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Game Overview

Shadow Blasters is one of those Genesis games that looks simple at first—until you realize how much strategy goes into picking the right warrior for each stage. You’ve got four fighters with totally different playstyles: Leo’s rapier shots are quick but weak, Marco’s monk staff packs a punch but moves slow, and the ninjas Tiffany and Horatio fall somewhere in between. The cool part? You can swap between them mid-level, which saves your butt when a screen fills up with enemies.

Charging your shots feels satisfying, especially when you time it right against bosses. And that screen-clearing special move? Pure relief—but you only get one per stage, so using it at the wrong moment hurts. The first six levels let you tackle them in any order, though I learned the hard way that the harbor’s floating platforms are way easier with a high-jump character. By the time you hit the later stages, you’ll be frantically switching fighters just to survive.

It’s got that classic ‘90s vibe where the story is just an excuse to blast through weirdly specific locations (a futuristic city level right after a forest? Sure). But the gameplay holds up if you like testing different strategies with each run.