Shinobi vs Ninja Gaiden

Better game series?


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    37

famicommander

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What's the better ninja action series?

Games

Shinobi:
Shinobi (Arcade/SMS/PC Engine/etc)
Shadow Dancer (Arcade/SMS/old computers)
Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis)
Shadow Dancer: the Secret of Shinobi (Genesis)
The Cyber Shinobi (SMS)
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (SMS)
The GG Shinobi (Game Gear)
The GG Shinobi II: the Silent Fury (Game Gear)
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Genesis)
Shinobi Legions (Saturn)
Shinobi (PS2)
Nightshade (PS2)
Shinobi 3D (3DS)

Ninja Gaiden:
Ninja Gaiden (Arcade/Lynx/etc)
Ninja Gaiden (NES)
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES)
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES)
Ninja Gaiden Shadow (Game Boy)
Ninja Gaiden (Master System)
Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)
Ninja Gaiden, Black, and Sigma
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS)
Ninja Gaiden II and Sigma II
Ninja Gaiden III and Razor's Edge
Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z

Gotta love how half the games in the Ninja Gaiden series have the same fuckin' title.

Anyway, what do you think?

Both series have some awesome games.

I have to go with Shinobi, because to me only Cyber Shinobi is bad. There are some shitty home ports of Shadow Dancer but the arcade original is pretty good. Shinobi Legions is cheesy as fuck but it pretty much plays like Return of the Ninja Master, and that's not a bad thing. The rest of the series is unassailable. The PS2 games don't get enough credit and it seems like nobody played the 3DS game, but it's pretty solid.

Most of the Ninja Gaiden games are fantastic too, but I think II and III of the 3D series suck and ain't nobody likes Yaiba.

To break it down into some random categories for me
Best handheld game: Shinobi II: the Silent Fury
Best arcade game: Shinobi
Best 2D home game: Shinobi III
Best 3D home game: Ninja Gaiden Black

I think in general the Shinobi games have better power ups, encounter design and boss fights, while the Ninja Gaiden games have better platforming and chaotic action.
 

Mr. Mort

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Most of the Ninja Gaiden games are fantastic too, but I think II and III of the 3D series suck and ain't nobody likes Yaiba.

Whoa, that is crazy talk. NGII was excellent outside of the occasional camera aggravation. It improved on the first NG/Black in every way. Epic boss battles, and the legendary "endless staircase" sequence. Good stuff.

I'll always prefer the NG games. I feel as though they are faster and smoother, and require more precision as a whole.

NG on the Master System is great also, way underrated. I can't lie tho, Shinobi III on the Genesis is dope.
 

neo_mao

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Razor’s Edge was great, fuck the haters
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

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Ninja Gaiden imho

I absolute love both series, but the Ninja Gaiden series has always been a little more consistent in terms of quality releases from the original arcade beat em up all the way up to the modern itagaki/hayashi series imho. Ninja Gaiden (gamegear) and Yaiba withstanding, the series consistently plays really well across all titles.

Razor’s Edge was great, fuck the haters

+1
 

Niko

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I loved Ninja Gaiden on the NES, and NG2 on the 360.

Fuck shinobody cares.
 

oliverclaude

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Batman, Spider-Man, Devilman meet Gozilla and Hulk turns T-800? The first Revenge doesn't take itself too serious, yet it comes as serious as it gets in the video game world. It blows pop-culture up and amalgamates it back into a stark polished diamond -- years before Pulp Fiction or The Matrix. The soundtrack does, too. Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, comes even close. Not even Lone Wolf and Cub. Not even arcades, since this is a Mega Drive (oh, how great that sounds) exclusive. Ninja Gaiden is just that: a side-story... to Shinobi.
 

Yoshi

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Shinobi III is the best game on either list by more than a little, though I have a huge soft spot for arcade Ninja Gaiden. (Quasi-)Objectively, Shinobi still takes it.
 

jro

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The latter day NG games are fantastic (not so much III, though Razor's Edge is not that bad). The PS2 Shinobi games are hidden gems, but the NG Sigmas, in particular, win out for me.
 

andsuchisdeath

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Fannypackcommander,

What a mess of a topic. "Better" haha. How about "Preferred"?

It's just too lopsided to make direct comparisons on who did what "better" because each series was rarely on
the same page technology (hardware) wise, and at times generation wise.

Did Ninja Gaiden have a true 16-bit 90's release to go toe-to-toe with Shinobi III?

Did Shinobi have a rebuttal for Ninja Gaiden's PS3/360 titles?

You're comparing a series that was irrelevant after the 8-bit era all the way up to 128/PS3/360 gen where it totally reinvented itself, to a slightly more 90's present series that lost relevance a good deal before the renaissance of it's "competitor".

Shinobi was a relevant arcade game. Ninja Gaiden, not so much.
And they weren't even in the same genre at the time!

Your description at the bottom on what's "better" is just, ugh!!!
 
Last edited:

Ip Man

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although i love the nes ninja gaiden games, i still have to say shinobi all the way. best 2d ninja games of all time imo. i even love the ps2 games.
 
Last edited:

famicommander

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Fannypackcommander,

What a mess of a topic. "Better" haha. How about "Preferred"?

It's just too lopsided to make direct comparisons on who did what "better" because each series was rarely on
the same page technology (hardware) wise, and at times generation wise.

Did Ninja Gaiden have a true 16-bit 90's release to go toe-to-toe with Shinobi III?

Did Shinobi have a rebuttal for Ninja Gaiden's PS3/360 titles?

You're comparing a series that was irrelevant after the 8-bit era all the way up to 128/PS3/360 gen where it totally reinvented itself, to a slightly more 90's present series that lost relevance a good deal before the renaissance of it's "competitor".

Shinobi was a relevant arcade game. Ninja Gaiden, not so much.
And they weren't even in the same genre at the time!

Your description at the bottom on what's "better" is just, ugh!!!

The function of a video game is to provide entertainment.

Entertainment value is subjective.

Therefore, whichever game delivers more subjective entertainment to the end user is, in his estimation, "better".

Doesn't matter what specific genre conventions, hardware platforms, or time periods the games came from. They're the two most iconic ninja video game series and that's enough to compare them. Everybody else in the thread seemed alright with the comparison.
 

madman

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ASID gonna ASID. He gave up on v2.0 emo trolling and went back to v1.0 OG shit.
 

andsuchisdeath

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ASID gonna ASID. He gave up on v2.0 emo trolling and went back to v1.0 OG shit.

I haven't given up on anything. This is my heart, I'll share it with this "world".

The function of a video game is to provide entertainment.

Entertainment value is subjective.

Therefore, whichever game delivers more subjective entertainment to the end user is, in his estimation, "better".

You've defeated yourself. There is no room for "better" amongst the subjective.

Fine, if you're choosing to view things that way, then that's like asking which music genre is better, which dance style is better etc. It's unfair to answer questions on topics so subjective in nature. The question would be more appropriately framed as "which X do you like better".

HOWEVER, video games are GAMES. Games contain rules, and there are objective elements to a game's core. Are video games closer in nature to oil painting or to American football? A hypothetical of course, but you can't flutter around in a football game as if it's an interpretive dance. There is an objective way to play the game. You can bang your carts on the floor like duplos and claim "yeah man, how dare you judge my experience of playing a video game", but that's not how the game was meant to be played. You'd be ignoring the objective component.


So in short, Ninja or no Ninja, these two series contain different rule books within, and you're ignoring this. Unless you know all of these games to a mechanical motherfuckin' science, you don't have the knowledge base to profess objectives.
 
Last edited:

RAZO

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Shinobi III is the best game on either list by more than a little, though I have a huge soft spot for arcade Ninja Gaiden. (Quasi-)Objectively, Shinobi still takes it.

I agree. Not only is Shinobi III the best Shinobi game, it's one of the best MD games.

I did love the Ninja Gaiden Nes Series and the Black/Sigma's but just enjoyed playing the MD and Arcade Shinobi's more.

The Saturn Shinobi was a very solid game as well.
 

neo_mao

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ASID is correct - interpretive dances are better than video games.
 

thermaltreasure

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Apples and oranges but imagine coming home in the late 80's and firing up The Revenge of Shinobi. That full screen flame attack must have been like having the arcade at home.
 

GohanX

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Shinobi III is the best game on either list by more than a little

This pretty much. I've probably played more of the NES Ninja Gaiden games than the Shinobis, but Shinobi III is in my top 5 action games ever made, it's up there with Dracula X to me and the best game from either franchise.
 

LoneSage

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Did OP just say he thinks the Genesis version of Shadow Dancer is shit?
 

GohanX

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He's referring to the SMS version, which is a shit port of a shit game. The Genesis one is awesome.
 

Soundwave GI

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I like the Ninja Gaiden series overall more (particularly the NES games), but Shinobi has more nostalgia for me, starting with the original arcade game. Used to play the shit out of that and rolling thunder. I have to agree with many here that Shinobi 3 is damn good.
 

famicommander

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Did OP just say he thinks the Genesis version of Shadow Dancer is shit?

No, the Master System port of the arcade version.

Genesis version >>> arcade original (which is still pretty decent) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Master System port
 

Soundwave GI

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The Master system port of the original arcade Shinobi was cool at the time...being different in that you could keep your powerups as it went on. I had the garbage Tengen version for NES.
 
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