Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi

Moby ID: 10854
Genesis Specs
Buy on Genesis
$128.97 used on eBay
Buy on Windows
$0.99 new on Steam
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Description

A.D. 1997, New York City

Having vanquished the evil crime empire, Neo Zeed, the ninja master Shinobi and his combat ninja skills were not heard from for some time. But a new threat arose, in a reptilian form that lived on vicious instinct alone. The colossal monster moved slowly and quietly, and its attack was relentless. The souls unfortunate enough to survive became hostages, and mass panic swept the streets.

It remained only for Shinobi to take action. His weapons were stealth and quickness of attack, his only allies facing overwhelming forces. Relying on Ninja weapons and magic, Shinobi fought on, assisted by his faithful dog.

Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi is similar to Shadow Dancer for home computers, and consists of five missions containing three stages each. However, there are a few differences between the two. For example, in this Sega Genesis/Mega Drive exclusive, the stages are different, and you rescue hostages rather than disarm bombs. Each mission ends up with you fighting a boss, and when you defeat each (except the final one), you also participate in a bonus stage where you must shoot all ninja flying towards you.

Some of the enemies are also quite different. Some of the lizards, which appear in later missions, leave a "lizard coin", which you can collect for bonus lives.

Spellings

  • シャドー・ダンサー ザ・シークレット・オブ・シノビ - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Genesis version)

16 People (13 developers, 3 thanks)

Program
Character Design
Graphic Design
Assistant Graphic Design
Game Design
Music Composer
Supervisor
  • Kankan
  • Tantan (as Tantan)
  • Hayhay
Test Player
Thanks to
  • Arcade 'Shadow Dancer' Staff
  • Arcade 'Shinobi' Staff
and ... Special Thanks to
  • All Players

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 26 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 40 ratings with 6 reviews)

The one time you thought you dodged a shuriken...

The Good
The game comes from the Shinobi series, starting from Shinobi in 1987. 5 stages, Easy controls & a good chance to get more retries makes the game looks easy and hard at the same time. With a dog that you can use, you can easily utilise him to disable one opponent while you kill others in a 4-on-1 fight situation. Power-ups helps to kill the ninjas, armored men & armored lizards in one hit. The bosses have life points that you must reduce in order to kill them. For easy mode, they have 6 points, and it increases depending on the difficulty. Try hard mode and you'll see colourful ninjas everywhere in the game.

The Bad
Some might complain on the game's one-hit-KO issue, and some might complain with the dog being a nuisance, but I'm seriously cool with it. The only issue here is that he does not have the double jumps, also remember the 1-time-use ninpo (the ninjutsu skill) restriction. Why would a ninja with an athletic build and great abilities have these restraints put on him?

The Bottom Line
A game worth playing to test your avoiding and technical skills. A must-go for this legendary game.

Genesis · by Ruz Kessler (1) · 2011

My Shinobi Sense Is Tingling

The Good
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi is a solid, platforming sequel to the original Shinobi title. Our heroic ninja warrior must (once again) rescue hostages, beat up bad guys, bosses and the head of a strange reptilian-theme criminal syndicate.

Ok, it is not the most creative of story lines (and the American version differs from the Japanese one) but its still fun to play if you are in the mood for ninja platforming. The sequel has better graphics, animation, music and sound effects and a few other...interesting additions.

Along with the familiar set of ninja weapons and power-ups standard for the series, you got a loyal (and helpful) canine guard dog.

The Bad
Changes were made to the storyline in translating the game into English. Originally, you were the son of the hero from the previous game, where as the English version depicts him as being the former hero coming out of retirement. I think the original version is better.

The Bottom Line
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi is a solid, platforming sequel to the original Shinobi title.

Genesis · by ETJB (428) · 2013

Shinobi comes out of retirement & is a brittle old man.

The Good
This is a good Shinobi game, much better than the arcade rendition of a similar name (which is a different game all together). The bosses & bonus stages are fun & challenging. The dog never got in my way or troubled me. The stages look great. The bridge stage is a lot of fun. The statue of liberty looks great. At one point you have to fight 3 ninjas & a helicopter at the same time!! That is awesome & obviously deadly.

The Bad
This game is incredibly hard. I'm talking 1 hit death & lose all your lives in the first 2 minutes hard. I only absolutely needed to use the dog twice in the whole game. In the arcade game you need him a lot. He's still useful here but not necessary. The spin-wheel boss (#4) is very confusing as to how to attack it. There is a stage where shadows block your view & ninja's attack you in the dark. This is really cheap & incredibly hard.

The Bottom Line
Better than the arcade game & even harder. Stage, boss, & graphic variety keep you glued. You may have to unleash all of your cheating powers to beat this one.

Genesis · by Emperor MAR (2598) · 2013

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

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  • MobyGames ID: 10854
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Katakis | カタキス.

Wii added by Charly2.0. Windows, Linux, Macintosh added by Foxhack.

Additional contributors: j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】.

Game added November 2, 2003. Last modified February 4, 2024.