''Tänzer'' is a

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

hack and slash Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by Mikael Tillander and originally published by

Mega Cat Studios Mega Cat Studios is an American video game development and publishing company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded in 2015 by James Deighan, Nick Mann and Zack Manko. Mega Cat develops and publishes games for modern platforms and VR (vi ...

for the

Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

. In the game, players assume the role of a

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

whose body was transformed to fight against enemies in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

setting. The title was

crowdfunded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

through

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

, being first released in 2019 for the Mega Drive and has since been re-released as part of the ''Mega Cat Studios – Collection 1'' compilation for

Evercade The Evercade is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by UK company Blaze Entertainment. It focuses on retrogaming with ROM cartridges that each contain a number of emulated games. Development began in 2018, and the console was rel ...

in 2020.

Gameplay

''Tänzer'' is a hack and slash action-platform game reminiscent of '' Hagane: The Final Conflict'', ''

Osman Osman is the Persian transliteration and derived from the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, , link=no ''‘uthmān'') or an English surname. It may refer to: People * Osman (name), people with the name * Osman I (1258–132 ...

'' and '' Strider'', where players assume the role of a ballerina whose body was transformed to fight against enemies and

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

es through multiple stages in a post-apocalyptic setting.''Tänzer'' manual (Sega Mega Drive, EU) During gameplay, players can execute a variety of moves including slash attacks and triple jumps, as well as a "Transmutation" ability. After completing a stage, players can buy

item Item may refer to: Organizations * ''Instituto del Tercer Mundo'' (ITeM), the Third World Institute * ITEM club, an economic forecasting group based in the United Kingdom Newspapers * ''The Item'', an American independent, morning newspaper ...

s such as additional "Transmutation" abilities via

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

currency dropped by defeated enemies along the way. Attacking on determined locations is also crucial, as certain setpieces in stages hosts secrets within their scenery. There is no save feature but an item that allows players to resume their progress after a game over is available to buy in the game's shop mechanic.

Development and release

''Tänzer'' was created by Swedish developer Mikael Tillander acting as the sole

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

, as well as creating the

pixel art Pixel art () is a form of digital art drawn with graphics software, graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers a ...

and

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

s, while the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

and cover art were handled by Johan Agurén and Fergi Susetiyo respectively. Agurén also provided additional game design during development. Tillander stated that the project was influenced by games like ''Strider'' and ''Osman'', artists such as

Keita Amemiya is a prolific Japanese character designer and director from Urayasu, Chiba. Amemiya is known for his distinctive fantasy designs and directorial style. Biography After graduation from the Asagaya College of Art and Design, he joined the Den ...

and Roger Dean, as well as the anime series '' Guyver''. When looking for an idea to his project, Tillander stated that he remembered ''Hagane: The Final Conflict'' and settled on making a hack and slash platform-esque game for the Sega Mega Drive. ''Tänzer'' was first launched on Kickstarter in 2018 and successfully reached its funding goal of 20,000 SEK in hours. The game was published for the Sega Mega Drive by Mega Cat Studios in 2019 as both a physical and digital release. The physical version was released with packaging mimicking officially licensed Mega Drive releases from multiple regions. The title was later re-released in 2020 as part of the ''Mega Cat Studios – Collection 1'' compilation for Evercade.

Reception

''Pixelated Gamer''s Dan Adcock gave the original Sega Mega Drive release a highly positive review, praising various aspects such as the visuals, gameplay and difficulty. ''

Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became ...

''s Darran Jones gave the game a positive outlook on the ''Mega Cat Studios – Collection 1'' for Evercade, praising Johan Agurén's music and stating that "Mikael Tillander's ''Strider'' clone tops the Mega Cat collection".

References

External links

*
''Tänzer''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tänzer (video game) 2019 video games Action video games Evercade games Hack and slash games Homebrew software Platform games Sega Genesis games Side-scrolling video games Single-player video games Video games developed in Sweden Video games featuring female protagonists Video games with alternate endings Mega Cat Studios games