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51-559: Shadow Dancer may refer to: Shadow Dancer (1989 video game) , side-scrolling action game produced by Sega originally released as an arcade game in 1989 Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi , side-scrolling action game produced by Sega originally released for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1990 Shadow Dancer (2012 film) , a British-Irish drama film directed by James Marsh Shadow Dancer (1997 film) , an American film Topics referred to by

102-615: A jidaigeki -themed martial arts action game where player samurai fight a number of swordspeople before confronting a more powerful boss samurai. SNK 's Sasuke vs. Commander , released in October 1980, is a ninja-themed shooting game where the player character fights enemy ninjas before confronting bosses with various ninjutsu attacks and enemy patterns. It was one of the earliest games with multiple boss encounters, and one of SNK's earliest games. Phoenix , released in December 1980,

153-556: A "boss song" that is more difficult, or a high-difficulty, computer-controlled opponent in sports games . In multiplayer online battle arena games, defeating a map boss usually requires teamwork of two or more players, but it brings various benefits to the team, such as buffs or lane push power. Some games, such as Cuphead , Furi and Warning Forever , are centered around continual boss fights. Bosses are usually harder to beat than regular enemies, have higher health points, hence can sustain more damage and are generally found at

204-536: A boss battle, but later appear as a regular enemy, after players have become stronger or had a chance to find more powerful weaponry. Many games structure boss battles as a progression of distinct phases in which the boss produces different or additional hazards for players. This is often reflected by a change in the appearance of the boss, or by a boss displaying increased frustration. The Legend of Zelda series and games inspired by it are recognized for having dungeons with bosses that are specifically vulnerable to

255-786: A boss. They come in many variations, such as the Chargin' Chuck Swarm encountered in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam , the Armos Knights from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past or the Battle of 1000 Heartless from Kingdom Hearts II . A main requirement with most wolfpacks is that the whole group must be defeated in order to win; in order to prolong the fight, many wolfpacks, particularly in games with turn-based combat in lieu of real-time, will summon reinforcements to replenish their lost numbers. An example of this

306-500: A concept that Kung-Fu Master designer Takashi Nishiyama later expanded on when he created the fighting game Street Fighter (1987) at Capcom . The term "boss" was used in reference to the game's final boss by Mike Roberts in a review of the game published in the May 1985 issue of British magazine Computer Gamer , while he used the term "super baddies" for the end-of-level bosses. Sega's arcade game Fantasy Zone (1986) popularized

357-417: A distance. Collecting time bombs is now an optional task that the player can conduct while on their way to the goal. When the player gathers all five time bombs in each mission, they will gain an attack power-up for the next boss battle. This version also features bonus stage minigames after completing each mission. While the minigame played after the first and third missions is the same as in the arcade version,

408-478: A final boss in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link ). A superboss is a type of boss most commonly found in role-playing video games . They are considered optional enemies and do not have to be defeated to complete the game. However, not all optional bosses are superbosses. They are generally much more powerful than the bosses encountered as part of the main game's plot or quest , more difficult even than

459-752: A more detailed version of the regular ending. Examples of a "true final boss" include the Radiance in Hollow Knight and the Moon Presence in Bloodborne . The term "Foozle" is used to describe a cliché final boss that exists only to act as the final problem before players can complete the game. Scorpia stated in 1994 that "about 98% of all role-playing video games can be summed up as follows: 'We go out and bash on critters until we're strong enough to go bash on Foozle. ' " A precursor to video game boss fights

510-493: A number of titles in the Dance Dance Revolution rhythm game series contain "boss songs" that are called "bosses" because they are exceptionally difficult to perform on. In combat-focused games, a boss may summon additional enemies, reinforcements, or minions ("adds") to fight players alongside the boss, increasing the boss fight's difficulty. These additional enemies may distract from the boss battle or give time for

561-454: A score of 89% upon its Commodore 64 release, and the same score for its 1993 re-release, while Zzap!64 gave it 83%. Your Sinclair described the ZX Spectrum as an "impressive arcade conversion" and "pretty blimming marvellous" and CRASH called it "is a good scrolly beat-'em-up with arcade adventure overtones" that is "fast, tough and, above all, playable". Amiga Action awarded

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612-616: A special item that is located within that dungeon. Player(s) typically acquire this item while exploring the dungeon and is given opportunity to learn to use it to solve puzzles or defeat weaker enemies before facing the boss character. Boss battles are typically seen as dramatic events. As such, they are usually characterized by sometimes quite theatrical cutscenes before and after the boss battle and unique music. Recurring bosses and final bosses may have their own specific theme music to distinguish them from other boss battles. This concept extends beyond combat-oriented video games. For example,

663-494: A temple) and fighting a boss character at the end of each level; in turn, this end-of-level boss battle structure was adapted from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death , where Lee's character fights a different boss character on each floor as he ascends a pagoda. The game was distinctive for giving both players and each boss a health meter , which leads to the game temporarily becoming a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles,

714-429: A time limit by having a large number of players or parties working together to defeat the boss. Examples of such superbosses can be found in games like Pokémon Go and World of Warcraft , and are generally referred to as a raid . Toby Fox 's games Undertale and Deltarune both feature superbosses in the form of Sans , Jevil, and Spamton NEO. Some major video game series have recurring superbosses such as

765-490: A typical dungeon campaign there would be one powerful enemy acting as the boss of the weaker minions that players would face beforehand, in the same sense as a crime boss, which later inspired the boss battles of role-playing video games . The first interactive video game to feature a boss was dnd , which was released in 1975 for the PLATO system . dnd was one of the earliest dungeon crawl video games and implemented many of

816-458: Is Astaroth in Diablo IV . Many other wolfpack bosses empower themselves when one of the other enemies in the battle is killed to keep the threat level from falling over time. The final boss, last boss or end boss, is typically present at or near the end of a game, with completion of the game's storyline usually following victory in the battle. The final boss is usually the main antagonist of

867-456: Is Bruce Lee 's Hong Kong martial arts films , including The Big Boss (1971), in which Lee fights a criminal gang before battling the eponymous "big boss", and Game of Death (1972), where Lee fights a different boss on each level of a pagoda , which later inspired the boss battles of martial arts action games such as beat 'em ups. Another precursor is tabletop role-playing games starting with Dungeons & Dragons (1974), in which in

918-543: Is a fixed shooter where players's ship must fight a giant mothership in the fifth and final level. At several points in Namco's vertically scrolling shooter Xevious (1982), players must defeat an Andor Genesis mothership to advance. In side-scrolling character action games such as beat 'em ups, Irem 's 1984 arcade game Kung-Fu Master established the end-of-level boss battle structure used in these games, with players progressing through levels (represented by floors of

969-428: Is a bonus stage minigame seen from the character's perspective as he tosses shuriken at enemy ninjas dropping down from a building. The player is awarded an extra life after successfully completing the minigame. The young ninja battles together with his faithful pet dog. In the center of the city, a group of terrorists are committing every imaginable atrocity known to man, including the planting of time bombs throughout

1020-569: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Shadow Dancer (1989 video game) Shadow Dancer was the first game developed for the Sega System 18 arcade board hardware, and its generally well-received home versions were released for several home computer systems and the Master System console in 1991 and 1992 respectively. A loose adaptation titled Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi

1071-449: Is generally much more powerful than the bosses encountered as part of the main game's plot and is often an optional encounter. A final boss is often the main antagonist of a game's story and the defeat of that character usually provides a conclusion to the game. A boss rush is a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession. For example, in a run 'n' gun video game, all regular enemies might use pistols while

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1122-586: The Kirby games. Others may be a recurring version of a previous boss, who is either weaker than previously encountered or is less of a challenge later in the game due to character or equipment progression. An example is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night ' s Gaibon and Slogra. Other video game characters who usually take the role of a miniboss are Vile ( Mega Man X series), Allen O'Neil ( Metal Slug ) and Dark Link ( The Legend of Zelda series, though he appears as

1173-572: The Amiga , Atari ST , Commodore 64 , Amstrad CPC , and ZX Spectrum were published by U.S. Gold and developed by Images. Some of these versions were re-released as budget titles by Kixx in 1993. The Master System port was released in 1992 exclusively in Europe and Brazil. Although this version bears the title Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi on the packaging (like the Mega Drive version released in

1224-459: The players have faced up to that point in a game. Boss battles are generally seen at climax points of particular sections of games, such as at the end of a level or stage or guarding a specific objective. A miniboss is a boss weaker or less significant than the main boss in the same area or level, though usually more powerful than the standard opponents and often fought alongside them. A superboss (sometimes 'secret', 'hidden' or 'raid' boss)

1275-514: The Amiga version of Shadow Dancer a review score of 84% and ranked it as the 19th best action game on the system. RAZE gave the Amiga version of Shadow Dancer a score of 89%. The One gave the Amiga version of Shadow Dancer an overall score of 80%, beginning their review by stating that "if first impressions were anything to go by, then Shadow Dancer would score very highly indeed ... Unfortunately first impressions don't rate very highly and

1326-596: The Ruby and Emerald Weapons. Some superbosses will take the place of the final boss if certain requirements are met. Some superbosses can yield special items or skills that cannot be found any other way that can give players a significant advantage during playthrough of the rest of the game, such as added experience or an extremely powerful weapon. For example, the "raid bosses" from Borderlands 2 give rare loot unavailable anywhere else. Some superbosses in online games have an immense amount of health and must be defeated within

1377-806: The Ultima Weapon and Omega Weapon in Final Fantasy and the Amon clan in Yakuza . The Warden from Minecraft could be considered a superboss, as it is vastly more difficult to fight than the final boss, the Ender Dragon. However, Mojang, the developer of Minecraft, has explicitly stated that the Warden was not intended to be fought by players. A wolfpack boss is a group of enemies who may be considered weak on their own, but in large groups can be considered strong enough to be

1428-499: The attract sequence in this same version contradicts this by naming him Fuma . The manual for the home computer versions produced by U.S. Gold , claims that he is Joe Musashi himself, with one print ad for the game referencing Kato and Sauros (who were characters from the Genesis version). Following its debut as an arcade game in 1989, Shadow Dancer was released on various home computer formats in Europe in 1991. Versions released for

1479-400: The boss in question becomes progressively stronger and/or less vulnerable as their health decreases, requiring players to use different strategies to win. Some bosses may contain or be composed of smaller parts that can be destroyed by players in battle, which may or may not grant an advantage. In games such as Doom and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night , an enemy may be introduced via

1530-444: The boss to regain or regenerate health, but may also give players opportunity to regain health from health boosters and ammo dropped by the boss's defeated minions. A miniboss, also known as a "middle boss", "mid-boss", "half-boss", "sub-boss" "semi-boss", or occasionally "tank", is a boss-like enemy weaker or less significant than the main boss in the same area or level. Some minibosses are stronger versions of regular enemies, as in

1581-517: The boss uses a tank. A boss enemy is quite often larger in size than other enemies and the player character . At times, bosses are very hard to defeat without being adequately prepared and/or knowing the correct fighting approach. Bosses usually take strategy and special knowledge to defeat, such as how to attack weak points or avoid specific attacks. Bosses are common in many genres of video games, but they are especially common in story-driven titles, and are commonly previously established antagonists in

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1632-625: The completion of specific additional levels, choosing specific dialogue options or after obtaining a particular item or set of items, such as the Chaos Emeralds in the Sonic the Hedgehog series or performing a series of tasks in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker . These bosses are generally more difficult to defeat. In games with a "true" final boss, victory leads to either a better ending or

1683-434: The concept of a boss rush, a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession. Michael Fahey of Kotaku noted in a podcast that usage of the term "boss" by Nintendo Power grew sharply around 1988, and that there was no clear single etymology of the term. In the same podcast, former Kotaku editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo speculated that bosses became known as such because they were "in charge of all

1734-554: The core concepts of Dungeons & Dragons . The objective of the game is to retrieve an "Orb" from the bottommost dungeon. The orb is kept in a treasure room guarded by a high-level enemy named the Gold Dragon. Only by defeating the Dragon can players claim the orb, complete the game and be eligible to appear on the high score list. In 1980, boss battles appeared in several arcade action games. In March 1980, Sega released Samurai ,

1785-473: The dog companion feature, stating that it "adds a novel strategic twist" to Shadow Dancer's gameplay. On the other hand, Retro Gamer in 2010 declared it inferior to the Sega Mega Drive's 1990 release Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi , "let down by surprisingly stodgy controls, uninspired level design, and a really frustrating difficulty level". In contrast, Computer and Video Games considered

1836-461: The early promise soon fades". The One criticised the "annoying" lack of checkpoints in levels, and expresses that foreground sprites blend in with the game's backgrounds, "thus making the action a touch confusing". The One praised Shadow Dancer's graphics, calling it's backgrounds "noteworthy" and noting the game's large sprites as "reminiscent" of the arcade original, furthermore calling Shadow Dancer "deep" and "colourful". The One also praised

1887-471: The end of a level or area. While most games include a mixture of boss opponents and regular opponents, some games have only regular opponents and some games have only bosses (e.g. Shadow of the Colossus ). Some bosses are encountered several times through a single game, typically with alternate attacks and a different strategy required to defeat it each time. A boss battle can also be made more challenging if

1938-470: The final boss and often players are required to meet certain conditions in the game or complete a sidequest or the entire game to fight the superboss. The first such superboss (or secret boss) was Akuma in Super Street Fighter II Turbo , that required players meet certain conditions before he would appear as the final boss. In Final Fantasy VII , players may choose to seek out and fight

1989-475: The game; however, there are exceptions, such as in Conker's Bad Fur Day , in which the final boss is the antagonist's alien pet. Final bosses are generally larger, more detailed or better animated than lesser enemies, often in order to inspire a feeling of grandeur and special significance from the encounter. In some games, a hidden boss, referred to as the "true" final boss, is present. These bosses only appear after

2040-486: The metropolis. Our youthful hero and his canine companion courageously set out to gather all the explosives placed by the evil gang and annihilate the syndicate that manipulates them. The protagonist is never actually named in the original arcade version, although the various home versions gives him differing identities. The manual and packaging description for the Master System version identifies him as Takashi, although

2091-493: The one after the second mission is new: it requires the player to throw shurikens at enemies while both them and the protagonist are in free fall between skyscrapers, and, unlike the other minigame, is played in a third-person perspective. In Japan, Game Machine listed it on their January 1, 1990 issue as being the fourth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. Shadow Dancer was well-received by critics upon its release in arcades. Sean Kelly of Zero magazine said it

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2142-443: The original Shadow Dancer arcade game to be superior to the Sega Mega Drive game Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi . The game sold around 300,000 copies. Boss (video gaming) In video games , a boss is a significantly powerful non-player character created as an opponent to players. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight . Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents

2193-428: The player can sic the dog on the enemy by pressing the attack button while crouching, allowing the player an opportunity to attack the enemy while it is being bitten by the dog. However, if the player takes too long to attack the bitten enemy or the enemy has a strong defense, then the dog will be hurt and turn into a harmless pup. The dog will then remain in pup form until the player acquires the next time bomb or finishes

2244-409: The player continues the game by inserting more coins and pressing START, the protagonist restarts the stage with two units instead of one. Bonus points are awarded if the player completes the game without using shuriken or ninja magic. There are four different missions, consisting of three stages for the first mission and four stages each for the remaining three. In the first few stages of each mission,

2295-442: The player must collect a certain amount of time bombs scattered throughout the stage in order to proceed to the goal. The final stage in each mission is a confrontation between him and one of four bosses : an armoured giant throwing energy balls, a weaponized tank engine, a woman armed with a shield/weapon device, and a female ninja using magic and a naginata (the dog does not appear during boss battles). Between each mission, there

2346-459: The plot of the video game. Action-adventure games , beat 'em ups , fighting games , platform games , role-playing video games (RPGs), and shooter games are particularly associated with boss battles. They may be less common in puzzle games , card video games , racing games , and simulation games . The first video game with a boss fight was the 1975 RPG dnd . The concept has expanded to other genres, like rhythm games , where there may be

2397-423: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Shadow Dancer . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shadow_Dancer&oldid=1240659104 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

2448-425: The same year as those aforementioned regions), it is actually based on the arcade version and is simply titled Shadow Dancer in-game. Most of the content from the arcade version was cut and the play mechanics were modified a bit. Missions now consists of a single side-scrolling stage and a boss encounter. The player's canine companion no longer follows them around, but can still be summoned to kill certain enemies from

2499-469: The stage. The player's weapons consists of an unlimited supply of shuriken and a sword which is used when adjacent to an enemy. When the player collects half of the time bombs in each stage, stronger weapons are granted until the player finishes the stage or loses a life. The player can also use one of three random ninja magic ( ninpo ) techniques that will clear the entire screen of enemies. Normally, these techniques can only be used once per stage, but if

2550-586: Was "a pretty impressive" ninja game with "a massive dog/wolf animal thingy that turns into a puppy every time it gets a good kicking" and that, despite being derivative of earlier ninja games (such as Shinobi and Dragon Ninja ), it was "good fun" to play. GamePro praised the arcade game as "a slick-looking ninja quest with excellent 3-D backgrounds, jumpin' animation, and top-notch audio." The home conversions were also well-received. Commodore Format awarded this "wondefully playable", "highly polished and challenging game that no one can really afford to miss"

2601-471: Was released exclusively for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1990. The play mechanics of Shadow Dancer are similar to these of the arcade version of the original Shinobi . The controls and almost all of the player's moves from the original Shinobi are present here as well. The biggest change is the addition of a canine companion that follows the protagonist around. When the dog barks towards an enemy,

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