Cannon Dancer – Osman (Switch)

Geoffrey Wright | April 21, 2023 | Review | No Comments

Cannon Dancer was released to arcades back in 1996 and went under the radar for many years. This was surprising given the game was something of an unofficial Strider sequel from Kouichi Yotsui himself, and would further go underappreciated with a name change to Osman for the international release. Does this port finally give the game the limelight it deserved? Lets find out

Set in the near future of the 21st century, the world is controlled by a single corrupt government and under the threat of an evil sorceress, Abdullah the Slaver. You play as a lone assassin and top class agent named Kirin, who offers his skills as weapons for hire. Left to die by the police after infiltrating the city, Kirin survives and seeks revenge on those that hired him, namely the Judicial Affairs Director Jack Layzon. While his mission of revenge seems simple, there are other forces at play an there’s more to Kirin’s predicament than meets the eye

Story is decent enough here, shown through several cutscenes that look great for the time – there’s just something about the world that draws you in and seeking extra details. The game does include both the Japanese (Cannon Dancer) & International (Osman) versions which have some minor differences I seen, but its probably the enhancements you’ll notice the most. These can be added when playing the regular mode, but switching to Challenge disables most of these for a purer playthrough. While there’s some trail & error, the game can be done in one sitting still, but with unlockables or gallery to fill you could be done with the game in a couple of hours.

Graphics – When the game first fired up I was instantly reminded of the Strider I had for the Mega Drive, sure from what I remember it wasn’t as detailed as this 1996 arcade game, but the general styling is quite similar. The game has a world which looks middle eastern crossed with cyberpunk, relatively unique and ripe for interesting designs. Being an arcade title that does there’s some great detail to the sprite work and environments, with plenty of flashy effects once you get into a fight.

Performance on the Switch is as smooth as expected, you wont notice anything go awry docked or portable. The additional filters is a good one here, there’s a basic one to smooth things over but the CRT will likely draw you in. Instead of just simply adding scanlines and a bot o’ bloom, it’s more granular allowing you to customise its look a fair amount. You will get the most out of this docked on the big screen, but being mindful of curvature etc will give a pleasing portable image.

Not only will the graphics have you thinking Strider, but the gameplay will too. If anything it feels like a refined version of that with some tweaks made, as you fight, slide and climb your way through stages. Learning the attack patterns of the fodder to maintain your power up is key here, boss fights become easier the more shadows you have to deal damage, and there’s several boss type engagements to get through each stage. Initially the game is gonna kick your butt at least. The opening stage will show you just how much you’re going to need to rethink things a little. A few attempts will slowly have the tweaked mechanics clicking as you go along, which will make things easier, and the power ups will also go some way in helping with that.

The flipside is later game can feel easier, though the last level does have an endgame difficulty spike, but even this could be breezed through once powered up enough as you can deal massive damage with your shadows – to be fair it did feel like a chore. It’s still quite tough to get through one sitting with a single coin, but given enough attempts to learn certain points of the game its not impossible. The enhancements you can add, such as double jump and no damage taken if attacking, can also create something that feels different and can change the game up in unexpected ways. This experimentation can go some way to keeping you entertained if you want to sample everything it has to offer.

Cannon Dancer should catch the eye of the more retro gamer given the pedigree behind the original arcade release. It does have some slick gameplay to get to grips with and occasionally looks fantastic (the CRT filter is great) but then its also a tad short at an hour or so for the price, with nary an unlockable in sight for keen enthusiasts. Given the arcade heritage its somewhat understandable, and if that’s something which doesn’t bother you, then Cannon Fodder is the Strider 2 from Kouichi Yotsui that you probably always wanted.