History VideoGame / ShadowWarrior1997

* BoringButPractical: The Riot Gun. It has a large ammunition capacity, the ammunition for it is relatively common and fills up just over half of its ''maximum'' ammunition capacity each time they are picked up, it deals a consistent and considerable amount of damage per shot with its first fire mode, and its second fire mode is a perfect surrogate for an automatic rapid-fire shotgun, but it's ultimately an incredibly boring weapon to use.

* DoubleEntendre: Mostly related to Lo Wang's last name. Just about everything Wang says is a single entendre, at best.
-->'''Lo Wang''': You want to wash Wang, or you want to [[ADateWithRosiePalms watch Wang wash wang]]?\\

* ShoutOut: A secret area in [=E1M4=] is clearly taken from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', complete with a KillerRabbit. You can also find Franchise/SailorMoon in the crew quarters of a submarine, and you can encounter [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]] in a tomb, and Wang says "Be proud, [[Creator/JohnWoo Mr. Woo]]" when he picks up a [[GunsAkimbo second Uzi]], among other shout outs.

The original can be bought [[http://www.gog.com/gamecard/shadow_warrior_complete with both expansions]] on Website/GogDotCom. [[VideoGame/ShadowWarrior2013 A reboot]] was released in 2013 by Flying Wild Hog, the same developer as ''VideoGame/HardReset'', and introduces a robust skill upgrade system, the ability to use KiAttacks and rendering the humor slightly [[ValuesDissonance less racist]] (but still immature as expected). To prepare people for this remake, they released the original game on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/238070/?snr=1_7_15__13 as a free-to-play title]]. In addition, a slightly UpdatedRerelease with Steam Achievements and [=OpenGL=]-compatible versions of the game and its expansions is available for purchase on Steam.

A FirstPersonShooter based on the famous [[GameEngine Build engine]] of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' fame, ''Shadow Warrior'' had the misfortune of being released in 1997, when the sprite-based shooters were already showing their age (compare ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'', which was based on the same engine and released the same year, but is better remembered). Among the first shooters to contain now-common features such as controllable vehicles, [[SecondaryFire alternate weapon firing modes]], bosses with more going for them than [[DamageSpongeBoss lots of HP]], and lower enemy variety with slower pace. The game, like most of the other Build engine games like it (particularly ''VideoGame/RedneckRampage''), is characterized by its [[VulgarHumor crude humor]] and by gratuitous application of the RuleOfCool.

A FirstPersonShooter based on the famous [[GameEngine Build engine]] of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' fame, ''Shadow Warrior'' had the misfortune of being released in 1997, when the sprite-based shooters were already showing their age (compare ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'', which was based on the same engine and released the same year, but is better remembered). Among the first shooters to contain now-common features such as controllable vehicles, alternate weapon firing modes, bosses with more going for them than [[DamageSpongeBoss lots of HP]], and lower enemy variety with slower pace. The game, like most of the other Build engine games like it (particularly ''VideoGame/RedneckRampage''), is characterized by its [[VulgarHumor crude humor]] and by gratuitous application of the RuleOfCool.

The original can be bought [[http://www.gog.com/gamecard/shadow_warrior_complete with both expansions]] on Website/GOGDotCom. [[VideoGame/ShadowWarrior2013 A reboot]] was released in 2013 by Flying Wild Hog, the same developer as ''VideoGame/HardReset'', and introduces a robust skill upgrade system, the ability to use KiAttacks and rendering the humor slightly [[ValuesDissonance less racist]] (but still immature as expected). To prepare people for this remake, they released the original game on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/238070/?snr=1_7_15__13 as a Free-To-Play title]]. In addition, a slightly UpdatedRerelease with Steam Achievements and [=OpenGL=]-compatible versions of the game and its expansions is available for purchase on Steam.

* {{Animesque}}: Almost any of the female [=NPCs=] you encounter, in contrast to the action movie styled rest of the game. Though the dominatrix ninjas and the old woman in Hara-Kiri Harbor are still rendered in style with the rest of the game.

** The Nuke. The blast radius on it is so huge, you can easily kill yourself with it. The trick is to duck behind cover before the nuke makes contact. Even after you master that trick, there aren't really a lot of places or enemies outside of bosses that warrant a nuke to the face. When equipped (by pushing the missile launcher button 3 times) there is a count down of 3 seconds (4 if you count the word "warning") before you can fire it, meaning if you plan to use it you should take equip it and wait until it's ready before engaging the target.

* BeatStillMyHeart: One of the weapons is a still-beating, blood-spouting heart. It summons a clone of you if used.

* DiagonalCut: Ninja + katana = 2 half-ninjas
** "Ooh, you have SplitPersonality!"

* GameBreakingBug: "Skyline", the last level of ''Wanton Destruction'', is impossible to complete (even ''with'' cheats) on the lower two (out of four) difficulty levels as the final boss fails to spawn.

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: see DiagonalCut above. Lo Wang actually says this occasionally when he slices up an enemy.

* InvulnerableKnuckles: Averted somewhat. Punching walls will actually hurt you (and may kill you.)
** Somehow, punching a wooden or straw training dummies restores your health up to 100, like the drinking fountains from ''Duke Nukem 3D''

* KillerRabbit: [[spoiler:A secret area has the original [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Rabbit of Caerbannog]], cave and all!]] All the more devious because every other rabbit in the game is completely harmless, so you may not even realize what is attacking you until it's too late.

** The Nuke. The blast radius on it is so huge, you can easily kill yourself with it. The trick is to duck behind cover before the nuke makes contact. Even after you master that trick, there aren't really a lot of places or enemies outside of bosses that warrant a nuke to the face.

* NukeEm: The thivrd alternate fire for the missile launcher is a ''fucking NUKE!'' It deals massive amounts of damage and has an extremely large blast radius, and finishes off with fallout that sticks around for half a minute and hurts anyone near the epicenter.

** In the beginning of level 12 ("Bath House"), Lo Wang shouts: "Hory cow! Look like Franchise/DukeNukem! Hahaha!"

* EvilTwin: Hung Lo, the FinslBoss of the ''Twin Dragons'' expansion, is Lo Wang's twin brother.

* NukeEm: The third alternate fire for the missile launcher is a ''fucking NUKE!'' It deals massive amounts of damage and has an extremely large blast radius, and finishes off with fallout that sticks around for half a minute and hurts anyone near the epicenter.

* WritingAroundTrademarks

** The Railgun. It doesn't deal as much damage as you'd expect it to, and it seems to constantly miss the enemy, even with auto-aim on. Without auto-aim, there's still the split-second delay between pulling the trigger and the shot you have to contend with.

* OffWithHisHead: Bizarrely enough, it's a weapon. And a very powerful at that with 3 fire modes (a rapid-fire stream of fire balls, [[OrbitingParticleShield a floating fireball shield]], or fireballs that create pillars of fire) at the cost of only having a small ammo counter of 80 shots, its absurdly fast use of ammo, and the fact it's a random drop from killing the very durable Guardians.

* OffWithHisHead: Bizarrely enough, it's a weapon.

* ActionBomb: The Coolies, zombified Chinese villagers who will charge you will a crate of explosives. Even when killed, they will raise as a ghost shortly after.

* NoCutsceneInventoryInertia: Not actual cutscenes, but no matter which weapon Lo Wang is holding or whether he has body armour or not, any mirror will show him bare chested and wielding a single Uzi.

Not to be confused with the former [[MarketBasedTitle European title]] of ''NinjaGaiden''.

A FirstPersonShooter based on the famous [[GameEngine Build engine]] of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem [[VideoGame/DukeNukem3D 3D]]'' fame, ''Shadow Warrior'' had the misfortune of being released in 1997, when the sprite-based shooters were already showing their age. (Compare ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'', which was based on the same engine and released the same year, but is better remembered.) Among the first shooters to contain now common features such as controllable vehicles, alternate weapon firing modes, bosses with more going for them than [[DamageSpongeBoss lots of HP]], and lower enemy variety with slower pace. The game, [[VideoGame/DukeNukem3D like the other]] [[VideoGame/{{Blood}} Build Engine games]] [[VideoGame/RedneckRampage like it]], is characterized by its [[VulgarHumor crude humor]] and by gratuitous application of the RuleOfCool.

The player controls Lo Wang, the titular Shadow Warrior, a former employee/bodyguard of [[MegaCorp Zilla Enterprise]]s... until he found out that Master Zilla was summoning monsters from the netherworld and plotting to TakeOverTheWorld. Being a man of honor, Lo Wang quit the corp, but Zilla decided that if Wang will not be on his side, then he has to die. Now, of course, Lo Wang sets out to reach Zilla and thoroughly kick his gluteus maximus - partly to save the world, but primarily out of revenge for the death of his former teacher, Master Leep.

The original can be bought [[http://www.gog.com/gamecard/shadow_warrior_complete with both expansions]] on Website/GOGDotCom. [[VideoGame/ShadowWarrior2013 A reboot]] was released in 2013 by Flying Wild Hog, the same developer as ''VideoGame/HardReset'', and intorduces a robust skill upgrade system, the ability to use KiAttacks and rendering the humor slightly [[ValuesDissonance less racist]] (but still immature as expected). To prepare people for this remake, they released the original game on {{Steam}} [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/238070/?snr=1_7_15__13 as a Free-To-Play title]]. In addition, a slightly UpdatedRerelease with Steam Achievements and [=OpenGL=]-compatible versions of the game and its expansions is available for purchase on Steam.

* AffectionateParody: The game has been created as one for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Warrior#Reception "bad kung-fu movies"]].

--> '''Lo Wang''': You want to wash Wang, or you want to [[ADateWithRosiePalms watch Wang wash wang]]?
--> '''Lo Wang''': Whooo want some Wang?
** Most fortune cookie messages in the game are also {{Double Entendre}}s.
---> '''Fortune say:''' Baseball wrong, man with four balls can't walk
* DrivenToSuicide: If a standard mook fires at Lo-Wang for a long enough time without hurting him significantly, they'll eventually feel so dishonoured they'll stick their Uzi's barrel in their mouth and shoot half their skull off but even that is sketchy. At times, it seems like they do it out of sheer randomness, like Lo-Wang approaching them from around a corner.

* {{Fartillery}}: The Sumo Demons leave an unpleasant gift behind when you kill them...

** The only gal whose nipples are visible [[FanDisservice commits seppuku.]] (Probably why she went unused)

* LudicrousGibs, especially when killing an enemy with explosives.

* NoCutsceneInventoryInertia: Not actual cutscenes, but no matter which weapon Lo Wang is holding or whether he wears or not a body armour, any mirror will show him bare chested and wielding a single Uzi.

--> [[spoiler: '''Zilla''': Damn you, Lo Wang! I will rebuild and come fight you again!]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Lo Wang''': You are weak as a baby fart, go live in fear.]]

* ShoutOut: A secret area in [=E1M4=] is clearly taken from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', complete with a KillerRabbit. You can also find Franchise/SailorMoon in the crew quarters of a submarine, and you can encounter [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]] in a tomb, and Wang says "Be proud, [[JohnWoo Mr. Woo]]" when he picks up a [[GunsAkimbo second Uzi]], among other shout outs.
** Sailor Moon isn't the only scout that appears.

** In the last level, ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' can be found dead.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The original conception of the game was much straighter than what we eventually got. The wise-cracking protagonist and lashings of adult humour were only added after the success of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D''.