History VideoGame / Shinobi

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Originally, Joe was not the most traditional ninja around. He didn't wear his headress-mask and he was a OneHitPointWonder. The guy also went the high tech route when it came to his weapon power-up. When he powered-up, he exchanged his regular shurikens for a machine gun that shot rocket-propelled explosive shells. So basically he was packing a bolter from Warhammer 40K! The flaming shurikens that he uses now are no less powerful but a lot less stylish and he's taken to covering his face.

The original ''Shinobi'' was originally released in 1987 for the arcades. The player controls a ninja named Joe Musashi, who fights a criminal syndicate known as "Zeed" in order to rescue his kidnapped students. The original game featured a floor jumping system similar to Namco's ''VideoGame/RollingThunder''. Musashi is armed with his punches and kicks, as well as an unlimited supply of shurikens (which can upgraded into a sword and machine gun), as well as different kinds of ninja arts which could be used to kill all on-screen enemies. Sega also made a MasterSystem rendition which changed the game mechanics by adding more weapons, as well as a health gauge system and the ability to carry multiple ninja arts. There were also licensed versions for the NintendoEntertainmentSystem and PCEngine.

* FlechetteStorm: The Punishing Rain technique, from ''The Revenge of Shinobi'' onwards. Also, the Shadow Master's Ninjitsu technique.

The original ''Shinobi'' was originally released in 1987 for the arcades. The player controls a ninja named Joe Musashi, who fights a criminal syndicate known as "Zeed" in order to rescue his kidnapped students. The original game featured a floor jumping system similar to Namco's ''RollingThunder''. Musashi is armed with his punches and kicks, as well as an unlimited supply of shurikens (which can upgraded into a sword and machine gun), as well as different kinds of ninja arts which could be used to kill all on-screen enemies. Sega also made a MasterSystem rendition which changed the game mechanics by adding more weapons, as well as a health gauge system and the ability to carry multiple ninja arts. There were also licensed versions for the NintendoEntertainmentSystem and PCEngine.

** ''[[UpToEleven Motor-powered]]'' surfboards, lest the troper above forgotten!

** In the prototype of ''Alex Kidd in Shinobi World'', titled ''[[WorkingTitle Kid Shinobi]]'', one of the bosses was named Mari-oh, who looked like [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros the mascot]] of a [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} certain rival company]] dressed like a samurai. Said company wasn't amused by the joke Sega made at their expense, so Mari-oh was renamed Kabuto and his face was concealed.

* BattleCouple: The two teens Shirogane and Akagane.

* EvilCounterpart: In the PS2 ''Shinobi'', the [[spoiler:four]] [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Hellspawn Lords]] are actually twisted and dark counterparts of the Si-Ling creatures: eg Shirogumo stands for the White Tiger of west, and is a white GiantSpider with Tiger's head and [[DishingOutDirt earth powers]].

* FuumaShuriken: Kogou wields a gargantuan, kite-shaped shuriken that he uses as a shield and a flying saucer-like platform.

->''He is stronger than steel\\
and moves faster than a whirlwind.''
-->-- Intro, ''Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master''

''Shinobi'' is a series of side-scrolling action games that were released by {{Sega}} during the late [[TheEighties 1980s]] and early-to-mid [[TheNineties 1990s]]. The games has the player controlling a ninja (usually Joe Musashi, an obvious nod to ninja actor ShoKosugi) who battles the forces of evil in each title.

A single arcade sequel was released in 1989 titled ''Shadow Dancer'', which retained the format of the original arcade game, giving the player a canine companion who helps the player fend off enemies. A severely stripped-down version was released for the SegaMasterSystem, while the SegaGenesis got ''Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi'', which had similar gameplay but with completed redesigned level layouts and different enemies.

''Shinobi'' had further sequels for home consoles, the most prominent being the two ''Super Shinobi'' games for the Genesis, which consisted of ''The Revenge of Shinobi'' and ''Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master''. ''The Super Shinobi'' series completely revamps the game mechanics from the arcade games, ditching the one-hit-kill rule from the arcade game, while adding selectable ninja arts and abilities in the process. The series went into a hiatus after the release of ''Shinobi Legions'' for the SegaSaturn, which eschews the hand-drawn graphics from previous installments in favor of ''MortalKombat''-style digitized graphics.

Sega revived the series in the early [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000s]] with a new 3D game simply titled ''Shinobi'' for the {{PlayStation 2}} in 2002, which had the player controlling a new ninja named Hotsuma, who wields the life-draining blade known as Akujiki (Eater of Evil). Joe Musashi also appeared in the new game as well as a hidden character. It was followed by a pseudo-sequel titled ''[[NightshadeKunoichi Nightshade]]'' in 2003, also for [=PS2=], which featured a female ninja named Hibana. Many of the older titles (namely the three Genesis games and the original arcade game) had been re-released for the Wii Virtual Console.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The Game Gear games had multiple playable ninjas eached dressed in a different color with their own weapons and techniques.
* ComicBookAdaptation: In ''SonicTheComic''. Shinobi was the first Sega game outside the ''SonicTheHedgehog'' series to get a comic adaptation, and it was both faithful to the games' stories and suitably serious in tone.

* ContinuityNod: Of sorts in the [[Nintendo3DS 3DS]] version. Enemies from past games like the Brain Mutants make an appearance, and one stage has Jiro [[spoiler:board a Zeed warship identical to the one in the final level of ''Shinobi III''.]]

* DistressedDamsel: Naoko in ''Revenge of Shinobi'' and Aya in ''Shinobi Legions''.

*** [[GiantSpider Shiragumo]] has [[DishingOutDirt Earth.]]
*** [[PyroManiac Benisuzume]] has [[PlayingWithFire Fire.]]
*** [[{{Kitsune}} Kurokuda]] has [[AnIcePerson Ice]]
*** [[TheDragon Aomizuchi]] has [[ShockAndAwe Heavens.]]
*** Hiruko has all of said powers plus [[SoulPower Light.]]

* [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning Everything's Better With Spinning]]: In addition to having a [[FlechetteStorm Punishing Steel Rain]] attack, Jiro can launch into a [[NinjaGaiden Jump-and-Slash]] off a double jump.

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: In the early versions of ''Revenge of Shinobi'', Musashi will fight against thinly-disguised pastiches of {{Rambo}}, [[{{Terminator}} The Terminator]] (or TheIncredibleHulk, depending on how you look at it), {{Spider-Man}}, Franchise/{{Batman}}, and even Franchise/{{Godzilla}} as bosses. Unfortunately, [[SubvertedTrope the companies that made the characters started catching on]], so shipment of the games was stopped in order to modify the sprite data. This happened at least 3-4 times, with each revision removing or altering the characters in question. By the time of the {{Wii}} re-release, Rambo was spriteswapped, Spider-Man was recolored pink, Batman was a mutated {{Devilman}} ripoff, and Godzilla's skin was peeled off. Yep, that's right: only the Terminator / Hulk survived.

** In the prototype of ''Alex Kidd in Shinobi World'', titled ''[[WorkingTitle Kid Shinobi]]'', one of the bosses was named Mari-oh, who looked like [[SuperMario the mascot]] of a [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} certain rival company]] dressed like a samurai. Said company wasn't amused by the joke Sega made at their expense, so Mari-oh was renamed Kabuto and his face was concealed.

** Ninja dogs with swords in their mouths! Before you ask: No, [[TheSimpsons when they bark they don't shoot swords at you]].

* RecycledINSPACE: The arcade version of ''VideoGame/ESwat'' is pretty much ''Shadow Dancer'' with a ''Franchise/RoboCop''-esque setting. The Genesis version is more different, though.

* {{Samurai}}: Present in some of the games as enemies. Most prominent examples are the large Lobster Samurai that serve as a BossBattle in the arcade game, ''Revenge'', and ''Shinobi III''.

* ShoutOut: An organization named "Zeed"? An enemy named "Ken-oh"? Someone must have been watching too much ''[[FistOfTheNorthStar Hokuto no Ken]]'' when they made the game.
** The [[Nintendo3DS 3DS]] game has a couple of ShoutOuts to other {{Sega}} games:

*** The fifth level is called ''[[{{Afterburner}} Afterburned]]'', and climaxes with [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome a battle atop a fighter jet as it flies on a sortie against the Zeed warship]].

The original ''Shinobi'' was originally released in 1987 for the arcades. The player controls a ninja named Joe Musashi, who fights a criminal syndicate known as "Zeed" in order to rescue his kidnapped students. The original game featured a floor jumping system similarly Namco's ''RollingThunder''. Musashi is armed with his punches and kicks, as well as an unlimited supply of shurikens (which can upgraded into a sword and machine gun), as well as different kinds of ninja arts which could be used to kill all on-screen enemies. Sega also made a MasterSystem rendition which changed the game mechanics by adding more weapons, as well as a health gauge system and the ability to carry multiple ninja arts. There were also licensed versions for the NintendoEntertainmentSystem and PCEngine.

* AirborneAircraftCarrier: In the Final Mission of ''Shinobi III'' Joe boards Neo Zeed's flying fortress and has to navigate past its automated defenses in order to reach the final duel with the Shadow Master.

* ApocalypseMaiden: The Ubusuna Miko in the [=PS2=] game, whom Hiruko intend to use to power up Yatsurao. She's also his descendant.

** Might as well throw in Hibana as well no?

* BattleAura: In ''Shinobi III'' the final battle with the Shadow Master starts off on equal footing as he uses shuriken and katana against Joe. Then when he takes enough damage he calls down a beam of energy to power himself up with a corona of fire- at which point he starts firing energy bolts from his palms, hurls a huge EnergyBall, counters Joe's dive kick with a {{Shoryuken}} and sometimes unleashes his own Ninjitsu technique to spray the entire chamber with energy bolts.

* BonusFeatureFailure: Joe Musashi can be unlocked as a playable character in the [=PS2=] ''Shinobi'', his bonus being that he has an unlimited supply of shurikens- which damage targets instead of paralyzing them, and no life draining Tate gauge (since he doesn't wield the Akujiku blade). He has the strongest magic attack as well. The benefit to this is that you don't have to worry about getting huge combos to keep your health and damage enemies, and you can just continually chuck shurikens at some of the harder to kill enemies. The downside is that there are some bosses that pretty much require you to get huge combos in order to defeat them in a timely fashion, however you can also chuck shurikens at them infinitely. A perfect beginner character...only you don't get him until you've collected 40 Oboro coins, which is only possible if you've already beaten the game twice: once on Normal and again on Hard.

** On another note all together, the long time fans will note that this isn't much of a surprise for Joe, as all of his titles focused much of the combat on rapid fire shuriken throwing. (save for latter installments like ''Shinobi III'', where the running slash and jump kick help to ease the difficulty by a good notch). Making this something of a throwback to the arcade games.
** Some other things to note. Hotsuma has the weakest sword strike but average speed, defense, and magic. He doesn't lose energy to his sword like Moritsune. Moritsune has the most speed and power, but the worst defense and second strongest magic. Joe Musashi has the slowest speed, but the second strongest sword and the most powerful magic, he also doesn't lose energy to Akujiki, he also has unlimited Shurikens. He's there to beat the game on Super difficulty if you need it.

* CherryTapping: the essence of most of the older games, as getting close enough to use your blade is suicidal lest you're quite skilled...you spend most of your time at a distance, chucking shurikens like its going out of style. Lampshaded by Joe's unique ability when he's unlocked in the PS2 game...see BonusFeatureFailure above.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: The fourth area in the [=PS2=] version is filled with lava pools and fire-spitting foes. Yet, Hotsuma has no problem whatsoever walking around. He's damaged only if hits the magma.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Originally Joe was not the most traditional ninja around. He didn't wear his headress-mask and he was a OneHitPointWonder. The guy also went the high tech route when it came to his weapon power-up. When he powered-up, he exchanged his regular shurikens for a machine gun that shot rocket-propelled explosive shells. So basically he was packing a bolter from Warhammer 40K! The flaming shurikens that he uses now are no less powerful but a lot less stylish and he's taken to covering his face.

*** Hiruko has all said powers plus [[SoulPower Light.]]

*** Earth: Instead of ''[[SuicideAttack Mijin]]'' Jiro has a new magic that grants him automatic parrying against enemy attacks, [[MoreDakka shuriken spread]] and increased melee speed but [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique leaves him severely drained of health when it wears off]].

* EvilCounterpart: In the PS2 ''Shinobi'' the [[spoiler: four]] [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Hellspawn Lords]] are actually twisted and dark counterparts of the Si-Ling creatures: eg Shirogumo stands for the White Tiger of west, and is a white GiantSpider with Tiger's head and [[DishingOutDirt earth powers]].

* EvilPlan: [[spoiler: Hiruko is more interested in collecting souls than the Yatsurao. His actions are focused on collecting them, or getting the player to collect them for him. Nonetheless, the Yatsurao thing is the opening conflict.]]

* [[spoiler:FishOutOfTemporalWater: Jiro Musashi]]

* GuideDangIt: Killing the final boss in ''Revenge of Shinobi'' can get like this, given he appears completely invulnerable and even the boss-killing Mijin magic deals no damage to him. As it turns out, you can only attack his body, which usually protected by his deadly Kabuki hair- until he overextends it in his initial strike which leaves an opening that Joe can throw a shuriken at... or even detonate a ''Mijin'' into ForMassiveDamage.
* HeelfaceTurn: Kazuma in ''Shinobi X'' pulls this, as he considers Sho a WorthyOpponent.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: Hotsuma's scarf is designed to make him this so the played doesn't lose track of him during the action.
** Lest we forget...Joe Musashi...a master ninja, fearsome shadow, all around badass...clad in WHITE.
** Hibana doesn't do anything to be very stealthy either for the most part...as she too wears mostly white and has a scarf that trails ghostly ''pink''.

* ImprobableUseOfAWeapon: In the 3DS ''Shinobi'' Kunai are used as projectile weapons much like shuriken. Although not implausible in real life, Kunai were used primarily as tools and melee weapons (as depicted in ''Revenge of Shinobi'' and ''Shinobi III''), seldom thrown.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: A part from various weird shaped blades, we have Homura, who fights with a ''kiseru'' (pipe), Hakuraku who uses a huge box full of scrolls and Kogou who uses his extra-spiky iron Geta in order to chain lightningbolts at you.

** {{Spider-Man}} was more of a SpecialGuest, as Sega originally obtained the rights to use him in another set of games. In fact, he was the only one of the aforementioned cameos who remained the same until the {{Wii}} re-release, since Sega no longer had the Spidey license by that time. Especially noted is that he does not die in the BossFight, rather he climbs out of the picture after taking enough hits before the Franchise/{{Batman}}[=/=]{{Devilman}} rip off moves in to take on Joe.

* LegacyCharacter: [[spoiler:In the [[Nintendo3DS 3DS]] ''Shinobi'' it seems Shadow Master has become a title for the head of Zeed, as the one fought in this game is apparently the very first and is quite different from the Cyberninja in ''Shinobi III''.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Orn in the 3DS Shinobi is the real mastermind behind the attack on Jiro's village, and is controlling the Shadow Master (and therefore Zeed).]]

* TheMole: [[spoiler: Ageha in the [=PS2=] ''Shinobi''.]]

* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: [[spoiler: The ending of Shinobi on 3DS has Jiro fall from space ALL THE WAY DOWN TO EARTH during the entirety of the credits. On fire. And then he walks away unscathed upon landing. Doubles with IFellForHours.]]

* PyroManiac: Homura in PS2 game is very fond of roasting people.

** The name ''Shinobi'' alone could apply to the original 1987 arcade game and its console variants, the first Game Gear title, the 2002 [=PlayStation 2=] game starring Hotsuma and the 2011 [=3DS=] game by Griptonite (aka ''[[MarketBasedTitle Shinobi 3D]]'').

* RedHerring: [[spoiler: Yatsurao.]]

** And Hotsuma's sword-parachuting, cutting tanks, missiles and helicopters in half...

* {{Samurai}}: Present in some of the games as enemies. Most prominent examples are the large Lobster Samurai that serve as a BossBattle in the arcade game, ''Revenge'' and ''Shinobi III''.
* SaveTheVillain: At the end of Shinobi X, [[TheHero Sho]] attempts to do this for Kazuma, but Kazuma decides to save Sho and his girl instead, [[DeathEqualsredemption dying in the explosion]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard he was responsible for]].

** Hell, the tack one on JOE in his model for PS2...it doesn't trail or get brushlike....but its the principal that matters.

* SequelNumberSnarl: The Genesis games goes from ''Revenge of Shinobi'' to ''Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi'' to ''Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master''. ''Shinobi III'' is the true sequel ''Revenge of Shinobi'' and features the same gameplay system, while ''Secret of Shinobi'' is actually a loose remake of the arcade's ''Shadow Dancer'' which kept the arcade version's one-hit-point-per-life system.

*** Also, getting through Very Hard Mode gives you the option to replace your kunai with [[{{FruitNinja}} fruit]].

* SuicideAttack / TakingYouWithMe / ActionBomb: The Art of ''Mijin'' sets off an explosion fuelled by Joe's lifeforce (i.e. one life) that'll wipe out {{Mooks}} and inflict heavy damage on Bosses. Also, for the longer stretches - its a great way to avoid having to do a level from closer to the starting point - if you're going to die, might as well do it without having to do everything over again no?

* SuperMode: Again the Shadow Master after he charges up.

* TheUnreveal: That the MalevolentMaskedMan alongside Hiruko is Moritsune is painfully obvious. [[spoiler: That Aomizuchi was possessing him however, wasn't so obvious...]]

* OneHitPointWonder: Joe Musashi dies in one hit in the original arcade game, while the Master System and NES versions gives him a health gauge. Expert players of the Master System version might find the arcade version a bit ''jarring'' at first because of this.
** Ditto for ''Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi''
* PoweredArmor: The Shadow Master in ''Shinobi III''.
* PrehensileHair: The final boss of ''Revenge of Shinobi'' uses his hair as a weapon.

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: ''Shadow Dancer'' uses faux-sequel numberings on its difficulty levels: level 2 and 3 change the title screen to ''Shadow Dancer II'' and ''III'', respectively.

* NamesTheSame:
** The second boss in ''Revenge of Shinobi'' is called the "Shadow Dancer", which was also the name of the original ''Shinobi'''s arcade sequel.
** The organization that Joe destroys is called '''Zeed.''' If memory serves, [[FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro]] murdered a mohawked ruffian of the same name.
** The first boss in the arcade game is named '''Kenoh.''' [[FistOfTheNorthStar Raoh]] would still murder him.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Hotsuma's ScarfOfAsskicking was originally much smaller and shorter until one of the developers made it super-long as a joke. [[RuleOfCool It looked awesome]], [[ThrowItIn so they left it in]].
** ''AlexKidd in Shinobi World'' was originally just going to be a cutesy spin-off of Shinobi called ''Shinobi Kid'', but Alex was shoe-horned in so he could piggy-back off the popularity of Shinobi as his own license was on the out.
** The [=PS2=] ''Shinobi'' was originally planned as a Dreamcast game, but the intended platform changed due to Sega's abrupt departure from the hardware race.
** ''Shinobi III'' was initially titled ''The Revenge of Shinobi II'' and featured entirely different levels and enemies. Apparently, the mediocre reception this iteration got from several gaming magazines led to Sega scrapping it and overhauling the game. You can read about it [[http://rq87.flyingomelette.com/RQ/SS/S3/O/main.html here]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Originally Jo was not the most traditional ninja around. He didn't wear his headress-mask and he was a OneHitPointWonder. The guy also went the high tech route when it came to his weapon power-up. When he powered-up, he exchanged his regular shurikens for a machine gun that shot rocket-propelled explosive shells. So basically he was packing a bolter from Warhammer 40K! The flaming shurikens that he uses now are no less powerful but a lot less stylish and he's taken to covering his face.

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Orn in the[[Nintentdo3DS 3DS]] Shinobi is the real mastermind behind the attack on Jiro's village, and is controlling the Shadow Master (and therefore Zeed).]]

* LegacyCharacter: [[spoiler:In the [[Nintendo3DS 3DS]] ''Shinobi'' it seems Shadow Master has become a title for the head of Zeed, as the one fought in this game is apparently the very first and is quite different from the Cyberninja in ''Shinobi III''.]]

** The name ''Shinobi'' alone could apply to the original 1987 arcade game and its console variants, the 2002 [=PlayStation 2=] game starring Hotsuma and the 2011 [=3DS=] game by Griptonite (aka ''[[MarketBasedTitle Shinobi 3D]]'').

* ToBeContinued: We are told this after the credits in ''Shinobi III'', but Joe's story isn't continued at all in the other games.

** They even tack one on Hibana - although her's isn't quite as epic - it does leave a rather cool 'ghost trail' effect.

*** The "No-Mask Jiro" Costume looks a lot like Kage from LegendOfKage 2.

Sega revived the series in the early [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000s]] with a new 3D game simply titled ''Shinobi'' for the {{PlayStation 2}} in 2002, which had the player controlling a new ninja named Hotsuma, who wields the life-draining blade known as Akujiki(Eater of Evil). Joe Musashi also appeared in the new game as well as a hidden character. It was followed by a pseudo-sequel titled ''[[NightshadeKunoichi Nightshade]]'' in 2003, also for [=PS2=], which featured a female ninja named Hibana. Many of the older titles (namely the three Genesis games and the original arcade game) had been re-released for the Wii Virtual Console.

* ''Shinobi'' -1987 (Arcade, Mark III/Master System, NES, PC Engine)
* ''Shadow Dancer'' -1989 (Arcade, Master System)
* ''The Revenge of Shinobi'' -1989 (Mega Drive/Genesis, known in Japan as ''The Super Shinobi'')

* ''The Cyber Shinobi'' -1990 (Master System)
* ''Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi'' -1990 (Mega Drive/Genesis)
* ''The G.G. Shinobi'' -1991 (Game Gear)
* ''The G.G. Shinobi Part II: The Silent Fury'' -1992 (Game Gear)
* ''Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master'' -1993 (Mega Drive/Genesis, known in Japan as ''The Super Shinobi II'')
* ''Shinobi Legions'' -1995 (Sega Saturn, known as ''Shin Shinobi Den'' in Japan and ''Shinobi X'' in Europe)
* ''Shinobi'' -2002 ([=PS2=])
* ''The Revenge of Shinobi'' -2002 (Game Boy Advance, [[InNameOnly unrelated to the Genesis version]])
* ''[[NightshadeKunoichi Nightshade]]'' -2003 ([=PS2=], ''Kunoichi'' in Japan)
* ''Shinobi'' -2011 ([=3DS=])

* ''NightshadeKunoichi'' -2003 ([=PS2=], ''Kunoichi'' in Japan)