Shadow Land

Yōkai Dōchūki (US title: Shadow Land) is Namco's first 16-bit arcade game, released in 1987 and running on the company's then-new System 1 hardware. It is a platform game in which the player must take control of "Tarosuke", a young Japanese boy travelling through "Jigoku" (the Japanese concept of Hell) fighting "Yōkai" (mythical Japanese monsters) on his way to his final fate, which is determined by Buddha. Tarosuke kills his enemies by firing small "Ki" bullets which can be charged to increase their power, but if overcharged, he is unable to move or fire for a few seconds.

Similar to Clovis from Dragon Buster, Tarosuke has a life meter, but only one life; when he runs out of energy, the game is over (unless he has a Douchu Manju in his inventory). The game has no scoring system, but utilizes currency (only referred to as "money"), which is used to buy items and lackeys (among other things). During boss battles, Tarosuke will kneel at a shrine to Buddha and pray in order to summon "Monmotaro", a spirit who floats around in the air and drops energy balls on the boss (along with any lackeys he may have).

There are multiple paths that can be taken through the game's five stages, one of which will lead Tarosuke to a racy dance hall show. After the show is over, he will be given a box. When he opens it, he will either get 10,000 in money, or transform into an old man until he buys a Tennyo no Unko from Zakka's shop (this is based on the tale of Urashima Tarō).