Shinobi vs Ninja Gaiden

Oooh... I'm sorry.

Soundwave GI said:

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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Master System Shinobi still my favorite version of the game, even over the arcade. Definitely the best port, though. PC Engine was close but it's missing a whole stage, all the bonus levels, and the melee weapons. Looks great though.

This thread made me think of a game I’ve been playing. If you have a switch and haven’t played “The Messenger”, get it now.

It's a close one now between the two... back in the day, I was so into Shinobi AC, that I didn't like Revenge at first, it was too different. That changed. Still, it's a shame that former wasn't included as an unlockable bonus on Shin Shinobi Den, with Warhol's Monroe & Spider-Man's colors intact.

I picked Shinobi, here are my favorites from both series:

Shinobi:

Original arcade
Shadow Dancer Genesis
Shinobi 3

Runner Ups:

Shadow Dancer arcade
Revenge of Shinobi (I know some people love this, but I can't pick it over the other 2 Genesis Shinobi games)

Honorable Mention:

Alex Kidd in Shinobi World


That right there is a very solid list, with Shadow Dancer for the genesis being my favorite.

Ninja Gaiden:

Ninja Gaiden 1 NES
Ninja Gaiden 2 NES

Runner up:

Ninja Gaiden 3 NES
Ninja Gaiden arcade and lynx

That's it. I never really got into the 3D versions of the games, but if I had to pick next gen, it'd go with the Ninja Gaiden series. Shinobi original arcade is definitely better than Ninja Gaiden arcade, but they're different games. I wish we would have seen some real original 16bit versions of Ninja Gaiden. It might have tipped the scales. Trying to beat the NES Ninja Gaiden was one of the most elusive things for me as a kid. I finally accomplished this unrealized goal just 2 years ago on a real NES with a shitty signal to an HD TV no less. I used continues, but I had no idea back in the day that each time you beat a boss form (3 for the final boss) and lost, you could continue at the one you lost to instead of starting the boss fight from the beginning. I might have beat it back then had I known this. I made it to the final form a handful of times but lost. Super infuriating. On a side note, Ninja Gaiden had some of the best 8 bit music ever, while Shinobi had some of the best 16 bit music ever. No clear winner here.

So just a slight edge for Shinobi overall vs. Ninja Gaiden.

roker what do you have against PS2 Shinobi?

Sincerely,

-A Fan

LoneSage said:

roker what do you have against PS2 Shinobi?

Sincerely,

-A Fan

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Nothing, nothing at all. Just never got into it. I never got into Ninja Gaiden 3D either. Just chose NG because I spent more time on it. I have the ps2 Shinobi in a box somewhere. 3D slashers and such aren't my thing. I never got into God of War or DMC either.

Tough choices indeed. Shinobi arcade is a masterpiece given it's age - it's held up incredibly well. Honestly most of the games in both series hold up well.

Let's talk about music though

Ninja Gaiden II for 360 was damn amazing and bloody. I still don't understand why they censored the gore when it came out on PS3.

ballzdeepx said:

Let's talk about music though

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Don't forget these gems on the MegaDrive/Genesis:

roker said:

Don't forget these gems on the MegaDrive/Genesis:
Jamz

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Dat Yamaha

Shinobi would me my preferred series, only for the Game Gear games. Both are awesome in terms of level design, gameplay and music, although I'd always favor Silent Fury. Probably my most played GG game back in the day, together with Sonic and Lucky Dime Caper.

[OCEAN] said:

Shinobi would me my preferred series, only for the Game Gear games. Both are awesome in terms of level design, gameplay and music, although I'd always favor Silent Fury. Probably my most played GG game back in the day, together with Sonic and Lucky Dime Caper.

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This man is cultured. Silent Fury is the business.

Ninja Gaiden 》Shinobi

Shinobi has good music but the game play never really appealed to me. I was playing Shinobi III last night and eh...

Ninja Gaiden has dope music and game play, so it gets my vote.

andsuchisdeath said:

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!!!

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Autism?


With regard to the thread, I haven’t played enough of either to choose one over the other. The Genesis Shinobi games are stellar action games and the three Ninja Gaiden games on the NES are perfected Action Platformers. Tough choice!

I always liked the character speed and platforming better Ninja Gaiden. Also those cutscenes...

Wow after I voted I was actually shocked that theyre so many Shinobi fans. I just feel like the console like experience of NG is vastly better than the arcadish style of the Shinobi series. I also think the transition into the modern era went much smoother for NG.

Dead even at 17 votes for both series.

Ninja Gaiden peaked 30 years ago. 1, 2, 3. I played the Xbox game and didn't like it. Later played the DS game and found it boring.

Now, don't get it twisted. Those three NES games are legendary. Classics.

But Shinobi offers more. The arcade original, Revenge, Shadow Dancer, Return of the Ninja Master, even Legions - all of them are fantastic games and all of them switch it up and make it different from the previous game.

And PS2 Shinobi is easily one of my favorite games of all-time. Top 10 spot, easily.

You know, it's a real shame Tecmo never could adjust in the 16-bit era. What happened? This poll, for me, is basically comparing NES games to arcade, Genesis, Saturn and PS2 games - how did Tecmo fail post-NES? They're responsible for one of the earliest half-assed compilation ports, the Ninja Gaiden trilogy on SNES. Later they'd bank in with the DOA series but it's unfortunate to think what could have been for Ninja Gaiden on the SNES if they hadn't...I don't know what happened? Seriously, how do you go from fucking Ninja Gaiden to basically nothing for the 16-bit era? Fuck I wish there were more interviews with old game developers to say what was happening behind the scenes.

LoneSage said:

You know, it's a real shame Tecmo never could adjust in the 16-bit era. What happened? This poll, for me, is basically comparing NES games to arcade, Genesis, Saturn and PS2 games - how did Tecmo fail post-NES? They're responsible for one of the earliest half-assed compilation ports, the Ninja Gaiden trilogy on SNES. Later they'd bank in with the DOA series but it's unfortunate to think what could have been for Ninja Gaiden on the SNES if they hadn't...I don't know what happened? Seriously, how do you go from fucking Ninja Gaiden to basically nothing for the 16-bit era? Fuck I wish there were more interviews with old game developers to say what was happening behind the scenes.

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The main developers left Tecmo maybe a year or two into the SFC era.

Ninja Gaiden developer reunion

In the years following the release of Ninja Gaiden, Yoshizawa, Kato and Yamagishi all ended up leaving Tecmo.

After the first game, Yoshizawa moved into an executive producer role, while Kato took on more responsibility and eventually directed 1991's Ninja Gaiden 3: The Ancient Ship of Doom. Over time, Yoshizawa joined Namco and worked on games including platformer Klonoa and puzzle game Mr. Driller. He cites Klonoa as a personal favorite, since it was the last game he directed. These days, he's happy to work on what his bosses assign him rather than directing games himself.

After Kato's time at Tecmo, he joined Square and worked on role-playing games including Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. Then he broke off on his own to work as a freelancer and returned to the Ninja Gaiden series in its modern 3-D incarnation to write the script for 2012's Ninja Gaiden 3. The game reviewed poorly, and Kato says the development team cut a lot of what he wrote for the game's ending.

But he's happy with a subtle reference that made it through: a scene in the story when Ryu Hayabusa gets shot in the back, a nod to a similar scene from the NES days. "I have this penchant for making sure Ryu gets shot from behind by people," jokes Kato. Most recently, Kato has been involved with the 3DS role-playing game The Legend of Legacy.

LoneSage said:

Dead even at 17 votes for both series.

Ninja Gaiden peaked 30 years ago. 1, 2, 3. I played the Xbox game and didn't like it. Later played the DS game and found it boring.

Now, don't get it twisted. Those three NES games are legendary. Classics.

But Shinobi offers more. The arcade original, Revenge, Shadow Dancer, Return of the Ninja Master, even Legions - all of them are fantastic games and all of them switch it up and make it different from the previous game.

And PS2 Shinobi is easily one of my favorite games of all-time. Top 10 spot, easily.

You know, it's a real shame Tecmo never could adjust in the 16-bit era. What happened? This poll, for me, is basically comparing NES games to arcade, Genesis, Saturn and PS2 games - how did Tecmo fail post-NES? They're responsible for one of the earliest half-assed compilation ports, the Ninja Gaiden trilogy on SNES. Later they'd bank in with the DOA series but it's unfortunate to think what could have been for Ninja Gaiden on the SNES if they hadn't...I don't know what happened? Seriously, how do you go from fucking Ninja Gaiden to basically nothing for the 16-bit era? Fuck I wish there were more interviews with old game developers to say what was happening behind the scenes.

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This post nails my sentiment.

But I digress, I don't think gameplay wise (at least pre-3D era) these games had much in common besides being ninjas. It's not a fair comparison, but if you forced me to decide ... fuck yeah I'm taking Shinobi. It's more replayable. I can pick up Shadow Dancer any day of the week and just jam on it for 30 mins then tune off and do something else. I feel Ninja Gaiden relies a bit too much on memorization skills, I can hop on the NES version and blaze through it, but it's more intense.

LoneSage said:

Dead even at 17 votes for both series.

Ninja Gaiden peaked 30 years ago. 1, 2, 3. I played the Xbox game and didn't like it. Later played the DS game and found it boring.

Now, don't get it twisted. Those three NES games are legendary. Classics.

But Shinobi offers more. The arcade original, Revenge, Shadow Dancer, Return of the Ninja Master, even Legions - all of them are fantastic games and all of them switch it up and make it different from the previous game.

And PS2 Shinobi is easily one of my favorite games of all-time. Top 10 spot, easily.

You know, it's a real shame Tecmo never could adjust in the 16-bit era. What happened? This poll, for me, is basically comparing NES games to arcade, Genesis, Saturn and PS2 games - how did Tecmo fail post-NES? They're responsible for one of the earliest half-assed compilation ports, the Ninja Gaiden trilogy on SNES. Later they'd bank in with the DOA series but it's unfortunate to think what could have been for Ninja Gaiden on the SNES if they hadn't...I don't know what happened? Seriously, how do you go from fucking Ninja Gaiden to basically nothing for the 16-bit era? Fuck I wish there were more interviews with old game developers to say what was happening behind the scenes.

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There was a Ninja Gaiden game in development for Genesis, but it was never finished. You can find a ROM out there and try it, though:

It was more similar to the arcade original than the NES/SMS games, though.