BYTE-SIZE REVIEW
Shinobi + An Introduction
By Shaun Hatton - November 18th, 2008
It’s true that with the bounty of great games gracing the offices of Toronto Thumbs we find ourselves with slightly less time to write and play as much as we’d like. So to combat this, we’re introducing Byte-Size Reviews. No, we will not be reviewing new games in this format. This will be reserved for games that have already been out for some time, perhaps even past their shelf lives.
The idea actually stemmed from the fact that I have hundreds of games in my personal collection and would like to, eventually, review every single one of them. So here without further ado is the review for one of them: Shinobi for Sega Master System.
What a painfully difficult game Shinobi is. Yes, I’ve finished it a few times but it’s not easy. Because power-ups are stackable, and because there are a limited number to be found in-game, and because the difficulty increases with each level, a death anywhere after the first stage of the game is guaranteed to end in a GAME OVER screen for you (and not the good one, either). So timing of jumps, particularly during the fourth act of the game, is vital. Fall into a pit and it’s a wash. No one wants to fight the green ninja with punches and kicks. It’s all about the chain! The chain!
Shinobi was one of the games I really wanted for the Sega Master System when I was younger. I believe I received it at the same time as one of my cousins, and we would try to best each other with our crazy skills. Who could get to the highest stage? In the end, I won, because while he stopped playing Sega when he got a Super Nintendo, I was still playing Master System well into high school. Masked Ninja was the name of the end boss. Unlike most of the larger-than-life bosses (how about fighting a freaking HELICOPTER? That’s Shinobi for you!) Masked Ninja is a man with magical ninja powers and several stages of attack. And it takes perfect timing to land attacks on him.
Once you finish the game, you get the same black screen with white “GAME OVER” text centred horizontally and vertically on the screen. Yes, the ending of the game is the same whether you win or lose, and I suppose that was one of my first life lessons ever.
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Ah, man, I have many fond memories of this here game. I don’t think I ever played it all the way through to the end, but I know I spent a lot of time perfecting my jump+throw technique. Because that’s what ninjas do, ne?
Sadly I don’t recall a jump+throw nor any throw for that matter in this game. Was it maybe taken out of the Master System version, or are you thinking of a different title in the series?
I’m really excited about this section of the website. I like hearing about games from previous generations that people really enjoyed… Or really hated for that matter!
For Shinobi, I mostly enjoyed it and hated it only a little. But in a time where I only had five other games, Shinobi did just fine.
That’s good, I had the same kind of thing when I had my Genesis.
Although I mostly just got frustrated with Ecco because I couldn’t get past the first level, but I still played it! And now that my genesis apparently decided to die :( I don’t get to try again for a while.
Wow, that first level must be pretty hard. Unless, of course, you were once really bad at video games. Ecco the Dolphin is available on the Sega Genesis collection for PlayStation 2. You could check it out on that and see how much better (or how much worse) you’ve gotten at gaming.
;)
Hahahaha good call!
And I think when I was little I was more used to watching my Dad play than playing myself.
But this sounds like a challenge!