No one knows where a ninja goes

If there is one thing I miss from my childhood it’s the arcades. Going into those dimly lit halls with a pocket full of quarters you never knew what game you’d find. One of those for me was Capcom’s Strider, its ninja action offered free-climbing, platforming and lighting fast sword action. While most of the ports never hit the highs of the original arcader version, that didn’t stop its creator, Kouichi Yotsui from creating a spiritual successor: Cannon Dancer or as it’s known in the USA, Osman. Now ININ Games has enhanced this arcade gem and brought it to current gen consoles, this package includes both the Japanese and American release versions.

MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch
Price I’d Pay: $14.99

As soon as players begin Cannon Dancer-Osman the arcade nature of the game is readily apparent. Bright flashes, big chiptune explosions, and the rocking soundtrack hit players long before they enter a quarter. The style in Cannon Dancer is a strange mix of dystopian, cyberpunk far future with robotic constructs everywhere. Since this is an arcade game don’t expect a grand narrative, in fact the story can be completed in less than an hour for the dedicated. A very pissed off looking, buff white dude sends our hero Osman out on a mission to stop an evil sorceress from taking over the planet. There are some other things, but the story follows typical tropes from the time, its really just a reason to send one man into a situation to fight gigantic robot creatures, mercs and deities.

ININ Games did an awesome job with adding in cheats to this arcade game which helps make it easier than the arcade release. There is a fast forward and rewind feature that will help to speed up or better yet rewind time when players miss a jump or get killed by one of the bajaillion colored bullets filling the screen. The caveat here is that these cheats can only be used in the games standard mode where players are unable to earn achievements. For those that still chase the *ding* of those ‘chevements there is a challenge mode that plays more like the arcade version, however players can choose two enhancements like invincible slide, or invincible jump to aid them. Which may not sound like much but trust it helps more than you think.

The gameplay here is basic left to right movement on screen while players roundhouse kicks all the enemies in their way. And just because every single thing you kick, from a person to a robot will die in an explosion…why because the 90’s that’s why. There are of course pickups throughout the levels that will increase your health among other things. After picking up 4 of them Osman will get an afterimage (a maximum of 4 can be had at a time), this allows players to be aggressive as they can jump away leaving their afterimage to get some damage in to the enemy and take the hits instead of Osman. And of course, there is a screen clearing special attack which is a staple of every arcade game of the day, as a nice change of pace players don’t lose health when activating it.

Cannon Dancer-Osman surprised me with how much fun I had, and I know it’s because I loved Strider so much. This game basically feels like Strider 2; but due to the creator leaving Capcom it obviously couldn’t be called that. It’s not the longest game and while its nice they included the cheats and things $29.99 is way too much for a game that last less than an hour. I loved this game but at that price I would honestly wait for a sale for this one if you are interested.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.