Shadow Blasters

Shadow Blasters is a very unknown game for the Sega Genesis, but shines like a classic! Most people who have played this game will simply overlook it and won't give it the time. If you give the game it's time, the game will show it's true greatness.

The story is pretty much about this evil dude named "ASHURA" and his endless lead of demons that come down to attack Earth. A lord master named "Hyprion" does not approve of AHURA's visit and gives four of Earth's greatest fighters their own special powers, kind of like Captain Planet. These characters are: Horatio -a badass ninja with fire powers; Tiffany - another ninja with Horatio's fighting style and has the power of wind; Leo - a pretty gay but kind of cool fighter from Japan with the power of boomerangs (yeah, what the hell, 'boomerangs'); and Marco - a fat Buddhist monk with the powers of lighting. These four heroes are to take on ASHURA's minions and help Hyprion bring peace to Earth!

Game play in Shadow Blasters is pretty basic and the average person will adjust to it quickly. In one player mode, you can choose any of the four characters at any given time when pressing the start button. Same thing with two-player mode, except each player is limited to two characters. In Shadow Blasters you run, jump, and shoot your way through action-packed levels while collecting special emblems that boost each character's status! Each character can power up their speed, jump, and attack powers with these multi-colored emblems, which is a pretty cool idea. Characters have one life bar and one attack level bar. The characters can keep building up their attack bar and obtain four different, powered weapons in total, but you cannot switch to different weapon levels once you have collected so many power-ups. Holding down the attack button will make the attack bar go up and shoot the given attack level that it was let go on.

When starting a game, you are presented with six levels that you choose in any order you'd like and when you are completed with all of them, there are two more levels and a final boss fight that must be completed. The game is overall very easy to beat and should take about a good twenty minutes or so to beat. Hard mode is not really harder either.

Shadow Blasters is an early Genesis game, but I kind of dig the graphics while some people say they are old and ugly. Some levels can have some nice backgrounds, like the forest or streets. The sprites are basic and use a fair amount of colors to pull the job off and the boss sprites are generally larger. Shadow Blaster's supports some straight, solid graphics.

The creators of this game, Sage's Creation, have only made five games that I know of and for the most part, they tend to make some really good music. Insector X for Genesis had some badass music! Shadow Blaster's is just another one of their games with some really catchy tunes, although not quite as good as Insector X's. Some of my favorite tracks are the mountain's stage, the last level stage, and the game over track. The sound effects are also pretty good for an early Genesis game, though it's nothing really exciting.

IN CONCLUSION, Shadow Blasters is radical with a capital RAD and really never ever gets boring! It can be somewhat hard to find, but when it's found, it's usually dirt-cheap. It's overall probably my favorite game made by Sage's Creation and Horatio is still one of my life role models!

- Keranu, August 10th, 2004