It's what truly draws me back to the Genesis over and over. Besides the obvious Shinobi games, I'm thinking Wolfchild, Mystic Defender, Atomic Runner, Rolling Thunder 2 and 3, Moonwalker, Mercs... The list goes on. It even brushes off into RPG games like Phantasy Star II and III, and even Blue Almanac, which we got as Star Odyssey thanks to Brandon Cobbs). It's honestly the deepest form of nostalgia the Sega Genesis holds over me.

[Thief]

^ And the Genesis is better at that skinnier pixel sprites art style thanks to wider horizonatal resolution and more flexible sprite tiles. The SNES practically had to go for fatter/chibi sprites.

[QuickSciFi]

^ And the Genesis is better at that skinnier pixel sprites art style thanks to wider horizonatal resolution and more flexible sprite tiles. The SNES practically had to go for fatter/chibi sprites.

^Your statement sounds contradictory (you're saying both the Genesis and SNES stretch the image horizontally). But I think I understand what you're really trying to say. The SNES variants of multiplats did indeed stretch the shit out of games horizontally. I can't stand the look of The Lion King or Earthworm Jim on the SNES.

[Gentlegamer]

^that's nothing inherent to SNES other than devs not redrawing sprites for the correct resolution

[Thief]

I'm just saying 320 horizontal resolution means more detailed sprites then 256 when viewed at 4:3 intended aspect ratio.

[QuickSciFi]

^that's nothing inherent to SNES other than devs not redrawing sprites for the correct resolution

So... In other words, you're basically saying it is inherent to the SNES?

[Gentlegamer]

So... In other words, you're basically saying it is inherent to the SNES?

When you're talking about porting sprites made for one resolution to another, that's on the dev. Sprites designed for the correct resolution have no problem. Or are you going to level this against PCE, NES, and SMS?

[QuickSciFi]

That's just semantics. The fact is, SNES multiplats tend to be shitty. Nobody is arguing what you're saying. I'm talking about a system full of shitty multiplats. I don't care who's fault it was. But if you want to go there. Then, no, you are wrong. It's not just the devs fault. The fault lies ultimately in Nintendo as a company for allowing these shitty ports in the first place and giving them the "oh so sacred" seal of quality.

[Thief]

QuickSciFi, compare Earthworm Jim 2 and Mortal Kombat 2 where the SNES sprites are adjusted for having to be stretched to 4:3 aspect ratio, thus resulting in the same fatness as the Genesis hi-res version sprites when viewed on 4:3 aspect ratio. But what this adjustment means is fewer pixels to draw the sprites now. Meaning less detailed sprites. That's what I meant.




^ See, the SNES version uses fewer horizontal pixels to make up for the fact that it will be stretched to 4:3 aspect ratio.

[Thief]

Unlike SNES version of Earthworm Jim 1;




They look the same fatness in pixel perfect form, but hen when stretched to 4:3 aspect ratio, SNES version makes him look fatter then Genesis version, but still made up of the exact same amount of pixels. Unlike EWJ2 where he's made up of less pixels.