Shadow Blasters
System: Genesis
Release Date: September 1990
Developer: Cyclone System
Publisher: Sage’s Creation
Genre: Action
Save the world from wicked evil using God given powers in Shadow Blasters! The gods have turned their backs on mankind as low moral standards and wickedness reign supreme. Enter the King of the Evil World, Ashura. He seeks to add the Earth to his domain. The greatest of the good gods, Hyprion decided to choose four mortals who he could grant his powers to so they could prove the worth of man. It’s up to you to travel through nine levels and put an end to the evil.
The four mortals chosen are Horatio, a ninja trainee who uses the force of fire. Tiffany, another ninja trainee who uses the force of wind. Leo, a kendo master, who commands energy boomerangs. Marco, a Buddhist who controls the power of lightning. As they power up, each character controls the same, the only difference is the pattern of their attack. Each of them come with nine hit points, a power level, a speed level, and a jumping level. These can be increased by collecting emblems dropped by enemies.
The number of enemies seem to be finite and will appear as you trip their spot. You can attack them with a press of Button A. Occasionally, one of five different colored emblems will be dropped. The white emblem increases your minimum power level. Each character has up to 9 power levels that can be charged to while holding down attack. As the power level increases, the form of the attack changes, becoming more useful. All four characters have pretty lame level 1 attacks, but become quite formidable by the time they hit level 9. When fully powered, Tiffany is easy mode. Her tornadoes are homing and will hit anything on screen.
Levels are typical walk to the right, jumping and killing stuff fare. Platforms sure like to sink or fall from beneath you. Enemies come in many different forms, but it’s generally walking on screen, jumping on screen, or flying on screen. As you collect red and blue emblems to increase your speed and jump, respectively, your character feels more powerful. Each has their own skill levels and you can switch between them on the fly by pressing the Start Button. If you’re filled up on stats or health with one character, don’t waste that emblem, switch to someone who needs it. Especially when you have a chance to heal health, like with the full revive black emblems, you should take advantage.
The first six stages can be played in any order and each ends with a boss. These aren’t much to worry about, as long as you’ve collected some power ups. It’s a matter of finding the weakness and learning a pattern to avoid attacks. Some bosses can be made easier by hitting them with your screen clearing magic by pressing the C Button. That is, if you didn’t accidentally press it during the level. Stages 7 and 8 are fixed and the final battle puts you in the shoes of Hyprion as he battles Ashura in space. Just don’t get too close, unless you want to die a horribly quick death. Hyprion shoots a shotgun blast with the A Button and a long single shot with the B Button. Just circle around Ashura a plink away to win.
Graphics: 2.5
The graphics aren’t amazing, but they’re certainly decent.
Sound: 2.5
Music is solid, but the sound effects of the attacks are not pleasant.
Gameplay: 3.0
Attack stuff and jump platforms and over pits.
Difficulty: 3.5
Definitely on the easier side of things after your first attempt to get acclimated to controls.
Fun Factor: 3.5
It was quick and satisfying. Definitely something I might come back to on a rainy afternoon.
Overall Rating: 3.0
Shadow Blasters earns a B. I’m a bit of a sucker for a game like this. Kind of reminded me of the enjoyment I got from Kenseiden so long ago.