The History Of Shinobi

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to Arcadeperfect's article on the history of the Shinobi series, 1987-2004. It starts at the "maliciously hard" original version of Shinobi, through Shadow Dancer, in which Shinobi's mutt Yamato "retains the title of the video game dog daddy", all the way up to the current PS2 incarnation of Shinobi, which the reviewer claims is a "classic gamer's dream, for the same reasons it'll give casual gamers nightmares."

The 'bonus' stage...

[andrewski]

More than anything I recall dealing out throwing stars like cards at an endless parade of ninjas. Ever since I played Shinobi on 'free' mode at Alladin's in SoCal when I was a lad, I have been sharp in dealing cards.

And death stars.

Memory exercice

[HawkingMattress]

The first Shinobi wasn't that hard if you played it the right way, ie learnt the whole game by heart as you played it, or watched others play it.
After six months I could go through the whole game with only one credit (and died on the last boss every time pfeew).
I want to be 12 again, those times where fun :^)

Re:Memory exercice

[baldass_newbie]

I went through a lot of coin to gain that experience.
After a while, at college, if you couldn't get through two 'sets' on one coin, you waited in line.
Great memories.

Re:Memory exercice

[mjpaci]

I loved Shinobi. I could make it through on 1 guy. Great game. That was in high-school. In college, my fraternity got a Shinobi arcade and it was like riding a bike.

Never had to use Ninja magic, either.

Re:Memory exercice

[mjpaci]

Pardon my pedestrian writing style above. I am at work a little bit earlier than normal and my brain hasn't yet woken up.

What I really wanted to say in my above post is that Shinobi is a great game that stays playable over the years.

--Mike

Revenge of Shinobi

[Mantrid]

I really liked Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis), but I think Shinobi III was my favorite. Didn't care for Shadow Dancer so much, but the dog was cool!

Difficult, But Not Too Hard

[robbway]

The first Shinobi, as other's have mentioned, was hard, but not as hard as the article mentioned. It was just a matter of remembering where and when you could jump. And the first boss involved a bit of luck. If he first flamed you cross-fire style, skill wouldn't help you.

Rolling Thunder, on the other hand, was much more difficult. And the animation and graphics were much better. Could you get through both acts and defeat Geldra on one quarter? It took a long time, but I eventually could.

I also felt that the home version, Revenge of Shinobi, was a worthy successor, and much harder, but unlike the article claims, it felt graphically inferior to the first arcade game. Mainly because of little sprites. But it had Spiderman in it! What more do you need?

I want to point out something....

[ronfar]

Shadow Dancer was not Shinobi. For marketing reasons, SEGA decided to slap the Shinobi name on another ninja game. Surely you can tell by playing? The enemies don't resemble the enemies in the other Shinobi's. He has infinite throwing stars instead of limited numbers of knife shaped shuriken. He fights something called Union Lizard instead of Neo Zeed. He has a big attack dog that wasn't in the other two. He can't do his multiple shurikan strike flip. His ninja magic is different, and operates differe

Re:I want to point out something....

[goldcd]

I think you're being a bit pedantic here. As Shinobi has progressed across the various platforms/versions it has changed quite a bit - If you conpare the original and latest versions they don't have an awful lot in common apart from the ninja chap and the superfluous story line. Denouncing Shadow Dancer as a non-shinobi game using your criteria seems a bit harsh. Maybe I've just got a soft spot for the game as I remember in my cash strapped youth you could pick up very cheap Jap imports of Shadow Dancer (an

Re:I want to point out something....

[ronfar]

Look, I wasn't attacking Shadow Dancer. It is a fun ninja game, and I'm a sucker for fun ninja games.

I also really, really liked the Ninja Gaiden series on the original Nintendo. However, if someone took Ninja Gaiden, replaced all the references to Ryo Hayabusa with Joe Musashi and pasted a sticker saying Shinobi on the box to cover over the words Ninja Gaiden, it would still be a Ninja Gaiden game.

I can't comment on the post Genesis/Megadrive Shinobi incarnations. (My history has been to have consol

It was a dark and stormy night

[Torgo's Pizza]

I enjoyed the memory trip and all, but did any body else find the writing... well, a canditate for The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest? [bulwer-lytton.com] I seriously had to stop, reread and just laugh at the way the sentences were phrased.

Shinobi / MAME

[Kenrod]

I recently completed the original Shinobi on MAME. I played this game a lot back in the late '80's, never got past the 4th mission. The game is easy to beat, because it's possible to learn patterns that get you through each level. HOWEVER, learning those patters is a bitch, and requires tons of quarters, trial and error, or many hours spent watching others play. Not only that, but the 5th mission doesn't allow game continues (unless there's a bug with MAME or a secret I haven't learned), which makes the game nearly impossible to beat until you've learned the patterns and the methods to defeat the each boss incarnation at the end.

Also, the payoff at the end of the game sucked.

Pop quiz hotshot

[UltimaL337Star]

I have an old sega master system stored somewhere and I'm too lazy to get it out. But I think i have a shinobi cartridge on it. Was this the first shinobi? can anyone identify it?

SHINBOI RULES!!!!

[boy_afraid]

Those were the days. Quarters after quarters on Shinobi, let's not forget Rastan and Karate Champ [highwaygames.com]!! I think the games nowdays don't have much use for skill as did the OLDER games. Karate Champ had you choose A LOT of different moves, whereas Mortal Kombat or other fighting versus games had only a few moves to choose from in comparison. The original arcade Shinobi was difficult the deeper you got, and I am ashamed to say that I have yet to complete it, even with my ROM copy and MAME. I also have some Sh