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The History Of Shinobi

Posted by simoniker on from the joe-musashi-say-yes dept.

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."

2 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. I want to point out something.... by ronfar · · Score: 2, Informative
    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 differently. Look, I'm sorry, but Shadow Dancer is not Shinobi. It's a decent ninja platformer, but it isn't Shinobi.

    For more information on Shinobi consult your local library.

    --
    All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
    1. Re:I want to point out something.... by goldcd · · Score: 2, Informative

      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 (and Strider for that matter) *shuffles off to hunt for his Megadrive (that might be Genesis to you folks)*