Just to make it a tad easier to find, Cannon Dancer is LABELLED. ;)

This game is often compared to Strider, and the main reason for that being because in the early 90's several Capcom employees went to Mitchell including Isuke, the original Game Planner for Capcom's Strider. He is credited as the sole designer for Cannon Dancer which is why the two games are so similar.

Note the similarity in the display to Strider Hiryu. For comparison purposes, here is the the upper portion of the display seen in Strider.

The player -- Cannon Dancer Kirrin. Overall badass and crusher of evil organizations. Highly acrobatic, and knows a little Shinobi-syle magic to boot. Works with a small group of pirates also looking to topple villainous empires. Due to the incredible lack of info on this game, and my inability to translate japanese, I can't even confirm if this is his proper name. But for the sake of this article, it will be his designation.

The enemy - Jack Reysson. Your nemesis, and head of the organization you're fighting against.

Cannon Dancer/Osman is seen from the side, and is a multi-direction-scrolling game. There is a good deal of parallax to go along with the very vibrant and cleverly designed scenery, as well as sprites with above-average animation quality. As mentioned above, the game has 3 buttons. They are Attack, Jump, and Special. There is no real variety to your normal attacks at all (controllable at least) besides doing high kicks when standing and low kicks when crouching. Yes, that's right, our hero here busts up entire armies with just his limbs. No swords or robots required ;). I have seen the occasional stiff punch emerge inbetween a flurry of wild kicks, but again, there doesn't seem to be any way to activate this when you want. Jumping for Kirrin is fully controllable while in flight. A big step up from Strider who seems to suffer from Simon Belmont syndrome. The third button, Special, releases a Shinobi-esque bomb attack. There is only one type (unlike Shinobi), and during this move Kirrin flys around the screen delivering around five very lethal blows. A bit too lethal on the early stages. After just one dose, most bosses are left crippled if not annihilated. As the game nears the finale it's far less of an issue (or it becomes more of an issue, I suppose, depending on ability >:b)

This is the result of only a normal attack to a normal enemy :). I guess if you were a senator, you'd consider this game quite violent. Enemies fly apart when defeated as if your legs were made of chainsaws.

Other abilities in your arsenal include the familiar sliding, and wall climbing. Press, instinctively, Down and Jump to slide, and hold the direction of the wall or ledge while jumping to grab hold. Jump to let go or press up to pull yourself onto a platform if there's an opening. You are able to attack while climbing, the speed of which is significantly faster than in Strider when performing the same action.

Strewn all over you'll see these capsules marked with "P". They contain the game's 3 types of power-ups... Red - (Power Up) Increase your strength level. Yellow (Gauge Up) Add one extra hit point. Green - (Life Up) Restore one hit point.

By collecting the red "Power Up" item, you raise your fighting level. Your current level strength is shown through the color of Kirrin's pants. Default power is blue, level 2 is purple, 3 is red, 4 is white, 5 is black and is so strong that it only lasts a short while and brings you back to white. Each successive level offers you more attack power, but more importantly, you also gain the use of a Gradius-like shadow (or After Image) for levels 1-3. Here is where the real strategy lay. Only by proper use of your After Images can you really triumph. The number of After Images at your disposal at one time is reflected on your level number through 1-3. For example, level 3 has a max of 3 After Images whereas level 1 has 1. While compared to Gradius, these shadows aren't exactly that similar. Your After Image(s) only appear when you press the attack button, and float in the spot you made the attack for a couple of seconds. During this time, if you continue to attack, your floating doppleganger will also, but won't move even if you do. If a boss only has an opening for a second or two, that's OK as long as you have some After Images. You can jump in and strike the weakpoint, reteat to a safe spot, then smash the attack button so your copy can continue your assault. Once you have shadows in place, you can't reposistion them until the originals expire. (Again, only a couple of seconds). Level MAX, offers you no 4th shadow, but instead increases your striking range by about 50%. If you take damage while MAXed you will be knocked down to level 3 power.

When hold either left or right for a couple of seconds, Kirrin will go from a walk to a jog. Hold longer and he'll go from a jog to a sprint. If you're going down a hill, he'll then go from a sprint to a full run. Hehe, and and you try to stop him suddenly, he'll almost trip over himself trying to put the brakes on. This picture is not him doing the long jump, he's trying to stop but as you can see failed miserably. His upper body is leaning forward due to momentum. A nice detail.

This game is full of personality. Probably one of the funniest things included is a great animation of the normal soldiers cringing in fear if left alone with our hero. Especially when they get backed into a corner. Show them no mercy >:).

There are two other objects in the game to make note of -- the springboards which appear first in stage 2, and gravity stones which only appear in stage 5. The crystal-shaped springboard (pictured left) will fire you in the direction it's aimed (in this case, up). You don't have to come down on it from the top to be shot up. You will be launched in the predetermined direction even if you touch the bottom. Later in the game it becomes difficult to judge if these crystal springs are pointed up or down, since they look the same upside down or rightside up. Only really a nuisance in one spot that comes to mind. The Gravity Stone. Can you guess what happens when you approach it? Think of the Gravity Core in that game... what was it called again... oh, STRIDER ;). If you're airborne when close, you'll be caught in the stone's gravitational pull, only here you don't get tossed after three rotations. When you press Jump you fly off in, hopefully, the desired direction.