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."

Comments

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 :^)

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 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.

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

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.