Mike Leroi is the world's only hope against Armageddon. Mama Nettie, a powerful voodoo sorceress, has had a vision of the coming Apocalypse -- the day that the dead will rise up from Deadside and walk the earth, conquering Liveside. Mama Nettie's only defense for the world from the coming onslaught is the Shadow Man.

The Shadow Men were ancient African warriors who were blessed by the gods and given supernatural powers. They protected their tribes from the spiritual plane known as Deadside. As time passed, the tribes were eventually broken up and the Shadow Men's lineage almost faded from existence. In the eighteenth century, using the power of the New World gods, Mama Nettie crafted the Mask of Shadows. The mask would allow its wearer to summon the ancient power of the Shadow Men and become the most powerful voodoo champion the world has seen.

Mama Nettie has chosen the next Shadow Man to protect the world. His name is Mike Leroi. After flunking out of his English Literature courses at college and spending all of his remaining money on drinking and gambling, Leroi moved to Chicago to drive a taxi and hide his failure from his family. One fateful day a passenger in Leroi's taxi is killed in a gang related execution. Discovering that the murdered man left $20,000 in the back of his taxi, Leroi moved back with his family in New Orleans and spent the money on them.

The gang tracked Leroi to New Orleans and began issuing death threats against him. Leroi sought out a voodoo priest and asked for protection against the gang. The priest complied and Leroi went on his way. Shortly after, the gang staged a drive-by shooting and targeted Leroi's car, which had his family in it as well as Leroi himself. His entire family was killed, yet Leroi lived on. The priest's spell seemed to work, though at a terrible price. Unknown to Leroi, the protection is also a curse, which will cause Leroi to become his zombie slave.

After recovering from a coma, Leroi lost his memory and served only the priest, acting as an underworld assassin for him. Yet Mama Nettie, having chosen Leroi as the next Shadow Man, entered the priest's domain one night and took Leroi into a back room where she forcibly implanted the Mask of Shadows into his chest turning him into the Shadow Man.

Leroi, now under Mama Nettie's control, must travel between Liveside and Deadside as Shadow Man. He must face Legion and his army of lunatics and serial killers in a battle to save Liveside and protect the world from the Apocalypse.

While roaming around Liveside, Leroi has the ability to use different weapons such as a handgun, shotgun, and machine gun. Being ambidextrous, Leroi can use a weapon or item in each hand. Other actions that can be performed are sniping, strafing, crouching, jumping, and swimming. While in Deadside, Shadow Man can perform similar actions to those on Liveside, but instead of regular guns he uses the Shadow Gun -- a wraith-spitting weapon -- and Voodoo to dispose of his enemies.

Shadow Man (Sega Dreamcast, 1999)