So I decided to replay Shadow Dragon, but this time do the Gaiden chapters, because I didn't do them in my first play through.
But I can't stand having characters die so.... I did some... light hacking and... I did this!
My overall opinion on this replay is, as someone who has always appreciated Shadow Dragon, I thought it was really fun and I sort of feel like this is the way the game was intended to be played. Not the 99 Aum Staff of course, but sending off your defenseless units as distractions so you can go ahead to the Gaiden chapters. It brought me back to the whole decoy thing and being told that you'll have to kill someone off to get head. I'm not saying this was a good intention or not, just stating how I feel.
The only Gaiden chapter I didn't do was the Nagi one, because I did it last time and I wanted Gotoh this time. Plus Marth doesn't even recognize Nagi in New Mystery so... whatever.
The only cheat codes I used was to turn the Aum Staff's uses to 99, and get myself some Elysian Whips. Just to clarify.