Shinobi (Sega Master System) - Let's Play 1001 Games - Episode 589
7The OG ninja side-scroller!
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I'm Gaming Jay: Youtube gamer, let's player, fan of retro games, and determined optimist... Join me in this series while I try out EACH of the video games in the book 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE, before I die. The game review for each game will focus on the question of whether you MUST play this game before you die. But to be honest, the game review parts are just for fun, and are not meant to be definitive, in depth reviews; this series is more about the YouTube gamer journey itself. From Mario games to the Halo series, from arcade games to Commodore 64, PC games to the NES and Sega Genesis, Playstation to the Xbox, let's play those classic retro games that we grew up with, have fond memories of, or heard of but never got a chance to try! And with that said, the game review for today is...
Shinobi
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinobi_(video_game)
Shinobi (忍) is a side-scrolling hack-and-slash action game produced by Sega, originally released for arcades in 1987. In Shinobi, the player controls a modern-day ninja named Joe Musashi who has to stop a terrorist organization named Zeed who are kidnapping the students of his clan. Shinobi was later adapted by Sega to their Master System game console, followed by conversions to other platforms such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, PC Engine, and various home computers, as well as downloadable emulated versions of the original arcade game for the Wii and Xbox 360. A port of the arcade game joined the Nintendo Switch in January 2020 through the Sega Ages series. The success of Shinobi inspired the development of various sequels and spin-offs of the Shinobi series.
Enemy characters include punks, mercenaries, various kinds of ninjas clad in different colors and the Mongolian swordsmen who are guarding each hostage. Musashi can bump into most enemies without harm and can only be killed if he gets struck by an enemy's attack (such as a punch or a stab), gets hit by a projectile or falls into a bottomless hole. When that happens, the player must restart the stage from the beginning, although hostages that have already been saved do not need to be rescued again. When the player runs out of lives, they can insert additional coins and press start to continue the game. This option is not available during the final mission. The player has a time limit of three minutes to complete each stage. Bonus points are awarded based on how quickly the player clears the stage, along with additional bonuses if the player clears the stage without using a ninjutsu technique (except on the fifth level), or using only melee (close-range) attacks (that is, sword, punches, or kicks, but not stars or bullets). Extra lives are awarded by achieving certain scores, completing the bonus round, or when rescuing a special hostage.
Sega produced its own home version of Shinobi for their Master System game console. It was released in Japan on June 19, 1988, with subsequent releases in North America and Europe. Some of the play mechanics from the original coin-op version were altered for this version. Instead of the one-hit kills from the arcade game, the player now has a health gauge that allows Musashi to sustain more damage before losing a life, although this comes with the trade-off that touching an enemy causes Musashi to lose health.
While the player still rescues hostages in this version, it is now an optional task and not mandatory to complete the game. However, rescuing hostages allows the player to upgrade both their close and long-range weapons, as well as increase their maximum health gauge or restore it. Additionally, rescuing certain hostages is a requirement to access the game's bonus stages, which now occur after the regular stages instead of each boss fight. The ninjutsu skills are now obtained from completing these bonus rounds and the player may hold up to four stocks.
In October 1993,[5] Atari Corporation filed a lawsuit against Sega for an alleged infringement of a patent originally created by Atari Corp. in the 1980s,[6] with the former seeking a preliminary injunction to stop manufacturing, usage and sales of hardware and software for both Sega Genesis and Game Gear.[7] On September 28, 1994, both parties reached a settlement in which it involved a cross-licensing agreement to publish up to five titles each year across their systems until 2001.The Master System version of Shinobi was one of the first five titles approved from the deal by Sega in order to be converted for the Atari Jaguar, but it was never released.