Shinobi: Shadow Dancer question

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:06 pm

Hey, I just beat this and noticed that when it goes back to the title screen, it says Shadow Dancer II. I took pictures to show the difference:

Original:

After beating the game:

Anyone know what's up, if there are any differences?
I know there's a few SD fans here.
If no one knows, does anyone know a good Genesis/Mega Drive forum that could help out?

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:15 pm

IIRC, that's the game's equivalent of a second loop. If you beat "Part II" it should go to Part III. In the US version, at least, you can go straight to parts II and III by upping the difficulty in the options menu.

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:17 pm

Ha, figured that'd be it. Much thanks man.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:41 am

Really good game, good music to boot.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:32 am

Yeah, this Genesis game has aged really gracefully and still kicks as much ass as it did on release.

(Was great that it was included in Sega Genesis Collection for PSP/PS2)

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:59 am

Doesn't kick anywhere near as much ass as Shinobi 3.

Fricking one-hit-death ruins it.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:19 am

Bill wrote:IIRC, that's the game's equivalent of a second loop. If you beat "Part II" it should go to Part III. In the US version, at least, you can go straight to parts II and III by upping the difficulty in the options menu.

Apparantly, the US and JP versions are the same. There is no difference at all in JP mode for the US version and the rom version is labelled as (W). The game even has the JP text around the Shinobi logo (for lack of better words, since the Shinobi logo is also JP text) in US mode.

Stormwatch wrote:Doesn't kick anywhere near as much ass as Shinobi 3.

Fricking one-hit-death ruins it.

It's designed to play more like the arcade Shinobis (though the MD/Genesis Shadow Dancer is an original), which is why it has the 1 hit death.

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:52 am

I used to be a proponent for Shadow Dancer being my favorite among the Genesis trilogy, but after my recent playing, I can't help but try to understand what I was thinking.

I guess I tried to make something more out of it, but at the time I used to be in love with this game. The 1-hit kills don't bother me, honestly.

I used to find Revenge of Shinobi boring but I just started that up earlier tonight and am finding some odd enjoyment out of it.

Still don't like having to fight boring army guys with guns, but whatever. No one talks much about the Hulk/Terminator-inspired boss, either, I rather enjoyed that fight.

Pulling off a double jump can be a real pain in the ass, too. Hesitate for a split second or wait too long and you're fucked.

And god, all these years I've had a Saturn and I still don't own Legions.

Where's Andi?

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:04 am

BrianC wrote:Apparantly, the US and JP versions are the same. There is no difference at all in JP mode for the US version and the rom version is labelled as (W). The game even has the JP text around the Shinobi logo (for lack of better words, since the Shinobi logo is also JP text) in US mode.

Oh yeah, I think I remember wondering about that JP text at the intro "The Secret of Shinobi" screen. Thanks for the confirmation on the JP version's difficulty! Never quite finished "Loop III" back in the day.

Stormwatch wrote:Doesn't kick anywhere near as much ass as Shinobi 3.

Fricking one-hit-death ruins it.

I kind of like SD's more restrictive but also higher-precision style. I'd consider Revenge and Shinobi III more entertaining games overall (especially for boss battles and magic), but SD has that constant feeling of deadly risk to it. That pitch-black stage (4-2 I think) used to make me almost paranoid about getting ambushed, heh. It makes me feel a lot closer to suddenly getting killed than the other two games, although there's the arcade design showing through.

Fighter17 wrote:Really good game, good music to boot.

Yeah, its soundtrack is great. Something that always struck me about Genesis Shinobi music were the consistently strong "basslines" in each game. SD's 3-2 BGM (elevator stage) is my favourite example from that game.

shinsage wrote:Still don't like having to fight boring army guys with guns, but whatever. No one talks much about the Hulk/Terminator-inspired boss, either, I rather enjoyed that fight.

Stuff like that is what I think SD is sorely missing. Revenge's boss fights felt so much more over-the-top and elaborate, as did a lot of Shinobi III's.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:26 am

Shinobi 1 is the ultimate Shinobi.

As an aside, I used to visit the GameFAQs Genesis board once in a while and there is this guy (not sure if he's still there) who had a semi-autistic obsession with this game, particularly the stage 3 boss. He's all over the internet with this stuff. Here's one of his posts:

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122

At some point I discovered that he had actually started a Shadow Dancer forum, which had hundreds of posts all created by him. Unfortunately I can't find it, but it was pretty great -- like Recap's boards x 100.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:08 am

I could see becoming obsessed with the Shinobi series. It's unfortunate that there is still no word of a new one being in development. I would absolutely adore the return of Hotsuma, Hayate or Joe Musashi.

I love the dog mechanic of the Shadow Dancer games though. Injecting that aspect into the play style of PS2 Shinobi would be killer if they could pull it off fluidly.

Jesus that guy really likes Shadow Dancer.

Post by **Ghegs** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:41 am

it290 wrote:At some point I discovered that he had actually started a Shadow Dancer forum, which had hundreds of posts all created by him. Unfortunately I can't find it, but it was pretty great -- like Recap's boards x 100.

Found it. Internet is a scary place.

D · Post by D » Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:15 pm

Thunder Force wrote:Yeah, this Genesis game has aged really gracefully and still kicks as much ass as it did on release.

(Was great that it was included in Sega Genesis Collection for PSP/PS2)

Did this come out for ps2 in Japan? Anybody?

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:50 pm

I was obsessed with SD for a while too, but not as much as that guy.

What does he mean in this thread:
http://daminmancejin6.proboards76.com/i ... 1138212193

Anybody know if this is true? I doubt it, but what the hell is he talking about...

D · Post by D » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:53 pm

shinsage wrote:I was obsessed with SD for a while too, but not as much as that guy.

What does he mean in this thread:
http://daminmancejin6.proboards76.com/i ... 1138212193

Anybody know if this is true? I doubt it, but what the hell is he talking about...

As I recall there is a girl somewhere standing besides the boss and the point is to not hit her, but hit the boss obviously. I might be mistaken with another game: Eswat or something, but I recall somewhere in a game where you can't kill the girl no matter how much you kick her a$$

Or there might be a non-male boss somewhere.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:07 pm

Yeah, the stage 3 boss is a chick. She even has her own board... (Thanks Ghegs)

edit: I'm a little worried about serial killer potential here:

Her liquidation phase must be terrible, your pictures are showing very good like she is disintegrating herself, she is so much in pain, she is killed completely with her boots, much too young to die, she is a girl in her 20s and her death is so terrible.

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:25 pm

Sweet Jesus. Ms Stage 3 Boss has her own cult.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 3:04 am

shinsage wrote:Where's Andi?

Ha! Yeah. I'm here. Shadow Dancer and Shin Shinobi Den are the fucking bomb. I couldn't give two shits about the rest of the series.

The emphasis in both games seems to be more on dispatching enemies in a variety of clever arrangements rather than platforming jumping about - especially Shadow Dancer. And the dog is just really fun.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:04 am

D wrote:
Thunder Force wrote:Yeah, this Genesis game has aged really gracefully and still kicks as much ass as it did on release.

(Was great that it was included in Sega Genesis Collection for PSP/PS2)
Did this come out for ps2 in Japan? Anybody?

I don't think so. You need the US version. Important to note the PAL versions of this collection were renamed "Sega Mega Drive Collection" and Shadow Dancer was actually removed from the PAL versions, so buyer beware!

it290 wrote:Yeah, the stage 3 boss is a chick. She even has her own board... (Thanks Ghegs)

That is beyond bizarre.

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:59 pm

Ghegs wrote: Found it. Internet is a scary place.

I've been inside the maniac's mind

grape, from ShadowDancer forum wrote:I have 2 questions for you:

How old could be the girl?

If she is liquidated, suffer her boots the same fate?

What are your opinions about that?

What the fuck?

Necronom · Post by **Necronom** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:25 pm

"You need the US version. Important to note the PAL versions of this collection were renamed "Sega Mega Drive Collection" and Shadow Dancer was actually removed from the PAL versions, so buyer beware!"

Seems it's back in again...at least in this European collection:

http://www.megadrive-portable.de/

The thing costs 50 Euros in Germany (online) and they're planning to sell it through one of the local supermarket chains (Lidl, Aldi etc.) next year.
I ordered one, finally getting my portable Shinobi/ Shadow Dancer fix

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 3:07 pm

What does he mean in this thread?
Anybody know if this is true? I doubt it, but what the hell is he talking about...

edit: I'm a little worried about serial killer potential here

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:00 pm

D wrote:
shinsage wrote:I was obsessed with SD for a while too, but not as much as that guy.

What does he mean in this thread:
http://daminmancejin6.proboards76.com/i ... 1138212193

Anybody know if this is true? I doubt it, but what the hell is he talking about...

As I recall there is a girl somewhere standing besides the boss and the point is to not hit her, but hit the boss obviously. I might be mistaken with another game: Eswat or something, but I recall somewhere in a game where you can't kill the girl no matter how much you kick her a$$
Or there might be a non-male boss somewhere.

Yeah, the stage 2 boss of E-SWAT's like that. I guess he was lucky to grab a girl with kevlar for skin when he went looking for a human shield.

I've never played up to this blade saw babe in Shadow Dancer, but now I just have to. Is she in both versions, or exclusive to the arcade or Genesis?

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:16 pm

I don't know about the arcade (only played the first couple stages), but she's definitely the Stage 3 Boss in Genesis / MD Shadow Dancer.

Actually, I would be almost certain she isn't in the arcade one, or those chaps in that forum would probably be comparing liquidation phases or whatever there too.

edit: the inspiration for "Bladesaw Babe" and her mad followers, at the end of this video. Watch part 2 to see Joe moonlight as a NASA troubleshooter! http://youtube.com/watch?v=dWD-gzy18nI&feature=related

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:41 am

Playing Revenge recently, two things:

1. Whoever it was at Sega who thought adding mazes in the last level (Alien Storm had this too) is a fucking idiot.

2. The last boss is freakin impossible, argh :-(

EDIT: ok, just beat it twice in a row to see both endings, amazing game. can't believe I used to hate on it.

grape · Post by **grape** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:55 pm

llo,

I have problems to liquidate the young woman in boots on the Statue of Liberty in stage 3-3 from the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive game Shadow Dancer.
Could anybody give me tips for eliminating the girl?
I would be very grateful for every help.

Here you can see a screenshot from the girl.

Regards

Jan

Asherdude · Post by **Asherdude** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:19 pm

I love Shadow Dancer! I'm hoping that this game will make it to the Virtual Console in the states soon.

Pixel_Outlaw · Post by **Pixel_Outlaw** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:53 am

Nice avy Asherdude. Dan from Gaiares if I'm not mistaken.
Rather bizzare thay my avy matches the posture.

Anyway. I've been privileged enough to play the megadrive shinobi games and I must say that the third is my favorite. The music is among the best on the megadrive. I strongly feel that the modern Shinobi games are too gimmicky and just don't have the same pace or play as the original games.

Sonic R · Post by **Sonic R** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:02 am

I need to get Shadow Dancer again!

I have not play this game since 1992 when I sell it. What I use to do as a child was I get a game, play it tons, beat it, then sell it of shortly after.

I really like Shadow Dancer -- I have fun good times with it.

That one fellows board is crazy lol

Silly that some people are obsess with something. I am obsess with video games but I am not crazy fellow

Asherdude · Post by **Asherdude** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:37 am

Pixel_Outlaw wrote:Nice avy Asherdude. Dan from Gaiares if I'm not mistaken.
Rather bizzare thay my avy matches the posture.

Yeah, that's Dan. Thanks! Not very many people would recognize him. He's going to be my new avy for 2008. That is, unless something better comes along.

You know, I've never played Shinobi 3, even though I loved Shadow Dancer. I just never picked it up.