Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master Review

The sequel to one of the greatest action games ever, Shinobi III surpasses its predecessor in virtually every way.

Speaking of bosses and other enemies, the action is fantastic. You fight through a variety of foes, from ninja assassins, to gun-toting and grenade-tossing mercenaries, to slime mutants. You must also do battle with magic-throwing samurai, bat-winged ninjas, fire-spewing mystics, and speedy robot drones. A personal favorite is the brains that burst out of glass tubes and leap at you in the genetics lab.

While some of Revenge’s highlights are missing from this sequel, there are other wonderful features to take their place. For instance, gone is the ability to switch between the foreground and the background with the double-jump (in Revenge this was used to get to either side of a chain link fence in one area and to leap on and off a busy freeway in another). But added are stages that have you riding a horse through grassy plains and riding a jet-ski across a river. These stages act much like a 2D shooter game. It’s an intense experience to take out waves of attacking enemies with volleys of shuriken, all the while hurdling spiky obstacles and using ramps to reach strategically-placed 1-Ups and life upgrades.

Also missing are the fantastically bizarre bosses of Revenge, such as the Terminator, Godzilla, Batman and Spider-man look-alikes. But Shinobi III makes up for this with a slew of cool mid-bosses and huge new bosses to battle. Some of my favorites include a floating robot that can reverse your controls while blasting you with lasers; a monstrous mutant beast that virtually fills the screen and tries to grab you; a huge mecha-Godzilla who attacks even after his head explodes; and the final boss, Shadow Master, who possesses some of Joe Musashi’s DNA and attacks with upgraded versions of your moves. The action remains intense and very fun all throughout your adventure.

Other touches bring so much to Shinobi III. The time-bombs from Revenge are back, but can now be detonated immediately by hitting them with a shuriken. This becomes crucial in some of the game’s creative platforming, as they will destroy floors and barriers that block your progress but can also send you plummeting to your death. In another section, the level boss rises up in the background, trying to lock its target on you and shoot from afar. The graphics are some of the Sega Genesis’s absolute best: colorful and lush, with gorgeous visuals like waterfalls, a burning forest, weird faces mixed with moving sci-fi backgrounds, leaves that blow by, racing clouds, and mysterious fog. The characters, including humongous bosses, are beautiful to look at. The soundtrack, by returning composer Yuzo Koshiro, sounds decidedly ‘tinny’ and less rich than in The Revenge of Shinobi. However, after getting used to the different sound quality it becomes another stellar soundtrack that captures your imagination and sucks you into the mystery and action.

In conclusion, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master is one of the best action-platformers ever made. It takes everything that made The Revenge of Shinobi so great and adds multiple layers of gameplay, in large part through the slew of new abilities and moves. Sega has truly pulled out all the stops to make this a video-gaming masterpiece. The game is available for download on the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console, and is also part of several Genesis compilations available for various consoles. Even if you have to go online and grab the original cartridge for your Genesis, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up. Soon you will find yourself in ninja paradise!