Shinobi (arcade game)

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For the PlayStation 2 game of the same name, see Shinobi. For an overview of the series, see Shinobi series

Shinobi

Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Release date(s)	1987
Genre(s)	Platform, Adventure
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Platform(s)	Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Gear, NES, Sega Master System, TurboGrafx-16, ZX Spectrum
Input	Joystick, 3 buttons
Arcade cabinet	Upright
Arcade display	Raster, standard resolution (Used: 320 x 224), horizontal alignment

Shinobi is an arcade game, developed and published by SEGA. It was originally released in 1987 and ported to numerous systems. The game spawned numerous sequels.

1 Storyline
2 Gameplay
3 Ports
4 Legacy
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Storyline

Shinobi is about a ninja named Joe Musashi who has to stop an evil group of men called "Zeed" who are kidnapping the children of the Oboro clan. Through five missions of increasing difficulty, Musashi must make his way to Zeed's headquarters and free all the hostages.

[edit] Gameplay

In-game screenshot.

The five missions in the game are each three or four stages long. Anywhere from 2-9 hostages are being held in each stage; Joe must rescue all of them before he is allowed to finish the stage. The last stage in each mission has no hostages, but instead features a powerful boss character whom Joe must defeat. After completing each of the first four missions the player is taken to a bonus stage, where he can earn an extra life if he is able to kill all of the ninjas jumping towards him. Completing the fifth mission ends the game. Also, once the fifth mission begins, continues are no longer allowed; the player has to finish the game with however many lives he has left at that point.

Joe's standard weapons are an unlimited supply of throwing stars, along with punches and kicks when attacking at close range. One hostage per stage gives him a power-up. When powered-up, his throwing stars are replaced by a gun that fires large, explosive bullets, and his close-range attack becomes a katana slash. Joe can also perform "ninja magic," which may be used only once per stage and kills (or damages, in the case of bosses) all enemies on the screen.

At the end of each stage, the player receives score bonuses based on performance. Completing the stage without using ninja magic earns the player a 5,000 point bonus (except during mission five), and completing the stage without using any throwing stars or bullets (just punches, kicks, sword slashes, and/or ninja magic) earns the player a 20,000 point bonus. The player has three minutes to complete each stage; remaining time at the end of the stage is also converted to bonus points and added to the player's score. Expert Shinobi players often challenged themselves to see how many stages they could pass with both the "no stars" and "no ninja magic" bonuses. It is possible to beat the game on one quarter in this way with a final score of over 700,000 points; the final score for someone who completes the game on one quarter without trying for those bonuses would be in the neighborhood of 250,000 points. It is also possible for the player to manipulate the points received for rescuing each hostage based on his/her current score.

Since most enemies appear in the same place on each level, it is possible to master the game by memorizing their locations and devising patterns to defeat them.

[edit] Ports

The game has been ported to other systems, including the Sega Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System game consoles, also the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Amiga and Atari ST home computers. In Japan the game was released for the PC Engine and was a close enough translation that it was difficult to tell apart from the arcade upon which it was based.

Some ports had their set of differences from the arcade game. The Master System version, for example, features a energy bar instead of a one-hit kill and doesn't force the player to rescue the hostages; a level can be cleared without rescuing all of them or any at all.

Atari ST port

NES port

Sega Master System port

Commodore 64 port

[edit] Legacy

In 1989 Sega released a follow-up called The Revenge of Shinobi as one of the first titles for their new Sega Mega Drive game console. In Japan this game was called The Super Shinobi.

An arcade sequel called Shadow Dancer was also released in 1989. Shadow Dancer takes place 20 years after Shinobi and features Joe Musashi's son Hayate as main character.

Other Shinobi sequels also appeared for the Game Gear, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, and, most recently, the PlayStation 2 in a new storyline involving a new character named Hotsuma.

Alex Kidd in Shinobi World is a parody of Shinobi with Sega mascot Alex Kidd as main character, released for the Sega Master System in 1990.

[edit] Trivia

Marilyn Monroe's face appears on several posters in the game's second stage.

One of the things that Shinobi games are known for is their extreme difficulty - Shinobi III being an exception to this rule.

At least two other games in the series were released under the title Shinobi. The Game Gear Shinobi (also known as The GG Shinobi) in 1991 and a revamped, 3D version of Shinobi in 2002 for the PlayStation 2.

The British band Depeche Mode carried a Shinobi arcade with them to relax when offstage during their For The Masses tour, in 1988, as shown in the live album/documentary 101.