Shinobi

The Good
In Shinobi, you play a ninja who goes around killing members of the Neo Zeed organization with your shurikens while rescuing children, who are guarded by huge dudes that wear purple outfits and throw swords at you. There are five stages with four levels each (three in the first stage). The fourth stage is where you defeat a boss, which will take numerous hits to kill. Now and then, you have the opportunity to play a bonus stage, where you must kill off ninjas before they decide to jump down at you. The levels get tougher as you proceed.

The Master System port retains the same gameplay as the original version, but there are a few changes to the port. One main difference is the life bar that depletes every time you make contact with an enemy or the bullets that he fires at you. This life bar is useful if you don't really want to restart at the beginning of the level whenever you get killed. Another difference is when you rescue one of the children, you get a freebie such as a new weapon (swords, nunchakus, etc.), power-ups, more life, and maximum life.

In my opinion, the graphics are much closer to that of the coin-op version, despite the low resolution and the number of colors that the game uses. They even look good when you are walking through neighborhoods, shipyards, valleys, and temples. The characters and bosses look good, and they act as they should.

The sound is very good, especially if you have the FM chip included in the SMS. I like the sound when you decide to jump to a different platform, whether you jump up or down. I also enjoyed the sound that can be heard after rescuing a child.

The Bad
The music gets boring after a while, since it is the same background music for each level. The coin-op version has some nice tunes that could have been translated over to the SMS port, rather than just having the one tune while you are fighting off ninjas. If this was so, than the translated tunes would have sounded great with the FM chip.

I have no idea how to use ninja magic like in the coin-op version, as well as other ports. The ninja magic is useful for defeating bosses at the end of each stage. SMS users have to put up with hitting them with shurikens or some other weapon, which is slow compared to the ninja magic. Then again, there are only two buttons on the Master System's control pad. Button one is used for shooting, while button two is used for jumping. If there was a third button, then it would certainly have been used for ninja magic. Yes, using ninja magic in the SMS version is impossible.

The Bottom Line
Shinobi for the Master System is a decent port from the coin-op version. You can do the same things that you can do in the coin-op version, minus using the ninja magic to defeat bosses. In both versions, you have to kill anyone that stands in your way and rescue the children, who will award you with something in the SMS port. There's also a bonus stage where the objective is to kill ninjas before one of them jumps on you.

The Good
Shinobi was a typical, but very good run&gun platformer game in the arcades of the time. It was normal that a ninja carries an endless amount of shurikens, and throws them at bad guys nearly at the rate of a machine gun!

Other notable features. Hostages to be rescued. There is a gun power-up. Furthermore, the hostages give you the gun, haha! You have a close range attack which is especially useful against the fat guy with the shield and boomerang. The enemy AI is good, they don't get stuck on crates or die from their own mistakes. 19 levels with distinguishable backgrounds/environments (what's up with the Marilyn Monroe posters?), each with different music (at least until the selection runs out), exciting boss fights, and minigame bonus stages between levels. Oh, and those ninjas that are cosplaying Spiderman.

Now, all this got translated to the Amstrad version so well! It is a very fun and playable conversion! Which is an exceptionally rare thing! If you know the systems, or those videos on YT where they compare an arcade game with its ports for home systems, you may have noticed that out of the three usual contender 8-bit computers, the Amstrad CPC always seems to pull the shortest with a slow, barely playable boring mess (if you don't get hung up on the cosmetics of the Spectrum version).

Lets compliment the technicalities and the effort of the programmer.

-the screen scrolls horizontally fast and smooth-enough (even if not by pixel) that it doens't get in the way, in a big-enough window to not to mind it. Finally, someone managed to do it just right! Scrolling is like the Achilles heel of the Amstrad CPC's hardware design. It can be done, it requires solely CPU overhead, but much of it, so with all things going on it is hard to balance the resources. Not even resorting to the "CRTC hack" (as seen in Legend of Kage or Ghosts N Goblins) which has it own not-so-subtle quirks.

-the sprites function well and there can be a convenient-enough amount of them on the screen before it would slow down. The bosses also remained large.

-there are sound effects AND music simultaneously during gameplay. Pretty good renditions too. It is unintentionally funny that the walking animation of the hero sync up with the music so it looks like he is dancing.

-the digitized speech on the mission screen is just the icing on the cake.

The Bad
The graphics is reasonably well crafted, but it arguable whether it looks good, especially compared to the arcade original. The lower resolution and smaller playfield also affects the controls. The smoothness lacks a little if that's what you are looking for.

When you finish a bonus stage, a slew of those Japanese thingies (whatever they are called) fall down from somewhere the ceiling trough the screen, and while they are visible, there is a major slowdown. That should have been left out.

There are little but notable tradeoffs compared to the original, like with the missile sprites, some enemies, and the missing map screens. Some compromises had to be made to fit the game into such a small space I guess.

Spoiler alert! At the start of the last mission it says "defeat the behind the scenes ninja". But the last boss is missing! You just enter the door to him and it goes straight to the ending screen! I guess you really defeat him behind the scenes, haha. In contrary to the Spectrum version (developed by the same), there is the last boss, but there is no ending.

The Bottom Line
Arcade hardware is many leaps ahead in budget and resources, but nearly the whole game got recreated in just 48KB and a single-load tape format, and works even on the lowest end machines of the CPC range. Most important of all it is just as playable!

The Good
So Namco's Rolling Thunder was released in late '86 and introduced the "leap up/drop down" platforming idea, used in Shinobi a year later. You played a spy in Rolling Thunder and play an unmasked ninja in Shinobi and can slip behind enemies and their defenses and beat them. I think Shinobi is an improvement, better background graphics, enemies and bosses and you have short range attacks as well as long, but like Rolling Thunder, the game plays quite fairly, your ninja is quite fast and maneuverable. The game has good, Japanese-rock, background music.

The Bad
I can't think of anything specific, but the game certainly isn't perfect. I can't complain too much about how hard the game becomes later, when so many other games are tough right from the start.

The Bottom Line
A classic arcade platformer, with interesting gameplay, introducing or at least building on some ideas.

The Good
I was too young and innocent to go the Arcades back in the day, at least I had this!

The Bad
Yes, you guessed it. It's a poor port to the PC, like so many others back in those days...

The Bottom Line
This platform game is the conversion of Sega’s legendary coin-op. We are the lone ninja with the task of uprooting a terrorist network and rescuing its hostages. In order to achieve these, we have to succeed in five demanding missions.

The graphics are simple and basic, obviously nowhere near today’s standards. However, they give a positive impression and look inviting. The only sound available is a tune heard in the beginning and a few sound effects during playing.

The game is generally faithful to its ancestor’s structure and content. We will explore similar, but smaller, levels and face the same ‘Bosses’ in the end of every mission. The minor enemies are also close to the originals. We will encounter unarmed thugs, pistol carrying guards, ninjas and boomerang throwing hostage keepers. We attack with our throwing stars, punches and kicks. When enough hostages are rescued, we are rewarded with a bazooka and a sword. Once in every level we can use our ‘Ninja Magic’, this powerful aura kills every lesser foe in the screen, and inflicts serious damage to the ‘Bosses’. After the completion of each mission, we enter the ‘Bonus Stage’. There, with our shurikens, we have to put down all the enemy ninjas that are rushing to reach us. If we succeed, we earn an extra life.

There are still some important gameplay differences with the arcade game. Three pushes from an enemy are lethal. We can not throw more than two shurikens at a time. When we are kneeled down and shoot, we rise up enough to get hit by hostile shots. Finally, “Ninja Magic” does not destroy enemy fire.

The game manages to capture the essence and feeling of the original. It is simply addictive. Eagerly, we struggle to overcome difficulties, liberate new hostages and strike the weak points of the ‘Bosses’. The eight available lives may initially look too many, but soon this observation is withdrawn. Although the game does not have the machine’s coin devouring difficulty, it is undoubtedly very challenging. The player has to be vigilant and concentrated all the time. Fast reflexes and accuracy in the controlling of our ninja are enormously important. Without them, great loss of lives will be sustained even in the easiest levels.

After all these years, “Shinobi” still stands out with its playing quality and environment. A highly recommended selection for every friend of this genre, indeed.

The Good
Better than the original arcade version because of the PC Engine's controller. Graphically equal, more so than any other home version of this game. Very smooth, like the arcade, sounds great, music's great, and is on a HuCard, so can be played on the go in the TurboExpress.

The Bad
A tad harder than it should be, and some cheap hits happen. Kind of clunky, though that could be the voltage difference between Japan and the US for AC adapters.

The Bottom Line
Take this HuCard, build some adapters to use the NES Advantage joysticks, go get some arcade cabinet instructions and build an arcade machine around this game. It's that perfect.

The Good
Shinobi is old-school. No one in their right mind would play it today for more than five minutes, but back in the late-80s this was solid gold. I remember spending damn-near $100 on the cartridge when I was around ten, which was about all the money I would get for an entire year!

It's got evocative music (though constrained by the Master System's primitive audio system), well-designed levels, very interesting bosses, a variety of different challenges, as well as some very cool weapons.

The Bad
It's a rather difficult game and I'm quite sure than I never beat it without using the level select cheat.

Apart from that its only real flaw is that it was made in the 80s, so it's quite primitive by today's standards.

The Bottom Line
A fun little game, quite addictive (at least it was), intriguing ambiance, and quite challenging.

The Good
The play control is excellent, and the levels are laid out same as the arcade version. The bonus rounds are same as the arcade version. And the music is the same, too.

The Bad
Okay, why does Shinobi look like Prince Charles of England? Did I miss something? I also know this is based on the Master System version (and not the excellent PC Engine version, or even the various home computer versions?) What also blows, though it is a feature of the original game, is the lost-it-all after I died. And some of those cheap-ass enemies. Why? Shame, shame, shame. I mean, this is the same Tengen that did After Burner on the NES? (The same After Burner so powerful only original NES hardware can run it.) What the hell?! Then there's the problem with the magic. Why not use the Select button to use it? Nay, it's this complex whatever button mash and they it activates, with Atari 2600...no, make that RCA Studio II graphical results, and a fart sound.

The Bottom Line
I always wanted to see RCA Studio II games on the NES. Was Tengen going for Studio II emulation or what? Boo on Tengen! And Boo on Sega for signing off on this poor translation!