Shinobi

aka: SEGA AGES: Shinobi
Moby ID: 1884
Arcade Specs
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Description official descriptions

You control a shinobi, Joe Musashi, who must battle his way through each level in search of hostages which must be rescued. You have shurikens, kicks and punches to defend yourself with, as well as powerful ninja magic which can clear the screen of enemies in one go.

Each level is broken down into smaller scenes, and hostages are guarded by big blokes who throw swords. Watch out for gun-toting enemy henchmen and ninjas.

Reaching the end of each level will find you battling it out with a boss. These range from 8ft tall giants to helicopter gunships.

Spellings

  • 忍 - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Arcade version)

12 People (10 developers, 2 thanks)

Staff
  • Sugachan 26
  • Wagamama Kenchi
  • Topi
  • Gyofunori
  • Hanachan
  • Super Haggar
  • Fanta JiJii
  • Yamiagari
  • Shinjuku Otoko
Special Thanks
  • Pachinker Uke
  • Ponchan 25
Music Composer

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 74% (based on 55 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 133 ratings with 7 reviews)

Always in a special place in our hearts!

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.

DOS · by Iron Lord (40) · 2016

How dare they!

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!

NES · by Fake Spam (85) · 2008

One of the best action games for the Amstrad CPC!

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!

Amstrad CPC · by 1xWertzui (1135) · 2017

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Arcade to SMS port has a couple of 'RPG' or let's say home gaming, long-term play touches that make it a bit more than a weaker port of the original. Andrew Fisher (697) Jan 31, 2024

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Arcade version of Shinobi appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Arcade Version

In comparison to the original arcade version, there are a few missing features in the TurboGrafx-16 version (the status of the other home conversions is unknown): the machine gun, the bonus round and a few enemies (including the boss of the second mission).

Hidden messages

The Amiga version contains this message to crackers, hidden within the game code:

Fuck me! I never thought you would do it!! Bet it took a long time though!

By the way, the only way to crack this game is if you have at least 4mb of fast ram... theres a hint! Are you enjoying this, by the way? Me (Richard Aplin) and Tim (the programmer) thought we might give you a little challange... I reckon I'll hold you off for about a week. Oh, by the way Quartex, you told me at the SAE party this would be EASY.. Well is it? I'm sure POPULOUS was easy too! (hehe)

Well, obviously you weren't fooled earlier!! I'm impressed! Not a bad bit of hacking.. but the best is yet to come!! Hehehehehe.. Just wait, cos now it gets REALLY good..

If you are reading this message on a pirated version of Shinobi, may all your days in prison be computerless!

Title

Shinobi in Japanese means: stealing (into); spy; sneak thief; surreptitious visit to house of ill repute. The Chinese character displayed on the title screen and throughout the game is the character for Shinobi in Japanese.

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 1884
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Macintrash.

Wii added by sgtcook. NES, SEGA Master System added by PCGamer77. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. Atari ST, ZX Spectrum added by Martin Smith. Arcade added by Pseudo_Intellectual. MSX added by Игги Друге. Xbox 360 added by Ben K. Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, TurboGrafx-16 added by Katakis | カタキス.

Additional contributors: Katakis | カタキス, chirinea, Игги Друге, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Thomas Thompson, Jo ST, FatherJack.

Game added July 4, 2000. Last modified November 4, 2023.