I always liked the MD version more than the Arcade game

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

MD version is so awesome, my fav

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.

My favorite song on the intro! Noice!

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.

is anyone else addicted to these battle of the ports

another great show, as always. thanks.

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

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).

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.

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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...

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

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?🤔🤣

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

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

Intro WAN! WAN-WAN!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Mega drive version is way better than the arcade!

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

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

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

Megadrive version was way better.

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

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

No Future Airlines.

Where can I get this game

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

Don't those games have v-sync?

The Mega Drive could been much more love

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?

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

Genesis does what nintendon't

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.

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

enough said the megadrive version is the best

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)!... :-)

Отличные обзоры.

Mega drive version is better than revenge of shinobi IMO

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.

Megadrive wins

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.

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

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

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...