Shinobi - The 25th Anniversary Thread!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yes, like my Contra thread I'm celebrating what is possibly SEGA's best overall series by making this thread! Contrary to popular belief, Joe Musashi predates other ninja heroes like Ryu Hayabusa and Strider Hiryu and beat the TMNT cartoon to the airwaves. That's right, Sega actually predated a trend!

So like my Contra thread, I'm going to go over every entry in this series (that I can), and show you how great it is as a whole.


1987 - Shinobi (Arcade, Master System)



The original Shinobi was a hard as nails arcade game that relied on quick reflexes and a lot of memorization. As far as arcade games from the era, though, it's a stone cold classic. All the ports of this are pretty lame, but from what I've been told the Master System version of this one is excellent and might even be better than the arcade. It's a shame it's next to impossible to find, however.


1989/1990 - Shadow Dancer: The Secret Of Shinobi (Arcade, Genesis)



This is where it gets weird. Lets just say Shadow Dancer is two separate games, one being the arcade version (which makes this technically 'Shinobi II') which was ported to the Master System kinda, and a separate game for the Genesis by the same title. They feature the same arcade style gameplay, but everything else is entirely different. However, both are still worth playing. It's also worth noting that Genesis Shadow Dancer actually came out AFTER Revenge Of Shinobi making it even more confusing.


1989 - The Revenge Of Shinobi (Genesis)



To me, this is the proper Shinobi II as it pretty much enhances the original game in every way. There is a life-bar now, stages are more complex, and you have more attacks at your disposal. Most people consider this the series peak, and it's hard to argue with them, Revenge Of Shinobi is one of the best games of the 16-bit era. Oh, did I mention this probably one of the hardest games ever made? Because it truly is.


1990 - The Cyber Shinobi (Master System)



I have no idea why this game was made.


1990 - Alex Kidd In Shinobi World (Master System)



Step aside, haters, this is one of the best games on the Master System. What this game technically is, is a combination of Alex Kidd In Miracle World and Master System Shinobi making quite a weird cross-over game. It's still five levels of rock solid platforming and ninja action (swinging is class, too) and while technically not a Shinobi game, I felt the need to plug it anyway.


1991 - Shinobi (Game Gear)



Think Mega Man meets Shinobi. You choose from 4 levels to play through and unlock a new character to play as when you beat the boss each with their own skill. Then you take them all to the final level to beat the final boss. It's a simple idea, but for a portable game it's genius. Honestly, this is one of the best games in the series.


1992 - Shinobi II: The Silent Fury (Game Gear)



Now I have not played this, but from what everyone has told me this takes the original formula and perfects it here. Basically, Shinobi as 2 for 2 in the handheld realm. Hopefully this gets re-released soon so I can try it out.


1993 - Shinobi III: Return Of The Ninja Master (Genesis)



Now how can you call this Shinobi III? I guess if you consider it the third Genesis game, but... I dunno it's weird. But what isn't weird is that this is one of the best games of the entire 16-bit era, in my opinion. This takes Revenge Of Shinobi and opens it further adding in sprinting, melee, jump kicks, and crazy varied level design. Also, the difficulty is finally at a more manageable level. This is in most peoples opinions the peak of the series, and I agree with them.


1995 - Shinobi Legions (Saturn)



According to the ending of Shinobi III, it was 'to be continued', but Joe Musashi is nowhere to be seen here. Instead you play through a ninja movie with gameplay pretty similar to Revenge Of Shinobi. This is a great game (one of the better Saturn platformers), but after Shinobi III it just doesn't live up. Still, it is a worthy entry into the series. Just be sure to ignore the digitized graphics. Please.


Note: I am skipping the Game Boy Advance game because it is NOT a Shinobi game. I'm also focusing on main entries.


2002 - Shinobi (PlayStation 2)



"SHINOBI'S BACK" is probably one of Sega's all time best commercials, if I do say. Too bad this was essentially a one-off. Similar to how Nintendo put Zelda into 3D by taking all the familiar elements of the series and opening them up (or subduing them) to make a respectable entry in the series, Shinobi is pretty much as close to 3D as Shinobi would have worked, gore aside. There's a great combat system, fun platforming, rock hard difficulty, and the usual great tunes the series is known for, which basically makes this a respectable start for a new series. Even though once again Joe Musashi is nowhere to be found and the sory feels again like a random ninja movie thing, it still feels like Shinobi. While I have a few complaints (I don't like the health mechanic or some bosses) this was a good entry in the series.


2011 - Shinobi 3D (3DS)



Although once again not starring Joe Musashi (this time it's his dad), this game is closer to a hybrid of Revenge Of Shinobi's more defensive style of play and Shinobi III's more varied level design. About the only issue I have is the levels are too long (they could have slice every level in two to double the level count and no one would mind), and the last two levels are frustrating, but once again this is another great action game and a worthy entry to celebrate the franchise's 25th anniversary.


Is anyone else a fan of this series or did I waste time making this thread? 

[gunswordfist]

Whoa, I didn't know Shinobi was as old as me. I need to catch up on reading this thread later but I got to say that I have a real soft spot for Revenge Of Shinobi.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Revenge is soooo hard. It might be easier for me if I wasn't so used to III, but man is it hard doing without melee or a sprint.

[gunswordfist]

I'm probably going to have to take some time getting used to not having those moves. Makes me appreciate III more. I know that I won't be able to get the good ending. I remember how little the amount of freaking time they give you to beat the final boss. The hell???

[Spark Of Spirit]

Shades of SoR3. That's one thing I definitely don't miss from that era.

But still, the Shinobi series is surprisingly consistent, just like Contra from my other thread, despite how long it's been around. I still haven't played Shinobi Master System, Shadow Dancer Arcade, or Shinobi II Game Gear yet and those are supposedly great, too.

[gunswordfist]

I only played the arcade game on SUGC, Revenge Of The Shinobi and of course III. It's saddened that for Shinobi's SVC title, they just grouped III with another game or two from different series. I wish they'd release some damn Game Gear and Master System games. How those have been handled makes the treatment DreamCast games have been getting until recently look like 100% backwards compatibility.

[Rynnec]

Glad I'm not the only one who feels Shinobi 3DS' level's are way too long, doesn't help that they don't even have checkpoints. Still a solid game all things considered.

I really should pick up Shinobi 2k2 and Nightshade, and I'm glad the former is on the PS store. Those two games really didn't get enough love the first time around.

Speaking of Nightshade, do you consider it a part of a Shinobi family (as a spinoff or otherwise)?

[Spark Of Spirit]

I was trying to stick closer to main series games (and I've never played Nightshade), but I guess it would count since it was a one-off spin off.

I heard you need to chain attack enemies over death pits to progress, is that true? That reminds me of the homing attack chains in Sonic 4, I can't stand that kind of stuff. Basically it means 'play the game the way I want you to or die'.

[Rynnec]

Not entirely sure, I think I saw something similar to that in some of the gameplay video's, but I don't feel like checking them to confirm.

Sounds like being forced to use the homing attack on a row of mid air enemies to get across in the 3D Sonic games.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Great post, Desensitized!

Shinobi is one of those classic series that I really need to get into one of these days. As you know, I'm most familiar with the PS2 Shinobi game as that was my introduction into the series, and personally I have a lot of love for that game, from its simple yet challenging gameplay to its kick-ass music. I've only ever played one other Shinobi game to date, which is Revenge of Shinobi (or 2 if you count Nightshade). I'll be honest and say that I sucked so hard at that game that I couldn't even make it past the 2nd level.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Revenge Of Shinobi is sooooo hard. I don't think I've ever made it past the third round, myself. The problem is that every time I sit down to do it I begin missing all the things III added and I end up going back to that instead.

One day I'll sit down and beat it. 

[talonmalon333]

Some people actually seem to see it as the Ninja Gaiden of Sega.

Yes, like my Contra thread I'm celebrating what is possibly SEGA's best overall series

Over Sonic?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, the Shinobi series is certainly a far more consistent series than Sonic in terms of overall quality, so that makes sense that its the better Sega series, even if Sonic has plenty of good games in its lengthy history.

[Lord Dalek]

Phantasy Star disagrees.

[Foggle]

Yo man, you forgot Nightshade. That's basically a Shinobi game, and it's pretty good too. Awesome thread otherwise!

Phantasy Star disagrees.

And Ryu ga Gotoku.