Controls




HUD

Basic Moves

CROUCHING

To crouch, hold down on the d-pad. Joe can move whilst crouching, allowing him to avoid projectiles whilst also letting him get closer to an enemy.

JUMPING

Press the C button to jump. You can control Joe during a jump and have him change direction during one.

SHURIKENS

Press the attack button (B) to throw shuriken. Joe can throw these extremely quickly and he has an infinite supply. He can throw shuriken whilst standing, crouching or jumping.

CLOSE RANGE ATTACKS

If an enemy is close to Joe, he will either attack with his sword (if he is on the ground) or use a kick (if he is jumping) against the enemy.

POWERED UP ATTACKS

By saving certain hostages (see below), Joe's attacks will become stronger. His shurikens will become blue fireballs, and his close-range attacks will also change. Aside from the visual effects, the extra power means that enemies will go down easier -such as enemies who usually take two hits, such as the ninjas, will now die after just one hit.

Jumping to higher/lower ground

To move up to higher ground, hold up and then press the jump button. To get down to lower ground, hold down and press the jump button. You can only jump down from certain surfaces, likewise, you can only jump off certain bits of ground.

Yamato

Yamato is the dog who is with Joe. He will remain by his master's side throughout all stages, except during boss battles. Yamato can be used to stun enemies, and keep them pinned down until they are either killed or manage to shake him off. When an enemy is in range, Yamato will start barking. Hold down the B button to charge up the gauge at the bottom of the screen. Once it is full (it was still flashing) release the button and Yamato will attack the nearest enemy. Yamato cannot stun all enemies however, such as the ninjas with swords. If he attacks an enemy he can't hurt, or gets shaken off, he will be turned into a puppy.

When Yamato is a puppy, he is useless. He will still follow Joe around, but can no longer attack. After a few seconds he will return to his normal size, but if you rescue a certain hostage (the one who gives the power-up) he will return to his adult form instantly.

Hostages

Throughout the majority of stages there are hostages to save, and you'll need to find and rescue them all to progress through to the next stage. Just walk into a hostage to free them. Certain hostages will give you a power-up, making your shurikens and close-range attacks stronger (see above).

Ninjitsu

Shadow Dancer has three different magic attacks, and one is assigned automatically at the start of each stage (you don't get to choose which one you want). You can only use one ninjitsu attack per stage, so use it wisely. Aside from the different visual effects, these ninjitsu attacks all do the same thing: kill all enemies on the screen, or damage a boss.

FIRE NINJITSU

Joe will summon blasts of fire, which appear at the bottom and top of the screen.

METEOR NINJITSU

Joe will summon many meteors, which land all over the screen.

TORNADO NINJITSU

Joe will summon two tornadoes, which travel across the screen.

Options

The options menu allows you to change some settings, such as not having the ability to throw shurikens -making the game far more of a challenge (you can still use them against bosses however). The level changes the difficulty, and there is also several different button configuration settings. Finally there is also a sound test option.

Shadow Dancer II & Shadow Dancer III

By changing the level option in the options menu, the title screen will change. When the game starts, the game will be tougher, with enemies in different places. The round guide was written with the game set on level 1, but level 2 (Shadow Dancer II) and level 3 (Shadow Dancer III) offer different challenges for those who want it.