We, as Americans, love ninjas. I cannot speak for the rest of the world, but I am guessing that they probably feel the same way. So it would make sense that such universal badasses would be a forefront of so many popular video games. Although not the first ninja game, Sega's Shinobi was one of the most popular ones. Joe Musashi starting slicing up terrorists
and created the path for Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa, Tenchu's Rikimaru, and scores of other
cloaked assassins.
Beginning life in the arcades, Shinobi's gameplay style changed around quite a lot as it hit the consoles and portables. Despite these alterations, there are common threads throughout the games. Taking place in a modern day setting, you'll fight against army men and ancient Japanese demons, as well as biological monsters and robots. Almost all of the games arm your characters with swords and shurikens, as well as ninjitsu magic to clear the screen of enemies or grant temporary invulnerability. Regardless of the style of each game,
almost all of them range from good to excellent, with only two real subpar efforts.
Shinobi Arcade
Of course, the relentless stream of bad guys make your trek difficult - some of the mindlessly charge at you, but others hide behind boxes or block your attacks with shields. Even more deadly are the ninjas, dressed in , who appear out of nowhere in large numbers and will quickly surround you if not dealt with. Sure, you'll be hammering that fire button to fire out as many shurikens as possible, but you'll also have to properly time your assault, hopping on enemies while they've dropped their defenses. While your primary weapons are throwing shurikens, getting close to an enemy and attacking will unleash a melee attack - either a karate punch or a sword slash, depending on your power-up - that will usually
break through enemy defenses. Joe's a fragile ninja, and one bullet or stab wound will kill you, but you can still ram into enemies as long as no weapons touch you. This is actually one of the finer strategies of the game, as it allows you to stun the enemies and deliver a quick killing blow.
There plenty of memorable boss battles too - each one will usually make an appearance in the stages to taunt you or get off a few quick shots. Most of them are huge, which is again, pretty impressive for the era - one of the early bosses in a helicopter that unleashes a swarm of ninja baddies. The game can get tough, but you get ninja magic to use once a level to clear the screen of enemies or do some easy damage to bosses. There are bonus stages, first person shooting galleries that are extremely tough but reward you with extra lives. Overall, Shinobi is still a damn fine game, and an action game that's aged very well.
The first home port of Shinobi was the Sega Master System version. While significantly
slower paced than the arcade game, it still maintains the methodical feel of the gameplay,
and is still excellent. There are noticeable additions too, including a lifebar and
several new weapons you get for rescuing hostages, including guns, whips and bombs.
However, the importance of ninja magic is downplayed, as you only get to use them
after beating one of the incredibly difficult bonus stages. Much of the music is gone,
but the huge bosses still remain. Tengen's Nintendo Entertainment System port of Shinobi is based on the Sega Master System port, although like all of their conversions, suffer from terrible graphics and shaky gameplay.
The PC Engine version, converted by Asmik, is closest to the arcade version, with decent (if somewhat darker) graphics and similar gameplay. However, all of the close-up melee
attacks are gone, severely altering the way the game is played. It's also missing the second
stage from the original, and the bonus levels are gone.
The only other nearly-perfect ports of Shinobi is found as an unlockable on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, or as a separate download on the Xbox Live Arcade. The latter version recolors both the Marilyn Monroe pictures and the Spiderman enemy.
Shinobi (Arcade)
Shinobi(Arcade)
Shinobi (Arcade)
Shinobi (1986) - Arcade/Sega Master System/Nintendo Entertainment System/PC Engine
By Kurt Kalata
Arcade Flyer
PC Engine Cover
SMS Cover
Screenshot Comparisons:
The original Shinobi is a pretty straightforward arcade affair, putting in the shoes in ace ninja Joe Musashi (who, lacking a cool mask, looks like a bit of a dweeb.).
The goal of each level is to find all of the kidnapped children and escape, although they're never hidden and finding them is pretty easy. The basic gameplay borrows heavily from Namco's Rolling Thunder games, mixing strategic gameplay with fast action. Like Rolling Thunder, you can jump between planes by holding up or down and hitting jump. You can leap between rooftops, or behind fences, in dual plane level designs that were pretty unique for 1986.
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Genesis Cover |
Revenge of Shinobi |
Revenge of Shinobi |
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One of the first titles released in America for the Genesis, Revenge of Shinobi was one
of the strongest titles Sega had to offer. Taking a departure from the rather
straightforward arcade action of its predecessor, Revenge of Shinobi ditched the concept
of saving hostages, and created larger, more open level (and eliminated the need to
hold up and jump to leap to different levels.) You also get a life bar, although
you have a limited amount of shurikens. Thankfully, power-up boxes are strewn throughout
each stage, granting weapon power-ups and shuriken refills. Many of them are filled with
bombs though, so it's wise to be careful. One particularly cool move is a midair spinning
somersault, which allows to you jump higher and throw a powerful barrage of shurikens at once. You also have a selection of four ninja magics which you can use anytime, including a screen-clearing fire attack, a lightning barrier, a high jump spell, and a ninjistsu that will cause Joe to explode, taking away one of his lives, but doing massive damage to everything on the screen. Keeping with its lineage, Revenge of Shinobi is incredibly difficult, althoguh Easy mode grants nive lives in order to conquer the game. While almost quant now, the huge character sprites were remarkable for the time, especially compared to pretty much any NES game. Granted, the pacing is a little bit on the slow side, as our friendly ninja Joe Musashi just kind of saunters throughout each stage, but the imaginative designs still hold up well. Revenge of Shinobi has some spectacularly cool boss battles - one early battle is against a room of lasers controlled by a human brain locked away in a machine. Another one is fought in a disco. Some other particularly memorable levels include an airborne jetplane (be careful not to get sucked out the doors) or battles against disguised nuns, who throw off their habits to reveal psycho stripper ninja babes. The entire last level is a huge maze in a Japanese castle, and the final boss battle is a race against time - you fight an evil kabuki master as your girlfriend is trapped in cage, threatened by the rock ceiling about to crush her if you're not fast enough. Depending on how well you do, there are two endings - rescuing your girl and getting the best one is one of the toughest accomplishments in video gaming. The designers were also clearly comic books fan - an early boss has you fighting against a muscleman who lobs cars at you, and slowly turns greens as he takes damage. Another later boss includes a dinosaur that looks suspiciously like Godzilla. The most controversial was a battle against famous superheroes Spiderman and Batman. At some point, the comic book companies stepped in and regulated - in later revisions of the American version, a trademark for Marvel Comics was added at the beginning, and Batman was changed entirely to a different looking bat-humanoid creature. The Wii Virtual Console version recolors the Spiderman boss to be pink. Revenge of Shinobi is also well known for its soundtrack, created by video game music legend Yuzo Koshiro. While the music is possibly a bit overrated, there are a few pretty decent tunes, especially the boss battle, "Terrible Beat". Note that these MP3s are from "The Super Shinobi & Works" soundtrack album. The drum samples are higher quality than they are in the game. Revenge of Shinobi also saw several re-releases - other than the budget "Sega Classics" release, it was stuck on the 4-in-1 Arcade Classics disc that came bundled with the Sega CD, and later packed in a 5-in-1 cartridge. It was also released on the Sega Smash Pack disc for the Dreamcast, although this version has some funky sound issues due to iffy emulation. MP3s
Terrible Beat
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 Revenge of Shinobi
Revenge of Shinobi
Revenge of Shinobi
Revenge of Shinobi
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 Batman Boss (Original)
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 Batman Boss (Revised)
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 Spiderman Boss
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 Godzilla Boss
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 "Hulk" Boss
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 Final Boss
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