Shinobi (PlayStation 2)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the 1987 arcade game of the same name, see Shinobi. For an overview of the series, see Shinobi series.

Shinobi

Developer(s)	Overworks
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Kouichi Nomura (director) Makoto Tsuchibayashi (lead designer).
Release date(s)	November 12, 2002 (USA) December 5, 2002 (Japan) May 14, 2003 (Europe).
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Media	DVD-ROM

Shinobi is a video game in the Shinobi series for PlayStation 2, developed by Overworks and published by Sega. It was originally released in the US on November 12 2002. The game harkens back to the original Shinobi games of the early 1990's, and its plot follows the exploits of a ninja called Hotsuma, the last member of the famed Oboro clan. Although the game successfully revived the Shinobi franchise, it has remained somewhat controversial due to its extreme difficulty.

1 Story
2 Gameplay
3 Secrets
4 Sequels
5 Soundtrack
6 Trivia
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Story

Hotsuma of the Oboro clan

Raised together within the Oboro Clan, Hotsuma and Moritsune were seldom apart during their youth. Being the younger of the two, Hotsuma looked up to Moritsune, and considered his older brother to be a superior warrior.

Eventually, the Oboro Clan commandment was revealed to the two boys after they discovered Akujiki, the sword that would be used in the ritual to decide the clan's leader.

The commandment deems that the next clan leader must be determined by a duel to the death between the eldest clan heirs -- in this case, Moritsune and Hotsuma. Aware of their destiny, the brothers trained incessantly, instructed by their foster parent, Kobushi.

10 years passed as the brothers refined their techniques and honed their senses. The duel occurred beneath a full moon, and after a long exhausting fight, Hotsuma finally slew his brother. Not long after, a massive earthquake struck Tokyo, and a mysterious Golden Palace appeared in the center of the city.

With the appearance of the palace came the arrival of the powerful sorcerer Hiruko, who summoned hellspawn to wreak havoc upon the city, and all but destroyed the Oboro clan. The city's residents became paralyzed with fear. With the Oboro Clan ravaged and Tokyo on the verge of collapse, Hotsuma placed himself at the heart of the chaos, determined to reach the mysterious Golden Palace and avenge the death of his clan.^[1]

[edit] Gameplay

Shinobi is a fast paced hack and slash game. The protagonist Hotsuma utilizes the legendary Akujiki katana to slice his enemies into oblivion, combined with a dash maneuver mapped by the X button on the Playstation 2 controller. Using the speed of the dash maneuver, the player must use Hotsuma's cursed blade, Shurikens, and Ninjutsu magic to eliminate foes.^[2]

Due to the Akujikis cursed status, Hotsuma must continuously kill enemies in the vicinity to feed the blade's thirst or it will absorb the player's life bar instead. This is also combined with a brief timeframe to link combos together so a player may gain a "tate"; a set of quickly executed kills that trigger a violent cutscene. The game also incorporates platforming elements, requiring the player to stay in the air over long chasms and obstacles, using Hotsuma's air dash technique and his combo ability to link together mid-air kills. This, along with the prerequisites of the cursed blades life-devouring ability makes every level timed for the player. These gameplay elements were frowned upon by various gameplay reviews, although the sequel, Nightshade alleviated some of its predecessor’s difficulty.^[3]

[edit] Secrets

Standard bonus features in Shinobi include a level select, access to movies from the game and additional difficulty levels to complete the game on.

A number of secrets in the game however can be unlocked by collecting the gold Oboro coins scattered throughout each stage. Collecting 30 or 40 Oboro coins for example rewards the player with the ability to play as Moritsune or Joe Musashi, the hero of the original game series, respectively. Playing as these characters produces an overall different gaming experience than with Hotsuma. Moritsune for example is stronger and quicker than his brother, but the Akujiki sword will drain his life faster. Joe Musashi on the other hand is mistakenly branded with a weaker katana attack but an unlimited supply of shuriken. Furthermore, his life will not drain as Hotsuma's or Moritsune's does because he uses a different blade than the Akujiki sword.

Finally, collecting all 50 Oboro coins in the game gains the player access to a special VR stage. Beat Hiruko allows the player to see the ending.^[4]

[edit] Sequels

As a sequel to Shinobi, Sega released Nightshade/Kunoichi in 2004. The story follows a female ninja named Hibana, in a plot loosely related to the events of Shinobi. The game further improved upon the gameplay mechanics of the original, while offering an overall easier playing experience. For example checkpoints were added to each level to lighten difficulty (though the level in between the checkpoints amount to roughly the time it took to complete one level in the original Shinobi game), although it should be noted that Nightshade was still regarded by most reviewers as a difficult game.

[edit] Soundtrack

Cover of the soundtrack of Shinobi

The music of Shinobi was written and composed by Fumie Kumatani, Teruhiko Nakagawa, Takayuki Maeda, Yutaka Minobe and Masaru Setsumaru. The soundtrack was released on December 5 2002 through Sten och Flod records. Full tracklisting is as follows:

Patience
Fate
Ceremony
Transfiguration
Moritsune
Cool Corporation
Waiting Place
Encounter

Destroyed by Fire
God of Conversation
Polluted Water
Strange Device
Eight Surface King
Glory Temple
Red Blade
Green Dragon

Recollection
Golden Castle
Call
Shinobi ~Dream Talk~
Sick Hand ~ Suicide Attendant

[edit] Trivia

Shinobi is one of three games in the Shinobi series to simply be called Shinobi, along with the original Shinobi on arcade and the first Shinobi installment for Game Gear (althoughthe latter was originally titled The G.G. Shinobi in Japan).
Between Shinobi and the last game in the series Shinobi Legions there was a gap of seven years (1995-2002).
Shinobi was the first game in the series to be fully rendered in 3D. Previous titles were traditional sidescrolling action games.
As with the release of Sonic Advance on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, the transition of Shinobi to a rival console marked another break in the longstanding tradition of one of Sega's mascots.
In Japanese, Akujiki literally translates to "Evil eat".
During the first boss battle, in stage 1-A, there is a sign that says "SKILL UP." The first and the last letters disintegrate, so the sign reads "KILL U," then the two "L"s disintegrate as well, so it reads "KI U."
Heroes (TV Series) star Masi Oka was featured in the Shinobi commercial during its US release.