Shinobi

The Good
Shinobi was a typical, but very good run&gun platformer game in the arcades of the time. It was normal that a ninja carries an endless amount of shurikens, and throws them at bad guys nearly at the rate of a machine gun!

Other notable features. Hostages to be rescued. There is a gun power-up. Furthermore, the hostages give you the gun, haha! You have a close range attack which is especially useful against the fat guy with the shield and boomerang. The enemy AI is good, they don't get stuck on crates or die from their own mistakes. 19 levels with distinguishable backgrounds/environments (what's up with the Marilyn Monroe posters?), each with different music (at least until the selection runs out), exciting boss fights, and minigame bonus stages between levels. Oh, and those ninjas that are cosplaying Spiderman.

Now, all this got translated to the Amstrad version so well! It is a very fun and playable conversion! Which is an exceptionally rare thing! If you know the systems, or those videos on YT where they compare an arcade game with its ports for home systems, you may have noticed that out of the three usual contender 8-bit computers, the Amstrad CPC always seems to pull the shortest with a slow, barely playable boring mess (if you don't get hung up on the cosmetics of the Spectrum version).

Lets compliment the technicalities and the effort of the programmer.

-the screen scrolls horizontally fast and smooth-enough (even if not by pixel) that it doens't get in the way, in a big-enough window to not to mind it. Finally, someone managed to do it just right! Scrolling is like the Achilles heel of the Amstrad CPC's hardware design. It can be done, it requires solely CPU overhead, but much of it, so with all things going on it is hard to balance the resources. Not even resorting to the "CRTC hack" (as seen in Legend of Kage or Ghosts N Goblins) which has it own not-so-subtle quirks.

-the sprites function well and there can be a convenient-enough amount of them on the screen before it would slow down. The bosses also remained large.

-there are sound effects AND music simultaneously during gameplay. Pretty good renditions too. It is unintentionally funny that the walking animation of the hero sync up with the music so it looks like he is dancing.

-the digitized speech on the mission screen is just the icing on the cake.

The Bad
The graphics is reasonably well crafted, but it arguable whether it looks good, especially compared to the arcade original. The lower resolution and smaller playfield also affects the controls. The smoothness lacks a little if that's what you are looking for.

When you finish a bonus stage, a slew of those Japanese thingies (whatever they are called) fall down from somewhere the ceiling trough the screen, and while they are visible, there is a major slowdown. That should have been left out.

There are little but notable tradeoffs compared to the original, like with the missile sprites, some enemies, and the missing map screens. Some compromises had to be made to fit the game into such a small space I guess.

Spoiler alert! At the start of the last mission it says "defeat the behind the scenes ninja". But the last boss is missing! You just enter the door to him and it goes straight to the ending screen! I guess you really defeat him behind the scenes, haha. In contrary to the Spectrum version (developed by the same), there is the last boss, but there is no ending.

The Bottom Line
Arcade hardware is many leaps ahead in budget and resources, but nearly the whole game got recreated in just 48KB and a single-load tape format, and works even on the lowest end machines of the CPC range. Most important of all it is just as playable!

The Good
I was too young and innocent to go the Arcades back in the day, at least I had this!

The Bad
Yes, you guessed it. It's a poor port to the PC, like so many others back in those days...

The Bottom Line
This platform game is the conversion of Sega’s legendary coin-op. We are the lone ninja with the task of uprooting a terrorist network and rescuing its hostages. In order to achieve these, we have to succeed in five demanding missions.

The graphics are simple and basic, obviously nowhere near today’s standards. However, they give a positive impression and look inviting. The only sound available is a tune heard in the beginning and a few sound effects during playing.

The game is generally faithful to its ancestor’s structure and content. We will explore similar, but smaller, levels and face the same ‘Bosses’ in the end of every mission. The minor enemies are also close to the originals. We will encounter unarmed thugs, pistol carrying guards, ninjas and boomerang throwing hostage keepers. We attack with our throwing stars, punches and kicks. When enough hostages are rescued, we are rewarded with a bazooka and a sword. Once in every level we can use our ‘Ninja Magic’, this powerful aura kills every lesser foe in the screen, and inflicts serious damage to the ‘Bosses’. After the completion of each mission, we enter the ‘Bonus Stage’. There, with our shurikens, we have to put down all the enemy ninjas that are rushing to reach us. If we succeed, we earn an extra life.

There are still some important gameplay differences with the arcade game. Three pushes from an enemy are lethal. We can not throw more than two shurikens at a time. When we are kneeled down and shoot, we rise up enough to get hit by hostile shots. Finally, “Ninja Magic” does not destroy enemy fire.

The game manages to capture the essence and feeling of the original. It is simply addictive. Eagerly, we struggle to overcome difficulties, liberate new hostages and strike the weak points of the ‘Bosses’. The eight available lives may initially look too many, but soon this observation is withdrawn. Although the game does not have the machine’s coin devouring difficulty, it is undoubtedly very challenging. The player has to be vigilant and concentrated all the time. Fast reflexes and accuracy in the controlling of our ninja are enormously important. Without them, great loss of lives will be sustained even in the easiest levels.

After all these years, “Shinobi” still stands out with its playing quality and environment. A highly recommended selection for every friend of this genre, indeed.

The Good
Shinobi is old-school. No one in their right mind would play it today for more than five minutes, but back in the late-80s this was solid gold. I remember spending damn-near $100 on the cartridge when I was around ten, which was about all the money I would get for an entire year!

It's got evocative music (though constrained by the Master System's primitive audio system), well-designed levels, very interesting bosses, a variety of different challenges, as well as some very cool weapons.

The Bad
It's a rather difficult game and I'm quite sure than I never beat it without using the level select cheat.

Apart from that its only real flaw is that it was made in the 80s, so it's quite primitive by today's standards.

The Bottom Line
A fun little game, quite addictive (at least it was), intriguing ambiance, and quite challenging.