Shadow Warrior

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This article is about the computer game. For the Akira Kurosawa film, see Kagemusha.
Shadow Warrior
Image:Shadow Warrior Coverart.png
Developer(s) 3D Realms
Publisher(s) GT Interactive
Designer(s) Frank Maddin
Jim Norwood
Engine Build
Platform(s) DOS, Mac
Release date May 13, 1997 (DOS)
October 1, 1997 (Mac)
April 1, 2005 (Source)
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s) RSAC: V4: Wanton and Gratuitous Violence
ESRB: Mature (17+)
Media CD (1)
System requirements Intel Pentium CPU, 16MB RAM, 60MB Hard disk space, 256-color VGA, DOS 5.0, (Recommended) Sound Blaster or Compatible with MIDI support.
Input methods Keyboard, Joystick, and/or Mouse

Shadow Warrior, often known by its initials SW, is a first-person shooter computer game featuring Lo Wang, a master ninja assassin or "Shadow Warrior", developed by 3D Realms and released on May 13, 1997 by GT Interactive. Shadow Warrior was developed using Ken Silverman's Build engine and improved on 3D Realms' previous Build engine game, Duke Nukem 3D, by introducing true room-over-room situations, the use of voxels instead of sprites for weapons and usable inventory items, transparent water, climbable ladders, and assorted vehicles to drive (some armed with weapons). Although ultra-violent, the game emphasized tongue-in-cheek humor.

Two original novels featuring Lo Wang, For Dead Eyes Only and You Only Die Twice, were published in the wake of the game's release.

On April 1, 2005 3D Realms released the source code for Shadow Warrior under the GPL, which resulted in the first source port a day later on April 2, 2005.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

Shadow Warrior is a first-person shooter similar to Duke Nukem 3D; both use the Build engine. Players navigate the protagonist, Lo Wang, through three-dimensional environments called "levels". Throughout levels are enemies that attack Lo Wang, these are killed by the player using weapons such as a Katana. Powerful enemies called "bosses" are usually present at the end of a level. Shadow Warrior also features puzzles that must be solved to progress in a level.

Lo Wang's arsenal of weaponry includes Japanese-themed weapons such as Shurikens—which were "likely [to] be dropped in favor of [a] high tech fun weapon" in development[1]—and a Katana. It also includes guns such as Uzis and the Eraser-inspired[1] railgun. In addition, the head and heart of certain enemies can be used.

One of the outstanding features of the game are many taunts which Lo Wang yells at his defeated enemies. There are some loud spoken thoughts in certain situations too. Duke Nukem started this first with comments like: "Burn baby burn" or "Piece o cake". Lo Wang presents himself a little bit more sophisticated. He speaks in whole sentences.

[edit] Story

Lo Wang, the protagonist of Shadow Warrior. He is holding a sword and an enemy's head.
Lo Wang, the protagonist of Shadow Warrior. He is holding a sword and an enemy's head.

The preface of Shadow Warrior is that the protagonist, Lo Wang, worked as a bodyguard for Zilla Enterprises, a conglomerate that had power over every major industry in Japan. However, this led to corruption, and Master Zilla - the president - planned to conquer Japan using creatures from the "dark side". In discovery of this, Lo Wang quit his job as a bodyguard. Master Zilla realized that not having a warrior as powerful as Lo Wang would be dangerous, and sent his creatures to battle Lo Wang.

[edit] Development

Development of Shadow Warrior began in early 1994 as Shadow Warrior 3D,[2] and preliminary screenshots were released with Hocus Pocus in May, 1994. George Broussard in 1996 stated: "We want Shadow Warrior to surpass Duke Nukem 3D in features and gameplay and that's a TALL order."[3] Shadow Warrior was published in North America by GT Interactive on May 13, 1997.[4] At E3 1997, an area in the GT Interactive booth was dedicated to Shadow Warrior.[5][6][7]

[edit] Add-ons

Three expansion packs to Shadow Warrior were started before its release, but disappointing sales compared to Duke Nukem 3D led the publishers to drop the projects.[citation needed] Twin Dragon was released as a free download on July 4, 1998. It was created by Wylde Productions and Level Infinity, and features music by Castles Music Productions. Deadly Kiss from SillySoft remains unreleased, but screenshots were released in January, 1998.[8]

Wanton Destruction was created by Sunstorm Interactive and tested by 3D Realms, but was not released by the distributor. Charlie Wiederhold presented the four maps he created to 3D Realms, and was consequently hired as a level designer for Duke Nukem Forever. With permission, he released the maps on March 22, 2004. On September 5, 2005, Anthony Campiti - former president of Sunstorm Interactive - notified 3D Realms by e-mail that he found the Wanton Destruction add-on,[9] and it was released for free on September 9, 2005.

[edit] Source code

3D Realms released the source code of Shadow Warrior on April 1, 2005 under the GNU General Public License. Due to the timing of the source code release, some users initially believed that it was an April Fools joke. The first source port was released a day later on April 2, 2005. Some source ports bring Shadow Warrior to new Operating Systems like Linux.

[edit] Mac OS port

Mark Adams, formerly of Lion Entertainment, ported Shadow Warrior to Mac OS. This was announced in August 1997. Adams had previously worked on Duke Nukem 3D, also by 3D Realms. [10]

[edit] Merchandise

Two original novels featuring Lo Wang were published. For Dead Eyes Only was written by Dean Wesley Smith and You Only Die Twice by Ryan Hughes. A combination of Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior was published by GT Interactive in March 1998, titled East Meets West.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Shadow Warrior - Coming from 3D Realms
  2. ^ SHADOW WARRIOR by Apogee
  3. ^ GAMECENTER.COM - features - Shadow Warrior - Q&A
  4. ^ 3D Realms Site: Shadow Warrior
  5. ^ The Shadow Warriors
  6. ^ Playing Shadow Warrior
  7. ^ GT Interactive to unveil strongest lineup in company history at E3. - Free Online Library
  8. ^ 3D Realms News: Shadow Warrior: Deadly Kiss
  9. ^ http://www.3drealms.com/news/2005/09/wanton_destruction_for_shadow.htm
  10. ^ More Mac Games - News at GameSpot
  11. ^ Duke Teams With the Shadow - News at GameSpot

[edit] External links