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View topic - Shinobi (忍 / 시노비) (Master System)

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  • Joined: 01 Nov 1986
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Shinobi (忍 / 시노비) (Master System)
Post Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 9:56 pm
This topic contains reviews of Shinobi (忍 / 시노비).
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  • Joined: 23 Mar 2013
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Shinobi (忍 / 시노비) (Master System)
Post Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 9:56 pm
Last edited by hang-on on Tue Jul 01, 2014 7:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
Shinobi was one of my first games. I did not know about the arcade version, but I was into ninjas (weren’t we all in those days?), and thought the cover looked awesome (the european version).

Shinobi is a side scrolling action game, where you control ninjitsu expert Joe Musashi (not wearing a ninja costume, by the way), out to save children kidnapped by a gang of terrorists. Punch, slash, shoot and magic your way through five action packed missions, each of them consisting of several different levels.

I got Shinobi for Christmas, and I was immediately captured by what I considered to be the intriguing atmosphere of the purple (?) sky city areas which are Ken-Oh's (first boss) domain.

The music is super catchy. It went right into my brain back then, and it has never left since. This ‘stickyness’ might be related to the fact that the same tune is playing on all levels (except bosses and bonus stages). From time to time I feel a strange urge to whistle the good old Shinobi tune as I do the dishes. To my wife´s regret.

It is an incredibly long game, and the host of diffrerent levels are beatifully executed; both graphically and with regards to game play.

Very nice, detailed and rather large sprites. And great colors.

The game has good, responsive controls. I think the jump is particularly well made. It just feels right when you jump.

During the game you will collect power ups that increase your life meter, upgrade your ranged and melee weapons, and at the bonus stages you can aquire ninja magic! While this upgrade feature works pretty well to make you care progressively more for Joe as he gets stronger (and despair progressively more when he sometimes die anyway, and you are back to scratch), it also has its quirks, as Heliophobe pointed out years ago (http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6690): Saving particular hostages will give you a specific melee weapon as reward, regardless of the weapon you currently have. This way you risk being downgraded from i.e. nunchuk to sword, as a ‘reward’ for saving a hostage.

The levels are overall well-balanced and progressively getting harder to clear, with two notable execptions:

The Lobster’s (4th boss) hideout has some pretty mean jumps. After years of practice I still can’t be sure to make the last jump in the red house. I have to rely on having one flying magic ready, which makes the third bonus stage (where this magic is awarded) pretty defining for my overall succes. How many times have I not jumped too short, and down into the abyss, loosing my gun and chain and max’ed out life meter… I depend on the chain and max life to defeat the final boss (Masked Ninja).

Mandara (3rd boss). A statue (I still haven’t got it?) that has managed to copy himself 16 times, and now the whole lot is coming at you at once. These days I play Shinobi on my homemade SMS arcade setup, and as I have my Seimitsu arcade controls, I can shoot the shit out of the Mandaras even with regular, non-boosted shurikens (tap-tap-tap-tap-wait-repeat). But back then, my poor sega control stick and pads took their fair shares of pouding, sometimes in vain. Miss two or three shots and you will not make it in time before the Mandaras overrun you.

Anyway I played it over and over again. At some point I accidentally discovered the mission/level select cheat (DOWN + Button 1 at title screen).

This spring (2014) I played Shinobi for the first time on my friend’s arcade machine. All I could think is WOW! What a nice SMS-port. Level for level the game is virtually the same on the arcade and SMS. Actually I cannot speak for the levels after Ken-Oh, as the arcade Ken-Oh proved to be an impassable challenge (FYI: He does NOT behave like he does on the SMS, I swear!).

All in all, Shinobi is a great game for the Master System!
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