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This is the epic result of ninja's and Power Rangers combined into one game"

Shinobi, Sega's favorite ninja, and rival to Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden, makes its first debut on the handheld in the GameGear Shinobi (also abbreviated as the GG Shinobi). While it retains slower paced hack 'n' slash fun of Revenge of Shinobi, this game tried something new all on its own. Thankfully, this game had the 90's influence with shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers. These shows that consist of five or so members who join forces were heavily influenced on this game. You start off with your main Red Ninja; Joe Musashi, and you must free your comrades, Blue, Green, Pink, and Yellow, in order to use your capabilities to the fullest and kick some ninja butt! But does Sega do a good job of combing these elements into a Shinobi game? Well obviously according to my score, yes, but lets find out why...

Story: 6/10 The plot in Shinobi games have always been cheesy, and this game is no exception, but it is actually one of the first games in the series to have nothing to do with Neo Zeed, the antagonist in the arcade/console games. Instead we find Neo City under attack by some evil ninja organization lead by thier leader, the Black Ninja, and when the Oboro clan sends Joe's allies to investigate, none have returned. Trouble stirring about him, a lone Musashi heads into action to save his friends and find the source of this new found terror. He is the last hope, for only a ninja with his training has any chance of defeating the Black Ninja and his gang.

Graphics: 9/10 These are some of the best visuals ever on the game gear. Sprites are nice and crisp, there are some animation scenes, backgrounds are heavily detailed from forests, caverns, and temples, and ninja's never looked more awesome on the small screen. Everything is just cool about this game, and if you actually go and compare it side by side with the craptastic Revenge of Shinobi for the GBA on a 32-bit handheld versus this 8-bit masterpiece, you'll find that it holds up quite well, and is ahead of its time. Sure beats anything on the gameboy period.

Music/Sound: 10/10 Yuzo Koshiro, the famed musician responsible for other games like RoS and the Streets of Rage series, pays homage to the GG Shinobi. Using some tracks from RoS, but creating alot of new ones exclusively to this game really brings it alive. The epicness of being a ninja couldn't have been this awesome if it weren't for his catchy tunes to go along with it. Despite it being a gamegear, that won't stop you from humming some of its themes in the shower. Sometimes I turn on my gamegear with Shinobi inserted just to use a cheat that lets me access the sound test option and get lost in nostalgia...

Controls: 9/10 Just like in RoS, Joe and his crew consist of a bunch of slow moving ninja's, but don't let that worry you. The levels are nice and big, but not big to the point where it'll take you forever to get through. The jumping, moving, and crouching controls all work well, and using the ninja's fighting abilites are as quick and easy as a ninja should make it be. The Green ninja has the ability to perform the famed double jump from RoS by jumping, then timing the 2nd jump at the pinnacle of your first to ascend even higher. It's tricky to do, but responsive and works once you get the timing. Aside from that, all ninja's play the same in controls, and all work out well.

Gameplay: 9/10 The game starts off with a little intro scene showing the four colored ninja's that almost look like statues, and Joe appears in the center of the screen slashing his sword. After that, hit start and you are taken to a level select screen with four levels: Highway, Valley, Woodland, and Harbor. Each contain a colored ninja that must be fought to be freed from their curse, and each level consist of multiple sections. You begin the game with four bars, or "hits", but each stage contains a hidden life-up that increases two bars to your total health. That means you can have a life meter with as much as 12 hits! Unfortunately, each of these stages aren't replayable once you beat them, and certain ninja's are required to get these life-ups in other stages (example: using the pink ninja's ceiling ability, or the yellow ninja's walk on water ability, which I will get into later). So basically, despite that fact that you can do these stages in any order, only one order allows you to get everything, and that order is Highway (pink), Harbor (yellow), Valley (Blue), then Woodlands (green). If you do it any other way, you'll surely miss atleast one life-up. This is one of the major flaws in this game that was thankfully fixed in the sequel. Anyways, as you explore these stages and fight awesome ninja enemies, you'll also find boxes with items like ninjutsus (ninja magic), health, and bombs (obviously inspired from RoS). Each ninja has their own ninjutsu, while some ninja's have unque abilities that are required to get through the game and open new pathways. The Red ninja has an earthquake jutsu that destroys weakened blocks, the blue can turn into a whirlwind to fly in unreachable spots and use his chain and sickle (aka the kurasi-gama) to latch onto hooks and swing around like Tarzan, the yellow ninja has the lighting barrier jutsu and can walk on water, the pink ninja has a light blinding jutsu and can walk on ceilings like a spider. Each ninja has unique weapons and fighting abilites, from swords, sickles, ninja stars, bombs, and hodukens, you're bound to find one that suits you, and some that work better than others against certain enemies. For some reason, since the red ninja is the only one without a special move (and being the master and all), he would have the greatest attack power, but the yellow, pink, and blue ninja's all exceed him in power, so you won't be using him much later in the game. Again, GG Shinobi II fixed these imbalances, but when it comes to this game, the blue ninja seems to be the most useful in combat. Once all four stages are beaten, you immediatly play the final level, which is the heart of Neo City. Prepare for one long maze-like fortress! It's seriously challenging, and the hardest part of the game. The bosses are fairly easy (the waterfall ninja boss has a uber n00bish strategy which I won't spoil), and even the last boss doesn't put up much of a fight. The ending is cool, not well explained or long, but cool. Again the music really makes it an epic finish, and its a game you'll feel proud of once you've beaten it.

Well there you have it, despite some gameplay design flaws and lack of any save feature, this is one of the best games the game gear has ever seen. There is replay to this game, especially if you didn't find all of the "Mega Man X" life-ups, but other than the fact that this game is fun to beat over and over, there's nothing else to it. Still, the challenge is great, and the concept of being a team of ninja's that involves some strategy is cool, so in the end this won't be a dissapointment to your gamegear collection. Whether you're a fan of Shinobi or just a fan of ninja's and action platforming, this game provides some of the best ever seen, only outmatched by its sequel which perfected this game in every way, which I will also be reviewing, so check it out, and check out this game! It'll leave you satisfied, but wanting more for years and years to come.

Pros.
+Switch between five awesome ninja's and use their abilities to uncover new territory
+Great graphics and visuals that still hold up to todays standards
+Yuzo Koshiro. Sound test mode. 'Nuff said.
+Some replayability if you didn't find everything your first time. Still fun to play from time to time
+Awesome blend of ninja's and power rangers

Cons.
-No backtracking prevents players from finding all the life-up items
-despite the mega-man set of levels, only one order will get you everything, making the game more linear than it intended to be
-It's possible to open a box with a life-up, walk offscreen, and have it disappear, requiring you to kill yourself
-While the game is great throughout, it can be alittle long for one sitting, and a save or password feature would have been nice

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/08

Game Release: Shinobi (US, 1991)