SHADOW DANCER: THE SECRET OF SHINOBI FAQ WALKTHROUGH/GUIDE Sega Genesis Written by David Chen (11/02/2001) Email: david_9235@hotmail.com Version 1.0 Table of Contents ----------------- I. Introduction II. Storyline/Plot III. Controls and Moves IV. Items V. Enemies VI. Ninja Magic VII. Level Walkthroughs Stage 1: Burning Downtown Stage 2: Battle on the Bridge Stage 3: Statue of Liberty Stage 4: In the Darkness Stage 5: Union Lizard VIII. Cheats and Secrets IX. Contact information X. Copyrights XI. Credits ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction --------------- Hello! My name is David Chen. I'm writing this guide about the sequel of one of my favorite of all time, Shadow Dancer, which is the sequel to The Revenge of Shinobi. I have had this game for not long. This game was easier than its prequel, has lesser levels, and lacked many other features, but is still a great game to play. I hope this guide will help you, the reader, beat this game better and faster than I did. II. Storyline ------------------ You are once again Joe Musashi, a master ninja trained in the Art of Shinobi, the art of stealth, and has been through many battles and experiences in the past. Now you are accompanied by your faithful dog Yamato on your next quest. The Union Lizard crime syndicate led by Sauros, a bad reptilian monster, has taken control of New York City by storm. Now are his lizard henchmen, including ninjas and thugs, creating chaos in the city, Sauros himself can summon sudden firestorms, earthquakes, and avalanches. He also kidnapped innocent city hostages. Now it's time to defeat Union Lizard, rescue hostages, and take on Sauros with your ninja stars, ninja training, ninja magic, sword, and your dog Yamato. III. Controls and Moves ----------------------- D-button -Press left or right to go left or right. -Press down to crouch -Press down and jump to drop a level -Press up and jump to jump up a level A-button -Press A for fire magic, wind, magic, or meteor magic B-Button -Press B to throw ninja stars when not close to enemy -Press B to throw blue flame star when not close to enemy and have power-up -Press B to use sword when next to enemy -Hold B until the dog icon at the bottom of the screen charges up, in order to have your dog attack the nearest enemy* C-button -Press C to jump -Press jump, then press attack to throw a shuriken in the air *Your dog can only attack and stall certain enemies like the robot soldiers and gunmen, but if you take too long to kill the enemy your dog is stalling, then it'll turn into a puppy. He'll also turn into a puppy if it attacks certain enemies like the shield men. Option ====== If you go to option at the title, you can choose to play the game with or without shuriken (non-shuriken mode). Playing without shuriken is what it says, using only your sword and kick, but you'll be able to use shurikens on all bosses (thank god). However, this mode is several degrees hard than with shurikens no matter which level of difficulty you choose to play. You can then choose your level of difficulty at level 1, level 2, or level 3. Then there's S.E., music, and button configuration. IV. Items --------- Power-ups- Unlike The Revenge of Shinobi, these cannot be picked from boxes, they can only be obtained when you rescued certain hostages in the game. 1-Up- Also unlike The Revenge of Shinobi, these cannot be picked from boxes, they can only be obtained when you kill certain enemies. They are appear as Union Lizard coins. V. Enemies ---------- Robot soldiers- These soldiers are the easiest of all enemies to kill. They are orange or blue with swords. Gunmen- They are your average loading, shooting bad guys when you get near them. Easy to kill, but sometimes they're placed in strategic position to make your job harder to kill them. Shield men- These are muscle men who have two green shields that will block all your shots. They toss them back and forth like frisbees. They can only be killed with a up-close sword slash or flame stars. Clawed ninjas- These ninjas rolls along the ground and attacks with its long claws. They can't be killed with ninja stars from far away, but are easy to kill close with the stars or sword slash. Ninjas- These ninja has two swords that they used to block some of your shots. They have a air slice attack and hop slash attack. Takes two hits to kill, and hard to kill when in groups. Helicopters- On the elevator to the top of the Statue of Liberty in Round 3, they will fly by shooting at you with machine gun, but they can't be killed. Lizard men- These green men will start crawling and then leap on you with you get near them. VI. Ninja Magic --------------- You can only use these powerful magic once per level for each round and they will clear the screen of enemies. They vary differently in different level. You'll know which one you'll be using by looking at the picture on the bottom left of the screen. When used on bosses, any magic will only take two life out of the total life of bosses except the final boss. Fire Magic- Summoned, two pillars of fire will go back and forth, burning the enemies to ashes. Meteor Magic- Activated, giant meteor balls will dropped from the sky, pummeling the enemies to death. Wind Magic- Used, tornados will blow across the screen, killing all bad guys. VII. Level Walkthroughs ----------------------- Round 1: Burning Downtown ======================== (This walkthrough is based on playing with unlimited-shuriken mode and level 1 difficulty. Playing without shurikens or on higher levels of difficulty will make the game harder and have more enemies than what's written here) (1-1) This level with crumbled buildings and a burning background is very easy to get through and is great for practicing our hero's easy moves. Just start off by going right, killing any robot soldiers, gunmen, and Shield men. Be careful of the manhole on the ground since they will be a pillar of fire will flare out when close to it. If you're on top of the lid you're okay, but it might get killed touching the fire. Just rescue all the hostages, use your dog in strategic places, and you'll be okay. (1-2) Here, do pretty much the same as you did in level 1-1, kill shield men, gunmen, robot soldiers, rinse and repeat. Just move right, clearing this level on all stories of enemies. However, watch out for enemies popping out of some of the windows. Also, about halfway through the level, an earthquake will split a building in half, so don't fall into the hole. At the beginning, avoid the falling rocks. This is it for this level. (1-3) Boss: Armored Monster This level 1 boss could be hard for you don't know its pattern of attack. You'll start walking right and a lightning bolt will come down, creating the boss. Shoot at his head. He'll either fire a stream of flame at you, just jump over it, or jump and down, causing rocks to rain on you. The second attack is the harder one, which one hit on you in this game means death, and you can avoid it by positioning yourself in the gaps between the rocks, or walking to the extreme left or right. Be sure to use the magic to kill the boss quicker, especially when you can't escape the rocks, because the magic will destroy the rocks. Round 2: Battle on the Bridge ============================= (2-1) You start off by going on a bridge, killing the clawed ninja and other enemies as you go. This level is a little harder, for enemies are placed in strategic areas hard for you kill them at, but it should be not problem. Use your dog on the shield men when he's throwing the shield and kill them while your dog stalls them. The enemies on the platforms below or above you can be taken out by getting on their platforms and kill them before they know you're there. Not a hard level though. (2-2) This time your in some kind of place with train car bases and high fence. I'm not sure what this level is. Anyway, a chopper will fly by you at the beginning, which would not shoot at you. High jump back and forth the high fence as you see fit as you hack your way to the end of the level. The usual enemies are here. There will be gunmen backed up by another gunmen, which could be take care of by using your dog, avoiding their fire, and killing them quickly. There will also be gunman with a shield man, so take precaution in taking them out, using your dog. Your dog is quite useful here. Again, not a level to bother around with. (2-3) Boss: Wall Monster This boss is so much easier than the last one. Doesn't require the magic to kill. This boss has a face in the wall with two extending arms. Simply stay on the right side and move as far right as you can when you see the arms come out and he'll miss you every time. Just fire at his face until he dies. Round 3: Statue of Liberty ========================== (3-1) For this level, it seems you're in the Statue of Liberty with metal bars and beams as the walking surface and bags as cover. Start by going right killing gunman, robot soldiers, and shield man until you can't go no more. Then just jump up to the next level. Here you'll meet your first lizard man, who jump on you, but just avoid them and one hit kills them. Move all the way left, then go up to the next level. Take care of all the enemies as usual and think on how to kill them without killing yourself before jumping into a group of enemies like gunmen and shield man. Go right all the way and you'll come to a clawed ninja on two boxes with a gap before it. Shoot at him if you have the flame stars to reveal a 1-up or 2-up, but if not, you can jump up to a level, go right over him, drop down, kill him quickly, and hope that you get the item before he falls. Then jump back to the level in dropped from, move left, and take care of the red and blue ninjas. It takes two hits to take care of them. Then just hop on the elevator and you're done. (3-2) Going to the top on the elevator next to the Statue of Liberty, you'll encounter only ninjas and a chopper in this level. As you go up each different stories, ninjas of different color will appear to attack you. Each story offers different number of ninjas, but the strategy to kill them is the same. Although not easy, try to always crouch when you attack them each time because it'll leave you less expose as a smaller target. Attack them and concentrate on one before taking on another as soon as you can or you'll take on lots of ninjas at the same time. Knock them out the elevator if you can. If they attack you from the air, drop what you're doing, sidestep the attack, and slash him. Movement is the key. Four ninjas is the maximum that will appear. Halfway up the level, you'll encounter four red ninjas and a chopper will fly by in the middle of the battle, I strongly recommend that you Use your magic here to destroy everything because if you don't, you will have to face the chopper shooting at you, while taking care of the ninjas, which is very hard to get through. At the end, just jump onto the torch. (3-3) Boss: Buzzsaw Babe This boss has two huge buzzsaw blades that block her head from your shurikens. Shoot at her head when it is exposed when she throw the buzzsaw to the ground, which will then roll at you. Simply time your jump over it and get as much hit on her head as you can. She will then jump off the screen and drop on you, which will not hurt you upon contact with her, but it will knock you around. Her head is small, so it's hard to hit it, but with some practice and your perseverance on finishing her, you will ultimately win. Round 4: In the Darkness ======================== (4-1) You are in a network of underground caves below the Union Lizard Headquarter. This level is just like other levels, but you had to think a little more about taking care certain sections of this level. Going right, take care of the clawed ninjas, gunmen, ninjas, and shield man as you go up. When you are at the top with a shield man and a hostage, there is a gunman behind them down a level, who will shoot at your feet. I strongly recommend that you use magic here to clear things here because since you don't have the power-up, you'll likely get killed trying to kill the shield man, then the gunman. Proceed to go right, taking care of the three gunman carefully. Then you'll come to a section with many holes to fall in and platforms in between. AS you jump through it carefully, ninjas will appear out of the air, which some will fall into the hole and others not. Take care of the ones that didn't fall into the hole. Take care of the clawed ninjas and be careful of the two ninjas at the end. Retreat to a bigger platforms, so you can take care of these ninjas. Then you're done with this level. (4-2) Continue your way to the HQ, you'll come to this uniquely-designed level, which has dark shadows that cover small and big sections throughout the level, making it harder for you to see enemies, so go slow. Start off, killing the robot soldiers and ninjas. Take care of the shield man-gunman combo after this. You'll meet more of these enemies as you proceed through the level. When you come to a place with lots of shadow, be very careful than usual when trying to pass through it, because there's a good chance enemies are hiding in it like gunmen. For example, there's a section where shadows completely cover an area that's going up. There will be two gunmen hiding in it. It is good practice to go up slowly and listen for their gunshots (they shoot 3 shots before loading) and shoot them when they stop to load their gun. If this part bothers you, use your magic to clear things out. Also, watch out for partially hidden areas where ninjas might suddenly appeared and attack you. You can hear them appear, but they don't know where to dodge to avoid their leap attack. So take extra care with this level. (4-3) Boss: Wheel of Fire This boss is so easy to kill that it embarrasses the evil world. It is a huge fire wheel with four metal spokes and rotates here the screen. When it stops, it releases a circle of fireballs around itself. Bumping into it wouldn't kill and as for the fireballs, just walk away from the side the wheel is on. Shoot at the inner circle of the wheel until it dies. Round 5: Union Lizard ===================== (5-1) All right, this is the final round, let's get this over with and go home to relax. Unlike the other rounds, this round is split into 5 rooms instead of 2 levels. Each room is dedicated to having one kind of enemy only. For Room 1, it is just the gunmen where they position themselves to try to get you. This room is a breeze, just go through killing all gunmen like you would on the other rounds. Use dog where necessary. For Room 2, clawed ninjas dominates this room. Just go through like you would with the other previous rounds. Get close to them and slash them when they come rolling to you. Use shurikens when possible. This room is also easy, but be sure you crouch when you attempt to slash them because they just might claw you when you're standing. For Room 3, lizard men prowls the area. This room is also easy. Shoot them as soon as they appear and avoid them when they jump on you. For Room 4, this would be your first true test of this round since red, blue, and gold ninjas are here. Try to move slowly through the room, so you wouldn't have to deal with many ninjas at a time. As you go through the room, different number of ninjas will appear in different section of this room. You may get two, three, or four of them at once. Take care of the nearest ones as fast as you can and avoid their leap attack when you see them coming. Takes two to kill each of these ninjas. Before you exit this level, watch out for the last three red ninjas. You haven't seen anything yet. In Room 5, never-before- seen black ninjas control this room. It takes three hits to kill them, but there are less of them appearing at once in this level. However, they make for their lack of quantity with quality. They are a little tougher this since they block more, attack a little better, and two of them can make your hands full. Yet you'll employ the same strategy on these ninjas like you did to the colored ninjas before. Take it slow, avoid all leap attack, crouch when possible, and attack as soon as possible. Now onto to the final boss. (5-2) Final Boss: Sauros In this bright final room with two candlesticks, Sauros sits on a big throne with one ninja on a pillar on each side of him. Sauros will remain staying there through this entire battle. However, this is one very hard boss to beat. For the difficulty level 1, he will have 6 life represented by 6 flames above him. To start off, he will summon a black ninja on the right to come down, finish him as soon as possible since another ninja will be activated on the left to get you a few moments later. When they do their rolling attack on the ground, I strongly advise you to jump over it instead of slashing it when it comes close because I got killed many times by this particular attack. Other than that, avoid them when they leap attack, and crouch to throw shuriken at them or slash them. Try to finish these two as soon as possible because two more ninjas will come simultaneously to get you a few moments later. They would irritate you because they would block almost all your shots and walk slowly toward you off screen, while you're trying to finish them quickly before the ninja(s). Again, finish all of the ninjas quickly because Sauros will then open his metallic helmet to reveal his weak point, which is a glowing circle on the base of his neck. You need to hit it as much as possible, but the maximum you can hit it is two times. But watch out since fireballs will rain down through the screen and the only place to avoid is between the tiny spaces between the fireballs. This all is what makes the boss so hard. Not only will you have to take care of the ninjas, you have to dodge the fireballs in order to get two clean hits on Sauros. To make things harder, you'll have to go through the whole cycle again and again at a faster rate when ninjas will come out faster. If you don't kill the ninjas in time, you will have deal with them while you're trying to put yourself in the tiny safe space between the fireballs and hit the weak point. It only takes one hit by the fireballs or ninjas to kill you and a lot of times you'll get hit by the fireballs even though you position yourself well enough. As for the magic, don't use it on the boss when his weak point is revealed because the helmet closes after taking only one hit. Only use it when you are really overwhelmed by ninjas and that his weak point is revealed in order to make full use of your 1 magic. This boss will make you very frustrating and go mad if you die too much all because the ninja only have one measly life to beat the boss. Compose yourself and bring yourself together when you find yourself in this situation. It will only make matters worse if you don't. I have beaten this boss several times, but not without using many lives. VIII. Tips, Cheats, and Secrets ------------------------------- Tips ==== 1) Use your dog when possible to take out bad guys easier. 2) It only takes ONE HIT to kill you, so be careful. 3) Rescuing the hostages is a requirement and gives you bonus points and power-ups. Cheats and Secrets ================== Go and check out the "codes" section for this game in Gamefaqs.com This game is easy enough that it doesn't take any cheats to beat the game. Bonus Round =========== After each round, you'll go into a bonus round, where you jump down a skyscraper, shooting as much ninjas as you can. The most you can get is 50 ninjas. You'll be awarded bonus points or number of free people based on your performance. 50 of 50 ninjas- 3-ups 49 of 50 ninjas- 2-ups 48 of 50 ninjas- 1-ups 0 of 50 ninjas- 1-ups (that's right, you'll earn 1-up without shooting any ninjas) 47 or below- bonus points IX. Contact information ----------------------- If you ever have a problem or question or comment about beating this game or this FAQ after reading this guide, let me know by emailing me at david_9235@hotmail.com for help. I would be glad to be of assistance to this great game. Also, if you have any corrections and improvements for this game, email me about it and I will put you down for credit on this FAQ. If you like ninja or action games, this would be the game for you. Any local used-game stores like Funcoland or Gamestop would carry this game. X. Copyrights ------------- This FAQ/walkthrough guide is document copyright 2001 David Chen. You may not modify or reproduce anything on this FAQ in any way or means, mechanically, visually, electrically, etc. You may not distribute anything from this site without emailing me. If you want to put this on your site, notify me about it and I'll see about it. Only Gamefaqs.com have the right to put this guide on the site at this point. Thank you. XI. Credits ----------- 1) Sega: for making such a great game, including the other Shinobi games. 2) my mother: for letting me play this game and other Sega games for lots of hour 4) Gamefaqs.com: for having a great site that I used often when I am stuck in games 5) Readers of this FAQ: for coming here to look for help on beating this awesome game 6) Part of the storyline is from the Shadow Dancer game box on the back- Shadow Dancer copyright 1990 Sega of America, Inc.