Shadow Dancer is an
offshoot of the Shinobi series, giving you an attack dog to stun foes with.
The play mechanics
of Shadow Dancer are not much different from the arcade version of the original
Shinobi. Like its predecessors, the controls of an eight-way joystick and three
buttons (attack, jump, and "ninja magic") and almost all of the player's
moves from the original Shinobi are present here as well. The biggest change to
the play mechanic is the addition of a canine companion that follows the player
around. When the dog barks towards an enemy, the player can sic the dog on the
enemy by pressing the attack button while crouching, allowing the player an
opportunity to attack the enemy while he's being bitten by the dog. However, if
the player takes too long to attack the bitten enemy or the enemy has a strong
defense, then the dog will be hurt and he will turn into a harmless pup and
will remain in that form until the player gets his next time bomb or finishes
the stage. The dog does not appear during boss battles.
The player's
weapons consists of an unlimited supply of shurikens which he throws from a
distance and a sword which he swings when an enemy is near him. When the player
collects a certain time bomb in each stage, it will his replace his regular
shurikens into stronger fiery versions, as well as his sword into powerful
punches and kicks, for the remainder of the stage or current life. The player
can also use from one of three random "Ninja Magic" spells that will
clear the entire screen of enemies. Normally, these spells can only be used
once per stage, but if the player loses all of his lives and gets a Game Over,
he will restart the stage with two spells when he continues. Likewise, he will
restart with three spells from the third continue and onward. If the player
completes a stage without using shurikens or spells, he will be awarded with
bonus points.
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