Shinobi: Art of Vengeance game is out in August 2025, huh? I’m bit impressed, Sega. Anyway, I can’t play the new Shinobi game because my laptop has lots of problem. Instead, I play Sega’s Shadow Dancer (1989) on arcade.
Yeah, yeah. Woof! Bark! Whatever. I like the burning effect and the title scrolls down, though. I’m very familiar with the Sega Genesis version and it’s my childhood game. But I’m completely blind with this game, aside of the ninja also has pet dog. Consider it as giving myself challenge.
Mission 1 takes place in airport. I think this ninja is fighting terrorists as we all know that airport is common target for terrorism.
These terrorists are pretty
laid back with their terrorism. I mean sure, lots of them have gun but even
more of them only armed with knife. Here’s the control: joystick to move Ninja
left and right. First button to throw shuriken in front direction. Second
button to jump. Third button to activate ninja magic. The ninja can jump to
switch plane by holding joystick up or down and press jump button. It’s like Rolling
Thunder but with ninja and his pet dog, if you will. That terrorist on the
right side looks familiar but not from the Sega Genesis version of this game.
Let’s see…
Sunglasses. Red shirt. Armed with long gun. That terrorist reminds me of guy named Blood from Konami’s beat em up Vendetta. The significant different is Blood is very happy that he got shotgun to kill opposite gang member instantly. Whereas the terrorist is not so happy that he has crappy gun that fire slow moving bullet that the ninja can dodge easily. Anyway, ninja’s main objective is to collect all the bombs throughout the levels before go to exit. I know what you think. The anti-bomb squad is more appropriate for the task than ninja but Sega think he can secure the bombs so we can’t argue about it.
The airport’s interior is secured. Thus, the ninja moves on to secure the airfield part. Combat becomes more complicated with this shirtless man armed with 2 shields. Most of the time, he’s invulnerable to shuriken. Not only the shield makes him impervious to shuriken but also deadly weapon that he can throw at the ninja. Actually, the ninja can only take 1 lethal hit to die. Ninja is not well known for the durability so give him a break. As to how I can deal with this shielded bastard, it’s pretty simple. He’s not impervious to ninja’s melee attack so I need to do is get close safely and press attack button which becomes sword slash when the ninja is close enough to his enemy.
The ninja encounters the boss of terrorists within one of the airplanes. I wonder what’s the terrorist’s motive. There’s no one in this plane as hostage. So, they just capture this specific plane as hostage or they just want to steal airplane for further terrorist activity. As for the boss, he’s some sort of full armored samurai that throws bouncy ball, well-known weapon for samurai [Airbus sized sarcasm]. Through keen sharp, the ninja knows that the boss’ weakness is his bicep of arm that indicated by blinking color. The bicep presumably is unarmored for the purpose of easiness to throw the ball. Once, his health (indicated by fires for some reason) is depleted, the boss is down or should I say “disarmed”. :D
After finishing the mission, the ninja is treated with bonus stage where he throws shuriken at other ninjas which is not different from what he did previously. But you do you, buddy.
Mission 2 is to disrupt the enemy’s supply route. I assume it’s the supply for terrorism like time bomb, gun, bullets, you name it.
The terrorists also have their own ninja who appears out of thin air like as you expect from ninja other than the protagonist. This enemy ninja can block shuriken without his notice, with his twin blade. Combine him with a guy throwing knife, this is already impressive formation although I get killed here from a sneaky guy backstab me from behind because I got distracted with Sega Oil trademark. I mean what’s the chance Sega will expand their company into oil industry? Probably never because they’re busy with the damn blue hedgehog that they so love.
I forgot to tell you that you can order the dog to bite enemy thus making them defenseless to your attack. To do so, you press attack button while holding joystick down. If you think that input conflicts with crouching attack and you are correct. Very often that I just want to throw shuriken while crouching and the dog needlessly attack nearby enemy. If you let the bitten enemy for too long, they will break free and the dog turn into puppy for some reason. While in puppy form, the dog can’t bite enemy until they turn into adult again after quite long time.
Then I get killed by the enemy ninja. I crouch hoping to be able to approach him safely so I can deliver melee attack. However, when he’s crawling on higher ground than me, my head get contact with his lethal blade. I like that whenever the stage is cleared or our ninja protagonist falls, there’s Japanese sliding door as transition before either restart the level or move on to next level.
On every stage, there’s one
special bomb that when you saved secured your ninja become stronger.
Wait! What? That’s doesn’t sound correct.
What happened if your ninja gets the power up? His shuriken becomes flaming shuriken that can bypass enemy’s block by simply hitting them several time with the powered-up shuriken. The dog strangely looks happy to see the enemy ninja get riddled with the flaming shuriken.
I usually think that water part in every video game is lethal to step on. Apparently not this one as that enemy can stand on it safely. Kind of weird to see water part in a platformer game that is not deep enough to be deadly like this.
The ninja can summon Buddha (?) to kill enemies when they’re in complicated formation by pressing third button. Scout_sf13_influx_big03.wav
Move on to boss stage. It’s a freaking train! It’s shoots lots of fireballs within various altitude. It’s possible that you get hit by high fireball when you try to dodge the low ones. I suggest you move backward first so the fireball pattern becomes looser which make it easier to dodge. The boss’ weakpoint is the front lamp that periodically move up and down which is silly. This boss is so goofy compared to Sega Genesis version. I said that I’m super familiar with that game but for some reason I forget what’s the 2nd boss. Let me take a peek first.
Ok, I remember now. The 2nd boss is this demon wall. This version of game has more serious tone with scary and mystical bosses. Whereas the arcade version has setting of real modern but wacky.
Time for another bonus level and I fail this one too as I get kicked in the face!
Learning from the title’s mission we know that the enemy is called syndicate. Like syndicate led by Mr. X from Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle, maybe?
This stage introduces you with a pyromaniac that like to throw Molotov cocktail and you have to hit him twice to defeat him. Oh, man! This guy has my dream job. Throwing fire bomb at ninja is so amazing even though I will get bitten by dog and then get shuriken to my face.
I did mention that the ninja can do sword slash which is useful to defeat any enemy that can block the throwing star but the thing is you have to be very close to do the sword slash. Very close that you can practically see enemy’s pupil in detail. The Genesis version handle the melee attack better with bigger range detection for the melee and also bigger hitspot.
Speaking of sword, this time I want to make comparison between ninjas about how do they carry it. In this game, the ninja carries the sword in the hip which is the most realistic way to carry sword. On the second to the left is the Sega Genesis version. The ninja carries his sword in the back. For some reason, he can draw the sword faster than he was in Arcade version even though doing quick draw from back is quite cumbersome. Probably it’s more possible to do if he uses half scabbard instead of full scabbard. Let’s move on to Ginzu the ninja from Captain Commando on the second to right. I can say that it’s quite possible to quick draw sword if positioned like that but it’s quite unrealistic. The sword somehow defies gravity and never slip off to the ground although the scabbard’s angle is downward. I think the scabbard position should be lower and the angle should be upward. Ginzu the ninja commando. You’re weird and enigma. Lastly on the rightest screenshot is from biggest rival of Sega’s shinobi series none other than Ninja Gaiden. It’s from arcade version made by so called Strong Team. So, Ryu Hayabusa carries the sword the same way as ninja in Shadow Dancer Sega Genesis version which is different from how Ryu does in NES version or Gameboy version where he put his sword on the hip. He grips it tightly and ready to draw quickly. To be honest, that’s the most sensible method of carry sword and later quick draw it. Well done, Ryu from not Arcade Version. You’re the winner!
Back to the game. I like this close up screen when ninja casts the magic. Sniper_sf13_influx_big02.wav
I don’t like this platforming part. I should be able to jump down from other platform other than this center ones but no. The game only allows me to jump down from this center platform where is the most dangerous position. By the way, the ninja must secure the time bomb as usual in this mission, which is weird because why the heck the terrorists put active time bomb in their own base? Good thing the ninja is more than happy to secure the bomb no matter where he finds it.
This is interesting formation. The gunner is in the front to prevent the dog to bite the Molotov thrower. I rush in to defeat the gunner and I step into burning floor that recently lit by the Molotov bomb.
Here’s the classic formation of shield man in front of the gunner but this time on stairs. I got lucky with the timing for the dog attack that he manages to bite the shield which makes the formation more easily to deal with. Here’s another strategy to deal with the shield guy. He’s vulnerable to shuriken only at that specific frame/animation where he’s about to throw the shield and/or when he received the shield that flies back at him. I forgot to tell you that his shield behaves like boomerang so be careful about that! You can’t hit him with shuriken while he throws his shield because he has another shield to protect him. However, at that moment he’s vulnerable to dog attack. So, sometime it’s better to send your dog to attack the shield guy instead of using shuriken wildly.
Next level takes place in
very murky sewer. I mean look at that dirty water that probably mix between
blood and feces. In this part, the water kill ninja because how disgusting it
is. To make things worse, the sewer is infested with crocodiles! Wow! That’s
rude satire toward American where children flush down baby crocodile on their
toilet and end up living in sewer. I knew that urban myth from Penguin of
Madagascar animation series and Walt Disney’s 3D animation movie The
Wild. Anyway, once this crocodile in water, they stalk on the ninja and
immediately give him tail swipe that makes the ninja fall to the death water.
The gap is quite spacious that it requires precision jumping to jump over it.
I can’t hit these crocodiles. So, I use Ninja Tornado magic to obliterate them all. It may seem excessive but then I hate crocodile. Hating crocodile is valid in my opinion because even crocodiles hate themselves as hinted with cannibalism among them. Turns out, I can slash these crocodiles when either they’re in the middle of falling down to water or when they’re about to swipe me with their tail.
This boss is interesting. Not because she wears overly tight leotard. It’s so tight that you can see her backside become very bulbous, mind you. I was speaking about the process of the boss fight. Usually, there’s white thin shield that protects her. She grabs those electric panel on the wall and later throw it at you either in medium or low height. Later on, the panel will fly very high and then suddenly drop and become additional wall that protect her although you can slash down the panel wall with the sword. Her shield only down when she throws the panel at you. This boss fight has small window opportunity to hit her but not in tedious way because she does the routine pretty fast so there’s no overly long moment of waiting.
Upon defeated, the boss fall to the water. I thought it was lava because it’s red and bursting. but it makes big splash effect so it’s water. But again, it’s presumably the same water like in the sewer so it’s boiling sewer water. If the heat doesn’t get her, then tetanus or E. Coli will. Not pleasant experience for the villain.
Mission 4 is crushing the enemy’s evil plan! But how evil is the plan? If you think taking the space shuttle as hostage is cardinal sin then it’s very evil.
Somehow, we start at the underground cavern. Kind of odd but at least better place to fight and platforming than the sewer. Even though that gap right there is very hard to jump over. The dog keeps falling there but mysteriously returns from above.
This part is packed with throwing knives and bullets. You can disperse this situation by throwing shuriken off-screen to deal with enemies yonder.
Or you can use ninja magic to deal with this situation. Each stage the ninja has different magic. I count that there are 3 type of ninja magic: The Buddha’s (?) wrath, Tornado, and lastly these flaming magic dogs. Strangely, when the ninja dog becomes shrunken upon unsuccessful dog attack, he will return to normal state faster when you cast the ninja magic. When you use continues, you will get 2 ninja magic instead of 1.
Next stage takes place in waterfall where the game really tests your platforming skill. To be honest, the ninja’s jump is quite weak because how short the distance it covers. It’s pretty unacceptable because he’s freaking ninja! How come a ninja has barely good jump. Another thing that disappoints me is the waterfall level itself. There’s no falling down further than the bottom of the screen. The ninja drops dead in the bottom like this.
Next stage has fire squadron on stairs which can be easily dealt with dog attack combined with shooting from off-screen. But I appreciate their thought. On the other hand, that smug shield man is an idiot. I can easily snatch the bomb by jumping from this floor and also slash him from behind.
This new guy has flamethrower! That guy also has my dream job. I feel bad fighting him. Unlike other mook, this flamethrower guy will get into downed position when bitten by dog which makes it harder for me to throw shuriken.
As I use ninja magic to clear the shield guy formation, the fire squadron also get hit by the Buddha (?). Funny enough. Every enemy in this game respawn if you get pass them off-screen however the shield guy doesn’t respawn. Obviously, because he’s the most tedious enemy to deal.
After that stage, we move on to final stage? Already? Actually, that explain why the game become aggravating around mission 2 stage 3. When the ninja gets killed, you get kicked to the start of the level however the number of bombs that you secured is kept where you get died. Plus, the shield guys that you killed will not respawn. So, there’s a bit of progression you can make after death.
So, the last stage is the final boss stage. I like to point out that the ninja and the final boss bow before the fight. Japanese chivalry, I take it. The final boss shields herself with magical sphere while summons -what I can best describe as- ninja fairies to attack you. They’re easy to defeat however keep in mind that their sword can block shuriken.
After killing all of her ninja fairies that powered the shielding sphere, she’s up for fair 1-on-1 duel. Perhaps calling it fair duel is not accurate because she’s armed with Naginata that block my shuriken.
I try to do the melee attack but no luck. Her naginata is way longer than my melee weapon or hit detection. I like the previous boss fight but this one is way too tricky to be enjoyable. Not to mention, everytime you lose the duel, you start at the very beginning of the boss fight with ninja fairies.
The way to defeat her is very hard and require very meticulous timing. The only moment where she’s vulnerable is when she is about to swing the Naginata which is very brief. My strategy is, crouch walking toward her to bait her into doing low attack. Then immediately jump to the left to dodge her attack after throw a shuriken very fast. The hit rate is not 100% but that’s the best strategy that I can come up with. Once her health is fully depleted, she falls from the platform and the space shuttle launches. That scene reminds me of the final fight scene in Men in Black 3, what’s with the rocket launches and the villain falls down. Why female antagonists in this game experience awful fate upon defeated? That panel-throwing lady probably survives, take aside of all stench and disease she got from the awful water. But this Naginata lady is not so lucky. She must be dead falling from the height that as tall as Space Shuttle rocket and she ends up as dead body in tarmac in NASA base.
With that the space shuttle flies off successfully unlike The Challenger that has awful tragedy because of sabotage from the mysterious syndicate, I assume.
As the space shuttle flies for glory and science, the ninja makes a pump fist gesture to celebrate his victory. The dog also looks proud saving NASA. Good for him.
Sega’s Shadow Dancer (1989) is not as good as Sega Genesis version but it’s pretty serviceable. There’s noticeable lack of checkpoint thus make the game feels mean. But the game only lasts like 15 stages or so which is very short for Arcade game. The difficulty mainly from enemies that form complex formation that need strategical approach to defeat it. Feels like puzzle game. Sure, you can just use ninja magic to save time and effort but you can only have 1 or 2 if you use continue. The timer is quite tight to keep you on your guard. The one-hit death mechanism also makes you intense and cautious. Luckily most enemies also fragile, save some enemies who can block shuriken and/or take 2 hits to defeat. Then non-lethal bump won’t kill you. If it makes you fall to pit, that’s different case. The dog attack is useful however keep in mind that the command input to order the dog to attack is the same as crouching attack that often leads you to send the dog unnecessarily and often ends up become puppy. You can use melee attack against enemy that block shuriken but the hit detection is not as good as Sega Genesis version. The game has decent difficulty curve however the final boss is rather unfair with her block shuriken all the time and having long melee attack. The variety of lesser enemies is pretty nice. The normal jump feels too weak because it lacks of horizontal distance. Meanwhile, the switching-plane jump can be useful to dodge enemy’s attack. The only power up in this game is special bomb that give you stronger shuriken for some reason. Nonetheless the power up is useful. The setting/plot is wacky and I like it. Like what’s the terrorist’s motive taking space shuttle rocket and a commercial plane as hostage? Is it for ransom or they just hate flying vehicle? What’s also strange is the leader of the terrorist. She is Japanese mystical lady who doesn’t wear trouser or skirt. She seems hate NASA, I guess? I like the train boss. It’s silly yet dangerous. The bons stage is kind of “homage” of Taito’s Space Invader but with ninjas that slowly descend from side of building. You get extra life if you can kill all the ninjas in bonus stage which is quite helpful. The music kind of weak and not memorable. While the sound effect is quite impactful. I notice that the game use drum beat during intermission and “Thud!” sound effect when the ninja get hit, from Golden Axe. That’s quite unique, I guess.
To put it simply: Shadow Dancer (1989) is quite good yet tedious arcade game. Although not as horrible as Capcom’s Ghouls n Ghosts where you need to finish long stages twice, to get the ending. If the ninja don Arthur’s armor that gives him protection from additional hit before dying, the game becomes perfect to play. Maybe.
