The history of Sega's smash run and gun ninja arcade game. I had to split this into two videos him because there were so many games in the series. Please visit my Patreon at / pdbowl
I can't describe how MAGICAL this was to see in the arcades in 1987... unreal LARGE sprites... the different color ninjas... the gun... SO cool.. so epic... pure magic.... this is all missing in todays games.. magic
I think you are right, this game was special. There is something about it that 30 years later we are still talking about it.Today's games are just missing it
@Michael H I thought he said "Queen" so had to rewind to double check! I was thinking to myself "what has poor old Liz Regina done to piss Patman off?! 🤣 Upon a second listen "Queef" made far more sense!!
That's a good arcade game. The music is good in this game as you start from the first level. The first boss looks like the shredder from TMNT cartoons in the 80's!
TRIVIA: The Stage 1 boss of Shinobi, Ken Oh, is a reference to the legendary fight anime/manga franchise Hokuto No Ken (literally "Fist of the Big Dipper," "Fist of the Great Bear," and/or "Fist of Ursa Major"), better known by its mistranslated English title (which is also used in Japan), Fist of the North Star. Coincidentally, Sega has had an on-and-off licensing relationship with the HNK/FOTNS franchise for many years. In the HNK/FOTNS franchise, Ken-Oh is the name the lead antagonist of the series, Raoh, gives himself as he restores "peace" to post-apocalyptic Earth with his armies and lethal martial-arts superpowers. The name Ken-Oh is literal Japanese for "Fist King."
Around the same time when Shinobi was released in arcades, the 80's action movie genre was centered around Ninjas and lots of different movie titles. The main character Joe Musashi in the animation indeed looks like Sho Kosugi who happens to be in a lot of 80's Ninja films. Last but not least my favorite 80's Ninja movie is Prey For Death featuring Sho Kosugi.
I always love seeing your videos since they cover ports I was never even aware of. I didn't have a computer in my home until around 1990 and it wasn't really equipped for gaming. The Sega Master System version was iconic and one of my favorite games on the system. Just to add to this.- the two major changes to the game when it releases on PS3 and Xbox 360 were the removal of the Marilyn Monroe posters, and the Spider-Man sprite's color palette being changed to green and yellow. The Marilyn image was trademarked and used without permission, and the Spider-man enemy was Sega under the assumption they had free reign to use Spider-Man in whatever they wanted when they acquired the license from Marvel to produce a Spider-Man game, so even though the sprite wasn't an exact match, it had to be changed since they never had license to use Spidey in Shinobi in the first place
One of my old arcade favorites, and I had the excellent Sega Master System port, as well, and it's one of my all-time SMS favorites. They REALLY did a great job on the port.
I like that you put in my favorite fight of all time from Drunken master 2 , the pic of pinhead was nice as well. That spectrum version is impressive. Also, I think there's some confusion at the end when you're talking about "The Revenge of Shinobi" and not shinobi. I only mention it because anyone who watches my stuff knows it's my favorite game of all time. Great video man.
While that was a faux pas because the notes at the end of the video was back when it was one extremely long one instead of splitting it up into two. Sorry for the confusion
Your episodes just get better and better Pat. I hope your managing to keep your sanity during all this madness. Your videos are my only bright spot these days. They bring me back to my happy times. ;-) Stay well Pat.
I love the 3DS port of this game. I somehow missed it, back in its day. Revenge of Shinobi was my favorite Genesis game. I never really got into Shadow Dancer in arcades or on Genesis. The PS2 game was meh.
I remember playing this back in the arcades early 88 when I was 11 years old, always remember a mate who was really good at the game using the magic to get his way to the back of the rotating statue boss!
Thank you for this excellent and honest review; I REALLY appreciate you telling it like it is. What I mean is that you aren't afraid to say that certain versions of games are better than others, and that's what I really like. Health and happiness to you, Patman~!
Excellent video. I have the Xbox Live version of this game and I play it every few months, even though I've never beaten the final boss. This is one of my favorite games of all time. I hope SEGA will do us all a favor and give the series a modern 2D update similar to Sonic Mania or Streets of Rage 4.
Patman, love all your videos , but this one is my favourite, I loved shinobi but could never beat the masked ninja! Thanks to the switch conversion I did it last night 30 years later!!!!! Keep up the good work
Just watched both parts Patman, and it has been just what I needed after two weeks of sheer Hell on Earth. The moments of comedy you throw in are so deadpan and unexpected, I often find myself spitting tea over the tablet (or the poor unsuspecting dog!) Thanks for the laughs and such an interesting documentary, buddy. You obviously put a hell of a lot of time and effort into this one. Stay distanced. Stay at home. Stay safe. Stay Alive. Blessings to you and yours 🇺🇲🇬🇧
Don't kill yourself out there my friend. One person can only do so much. Thanks for the nice words, glad that I can provide a few moments of laughter. Stay safe and well
I still remember going to our local Pizza Hut on Friday and Saturday nights and eating pizza and hearing shonobi playing in the distance. After eating I would always go play. And the joystick and buttons were greasy with pizza grease from other players. Such a wonderful time to be alive!!! Oh how I miss the late 80s, early 90s!!!
My favourite channel does a 2 parter! Yes!! This sole game is the reason I failed in school as I used to sneak off at break time and head to the local computer games store that had this arcade game.The flip side is I am now living in a cardboard box but I can play a mean game of Shinobi 😂
Thanks for keeping up with the videos during this crazy time. I have been in isolation by myself for going on 10 days now and about to lose my mind. Watching your videos have helped me so much, you will never know. I really appreciate all the work and dedication!
Absolutely, aside from three days a week in dialysis I am in isolation as well. Even if I wasn't, I would still be making these videos :-) thanks for the nice words
Patman, you make my day evertime I see you have a new video. Your very relaxing with that smooth as silk voice. Excpecially in these time when we need to be uplifting. You are here for us. Thanks again for everything.
This video is excellent. It feels like the amount of information and how it's communicated throughout the entire video is just right without never feeling overwhelming. I think it nails the retro vibe a documentary such as this should aim for. I really thank you, i couldn't tell if i was watching or playing the games, i was completely absorbed by the detailed descriptions of each console.
Thank you very much. There's a fine line between not giving enough information and like you said overwhelming the viewer with too much. I have erred from both sides the comments of my previous videos so I've been trying to find the right balance. I appreciate the nice words, glad you enjoyed the content so much :-)
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries nec? nintendo?!?! and nothing for their 16-bit, Sega is so dumb sometimes, they confirmed that trend with the Saturn mess
One of my beloved arcade games from my childhood. One more thing, if you manage to finish a level only using your punch and kick, you'll get a bonus point.
My friend has a Shinobi arcade cabinet. It actually has Altered Beast as the game in it but has the Shinobi artwork on the outside. He hopes to find Shinobi for it one day. Altered Beast has some crazy hard settings on it. Pretty fun.
Love this game. I beat the arcade version on fbalpha about a month ago. You can't credit feed through it because the last level is a one coin afair. I can tell whoever did the gameplay footage knows how to play this game. There is a lot of memorization and skill involved.
Pat! Once again I'm way late to the party (and I'm one of your Patreons too!). I was a Shinobi freak back in the mid-80s and always bugged my dad for a quarter anytime we'd go to our local Walmart. Naturally when Sega announced their Master System using Shinobi in the adverts I desperately had to get one. Christmas that year was definitely filled with the sounds of 8-bit Shinobi! I'm glad to still see you chime in over at the PC Engine forums. That does not go unnoticed. God bless, my friend.
Excellent video as always! I wish Sega would release an old arcade compilation. Think abhow great that would be! All those Super Scaller games with a side order of Shinobi and Shadow Dancer!
This game was my jam. I played it to death in the arcade -- spending all my paper route money. I was able to finish it on one credit when I finally mastered it. I played it on XBox 360, but couldn't finish the final mission.
Great videos.Love your history lessons,history revisits for me as well,I remember when these were all new games and experiencing that evolution was absolutely amazing and games are still evolving and blowing my mind today.I would love to see Ninja Gaiden history sometime down the line
Thank you. You and I must be near the same age. I started going to the arcades in the late 70s and really never stopped. I'm sure I will do ninja gaiden at some point
Great video, thanks pat. When i got an arcade a few years back this was the first game i had to get.. Nothing beats playing shinobi on an arcade original board. I love this game.
SMS and TG16/PC-Engine are the best ports imo. Sad how the Genesis/MegaDrive never saw an actual port of the original Arcade game - only the sequels. The game left a bit of a lasting impression on me. Great history! Look fwd to Pt 2!
Thank you, I wish the actual arcade version was released on the Genesis as well. The same thing happened with shadow dancer a few years later on the Genesis
Yesss! Here's the video i've been waiting for. (Love all of em) I used to walk to a local corner store with my 2 older brothers & friends to play this game. I was maybe 4 or 5 years old! :)
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries I did very much thank you as i do enjoy all the uploads on your channel :) I made sure to share it around in a couple fb video game groups as well to help support!! Keep up the great work.
I think I'm gonna have join your Patreon. I'm always anxiously waiting for the next video. I love seeing videos on the games I grew up on in the 80's and 90's. Very nostalgic.
I love your videos. We do a very similar thing on our channel but more console oriented. I always loved this game and I recently introduced my two oldest kids (7, and 11) to the game thanks to M2s excellent port to the Nintendo Switch. They loved it. We played it over and over and over.....maybe too much actually. Keep up the great work!
Thank you very much. I love reading about how people are passing their love of retro gaming onto their kids. I agree, The switch version is excellent. Thanks again
Another good video that takes me back! There is one arcade game that I recall in the UK when I was around 8 years old - It was called "The Driver" - No idea who made it, but you sat in a cockpit with a pedal and steering wheel. It was like FMV and you were chasing a red car! This might be something to look into Sir :)
Shinobi definitely is a cool game I remember playing this one in the arcade and having it for my home console so thanks for the Memories of this awesome ninja game Shinobi 👍
I grew up with Shinobi back in the 80's playing the first arcade game and still, I own the Master System game and believe me, the Ninja craze was off the wall during that time period with movies such as the American Ninja, Sho Kosugi and many more had a tremendous influence in U.S. pop culture. BTW, the intro for Revenge of Shinobi for the Genesis/Mega Drive was Sonny Chiba as the ninja.
A future suggestion maybe in the future or whenever is to review each of the consoles you feature in these videos. I think that could be very interesting. Anyways keep up the good work!
For 20+ years I had dreamt of a decent home version of the arcade version of Shinobi. Sadly, during that time the only version on any home console was the SMS (excluding the Tengen knock-off). The port itself wasn't terrible, but as seen in the video, it didn't do justice to the arcade version at all. I was so enamoured with the arcade version that at one point I bought a full stand-up EPROM board online with dreams of rebuilding it into a fully-functioning cabinet. Interesting side note...the SMS version also included a variety of weapons power-ups for CQC like nunchukas and sword. However, as I recall they all funtioned exactly the same.
Super Mario Bros. was the first game I played and fell in love with. Shinobi was the 2nd. The difference is that I couldn’t beat Shinobi, so it was much more memorable. Shinobi is one of the best games I ever played.
Yes! Now this is one of my all time favorites. They had this at the pizza parlor a few blocks from where I lived, and I biked down there a lot to play this (as well as Double Dragon and Gunsmoke - they always had a great selection of games there!). That would’ve been circa 1988, when I was about ten. I can actually beat this game in the arcade on one quarter, though I don’t want to think about how much money I probably spent to get that good. This is also one of my all-time favorite arcade soundtracks. Sometimes I still go and pull up the music tracks here on RU-vid just to listen to them again. Another fun fact: you mentioned the 5000 point stage bonus for not using ninja magic, but did you know you can also get a 20,000 point bonus for not using projectiles? It actually adds a ton of replayability once you can beat the game the normal way, since you have to learn a whole new set of patterns and timing to beat it without using stars. I can’t beat the whole game that way (if I could I’d be up in world record score territory), but I can clear most of the first two levels shuriken-free, at least in the MAME version.
I remember playing it for the music. For some reason I loved the theme. Update: Thank you. I found the theme. One is called, Psychic Stewardess. There are some beautiful remixes of it and I'm glad I have RU-vid music now.
U do realize at 14:40 when u talk about shinobi arcade for the xbox live and playstation network and how all the pop culture references of big famous bosses like spider-man, terminator, godzilla, and batman, youre suddenly talking about the REVENGE OF SHINOBI, and not the original Shinobi you covered in this video, right? U didnt say that those famous bosses are from the sega genesis/mega drive versions of "The Revenge of Shinobi" from this video's very thumbnail. It's strange how u didnt mention that.
Okay here's the deal, that is a leftover note when the video was one long video. Yes I know I used the title screen from revenge of shinobi on this one but that's just because it's it's an iconic picture of the series.
So glad you did this. One of my fave coinops of all time. None of the home versions really get close to the original unfortunately. I recommend playing the original on MAME
This one was in the local bowling lanes.. only place ive ever seen it...it was so hard but I loved it, esp the ninja star throwing for extra guy after each level
I definitely bout this as soon as it came out on the Switch. I like the Aegis mode, as it is a bit forgiving and you always have the powered up ninja stars.
Revenge of Shinobi on the Sega Genesis was the shiznit. The sound track and game play was awesome. I liked it a lot better than the first shinobi that came out in the arcades and Sega Master System.
I remember sneaking away on my Grade 10 highschool trip to go to the arcade and play this game! Was way more fun than taking a tour of the Ottawa Parliament Buildings! Lately I've been playing it on my Pi4 Arcade 1up build! So much fun! Especially when you have unlimited quarters now! Might try out the Sega Master System port!
a true Sega masterpiece, classic among classics, ahead of its time i'm not very fond of arcade/action games, but this one is historical too bad the different ports are so disappointing
You're right on the money with this one, "too hard, too fast." But it ate quite a lot of my quarters back in the day. Having been a fellow Amiga user, I was shocked at how poor its conversion was, especially considering what that computer was capable of. You can tell how bad that port was when you compare it to the PC Engine / TurboGrafx, that latter of which was based around 6502ish 8 bit CPU. Such a shame. Anyway, a poor port doesn't take away from what a great, genre-defining, game this was in the arcades.
I didn't think the Amiga version was too bad, it was definitely playable and had excellent music. Shadow dancer was a much better conversion on the Amiga. Thanks for watching
My favorite arcade game, not only due to the gameplay, but also the music... oh, the first-level music! Never got too far and spent a lot of money on it, though... ={
Ahh Christmas 1989 I got The original Sega Master System with the pause button on the console itself 😂🤣😂 I remember getting Shinobi, some Asterix game I can't quite remember the title of, it was brilliant tho, Castle of Illusion, Golden Axe, My Hero (Wow that game was Bad) and Alex kidd in Miracle World. What a Christmas present that was when I was a boy. Watching this video brings it all back especially seeing the Shinobi Home port on The Master System (Pure Nostalgia)
This was probably my all-time favourite arcade game. It was the first game I looked for in my emulator collection. I often try to complete it without using my special magic for the giggles. I wonder, would you consider doing a video on Vulcan Venture (and it's prequels, R-Type and Salamander)?
Just wanted to add a little nugget of info for you. If you died and continued, your score would receive a number as the last integer to signify how many continues. So a legit high-score was only considered if it was a "0-end" score.
