Game:

Shadow Dancer (1989)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 37:25

38 views

2

A playthrough of Shadow Dancer on the Sega Genesis. Originally this was a Arcade title by Sega in the 1980s, which was well-known for its huge difficulty and large length. I've played the Arcade game many times and have never beaten it, I would always get into the sewer stage with the crocodiles and fail at getting past those critical jumps. This version for consoles is re-made though, and it tries to have some better mechanics with the dog here and there. The largest problem with this game as always been what plagued most of the Shinobi franchise itself: there is way too much repetition with too little reward added for the player. Your ninja, Joe Musashi can do good and cool things in the game, which adds to the fun... but for the price of being unable to do basic functions such as effective jumping and dodging for the most part. This is where the Shinobi games have always been inferior to the Ninja Gaiden series or even the Tenchu games; it lacks a huge quantity of context and balancing to its pacing, with stages and character design that is downright broken at times. The Ninja Gaiden games can be argued to emphasize speed and a over reliance on cheap instant death, but at least it gives you full continues and plenty of power ups and check points to make up for the annoying factors. Shinobi on the other hand, takes your movement and sense of speed and add immersion and pretty design, d-emphasizing the game play needed for a game like this.