Shadow Blasters is one of those Genesis games that nails that classic "hero vs. darkness" vibe without feeling like a total ripoff of Castlevania or Ghosts 'n Goblins. You start off picking between three characters—I went with the ninja first because, well, ninja—and immediately get thrown into this moody side-scroller where shadows literally crawl out of the walls to attack you.

The controls are tight, which matters because some of the platforming gets brutal by stage 3. What I didn’t expect was how much the characters actually play differently—the knight’s slow but his sword has crazy reach, while the mage’s projectiles feel OP until you realize how squishy she is. The chiptune soundtrack slaps, especially the boss theme that kicks in when you fight this giant shadow dragon thing.

It’s got that "one more try" energy where you’ll die a lot, but never unfairly. Just be ready for some 16-bit suffering if you go in blind. Still holds up if you’re into retro action games with actual weight behind the combat.