The Megadrive/Genesis conversion of Shadow of the Beast was developed by WJS Design* and published by Electronic Arts in North America and Europe in 1991 (Victor Interactive Software in Japan in 1992). It’s arguably one of the best versions of Shadow of the Beast out there.

This port is not quite as difficult as the Amiga original (which is good because the original could be frustratingly difficult at times), although getting Aarbon‘s punch timings right can be a little tricky at times.

The flow of the game is more or less identical to the Amiga original, in that: the developers have resisted messing with the game too much, and the level layouts, enemy positioning and behaviour, boss battles, and puzzles are the same as in the original version.

Graphically, the game is very good, although at times some of the sprites and on-screen messages do get a bit lost in the backgrounds due to the limited colour palette. The music is decent too, and overall the Megadrive port of Shadow of the Beast is reasonably entertaining and challenging.

*= Looking at the Megadrive version’s credits it seems like this port was programmed and designed by the same two people who made the Amiga original – Martin Edmondson and Paul Howarth of Reflections – so I don’t know why the game is credited to “WJS Design” (the name of which appears on the opening title screen).

More: Shadow of the Beast on Wikipedia