The 8-bit Shinobi Thread

[grolt]

With the new SHINOBI game now released on the Nintendo 3DS, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the series as it has been represented in 8-bit from SEGA. The Master System had three games: Shinobi, Shadow Dancer and The Cyber Shinobi, and the Game Gear had a different Shinobi and Shinobi II. Vote for your favorite and then talk about your memories or review of each of the games you've played in this thread. Let's have some fun!

GAME OVER

[playgeneration]

No Alex Kidd in Shinobi World option?

My vote goes to the original Shinobi, I never played the game back in the day, but love it now. The GG Shinobi is cool, but very difficult. I think I'd appreciate it more if it were ported to the Master System.

Shadow Dancer doesn't really work too well on the SMS sadly, like other overly ambitous tile based games on the console, I'd have preffered smaller sprites and a smoother game. I can't even remember what Cyber Shinobi is like, I seem to have erased it from my mind.

[meu2]

Haven't spent much time with the Game Gear Shinobi games so it had to be the original Shinobi on the SMS. Really good game that I keep coming back to again and again. It's just a pity the difficulty spikes in places and the “ending” sucks!

[rupert]

I would have voted for AKSW (its my ps3 gamer tag thing ;D )

[grolt]

I didn't think it would be right to include AKISW because it's lighter and cuter than the other games, with more platforming and closer in spirit to the Alex Kidd games than the Shinobi ones, I think. It's a great game, though.

[Batman666]

SMS Shinobi by default.

Can't say I have good memories seeing as I could never beat it as a kid (or as an adult without cheating) but it's a solid game and the best in the bunch.

[grolt]

Damn, it's a runaway so far...what, nobody likes any of the sequels? I know Shadow Dancer gets a lot of love in other circles, I thought it'd at least stand a chance here! The GG games are also quite accomplished. I'm looking forward to cracking them sometime very soon so I can give some feedback here.

[Stan]

Should have maybe included the NES version in the list, just for kicks.

[retrogamesauce]

Nov 17, 2011 1:42:44 GMT grolt said:

Damn, it's a runaway so far...what, nobody likes any of the sequels? .

Totally Cyber Shinobi all the way.

[Tears of Opa-Opa]

Shinobi

I'm not exactly sure why but I can remember the minute I saw Shinobi for the first time. It was the bonus screen at an arcade.

[brian]

I had to go with Cyber Shinobi. The original is classic, but the SMS version, while fun, changes too much, is just TOO simple graphics wise, and that damned Mandara.

Cyber is original, nice graphics, great music, decent intro, it's only downside is the poor hit detection coupled with incredibly short attack range, but like so many games with poor hit detection, once you get used to it, you can work it all right.

Never played much of the GG Shinobis, only emulation, ad none have 'hooked' me so I had to find the cart, or even play the ROM to completion. But I liked the idea of level selection and rescuing other shinobis and using their different abilities to get through the game, kinda like X-Men with Shinobi graphics!

Shadow Dancer? I applaud them for the graphics, just a few screenshots would have made me NEED this game as a kid, but the gameplay? Jesus, Mary and Joseph in a tiny canoe, was this game playtested AT ALL???

[sidney]

I have just been playing the hell out of the original so that got my vote!

[ShadowAngel]

Nov 17, 2011 1:42:44 GMT grolt said:

I know Shadow Dancer gets a lot of love in other circles, I thought it'd at least stand a chance here!

The Arcade version is good, the master system game is a horrible mess, just as with Golden Axe they made the graphics the main point, to the point where it runs too slow because of it, bad controls, unfair difficult with lots of cheap hits. It's not fun.
Cyber Shinobi sucks,, the framerate is too low, the controls aren't perfect, the hit detection is completely off and the leveldesign is nothing but bad.
I'm not surprised Shinobi is in the lead, though the Game Gear Shinobis are really great too. It's a shame they never got ported to the Master System.

Shinobi would get my vote, but it's already so far in the lead, so i give it to the first Game Gear Shinobi.

[ian]

Obviously Shinobi. I haven't played the GG versions and the other SMS ones are just plain crap. I remember back in the day my dad actually buying Cyber Shinobi. We looked at the box front cover and thought 'that looks cool'. How wrong we were! Shadow Dancer might not have been so bad if it wasn't for the one-hit kills.

[grolt]

Just finished playing The Cyber Shinobi - the initial impression sure isn't good with a chunky framerate, wonky collision detection and the shortest reach ever for a weapon, but you know what, with time the game ended up being pretty fun. After the first two levels that seemed pretty straightforward, the game broke out with a few different perspectives and kinds of levels, like the one where you'd falling through the waterfall or the one where you have to keep running and jumping to take out a chopper. Yes, the collision detection sucks, but the game at least plays it in your favor - it's pretty tough to get hit in this game when you're in close quarters with someone.

The difficulty level is just about right, there are some frustrating deaths early on and the timer has some issues but after you figure it all out it becomes fairly easy to complete. My issue with the timer is that it kind of goes against the fact that the game gives you multiple lives - if you die three times say, and are on your last life, the timer just continuously counts down from your first life. It doesn't reset every time you die, so you could be doing great on each life before you die, but once you get to the 4th life you'll find that you have almost zero time life in the game so there's no point in even trying. May as well just die to get the game over and have your timer reset. I've never experienced a game with such a frugal time clock.

But whatevz, I liked the layout of the rest of the top console items, like having power, weapons and an allotment of shots for each. Upgrading your power is not a must but it makes the game so much less cumbersome to complete and adds kind of a fun search and find element to the game. I don't know guys, I actually came out liking this game quite a bit. By most accounts the original Shinobi is a much better game on the SMS, but with the difficulty level and the non-existent ending, it's tough to warm to it like it is to this raggedy little console exclusive. Plus, this one actually has an ENDING, and a pretty decent one in that regard.

So far I'm going out on a limb and giving The Cyber Shinobi the edge here, but I still need to play Shadow Dancer fully. Early impressions are not so good though...one hit deaths with a super slow frame rate? Ugh. I hate games that are so harsh on you, especially when the programming isn't up to snuff (you'd think they'd make it easier then!).