secret ninja spells
used to trump the Ring of Five -
meh, I'll use a...gun?
Additional Comments:
Of the two major ninja franchises stamping their authority all over the 8-bit and 16-bit era consoles, I must confess that I've never really played Ninja Gaiden - not sure why, I guess the series just never grabbed me like it did everyone else. However, I am fairly familiar with the Shinobi series. Talking with fellow gamers growing up, I've noticed that the Shinobi games were always swept under the rug in favor of the more popular Ninja Gaiden series. Not sure if it was the limelight surrounding Ninja Gaiden throughout its early years while Shinobi lurked in the shadows; the fairly common NES vs. Sega mentality of the day; or if indeed it was just a better franchise, but it seemed like if it wasn't being snubbed by the general gaming public, than it was just suffering from absolute obscurity - except perhaps in the arcades. Personally, I can't make a credible argument one way or the other. But with my own personal gaming experience, and honestly, a little Sega over NES bias, I've always felt compelled to play Shinobi before I'd ever give Ninja Gaiden the time of day. Maybe that's a bit harsh, maybe it's just pity, but hey - that's the reality of it.
To be honest, I like the Shinobi series. They're great games. But like I said, I've always been under the impression that gamers hold no respect for the series, and as such, I've always felt a bit embarrassed bringing the game up in topic, especially around those who I know love the "competition." Well, I guess it's about time to crawl out from under the rug and tout the series for what it is, so what better place to start than with the first in the series. Well I suppose the original arcade version would be a better place, but that's another story.
Now, I've read that the Master System port is the most accurate to the original arcade game out of the numerous ports out there. Figuring with ports on systems like the NES (wait a minute, how in the world did a game published by Sega manage to get ported to its direct competitor? Oh, Tengen was involved, I should have only guessed), the Amstrad CPC, the Sinclair ZX81 or the Atari ST, I find that plausible. Whatever the case, the game play is smooth and comfortably manageable, again proving that the Master System had some worthwhile weight to throw around after all. Now, despite my limited experience with Ninja Gaiden, I've always felt that the two games are fundamentally different. I've always found the action to be more akin to something like Bad Dudes or Double Dragon. Although I can't quite place my finger on it, the combined looks and feel are eerily reminiscent sans the egregious stiffness common to most beat 'em ups of the day. Maybe it's just my own lack of knowledge that's curtailing proper suggestive comparisons in this particular niche of games, but where Ninja Gaiden has always come across as a bit more platformish to me, the Shinobi games, at least the early ones, have always carried the epithet of missing link between action-based platformers and free-roam beat 'em ups like Bad Dudes.
There is a rather curious oddity in this game though - the appearance of a pistol as a usable weapon. While I see no problem with enemies procuring such weapons, I find it hard to believe that a ninja master would ever resort to such a weapon. Then again, ninjas used guns in You Only Live Twice, so I guess anything's possible. Nevertheless, I don't recall such a weapon in the latter titles - I'm fairly certain shurikens are the primary, if not only ranged weapon, and based on what I've read, such a weapon did not exist in the original arcade version. So why are they here? I've read that Sega added some weaponry for the SMS port, but a pistol? Come on!
And finally, I must speak about Ninjitsu, or Ninja Magic as it's called here. First off, I have to admit that this is the first time I've ever played the original title in the Shinobi series - up until now, I've only ever been familiar with the Genesis titles. Secondly, I hate playing games without the aid of an owners manual. That's not to say that I use them, generally I don't, but it's nice to have for convenience's sake - which has always made me wonder, why does it feel so demeaning to a gamer to admit using game manuals? It's like a man refusing to ask for directions - strange. Anyways, with the advent of GameFAQ's, which is a godsend to gaming by the way, game manuals hold little merit nowadays, but there are still times I wish I had one since with GameFAQs you're at the mercy of other gamers uploading personal interpretations of gaming manuals. Of course, there are sites out there that contain scans of original manuals, but I'm too lazy to bother with that. Seriously, if GameFAQs can't answer my question, then it's probably not worth knowing. And then came along Shinobi and its mysterious Ninja Magic feature that I know is there, but I don't have a clue how to use. That's right, I did this game without using Ninja Magic, and not as a personal self-imposed feat, but because I had no clue how to use it. I still don't. I began to think that it didn't even exist, but I've read stuff that states otherwise and even watched a small portion of an LP in which I'm pretty certain I spied some mysterious Ninja Magic shenanigans. I could be wrong though. I could be wrong.
Rating: 3 Black Turtles out of 5
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