The five missions in the game are each three or four stages long. Several hostages are being held in each stage; Joe must rescue all of them before he is allowed to finish the stage. The last stage in each mission has no hostages, but instead features a powerful boss character whom Joe must defeat. After completing each of the first four missions the player is taken to a bonus stage, where he can earn an extra life if he is able to kill all of the ninjas leaping towards him. Completing the fifth mission ends the game. Also, once the fifth mission begins, continues are no longer allowed; the player has to finish the game with however many lives he has left at that point. If the player earns a place on the high score board, the number of credits it took him to get that score is displayed along with his score. Joe's standard weapons are an unlimited supply of shuriken, along with punches and kicks when attacking at close range. One hostage per stage gives him a power-up. When powered-up, his throwing stars are replaced by a gun that fires large, explosive bullets, and his close-range attack becomes a katana slash. Joe can also perform "ninja magic," which may be used only once per stage and kills (or damages, in the case of bosses) all enemies on the screen. The game also allows the enemies to hide behind boxes or use shields to block Musashi's shurikens.[4] Joe can be killed with one hit, provided he is hit by a projectile or melee attack, but if he does not find himself in those situations, the player can touch regular enemies and just be pushed back without being damaged. Since most enemies appear in the same place on each level, it is possible to master the game by memorizing their locations and devising patterns to defeat them. At the end of each stage, the player receives score bonuses based on performance. Completing the stage without using ninja magic or without using any throwing stars or bullets earns the player a point bonus. The player has three minutes to complete each stage; remaining time at the end of the stage is also converted to bonus points and added to the player's score.


Reviews View More

A creative ninja adventure game, and honestly way ahead of its time in some aspects. The character upgrades and progression of rewards feels very good and the game is a good challenge. Very cool for its time.

I played the NES bootleg many times for some reason. It felt bad, looked bad, and the UI would disappear whenever I got to this one helicopter boss.

Got halfway and was bored. Stopped playing.

Mostly solid port of the arcade original. Even though I love the 1HP brutality of Shadow Dancer MD, I was pretty happy to see a generous healthbar here. The enemy placement and AI is already starting to show the ingenuity of later games.

The Mandara boss from the arcade version is still just as horrible here, maybe worse, against him I felt all my inputs drop like rocks. Would rate a half-star higher if not for that.

Shinobi is a simple and linear progression game, common for its year of release and the limitations of the time. Its story is simple, you control a ninja who receives orders to eliminate the bosses of 5 regions and their henchmen, clearly inspired by some Hollywood works. The organization of the levels remains the same until the end, with 5 different "regions", with 3 levels facing enemies and challenging scenarios and a Boss phase, totaling 15 scenario levels and 5 Boss levels. At this point I highlight the slight bonuses, they occur at the end of each scenario level (with the exception of the level before the Boss) and innovate by changing the perspective to the first person. These levels are essential to progress more smoothly, as depending on your performance, special powers are available. All enemies have individualities, be it mechanics such as attack and defense or weak points, which the player must be aware of to progress in the story. Shinobi is a short game, lasting 30 to 40 minutes, but due to its difficulty and the absence of save points, this time should be increased to somewhere around 4 to 8 hours, depending on your memorization capacity and persistence. Finishing the Review, I recommend the game to everyone, as it is a great arcade and Master System classic, innovating the 8-bit generation both in graphics and mechanics, being easily confused with a game from the beginning of the 16-bit era.