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DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Loved Shadow Dancer back in the day.
SlimeGooGoo
Banned
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Last edited:
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
The beginning of true Shinobi's end, with the console conversion being a very different game and each sequel made for console moving further and further away from what made the arcade games amazing. Still, it went out with a bang and with the two versions being so different, two bangs.
Good thing it wasn't actually the original so we have a handful of other games using that long lost formula. More would always be better though (and some of these are stretching the case).
Rolling Thunder is obviously the original which Shinobi & Shadow Dancer aped to good effect (arcade):
Rolling Thunder 2 (arcade):
Rolling Thunder 3 (console only):
Code Name: Viper (console only):
Dick Tracy (console only):
James Bond 007: The Duel (console only):
Surprise Attack (arcade only):
ESWAT (arcade & console, the console version, like Shadow Dancer, is very different but I actually prefer it in this case, I don't think the original is as well designed as Shinobi despite aping it closely, while the console version is better):
youtu.be
Sly Spy (arcade):
Shadow Gangs (indie Shinobi wannabe successor)
The console version of Moonwalker is also very Shinobi-like, unlike the isometric arcade version:
youtu.be
There are a few more like ThunderJaws, it's not my favorite but had cool set pieces like Sly Spy's. Elevator Action Returns is maybe stretching the definition but kinda works, minus the trademark jump action of Shinobi-likes (although not all of the above employ that).
Sunset Riders and semi sequels Mystic Warriors & Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa also kinda work (with the jumping to different levels of the stage too) but clearly put much more emphasis on the run and gun, going into Contra territory, especially the latter games.
If I missed any notables hit me, I love this gameplay style.
Good thing it wasn't actually the original so we have a handful of other games using that long lost formula. More would always be better though (and some of these are stretching the case).
Rolling Thunder is obviously the original which Shinobi & Shadow Dancer aped to good effect (arcade):
Rolling Thunder 2 (arcade):
Rolling Thunder 3 (console only):
Code Name: Viper (console only):
Dick Tracy (console only):
James Bond 007: The Duel (console only):
Surprise Attack (arcade only):
ESWAT (arcade & console, the console version, like Shadow Dancer, is very different but I actually prefer it in this case, I don't think the original is as well designed as Shinobi despite aping it closely, while the console version is better):
- YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
youtu.be
Shadow Gangs (indie Shinobi wannabe successor)
The console version of Moonwalker is also very Shinobi-like, unlike the isometric arcade version:
- YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
youtu.be
Sunset Riders and semi sequels Mystic Warriors & Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa also kinda work (with the jumping to different levels of the stage too) but clearly put much more emphasis on the run and gun, going into Contra territory, especially the latter games.
If I missed any notables hit me, I love this gameplay style.
Last edited:
Kokoloko85
Member
The Megadrive version was the first game I ever bought as a kid. Got a Megadrive and Sonic for my present and with mye extra money the next day bought Shadow Dancer. I loved Revenge of Shinobi so this was a must buy lol
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
Best game on GEN for me. Beat this dozens of times including on hard mode with no shurikens.
wondermega
Member
I never thought Shinobi of straight ripping Rolling Thunder, granted a lot of people have historically mentioned that this was "Sega's version of Rolling Thunder" but there were always enough fundamental differences in the mechanics for me to consider the games unique enough from one another. Both are certainly a bit slow and plodding (as opposed to a more traditional run'n'gun Contra style), but Shinobi always felt like it had more gameplay variety, the hostage angle, the magic, the bosses etc. Rolling Thunder (and Code Name Viper) of course has the whole ducking behind doors and everything. Although maybe the games will seem a lot closer to one another to people comparing the two of them now, I suppose..
Revenge of Shinobi was one of the first real "gee wiz" games on Genesis following the initial launch, so when word spread of a follow-up there was no was I was NOT going to buy whatever was up next. The previews looked alright (if not substantially better than what it was following up on), and it was an unusual case of being at the game store and just seeing it on the shelf one day, just waiting to be bought! (A lot of games of this profile usually had a good 6 months or so of being teased in magazines, building up some hype before finally showing up - this one just kinda showed up following a couple brief previews). The box art looked, well, artsy and not really badass compared to anything Shinobi-ish which preceded it, didn't even have a cool logo, this all sounds shallow but back in the day those were serious bullet points to know if a game was cool or not but yeah, I bought it anyway, brought it home, fired it up..
I was met with something kind of what I expected - a good game with nice presentation, between the gameplay, looks and sounds it certainly felt like it obviously lacked the polish of Revenge, which was a bit of an immediate turn off ("is this going to be.. as good?") but in spite of all of that, the game felt very solid and just really fun to play. In hindsight I'll still consider Revenge my favorite Shinobi game overall, with this Genesis version being a pretty close second. Shinobi 3 was good as well, of course, and had it's own set of fancy things going on, but the game was definitely starting to feel a bit stale at that point.
I never got my hands on the arcade until some years later, I forget the circumstances - I was a little surprised to note how different it felt from the home version, and though it looked really nice, my brief playtime with it gave me the takeaway that the home version was actually the better game (arcade just felt a bit too much like a rehash of the original Shinobi, whereas there was a fair bit more verticality and variety in this home game). In my top ten of Genesis games? Top 20 probably..