Third, and final, Shinobi game released on the Genesis featuring Joe Musashi once again taking on the evil Zeed empire.Third, and final, Shinobi game released on the Genesis featuring Joe Musashi once again taking on the evil Zeed empire.Third, and final, Shinobi game released on the Genesis featuring Joe Musashi once again taking on the evil Zeed empire.
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- Crazy creditsTo be continued...
- ConnectionsFeatured in Troldspejlet: Episode #10.10 (1994)
Featured review
Shinobi making the third cut
This is one of my favorite video games of all time and for the Genesis console. This is the third and final game in the "Shinobi" franchise; ok, not quite as there were plenty of other games afterward, but they were really reboots or spin off games, so they don't count as sequels. This third entry came at the right time as the twilight years of the Genesis console were beginning and this game, I felt was a fitting send off for both the console and franchise.
The theme in the game is radically different which is a good thing as you don't want a video game franchise to repeat itself. The game sort of gets more into sci-fi territory, which I thought was cool as sci-fi is my favorite genre which just makes this entry even more sweater and further justifies why this is my favorite entry in the franchise. Not to say that the past games weren't sci-fi themselves, but those games were mainly focused on the action genre while mixing in sci-fi and fantasy elements. This game still does the same thing too as it focuses on the sci-fi genre while intermixes with action, fantasy, and horror elements. It's also not new as the sci-fi genre and ninja have intermixed many times in past games and even in the games were getting right now, but sci-fi and ninjas have always been a beautiful combination and if the combination still works you can bet there well be plenty more ninja sci-fi video games to come.
The difficulty in the game is on the medium level which is the same with the whole franchise. But what I like is that it feels a little more balanced and manageable and has very few to little frustrations and zero cheap shots. I really like the designs of each of the stages and levels as each of them are all different which means a different kind of challenge each time, which keeps the game fresh and keeps the levels from blending together. Like with a lot of platform action games, the game starts out a little easily, but the difficulty does start to ramp up the further you get.
There are stages and levels that are memorable like the moving stages which the franchise never really had at the time; well, ok there is the elevator stage in the spin off game "Shadow Dancer" which will be a story for another time. However, the two in this game are different as in one you ride horseback and my favorite one is riding the surfboard. Yeah, I know that one seems a little silly, but it was really cool at the time as the "Ninja Turtles" franchise will still be a little strong in the early to mid-90's.
One stage that I found the most memorable was the Body Weapon level. From the first stage which looks like something from the DC comic series "Swamp Thing" or even manga/anime series "The Guyver" as you in this evil science lab where you're fighting funky looking living mutant brain creatures and Swamp Thing wanabes. The other stage after that looks like the king that movie director David Cronenberg would have designed, though also reminds me of the second level in the video game "R-Type", as we see everything is all organic and messed up.
The gameplay is spot on, I really like how the responsiveness in the control is better than before. You have some of your old tricks which I'm fine with as long as they still work. But a new trick or two which makes the game even more interesting than before. From being able to dash, jump and bounce up the walls, but also being able to grab on and climb the ceiling to help get from point A to B. The game still has that linear gameplay however some levels there are some hidden secrets in a few of the levels, that are worth uncovering if you feel up to the challenge but also help in furthering the depth of the stages and levels.
You have a good variety of enemies to take on, each of them is different depending on what level you're on. But also, you have plenty of bosses which are kind of easy to beat (I said kind of) once you get the attack pattern down, you could knock them down easily. The bosses are memorable, two that are interesting are the one in the Body Weapon level which is ugly and scary looking reminds me of Tetsuo in "Akira" as the character was going though that major and nasty transformation. But also, in another level there is one boss that looks and is obviously an homage to Mecha Godzilla which is cool as he's my favorite Kaiju in the "Godzilla" franchise.
And of course, there is the music, which is great, like with the second game this game has plenty of memorable tracks, it's almost hard to decide but you can't go wrong with either of the tracks you listen too.
This third entry and vintage classic makes the cut.
Rating: 4 stars.
The theme in the game is radically different which is a good thing as you don't want a video game franchise to repeat itself. The game sort of gets more into sci-fi territory, which I thought was cool as sci-fi is my favorite genre which just makes this entry even more sweater and further justifies why this is my favorite entry in the franchise. Not to say that the past games weren't sci-fi themselves, but those games were mainly focused on the action genre while mixing in sci-fi and fantasy elements. This game still does the same thing too as it focuses on the sci-fi genre while intermixes with action, fantasy, and horror elements. It's also not new as the sci-fi genre and ninja have intermixed many times in past games and even in the games were getting right now, but sci-fi and ninjas have always been a beautiful combination and if the combination still works you can bet there well be plenty more ninja sci-fi video games to come.
The difficulty in the game is on the medium level which is the same with the whole franchise. But what I like is that it feels a little more balanced and manageable and has very few to little frustrations and zero cheap shots. I really like the designs of each of the stages and levels as each of them are all different which means a different kind of challenge each time, which keeps the game fresh and keeps the levels from blending together. Like with a lot of platform action games, the game starts out a little easily, but the difficulty does start to ramp up the further you get.
There are stages and levels that are memorable like the moving stages which the franchise never really had at the time; well, ok there is the elevator stage in the spin off game "Shadow Dancer" which will be a story for another time. However, the two in this game are different as in one you ride horseback and my favorite one is riding the surfboard. Yeah, I know that one seems a little silly, but it was really cool at the time as the "Ninja Turtles" franchise will still be a little strong in the early to mid-90's.
One stage that I found the most memorable was the Body Weapon level. From the first stage which looks like something from the DC comic series "Swamp Thing" or even manga/anime series "The Guyver" as you in this evil science lab where you're fighting funky looking living mutant brain creatures and Swamp Thing wanabes. The other stage after that looks like the king that movie director David Cronenberg would have designed, though also reminds me of the second level in the video game "R-Type", as we see everything is all organic and messed up.
The gameplay is spot on, I really like how the responsiveness in the control is better than before. You have some of your old tricks which I'm fine with as long as they still work. But a new trick or two which makes the game even more interesting than before. From being able to dash, jump and bounce up the walls, but also being able to grab on and climb the ceiling to help get from point A to B. The game still has that linear gameplay however some levels there are some hidden secrets in a few of the levels, that are worth uncovering if you feel up to the challenge but also help in furthering the depth of the stages and levels.
You have a good variety of enemies to take on, each of them is different depending on what level you're on. But also, you have plenty of bosses which are kind of easy to beat (I said kind of) once you get the attack pattern down, you could knock them down easily. The bosses are memorable, two that are interesting are the one in the Body Weapon level which is ugly and scary looking reminds me of Tetsuo in "Akira" as the character was going though that major and nasty transformation. But also, in another level there is one boss that looks and is obviously an homage to Mecha Godzilla which is cool as he's my favorite Kaiju in the "Godzilla" franchise.
And of course, there is the music, which is great, like with the second game this game has plenty of memorable tracks, it's almost hard to decide but you can't go wrong with either of the tracks you listen too.
This third entry and vintage classic makes the cut.
Rating: 4 stars.
helpful•00
- hellraiser7
- May 26, 2023
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- Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
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