2023 Winter/Spring HSC - Round 5 - Shinobi

[BydoEmpire]

One of the all-time best arcade conversions of the generation, let's fling those shurikens and play the Master System Masterpiece: Shinobi

 

Bonus point: play any other version of Shinobi on any other console (for example, Revenge of Shinobi on the Genesis, or Shinobi on the ps2).

 

 

This round runs March 13th - March 26th

 

Totals:

1. @bubufubu 900,850 (wow!)
2. @jeremiahjt 584,900 (+1 Revenge of Shinobi, +1 beating Joey)
3. @Dashopepper 412,900
4. @BydoEmpire 286,900 (+1 Shadow Dancer, Arcade Shinobi)
5. @Trinity32 55,900
6. tbd

Edited March 27 by BydoEmpire

[+jeremiahjt]

Well I finally have a reason to play Shinobi. I have never played any Shinobi game* for more than a few minutes, but I have always wanted to give them a good try.

 

* I have played and beat Alex Kidd in Shinobi World on the Wii Virtual Console.

[+jeremiahjt]

I have three scores to submit.  On my third attempt at Shinobi I got 163,400.  I cannot get past Black Turtle.  I have been fighting all the ninjas the helicopter drops, but maybe I should be attacking the helicopter instead.  This game is harder than I thought it would be, for a couple of different reasons.  The hit boxes do not seem to be that accurate.  Mongo can hurt me without throwing his boomerang from really far away.  As can the Gunmen without firing.  When the Gunmen are in the prone position, it is almost impossible for me to hit them.  I either throw a shuriken above their head, or take contact damage when I try to get in close enough for a crouching kick.  The bombs are good for hitting the prone Gunmen, but terrible for everything else.  There is a part with a Gunman and a Mongo on a level slightly above you, and it is extremely hard with the bombs.  A shuriken or knife would make easy work of this pair, but the bombs are about worthless here.

 

I scored 67,400 on Revenge of Shinobi on the Genesis.  I played this game a very little bit before (the one I played for a few minutes), and I have the same problem as before.  I cannot get the double jump to work every time.  This leads to a lot of falling deaths.

 

My last score is for Joey.  On November 25, 1988, Joey scored 244,050.  Joey was definitely better then than I am now.

[BydoEmpire]

6 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

My last score is for Joey.  On November 25, 1988, Joey scored 244,050.  Joey was definitely better then than I am now.

Joey Musashi? 😃

[BydoEmpire]

Played my first game of Shinobi in several years. 142,700. I took a picture, but not uploading because I have to play more than one game!  I'll post it if for some reason I don't get another shot.

[+jeremiahjt]

New score for me (and Joey).  I made it to Mandara with a score of 348,500.  On November 27, 1988, just two days after his first score, Joey scored 316,800.  It looks like I have surpassed Joey, the student has become the master.

[Trinity32]

I have not played shinobi in ages but this version is really fun, minus the bosses

[+jeremiahjt]

Another update.  I finally made it past Mandara, but not much farther.  New score is 351,450.  On November 28, 1988, just one day after his last score, Joey improved to 350,300.  He bested my last score, but not my current one, barely.

[fakecortex]

@jeremiahjt I keep picturing that in the back of your manual there’s all these high scores written in from the infamous Joey

[BydoEmpire]

I remember I always had trouble with Mandara back in the day, but I beat him this time, first try! 286,900

 

[+jeremiahjt]

New score of 372,850.  At this point, I do not know if you can beat Mandara with bullets, as the shurikens seem to work much better against him.  There is a jump at the end of the second level of Lobster's stage that I fell into three times, ending my game.  I used the code to get back to that level quickly and I was able to make it finally, but it is a pain.

 

On December 10, 1988, over a week after his last score entry, Joey slightly improved his score to 354,800.  That score is better than my last one, but he could not catch my current one.

[BydoEmpire]

13 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

I used the code to get back to that level quickly and I was able to make it finally, but it is a pain.

 

What's the code? I don't think I ever beat Shinobi, so being able to quickly practice those later levels would be awesome.

[+jeremiahjt]

18 minutes ago, BydoEmpire said:

What's the code? I don't think I ever beat Shinobi, so being able to quickly practice those later levels would be awesome.

When the face appears on the title screen, hold down and press button two.

[+jeremiahjt]

Finally managed to defeat Mandara with bullets, so I started the Lobster stage fully powered up.  Unfortunately that same jump got me, but I did make it on the second attempt.  I made it to Lobster with hardly any powerups, but none were needed as I defeated him with shurikens the very first time I faced him.

 

I did not last long on the first Masked Ninja stage.  You start out being attacked by three enemies immediately.  Then after a while, the ground disappears and I fell to my death.  I can kind of tell where it changes, but it is not easy.  I used the code to practice and I was able to beat the first stage, but the second stage killed me over and over and over.  Those Fly Ninjas come flying in offscreen like a heat seeking missile.  I can kind of get the ones that come from the front, but the ones that come from the rear get me every single time.

 

My new high score is 414,100.

 

Exactly one week after his last score, on December 14, 1988, Joey scored an impressive 383,300.  Once again his score was higher than my last, but not my current.  Unfortunately we have come to the end of Joey's scores.  With this being his highest score, I think it is safe to assume that Joey did not beat the game on that attempt.  I wonder if he ever did.  Maybe he continued on his quest to defeat the Masked Ninja, and stopped keeping track of scores.  Maybe the Lobster boss was too much for him, and he retired in shame of his ignoble defeat.  I would like to think that Joey kept training and eventually fulfilled his destiny.  One can only hope.  Goodbye my 35 years earlier rival, I cherished our competition, but I must continue on my quest.

Edited March 16 by jeremiahjt

[BydoEmpire]

4 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

Exactly one week after his last score, on December 14, 1988, Joey scored an impressive 383,300.  Once again his score was higher than my last, but no my current.  Unfortunately we have come to the end of Joey's scores.  With this being his highest score, I think it is safe to assume that Joey did not beat the game on that attempt.  I wonder if he ever did.  Maybe he continued on his quest to defeat the Masked Ninja, and stopped keeping track of scores.  Maybe the Lobster boss was too much for him, and he retired in shame of his ignoble defeat.  I would like to think that Joey kept training and eventually fulfilled his destiny.  One can only hope.  Goodbye my 35 years earlier rival, I cherished our competition, but I must continue on my quest.

Besting Joey seems worthy of a bonus point in and of itself. Thanks for sharing your journey!

[+jeremiahjt]

Finally defeated the Masked Ninja.  I had to go to YouTube to figure out how to beat his fourth form, but it still counts.  I cannot believe that there is nothing after you beat it.  I happened to have two Flying Squirrel Magic tiles, so I used those for two of the hard jumps in Lobster's stage.  My score when I beat the game was 570,700, which is less than my previous attempt when I could not defeat the Masked Ninja.  So my best score was 584,900.

 

I never once got Invincible Magic nor Tornado Magic, and the only time I got Lightning Magic I never even used it.  The Ninja Magic is really not that helpful.  Having to defeat ten enemies in a stage to activate the magic tiles is one of the more ridiculous things I have ever seen in a video game.  I mean you cannot even use Ninja Magic on the boss battles.  Not even Mandara, where you have to defeat 13 enemies in the boss battle.

 

I am glad I defeated this one.  I wonder how the Tengen NES version compares to it.  I do not have that game though.  I might bump Revenge of Shinobi higher on my play list now.

[BydoEmpire]

4 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

Finally defeated the Masked Ninja.

Congrats!

[BydoEmpire]

For fun played Shadow Dancer and the arcade Shinobi on my emulation box. Wow, is the arcade Shinobi difficult - it took about 20 tries to beat Ken Oh.

[fakecortex]

5 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

I wonder how the Tengen NES version compares to it.

I find the NES version to be stupid hard (whereas the Sega one is very dumb hard? ha). Better visuals aside, I may also be biased towards the MS version b/c I grew up with that one.

[Dashopepper]

412900

Ive never played a Shinobi game and was expecting it to be more Strider/Ninja Gaiden ish.  Pretty surprised when it’s basically a run and gun.  Having fun so far, planning to beat it.

 

[bubufubu]

888,250

 

 

[bubufubu]

900,550

 

 

[BydoEmpire]

Wow, great scores @bubufubu - any tips?

[bubufubu]

7 hours ago, BydoEmpire said:

Wow, great scores @bubufubu - any tips?

 

1.  Practice the bonus stages.  At the completion of each one, you'll receive 500 points for each ninja you killed.  This is in addition to what you get for each real time kill.  Those points add up.

 

2.  The prize for completing Bonus Stage 3 is the Flying Squirrel Magic.  It's the most important Ninja Magic in the game.  Most likely, you will need it to make the final jump in 4-2.  It is doable without Ninja Magic but it's a pain in the ass due to how inconsistent the controls feel when making edge jumps.

 

3.  Sacrifice extra lives on the first three forms of the final boss until your last life.  Each form is worth 10,000 points.  You earn an extra life for every 100,000 points.  You lose all of your extra health and subweapon upon death, so the Masked Ninja can be quite tricky in bare bones battles.

 

Basically, don't die and earn as many points as you can so that you have lots of extra lives to sacrifice on the final boss.  Easier said than done, no doubt.  It takes quite a bit of practice.