Shadow Blasters

From Sega Retro

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ShadowBlasters MDTitleScreen.png

ShadowBlasters MD JP TitleScreen.png

Shadow Blasters
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sigma Enterprises (Japan), Sage's Creation (US)
Developer:
Genre: Action[2]

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP
¥6,200 (6,386)6,200e[3] T-26023
Sega Mega Drive
US
$49.9549.95[5] 47016

Shiten Myouou (四天明王 lit. 4 Dawning Kings), known in the United States as Shadow Blasters, is a Sega Mega Drive action platform game developed by Sigma Pro-Tech. First published in Japan by Sigma Enterprises in August 1990, it was later localized and brought to the United States by Sage's Creation later that year.

Story

The evil god Ashura has unleashed hordes of monsters and demons onto Earth, hoping to take control of the planet as well as the hearts of men. The good god Hyperion has recruited four of Earth's most powerful warriors and assembled them into a team to fight the encroaching darkness and defeat Ashura: the ninja warriors named Kotarou and Ayame, a Buddhist fighting monk named Kidenbou, and a fencer named Senshirou. In the game's English localization, their names were changed to Horatio, Tiffany, Marco, and Leo, respectively.

Gameplay

Shadow Blasters is a side-scrolling platform game. There are four characters. Each character is able to walk with Left and Right, jump with B, kneel with Down, and jump off platforms with Down+B. The player can fire a projectile weapon unique to the selected character with A. For the most part, the player is free to move forward and backward through a given level as desired. As the player progresses, characters become more powerful by picking up power-ups for the attributes of speed, jump, and power. Power-ups are specific to each character. If a character is already at the maximum level for an attribute, collecting its power-up has no effect.

At the beginning of each stage, the player can choose from a pool of four characters. The player can switch characters at any point during game play by pressing  START  and choosing a different character from the selection screen. This screen also shows each character's attribute levels. Each character has a life bar with nine segments. Life bar segments are lost when the character takes damage from an enemy, but there are items that restore the life bar. Once a character dies, he or she cannot be revived. The game is over when all four characters have died. The player can continue as many times as desired but loses all character upgrades in doing so.

Each character's weapon has nine levels, represented by segments on their power bar, with four distinct stages, reached at every third level. Holding A charges the weapon to a higher level for a single shot. Projectiles can be fired while jumping or kneeling or fired directly up with Up+A. There is also a special attack that destroys all enemies on the screen with C. Each character can use this attack once per stage.

There is also a cooperative 2-player mode where two players fight through the stages together.

Characters

Shadow Blasters, Characters.png
Horatio
A ninja with the power of fire. His base attack throws shurikens straight ahead. At level 3, he throws small fireballs. At level 6, he throws larger fireballs. At level 9, he unleashes a fire dragon.
Shadow Blasters, Characters.png
Tiffany
A ninja with the power of wind. Her base attack throws bombs, which arc in front of her and land on the ground. At level 3, she shoots wind blasts at an upward angle. At level 6, she shoots two wind blasts at upward and downward angles, forming a conical shape. At level 9, she hurls a tornado.
Shadow Blasters, Characters.png
Marco
A Buddhist monk with the power of lightning. His base attack shoots energy balls that bow upward. At level 3, he shoots short energy bolts straight ahead. At level 6, he shoots long lightning bolts. At level 9, he shoots three stacked lightning bolts.
Shadow Blasters, Characters.png
Leo
A master fencer. His base attack throws knives directly in front of him. At level 3, he shoots boomerangs that return to him, damaging enemies coming and going. At level 6, he shoots two boomerangs at once. At level 9, he shoots a single large boomerang that shoots again after returning once.

Stages

The first six stages can be played in any order. The remaining three stages are played in sequence after the first six have been completed.

Shadow Blasters, Stage 1.png

Shadow Blasters, Stage 1 Boss.png

Mountain

Shadow Blasters, Stage 2.png

Shadow Blasters, Stage 2 Boss.png

Street

Shadow Blasters, Stage 3.png

Shadow Blasters, Stage 3 Boss.png

Glen

Shadow Blasters, Stage 4.png

Shadow Blasters, Stage 4 Boss.png

Harbor

Shadow Blasters, Stage 5.png

Shadow Blasters, Stage 5 Boss.png

Forest

Shadow Blasters, Stage 6.png

Shadow Blasters, Stage 6 Boss.png

Future

Shadow Blasters, Stage 7.png

Shadow Blasters, Stage 7 Boss.png

Wicked World

Shadow Blasters, Stage 8.png

Shadow Blasters, Stage 8 Boss.png

Heavenly Sky

Shadow Blasters, Stage 9.png

Space
The last stage is played as Hyperion against Ashura.

Items

Shadow Blasters, Items.png
Red Emblem
Increases the selected character's speed, up to a maximum of 4. The current level is indicated by the "S" value on the character select screen.
Shadow Blasters, Items.png
Blue Emblem
Increases the selected character's jumping ability, up to a maximum of 4. The current level is indicated by the "J" value on the character select screen.
Shadow Blasters, Items.png
White Emblem
Increases the selected character's power, up to a maximum of 9. The current level is indicated by the number of red segments on the character's power bar when not charged.
Shadow Blasters, Items.png
Crimson Emblem
Heals the selected character for one hit point.
Shadow Blasters, Items.png
Explosive Emblem
Heals the selected character's complete life bar.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as
Language Localised Name English Translation
English (US) Shadow Blasters Shadow Blasters
Japanese 四天明王 Shiten Myouou

Production credits

  • Game Designer: T.Mura
  • Character Designer: Suttako‑Tetsu
  • Scroll Designer: Goro Tama, TS‑25
  • Programmer: X Y Z, Hiroshi Sato
  • Sound Programmer: M.Takayama
  • Sound Composer: Songdong Kim
  • Thanks...: Zerozero X, Garam, Katsu, Angela, Mr. Ogulin
Source:
In-game credits


Magazine articles

Main article: Shadow Blasters/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

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Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #2: "October/November 1990" (1990-xx-xx)
also published in:
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Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-06: "June 1990" (1990-05-08)
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Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) NTSC-U
40
[7]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
53
[8]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
58
[9]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
58
[10]
Joystick (FR)
79
[11]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-U
34
[12]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
60
[13]
Mega Play (US) NTSC-U
40
[14]
Power Play (DE)
38
[15]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U
25
[16]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U
46
[17]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
39
[18]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
65
[19]
VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U
70
[5]
Sega Mega Drive
50
Based on
14 reviews

Shadow Blasters

Mega Drive, JP
ShadowBlasters MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
ShadowBlasters MD JP CartTop.jpg
ShadowBlasters MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Shitenmyooh md jp manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, US
ShadowBlasters MD US Box.jpg
Cover
ShadowBlasters MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Shadow Blasters MD US Manual.pdf
Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 713d377b
MD5 3593e0995aa5ac87bf54e54da56e4631
SHA-1 8485453264fd67ff8e4549a9db50b4f314a6fcb5
512kB 1990-08 Cartridge (US)
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 7e729693
MD5 db917818b7f82a0bf6dd5aeee7bf5a1a
SHA-1 7bc3be0753b4ba8bbab2f5096e0efa0c0884dd98
512kB 1990-06 Cartridge (JP)

References


Shadow Blasters

ShadowBlasters MDTitleScreen.png

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