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 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
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.