Battle of the Ports - Shadow Dancer (シャドー・ダンサー) (Show #60) 60fps

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC coder, Dave Semmens, had never even seen the coin-op before converting it, he only played through it once, everything else was done from a VHS tape of the coin-op footage. Fitting all the graphics and animation frames in and controlling the super jump, gave him the biggest headaches

[@RetroCore]

It's amazing at how cheap the companies were who hired these developers. The best they could offer was a VHS recording :(

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

@@RetroCore that's the key thing that's hit me over the years when looking into how the big conversions to home formats came about in the UK, the utter cheapness of the publishers. Everything went on buying the license, then the advertising. The actual people doing the conversions were paid a pittance, £500 for sprite decompressing code for something as huge as Mega Drive Mortal Kombat, no extra money for coding for the Amiga hardware, just port the ST 68000 code and graphics. They were extremely lucky if publisher gave them a coin-op on freeplay, usually it was footage on a VHS tape or.. Get your asses down to the Arcades with a camera and film it yourself. As long as what you produce vaguely resembles the coin-op, we won't be sued.

[@BlockABoots]

I always liked the MD version more than the Arcade game

[@RetroCore]

Same here.

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

BlockABoots ditto....

[@bittersweetjesus]

I grew up on the MD version. All others don't come close

[@PlasticCogLiquid]

@@filevans Yes sir! The original Shinobi and Shadow Dancer are my favorite arcade games that I always come back too, I like the genesis games too but no way are they better than the arcade games

[@stevesteve0521]

@@filevans it’s not the real sequel it’s just the second game in the Shinobi game series. Revenge of Shinobi is the true sequel since it follows the story of joe Musashi who’s in the first Shinobi game. It’s also one hundred times better than shadow dancer the original not the genesis version. (the genesis one is much better than the arcade port and is a different game as you mentioned)

[@LeShark75]

I had the Amiga version myself and I loved it. I have it on Mame now thanks to the JXD handheld system. Nice vid again.

[@danmakuman]

The SMS version plays quite good but yes, is hard as hell. The MD version is by far the best IMO

[@RetroCore]

Agreed!

[@rorydropkick]

Fantastic! I love this game. This got plenty of exposure at the arcades here in town.

[@RetroCore]

I never remember seeing this ever in the arcades. The first time I played it was on MAME about 12 or so years ago.

[@TheSonicbandicootX]

I love the Mega Drive version,it's better than Arcade in my opinion

[@ezequielgomez7083]

By Far my most favorite port of Shadow Dancer was the Genesis I play it a lot when I was a kid 13 years old since 2014 is my number 1 favorite genesis game of all time.

[@jbmaru]

I only played the game on Mega Drive and only back in the day, but still remember the music. Great themes!

[@videogameobsession]

13:51 The Sega Genesis Classics (and maybe other recent re-releases) has the title screen changed. The World Trade Center twin towers on the title screen has been turned into a single wide building. They didn't change it at the end of the game though.

[@RetroCore]

I wasn't even aware there was change made to the game. I'm guessing this only applies to the virtual console like versions.

[@maurexretrovision]

Shadow Dancer for Megadrive/Genesis was the first game that came as a gift to me when my father gave me the Sega console. Those who criticized it at the time didn't really see the great game they had on their hands. Today in his classic.

[@Utoobyourself]

I lov the MD version. Excellent Sega title!......Great review !

[@TheGavinh32]

is anyone else addicted to these battle of the ports

[@RetroCore]

I am. Can't stop making them 😋

[@Derceto00]

I have to lean towards the Genesis version as well myself. It was one of the first games I bought for my Genesis when I was a kid, and I played it quite regularly. Awesome soundtrack too.

[@MrThunderwing]

Y'know, I never got all the bad press the Megadrive version of Shadow Dancer got either - I thought it was pretty awesome myself. Great music too (although admittedly not as good as Revenge of Shinobi's).

[@RetroCore]

I think it wasn't well received because everyone was looking for another Super Shinobi. Truth be told the MD Shadow Dancer was pretty cool.

[@ZinhoMegaman]

For me Megadrive has the best version, graphics, soundtrack and gameplay, really love this version.

[@SDSOverfiend]

MrThunderwing bad press where?

[@MrThunderwing]

+SDS Overfiend It wasn't especially well received by the UK console magazines I read at the time, like Mean Machines Sega and C&VG, who felt it was inferior to Revenge of Shinobi.

[@SDSOverfiend]

MrThunderwing Oh ok... I see. Because it went back to traditional shinobi.

[@neozeed1984]

another great show, as always. thanks.

[@cesarjezreelmolina8030]

At age 3 I played this Shinobi game one of my fav all time game...

[@RetroCore]

Now that's starting young.

[@MohsinJavedCheema]

MD version is so awesome, my fav

[@RetroCore]

Yes, many people prefer the Mega Drive Shadow Dancer over the Arcade game.

[@Viddy22]

Seriously, saying that the ST and Amiga versions are similar is serious lack of judgement. Colours, background depth, sprite dimensions, animations, palette, screen size, sound design, music, framerate!... Amiga is on another planet.

[@RetroCore]

Similar doesn't mean the same. They are similar in that they both look generally like each other. Now saying something like the C64 and Amiga are similar is wrong.

[@jordidemaio]

Good home computers ports published by US Gold... absolutely rare and a great surprise.

[@RetroCore]

In my opinion, if the names US Gold or Ocean were on the box, ot basically meant there was a bloody awful game inside that box ;)

[@Koexistence13]

2:15. ERUTUFON AIRLINES --------NO FUTURE AIRLINES and it's a Concorde

[@marcocorona3842]

I remember the C64 port were missing of a lot of stages, the ninja doesn't jump on the heads of enemies, can't uses katana. With all those limitation that port were still playable, I finished the game a lot of time, but were very difficult.

[@RetroCore]

I think many of the old computer game ports were quite the challenge.

[@WWammyy]

I played Shadow Dancer just after the original Shinobi and considered it to be the better game however I was always disappointed that neither the original Shinobi or Shadow Dancer got a port to the Mega Drive

[@opivm]

here in brazil this amazimg game was sold by tec toy as beimg the secret of shinobi.

[@RetroCore]

In Japan the Mega Drive version of Shadow Dancer has the sub title of "Secret of Shinobi" :)

[@AkiraHDR50]

Only played the megadrive version. Fun fact: on the shoot all ninjas stage if you don't shoot any you get a extra life.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, this is true.

[@kattmonstret]

Great video as always Mega Drive version looks really good! I would really like to see split screen video comparsion between ports in "Battle of the ports" ( or at least static image split screen if video is too much work)

[@RetroCore]

That is a nice idea but the problem there is that there are too many versions to cover. Maybe at the end of the next show I'll do a 720p image showing all versions together, sort of like the image at the beginning of the video but this time the pictures will be bigger. It all depends up on my timed though.

[@RiddlerOnYutube]

I still love the megadrive version. Music is awesome and because its an original game makes it more special. Great video as always. Thanks.

[@RetroCore]

I really like some of the tunes in the Mega Drive version too.

[@PlasticCogLiquid]

My favorite song on the intro! Noice!

[@RetroCore]

That is a good track.

[@gjergjaurelius9798]

I played shadow dancer the arcade version yrs later on a emulator 1st of all the intro with poorly dubbed dog had me laughing HARD. 2nd when....SHINOBI releases his magic and that cut scene where his mumbling Japanese gibberish had me laughing so hard I pissed myself! 🤣🤦🏻‍♂️ my parents were like what the fuck you doin down there?🤔🤣

[@GlenLehane]

Played the arcade version a few times, I liked it but didn't get very far, I think I only was able to beat that first boss. But, 13 year old me thought the ninja magic effect was the most awesome thing I had ever seen! Played the Megadrive version quite a bit. I always thought of it as a separate game to the arcade, rather than a remix. I honestly couldn't understand the hate towards it. I thought it was a pretty cool game in it's own right, and while Super Shinobi/Revenge Of Shinobi was better, I still got a lot of enjoyment out of it. I owned the C64 version. It was hard, but it wasn't THAT hard. Not to the point of being unplayable. Great parallax scrolling, though I actually thought the graphics were a bit ugly. The levels were mixed around a bit in their order when compared to the arcade version, I think it was the developers way of trying to fit the entire game in. I used to take my time when playing because I kept siccing the dog onto the enemies all the time LOL! I found it overall fun to play, but I didn't understand why there was no in game music. The music for the different levels were there, it would play automatically on a simple title screen after the game was over, the game wouldn't automatically reload the first stage until you started a new game. Why oh why couldn't you press a key in game to toggle between SFX and music like most games? The SFX weren't even that special, you could have even had both playing together. Overall I still liked the C64 version despite it's differences, but the music thing always bugged me

[@dirkb9788]

Own and love the Mega Drive version. Good looking, fun game play, music thats bringing me back to the 90's.

[@RetroCore]

Back when Shadow Dancer was released for the Mega Drive I was deeply disappointed due to it not being as good as Super Shinobi but over the years it grew on me a great deal.

[@BlockABoots]

Any plans to do a Ninja Gaiden Battle Of The Ports?

[@RetroCore]

Not at the moment as that game would drive me nuts. It's way too hard :p

[@SuperHighTechGamer]

Well done. The arcade original was kind a of a cult hidden game back in the arcades.(was a must play for Shinobi fans). I was surprised that some of the Western ports weren't half bad! Mega Drive version is still great in it's own way.

[@Frikinautas]

Well, another arcade game from my neghbourhood (there were only four cabinets nearby, but changed games often). This one came on the very same cabinet where Shinobi played about one or two years before, and I was, like, “oh, another Shinobi, how ori... PUPPY!”. Didn't play the MD version back then, but I did recently and, yep, it's vastly superior to this.

[@RetroCore]

Yes, it's one of those rare cases in which the home console game is vastly superior to the Arcade. Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast is another.

[@garethLLB]

The c64 version was unrecognizable. the best 8 bit port was on the Amstrad

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Amiga has great music, not so great everything else. Like uh you already said At first I hated the MD version, but now I kinda love it.

[@davidvfx]

I'm a fan of the original Arcade insomuch that'm of the juice while I acabarmelo with one life and only using the sword. When I came out the version of the MegaDrive was excited to take my console and play at my house when quisera ... not gonna lie I felt me something decepsionado to see it was not the arcade version, but I found as you say an original and different game arcade but with qualities and own merits; I could decri I believe that the Megadrive version is the 2nd part of this saga, as happened with the game ESWAT.

[@RetroCore]

Interesting idea. So you are saying that the Mega Drive port is like Shadow Dancer 2 ? I guess it could be :)

[@davidvfx]

Retro Core Something that I suppose is a continuation is that in Japan the title of the game is Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi, not just Shadow Dancer. Another aspect is that it is normal that a game is placed theoretically in the era was estrane; The arcade was taken in 1989 in the absence of there a synopsis that situe this on a certain date will usually speculate that it is the era in which premiere, besides that as this is a spinoff of the Shinobi series of Sega if you have the idea that the game was premiered, there is no reason to think otherwise. But in the case of the version of the game was estranado in 1990 but his introducion text does not say that the plot is 1997, ie a new frame in future seven years of Arcade version. besides that officially the protagonist of this game is Hayate (疾風?), son of Joe Musashi hero of Shinobi games, in specific in the Revenge of Shinobi same Megadrive. The problem is that there is no official synopsis which give name and time the character of the Arcade version so you can not say if Hayate or Joe Musashi.

[@marioghernandez4960]

I dunno... I find myself preferring the arcade version over all other versions.

[@HokageKOF99]

Shadow Dancer is based on Joe Musashi's son. Twenty years after Shinobi.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Shadow Dancer for the Genesis was one of those "This is why I bought a Game Genie!" titles.

[@RetroCore]

Ah, it wasn't that be. Well, maybe the bosses were unfair.

[@solarflare9078]

The arcade music reminds me of Super Thunder Blade....

[@solarflare9078]

Probably the bass sound...

[@solarflare9078]

@Benjamin Jagun I'm talking about Super Thunder Blade, aka the Mega Drive port. The slap bass sounds pretty similar, but it does sound closer to X68000 Thunder Blade's slap bass.

[@kathleendelcourt8136]

The arcade game is just a slightly above average game. Making a brand new episode on the Mega Drive instead of a straight port was the right decision.

[@TheContraspirit]

In which magazines did the Mega Driver version recieve terrible reviews? I remember the opposite.

[@RetroCore]

UK magazines were not keen on it. CVG for example preferred the Arcade version.

[@dinisgds]

Don't those games have v-sync?

[@DanielAyy]

I'd say if you want something a little closer to the gameplay of the original Shinobi arcade game on the MD then Shadow Dancer would fit the bill! That's just my opinion though.

[@RetroCore]

It is very similar in play style for sure but now someone is actually porting the Arcade original to the Mega Drive. Graphically it looks great but it still lacks sound. Hopefully that will soon be fixed.

[@DanielAyy]

Oooh very interesting!

[@msolom9521]

Be honest ... MD version is SHADOW DANCER even other ports are arcade ports, arcade wasn't a great shinobi game ... Sweet memories when I heard the MD bonus game soundtrack ... THX Retro for the review

[@raedel-rafei1872]

Where can I get this game

[@boarMcberry]

actually plays MD version 1st. coz of that, arcade version felt kinda inferior to me.

[@Belpowerslave]

Hands down, the Genesis version: Better than the arcade, better than every port. Hard? Sure, but be a real man and play with "no shuriken" mode turned on...

[@GoodFebruarian]

Intro WAN! WAN-WAN!

[@philmason9653]

I'm in the minority, but I much prefer MD Shadow Dancer to Revenge. Its levels feel more tightly and deliberately constructed than Revenge's do to me, and don't seem as at odds with the main character's movement. I also prefer it as a true sequel to the arcade original, updating the mechanics and atmosphere while not resorting to the cheap ninja mobs the first game can hit you with in the last couple of stages. Except for that fire wheel boss. That thing can go jump in a lake.

[@RetroCore]

I can see your points but yeah, I think you may be in the minority on this one. I do like Shadow Dancer on the Mega Drive but I see it as a side game to the Shinobi series rather than a sequel.

[@Ramjet164]

I’ve always loved the Megadrive game. I prefer it to revenge of shinobi tbh

[@RetroCore]

It's vastly superior to the Arcade machine, that's for sure.

[@earlduran6419]

The Mega Drive could been much more love

[@wayneevans3860]

Mega drive version is way better than the arcade!

[@Broyale26]

No Future Airlines.

[@iwanttocomplain]

I thought the Master System looked crap but seeing the original I can see it's quite accurate. The smd version is outstanding but it's not a port of the arcade. You don't allow that sometimes... Why do I always get exactly 44 kills on the bonus stage though? Weird. It can be cheesed 100% by just staying on the left and firing repeatedly but where's the fun in that?

[@anthonycitizencain]

Megadrive version was way better.

[@hardwiredxs]

My impression of the arcade wasn't particulary impressive, I prefered the original shinobi. But it was enjoyable enough... The Amiga version player well, and had great music - much better then the arcade bit I felt that it could had more on the gfx dept. Some cooper striper shades on the background and a slightly better choosen colors would do the trick, I guess... Other than that it was more than reasonable version brought by (SHOCK) U.S.Gold!... - I guess they allowed more time for the developer to work on this version (no XMAS deadline)!... :-)

[@hardwiredxs]

I fucking hate my speller checker/corrector... Sorry for all my spelling errors on my posts!

[@rafaellima83]

Graphics were made to be "compatible" with the Atari ST, so they didn't have to draw different assets for the different versions. I was pretty happy they actually bothered to change the code from the ST version to use the blitter so scrolling and overall framerate is much better (I also belive it uses HW sprites for the HUD).

[@dlfrsilver]

the amiga version is great, and the megadrive version is good, but it's something else. It should not be in this compare.

[@ShadowSumac]

Interesting game. C64 looks mostly like a different game, but that's normal. What not normal, or rather, what is unusual - a PARALLAX SCROLLING!! Now that's not what you see in C64 games everyday. Sadly according to your description the game itself plays badly. Sega Genesis / Mega Drive game looks like it gathered all tropes from 80-s "bad future" action movies and ninja action movies. Might even give it a try it one of this day. The dog looks horrifying in SMS version.

[@hamtareinenklaalnavas8936]

Отличные обзоры.

[@antarcticpenguin1151]

13:42 your timing was terrible here, practice yo timing.

[@ironkong26]

Mega drive version is better than revenge of shinobi IMO

[@RetroCore]

Ooh, that's a very bold claim.

[@esathegreat]

Genesis does what nintendon't

[@basshunter2007]

Megadrive wins

[@rufnek3124]

enough said the megadrive version is the best

[@RetroCore]

I kind of agree. Even though it's a different game it is the better of all Shadow Dancer titles.

[@mleolv426]

Master system version is quite good considering. It had the essence of the arcade. C64 was a great version and was tricky, it's video is way to short. Megadrive I never got into it I didn't like the change of setting and the bonus stage sucked azz. I used the dog all the time he was a great addition and added that risk reward mechanic of should I save my dog or get these enemies.

[@RetroCore]

Ah, there's a reason why the C64 video clip is too short. that's because I found it too bloody hard. In all the other versions projectiles can't harm you when in the middle of a somersault but in the C64 version the do. This makes the game a real pain in the arse. I couldn't even complete the first stage :(

[@mleolv426]

Lol I thought that may be the reason. Yeah I found it tough but after some persistence got used to it.

[@RetroCore]

Matthew Leo Maybe I should give it another go some time.

[@mleolv426]

If you get bored

[@alexalves76]

Man, the lack of love or respect (always shorter runtimes) for the spectrum version is quite evident. Wanting music during gameplay is just... And judging the game merits for that, and passing on to the nect port. Been watching all videos but the lack of knowledge cant be passed on.

[@RetroCore]

I never claim to know everything but Japanese system I do know an awful lot, more than most. British home computers, not so much. But I do know when a game is good or not and what a system is capable of. The ZX Spectrum 128 can be a very good system but sadly a lot of developers were very lazy when making games for it and the CPC too come to think of it. Similar situation with the Amiga. Some Awsome games on that but there's twice as much rubbish on it due to inept developers or developers under crazy time restrictions. It really is sad how things worked in the home computer days.

[@genstarmkg5321]

@@RetroCore I've been looking at the Shadow Dancer page on World of Spectrum and seems that only a 48K version of the game ever came out so it makes sense it does not have music since the ZX Spectrum 48K does not have a sound chip (while the 128K one does) and has less memory. Aside that, tbh, the graphics on the ZX Spectrum version look alright for me, you can make out what is the game and what is the background even when there is parallax (stage 1-2). Also the dog is cute in that version ^o^

[@daveruda]

The arcade game looks and sounds unimpressive for 1989. I perfer the original Shinobi to be honest.

[@dlfrsilver]

And the C64 version is absolutely awful, graphically wise, and also gameplay. The Amstrad CPC is so much better than this bag of crap.

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

The arcade game had mediocre graphics for the time, poor animation, and was just kind of klunky. While I never really thought much of Rolling Thunder originally, I see now that it was superior in action gameplay, speed, and fun to the derivative Shinobi arcade game series...

[@1983parrothead]

Mostly American retro gamers bring up Nintendo VS. Sega arguments, but Namco VS. Sega history seems quite big, too. Sega did Head-On, while Namco did Puck-Man (Pac-Man today). Namco did Pole Position, while Sega did Hang-On, OutRun and Power Drift. Sega did Space Harrier, while Namco did Burning Force. Namco did Winning Run trilogy, while Sega did Virtua Racing. Sega did Virtua Fighter, Last Bronx and Daytona USA, while Namco did Tekken, Soul Edge/Soul Calibur and Ridge Racer. Sega has Fantasy Zone as both the setting of Space Harrier and the equally-named arcade. Namco has Marvel Land, which is both the world of their Valkyrie series and the equally-named arcade. Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri won in a contest sponsored by Sega during his entry to video game interest. But in the late 80s, after establishing Game Freak, Satoshi had to use Namco to publish his first game Quinty/Mendel Palace. And so on until F-ZERO GX/AX and Project X Zone 1 and 2.

[@1983parrothead]

But for Namco's Rolling Thunder and Sega's Shinobi games, Rolling Thunder only got 3, while Shinobi got 2 in the arcades, and several on consoles and handhelds. Others also mocked Rolling Thunder layout, including Data East's Bad Dudes VS. DragonNinja, Crude Buster/Two Crude (Dudes), etc.