VGR Shinobi

I am proud to present you a review of the original Shinobi here on my blog!

Aka Sega's least marketable mascot for children! (he might have been more of a badass than Alex Kidd, but he didn't had Sonic's all-ages appeal..)

VGR: Shinobi

From Team Shinobi/Sega

Played on Sega Master System

Also available on Arcade Sega System 16, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, PC, PC Engine, Nes, Wii & Xbox 360

Type Sidescroller action game/hack & slash

Year 1988

This is one of the big ones!

The original video game Shinobi was developed by Sega for the Arcade. The game was released in 1987.

It's a sidescrolling action game where you play as a modern-day ninja, Joe Musashi (that's a reference to the famous historic figure swordman Miyamoto Musashi, popularized by Eiji Yoshikawa's novels) .

The series is mostly known for its blend of traditional ninjas with half-futuristic/techno setting (sometimes half-steampunk-ysh).

The original Shinobi game was then ported to the Sega Master System game console and then on several rival systems as well (those were the days...) .

You play as Joe Musashi. Sometimes simply called "Shinobi" directly.

The story (as simple and straightforward as it is) sees Joe's Ninja Clan attacked by a mysterious foe. Called "Zeed".

Terrorists from the Zeed attacked Joe Musashi's clan, destroyed his village and kidnapped children.

Now Joe will have to avenge his clan and rescue these hostages along the way.

The goal is to go through 5 missions of ~3-4 individual stages each. Find the Zeed headquarters and put a stop to them. There are several bosses at the end of each mission.

Each level start with an objective and a map location on the title screen.

Mission 1 starts in the slums of the city, where you will fight Ken Oh, a gigantic Samurai using ninjutsu. Mission 2 will take Joe to the harbor nearby, the boss battle is against the Black Turtle chopper. Mission 3 leads you to a secret base in a cave, the fight here is against Mandara statues controlled by a supercomputer. Mission 4 takes place in the Zeed training camp, the boss is "Lobster", another giant Samurai this red armored-warrior will use his sword though.

Finally Mission 5 is the last one. Joe Musashi finds his way to the Leader's Mansion. Where Joe will find the main enemy to be none other than a Masked Ninja. He uses various ninjutsu techniques.

And he will turn out to be none other than Nakahara! Joe's old mentor! (And father!)

The controls are pretty basic and simple. But it's in their simplicity that resides all the difficulty (and fun).

Joe can only jump and attack.

Joe Musashi's main attack are his shurikens.

He can also kick and punch when in close range.

The goal is to avoid all incoming attacks and gunfire like in a shoot 'em up game. Trial and error is a big part of the replay value, this game being an arcade title originally.

And you are not stuck to the default shuriken weapon only. When you save an hostage they will give you power-ups. Which upgrades your close range attack to a sword or change your shurikens into fireballs.

You can also access ancient ninja powers. These magic attacks can only be used once per level and will always clean the entire screen.

There's all kinds of enemies from simple thugs throwing boomerangs at you to henchmen with guns and other sorts of ninjas.

At the ends of levels there's also a bonus round where you have to defeat several ninjas from a shooting range perspective for extra lives and whatnot.

It's a really difficult game that requires skills, patience and a lot of retries.

The series always known for it's over-the-top boss fights, and this first game albeit simplistic was not on rest. From a crazy fight that seems dangerously impossible against giant Samurais to an helicopter.

They're not that difficult once you figure them out.

When you reach the 5th Mission, no more continues are allowed!

Shinobi on the SMS is pretty close to its original Arcade counterpart.

Although obviously simplified for 8-bit glory.

The graphics are more limited in size and color. And the music is still recognizable but simpler.

All in all, it's the same experience from start to finish.

An health bar was added, replacing the one-hit system of the arcade.

And the hostages are not mandatory anymore (but better save them anyway!).

The ninjutsu can only be obtained via the bonus rounds here.

Overall, it's a fantastic timeless classic!

On the other systems? Less so.

Most of the other ports of the original arcade Shinobi ended up missing several features and lacking enemies on screen. Virgin developed Shinobi for home computers version (the Atari, Amiga, etc.). The PC Engine was a Japan exclusive that although closer to the arcade graphic-wise lacked most power-ups and the bonus stages. The Nes port was a courtesy from Tengen, probably the worse port missing most features of the game, the vertical stages had been changed into horizontal scrolling and the game was retired from the market shortly after its release.

Shinobi is also available on digital on the Wii and Xbox 360, though heavily edited to avoid copyright issue as one might imagine. (The Andy Warhol-esque styled backgrounds featuring Marilyn Monroe or the Spider-man-like ninjas had to be edited out)

It's probably one of best Master System games of all time.

The success of the original game and its port helped jump start an entire franchise!

Shinobi had several sequels and spin-off series. Before looking at its proper official follow-up, I will have a look at some of its sub-series.

Shinobi 2 aka The Revenge of Shinobi was a launch title for the Megadrive. There's also an arcade sequel called Shadow Dancer. A spin-off series on the Game Gear.

It was released at the height of the Ninja culture on films and inspired several other ninja gaming series such as Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden that came out later.

 

I give it:

3 / 3 Pacmans!